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Yuan Shikai is a controversial figure in modern Chinese history. How should he be evaluated? |
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See answer below. |
Cai E became the Governor of Yunnan when the Republic of China was established. After the Second Revolution, Cai was ordered to stay in Beijing by Yuan Shikai and was placed under surveillance. Both Cai E and his teacher Liang Qichao opposed Yuan’s monarchist scheme. On 20 August 1915, Liang caused a stir after publishing a journal article titled What a Strange Idea on the So-Called State System! (《異哉所謂國體問題者》), in which he stated his opposition to the restoration of monarchy. In November that year, he helped Cai leave Beijing for Yunnan, which became the key to the later anti-Yuan movement.
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Yuan Shikai is a controversial figure in modern Chinese history. How should he be evaluated? |
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Yuan Shikai was too often condemned by later generations for reviving monarchy via his Hongxian regime and was even called the “thief of the country”. However, one should make an objective assessment based on his or her words and deeds throughout life instead of just one single event. Yuan played an important role in the late Qing to early Republican period. In 1884, when a coup occurred in Qing China’s tributary state Korea, Japan sent troops to support the coup, with the intention of establishing a pro-Japan regime and cementing its control over Korea. On the Qing government’s orders, the 25-year-old Yuan led his army to uphold Qing China’s authority in Korea successfully by quashing the coup and defeating the Japanese troops. After the First Sino-Japanese War (甲午戰爭), Yuan’s work in training troops in Xiaozhan (小站), Tianjin (天津), helped form China’s first new army with Western training. Later, it grew into the Beiyang Army, China’s strongest army in the late Qing-early Republican era. Its formation was a major turning point during the military reform in China. After the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, China had difficulty reclaiming Tianjin as the Boxer Protocol (《辛丑條約》) prohibited it from stationing troops there. This also gave foreign armies a pretext to station in Tianjin. As the then Governor of Zhili (直隸), Yuan quickly organised a Western-style police force - which was not considered as an army - to take over Tianjin and safeguarded Chinese sovereignty there. In addition, Yuan was an active participant of the 10-year-long Late Qing Reform (晚清新政) as well. His contributions included planning and building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (京張鐵路), the first railway designed and built by Chinese; promoting the development of industries, commerce, and postal service; supporting the abolition of the imperial examination; promoting the establishment of new schools; banning opium and gambling, and so on. These actions all helped innovate China. After the 1911 Xinhai Revolution , even illustrious revolutionary leaders such as Huang Xing (黃興) acknowledged the fact that Yuan was the most capable person for restoring order to the nation. They thus supported him to be the provisional president, and sought his aid in prompting the Qing emperor to abdicate. However, during the Hundred Days’ Reform (戊戌維新), Yuan betrayed the reformers’ plans to the Qing government and caused a coup that cut short the reform movement. During the Republican era, he accepted most of the terms in the humiliating “Twenty-One Demands” proposed by Japan. The biggest and unforgivable act was him undoing China’s hard-won political progress by reviving monarchy that stained his reputation. In any case, despite Yuan’s major failings, his significant contributions to China during the early modern era should not be overlooked. |