Yuan Shih-kai

Yüan Shih-kai , 1859-1916, president of China (1912-16). From 1885 to 1894 he was the Chinese resident in Korea, then under Chinese suzerainty. He supported the dowager empress, Tz'u Hsi, against the reform movement (1898) of Emperor Kuang Hsü, and she rewarded him with the vice regency of Zhili (now Hebei). As governor he suppressed the Boxer Uprising , winning foreign favor, which enabled him to build the strongest military force in China. During the revolution of 1911, he procured a truce in which Emperor Hsüan T'ung ( Pu Yi ) abdicated on Feb. 12, 1912, and Sun Yat-sen , president of the provisional government, resigned in Yüan's favor as President of a Republic. Opposition to Yüan's dictatorial methods soon developed. In 1914 he dissolved the parliament and on Jan. 1, 1916, he assumed the title of emperor. A rebellion in Yunnan forced him almost immediately to restore the Republic. He died in June.

Bibliography: See biographies by J. Ch'en (2d ed. 1972) and E. P. Young (1976).

Yuan Shikai ( Yuan Shih-k'ai) (b. 16 Sept. 1859, d. 6 June 1916). President of the Republic of China 1912–16 Born in Henan Province into an aristocratic family, he entered military service and went to Korea, where he distinguished himself as commander and army reformer. Returning at the head of a well-organized army, his support was important in the accession to power of the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1898. For this, he was promoted to become governor of Shandong (1899–1901). He then moved up in government ranks, until he was President of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1907–9). Throughout, he was the regime's strongest personality, and carried out substantial army and educational reforms. He was dismissed from office after Cixi's death, but remained an influential figure, particularly because of the size and strength of his army. He was recalled by the royal house to become Prime Minister after the outbreak of the Wuchang Revolution. In this office, he persuaded the advisers of Pu Yi that he should abdicate, for which feat he demanded the presidency of the new Republic. However, he betrayed his republican allies by attempting to create a dynasty himself, and expelling other political leaders such as Sun Yat-sen. His army proved insufficient for him to create a strong government, since he lacked any broader political platform. It had proved strong enough, however, to destroy the Wuchang Revolution, so that his death left a power vacuum which subjected China to an era of warlordism until Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition.