Page 1 : 10, , An Era of Warlordism in China, , The death of Yuan Shih-kai carried away the strongest man of, China during the time. Li Yuan-hung, the Vice President, now, stepped into the shoes of deceased Yuan. Li, as President of the, , . _ Republic, won the radicals by restoring the, oe Presi-- Constitution of 1912 and recalling the Parlia, ‘ ment that had been dissolved by Yuan. Though, the country was once more united under the banners of Dr. Sun, Yat-sen’s Kuomintang Party, the supporters of Yuan, including his, well trained army, remained still potent. The Government of, Peking under the leadership of Li could no longer hold countrol, over the whole country. The calm which prevailed in China for a, short period following the death of Yuan was nothing but the lull, before a domestic storm., , The military leaders of the provinces had hitherto been held, in check by the personal authority of Yuan. But soon after his, death, these military leaders agreed to accept direction from the, Peking Government on condition that the latter would not interfere, with their separate prerogatives in the provinces. There was a visible rift among Yuan’s, ; military followers who were now divided, chiefly into three groups, such as the Mukden group under Ch :, Tso-lin, the Chihli group under Wei-Pei-fu and the Anhwei, under Tuan Chi-jui. All these military factions maintain “d ee, own personal army and were very often at arms with each thee see, , Division in Yuan’s, army., , Tuan Chi-jui became the Prime Min} ., , ship of Li Yuan-hung. The question of Gere oe Pr esident., the First World War was responsible for the diiieeeenes in, jui from his position. In 1917 Tuan had been e al of Tuan Chitiations with the Allied representatives at Pekin ngage mm DegoChina on her joining the war against Gece aS the gain of, any assurance from the Powers regarding Chinese _ Before getting, Tuan gave Parliament to understand that he wa sain in. the: war,, cessions with respect to the payments of the B S assured of conother matters. He also convened a confe sact indemnity and, military governors to gain their ;, , This led to the ascendancy of tkect favour of his war policy., , 86

Page 2 : AN ERA OF WARLORDISM IN CHINA 87, , Provincial Warlords in the Peking Polit;, : \ r g Politics! Ty, the Parliament in various ways to secure passage “of Ris Wee Bil,, Dismissal of Teaw Chie This policy annoyed many members of the, iui Parliament who demanded Tuan’s dismissal, before Li Yuan-hung, the President. Li had no, other way out than to dismiss Tuan for his overhearing attitude., , : The military supporters of Tuan got irritated upon the dismissal. They, in their turn, demanded the dissolution of the, Parliament. In order to enforce their demand upon the reluctant, President, the military, governors launched an expedition against, Peking. They pressed upon the President to respect the constitution. A deadlock ensued for a time, because President, Li stood firm in his refusal to reinstate Tuan in his previous, position and to dissolve the Parliament. Li finally invited, General Chang Hsun. one of the most notorious members of the, provincial military junta, to Peking as the mediator. General, , Chang Hsun did nothing but reiterate the, Restoration of the demands of his military colleagues. He made, Manchu Emperor, 1917. 1 attempt to restore the monarchy in China, by placing the young Manchu Emperor, Hsuan-tung, on the throne, on July 1, 1917. Li took refuge in the Japanese Legation,, , This coup d’etat provided Tuan Chi-jui, who had been, dismissed by President Li only few months back, with the opportunity of uniting the northen generals under his leadership, for the, restoration of the Republic. He defeated the troops of Chang Hsun, and the restored monarchy lasted only for three weeks. President Li, refused to resume office, and the Vice President, Feng Kuo-chang, became the President. Now Tuan Chi-jui became Primier again., The President and the Primier could not pull on well with each, other. The grim contest between Feng Kuo-chang and Tuan Chi-jui, continued up to autumn of 1918 when an, election was held for the Presidential office on, the expiry of Feng’s term. In this election, ith flying colours, because his nominee, d as the the President., , Tuaa’s rise to Power., , Tuan’s faction came out w., Hsu Shih-chang was electe, , j-jui had organized a party of A, The followers of Tuan Chi-jui ha org party of their, § arty’ for carrying on propaganda a, , own kag as the O eeavers of a newly elected Parliament 7°, favour of Hsu Shih-chang for the Presidential, office. The Anfu Party or the ‘Anfa Club, , continued to exist even after the Presidential pecton. The part, now became keen upon improving the status of its j,4. Party, , The Anfu Party., , ita, tebe! Deanwae

Page 3 : e, , 88 THE HISTORY OF CHINA, , members. Various offices of profits in the Government were made, available for the members of the ‘Anfu Club’. Backed by the, Peking Government the Party also managed to procure several, loans from the Japanese Government in return for the grant of, some concessions to the Japanese people in China or sometimes, without any security.2. Thus, the Anfu Party dominated the Peking, Government until 1920., , This Anfu control could not stand for all times to come. It, soon fell an easy victim to the jealousy of the Warlords of the North., The Chihli and Mukden Military Governments took advantage of, the rising public hostility againt the Anfu Party. General Tsao, Kun, the leader in succession to Feng Kuo-chang and Wu Pei-fu, a division commander under Tsao Kun, undertook the forcible, removal of the Anfu Party from its control of the Peking Government with the assistance of the Manchurian Warlords, Chang, , Tso-lin. The power of the Anfu leaders, The fall of Anfu Party. collapsed after a few engagements in which, , the only real fighting was done by the troops, of Wai Pei-fu, The Anfu leaders sought refuge in the Japanese, legation, and Chang Tso-lin and Tsao Kun, who took the title, of Super-Military Governors, assumed control at Peking,, , The Southern Government at Canton by Kuomintang had, a chequered career. Its troops were torn by the factional quarrels., After the death of Yuan Shih-kai Dr. Sun Yet-sen, the leader of, the Kuomintang Party, established a rival government at Canton, in 1917, .This Government was not as powernoe ae ee ful as its Peking counterpart, because, as has, ment. already been stated, the latter received both, diplomatic recognition as well as financial, assistance from the foreign governments. The Canton Government, failed to hold control over the entire south China was mostly, dominated by the local Warlords. Thus, both the Governments,, one at Peking and the other at Canton, could not be stable because, of frequent intervention of the military leaders. Quarrels arvse, frequently among the Southern leaders., , The Kuangsi faction drove out Dr. Sun Yat-sen and _ his, associates, and an attempt was made to establish the seat of Government first in Yunnan and then in Szechuan province. But within, a very short period the Kuangsi faction was effectively driven out, from Canton by General Ching Chiung-ming. Dr. Sun Yet-sen, who had sought refuge in Shanghai after his flight from Centon,, now came back with some of his supporters? to re-establish the so

Page 4 : AN ERA OF WARLORDISM IN CHINA 89, , called constitutional Government in Canton. In April, 1921, h, was elected President of the Republic, but his authority was thon,, nized only in a limited area in the south,, , An open conflict ensued between Wu Pei-fu and general, Chang Tso-lin. When the latter visited Peking during the latter, part of 1921 to create ground for his stability there. This rupture, finally led to a civil war in the Spring of 1922. A sccret plan was, arranged by Chang Tso-lin to eliminate Wu Pei- altogether., According to this plan Wu Pei-fu was to be attacked i all sides, all of a sudden at Loyang, the capital of Honan Province. But, his nefarious plan fell flat and its author, Chang Tso-lin, suffered, aserious defeat at the hands of Wu Pei-fu’s forces. Chang withdrew his troops to Manchuria and declared the independence, of Manchuria with a view to denying the authority of the Peking, Government until such time as he could exert some measure of, , control over it. Flushed with recent victory, Victory of Wu Pei-fu. Wu Pei-fu sought to bring the nation together, , by throwing out Hsu Shih-chang from tne, presidency and calling back into power Li Yuan-hung and the, Parliament of 1913. under whom the country had previously been, united., , In the Presidential election which was held in 1923, Tsao, Kun, the technical superior of General Wu Pei-fu, was elected by, resorting to heavy bribes. But his regime lasted hardly for one, year. In 1924 the power of Wu Pei-fu suddenly ebbed out due to, unexpected defection of his first lieutenant, Feng Yu-hsiang., Hence, this time it was easy for Chang Tso-lin to win victory over, his opponent Wu Pei-fu. Wu Pei-fu was attacked at i time from, Manchuria by Chang Tso-lin and from the coutlvene ry ous, of Anfu Party, supported by Dr. Sun Yat oa Tone un was, deprived of his office and imprisoned, and Teng an Hs oe set up, a new government. Tuan Chi-jui_was placed as the Provisional, , Chief Executive of this newly established, Chang-Feng-Tuan Coali- government. Thus, the Peking Government, tion, 1924, was reconstituted by the Chang-Feng-Tuan, , coalition before Dr. Sun Yat-sen was able to reach Tientsin., , t last long, because an, i ition government could not % he si, ‘open Se eet bested Chang Tso iain toe a the ies, R into . aye, Feng finaly drove Chang back 2h and gained miltary. cone, one of ee On November 5, 1925, by King’s instruction, the, Pekin Ot ieee elled Hsuan-tung, the Manchu boy Emperor,, hoe ¢ Pekin ‘The Emperor was further forced to sign, rom the _ oO i ateiicating his title and, thus, maine sam 2, an order forma the name of Mr. Pu Yi. He was also a a, common citizen i tensive lands and other properties tot h, Republi POiina Chang Tso-lin made a friendly alliance wit, epublit o: ina. . 7

Page 5 : 90 THE HISTORY OF CHINA, , Wu Pei-fu in 1926, ignoring his previous, Union of Wu Peifa and differences with the latter, and could, thus,, Chang Tse-lin,, $926. manage to re-enter North China. He also, succeeded in suppressing a rebellion against his authority _in, Manchuria by the help of Japan. The unique union of ‘Wu Pei-fu, and Chang Tso-lin was designed for the purpose of driving Feng, , Yu-hsiang’s army out of Peking. Tuan Chi-jui retired to Tientsin, which was now a convenient refuge for him., , The era of Warlordism continued up to 1927 in China due to., the collapse of central authority. The country was torn as under,, under the leadership of several military personnel, popularly known, , as Tuchun. There were no less orthodox people than the Manchu, , rulers and they detarded the republican movement of China to a, , great extent. All efforts of Dr. Sun Yat-sen to establish a complete unity in China ended in smoke. But after his death in 1995, the Kuomintang party gained momentum under, , Warlordism almost tho its i, 5 ugh its infl ., lasted to some extent beyond this period. : mence