Xu Shichang or (October 20, 1855-June 5, 1939) was
President of the Republic of ChinaThe President of the Republic of China is the head of state of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded in 1911 governing China...
(
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
government) from October 10, 1918 to June 2, 1922.
Biography
Xu's ancestral hometown was Yinxian County (current
Yinzhou DistrictYinzhou is a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, China.- History :In 220 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, established three counties called Yin, Mao and Juzhang . Later they were merged into Juzhang county during the Sui Dynasty. It was renamed Mao county during the...
),
NingboNingbo is a seaport with sub-provincial administrative status. The city has a population of 2,201,000 and is situated in northeastern Zhejiang province, China...
, Zhejiang Province. Born in
WeihuiWeihui is a county-level city in Henan, People's Republic of China. It belongs to Xinxiang. The city has an area of 882 km² and a population of 480,000....
,
HenanHenan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the eastern central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is 豫 , named after Yuzhou Province , a Han Dynasty province that included parts of Henan...
, he was
Yuan ShikaiYuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the...
's closest friend. He was at one time the
ViceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
of
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
and at the end of the
Qing dynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
he was made chief of the general staff despite being a civilian. He resigned as
secretary of state (premier) in protest to Yuan's imperial ambition in late 1915. He resumed his post after Yuan abandoned monarchism.
His election as president was largely engineered by
Duan QiruiDuan Qirui was a Chinese warlord and politician, commander in the Beiyang Army, and the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.- Early life :Born in Hefei as Duan Qirui , his...
and his
Anhui cliqueThe Anhui clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's Warlord era. It was named after Anhui province because several of its generals including its founder, Duan Qirui, was born in Anhui...
. He was chosen because he was a civilian yet had close ties to the
Beiyang ArmyThe Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
and was neutral to both its
ZhiliThe Zhili clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang clique during the Republic of China's warlord era. This fragmentation followed the death of Yuan Shikai, who was the only person capable of keeping the Beiyang Army together...
and Anhui cliques. Lacking any military power of his own, he had to play Duan, Zhili leader
Cao KunCao Kun was a military leader of the Zhili clique in the Beiyang Army, and trustee of the Catholic University of Peking.- Early life & Rise to leadership :Cao was born in a poor family in Tianjin...
, and
FengtianThe Fengtian Clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's warlord era. It was named for Fengtian Province and led by Zhang Zuolin...
leader
Zhang ZuolinZhang Zuolin was the warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to 1928. He successfully invaded China proper in October 1924 in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. He gained control of Beijing, including China's internationally recognized government, in April 1926...
against each other to stay in power.
He held a massive celebration in Beijing for China's victory in
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
on 18 November 1918, however he brought troops into the
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil WarThe Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during the Russian Civil War and World War I. The intervention involved fourteen nations and was conducted over a vast expanse of territory...
. A ceasefire with Sun Yatsen's rival Constitutional Protection government was declared and intellectuals were given greater freedom. This lasted until news from France showed how Duan Qirui promised German territory in
ShandongFor the people of Shandong, see Shandong people' is a coastal province of eastern People's Republic of China. Its abbreviation is Lǔ, after the state of Lu that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
to Japan. Large student protests (
May Fourth MovementThe May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919 protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
) led to Xu cracking down with mass arrests. The delegation was ordered home and China refused to sign or ratify the
Versailles treatyThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. Consequently, the shaky alliance between the Zhili and Anhui cliques collapsed with Duan decisively defeated. This led to the era of high warlordism. Conflict with the south flared again in 1920 and he also failed to retake
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
. Cao Kun, who never liked Xu, pressured him out of office and restored
Li YuanhongLi Yuanhong was a Chinese general and political figure during the Qing dynasty and the republican era. He was twice president of the Republic of China.- Early history :...
.
His presidency lasted the longest during the warlord era. He was also the only non-acting president of the
Beiyang governmentThe Beiyang government or warlord government collectively refers to a series of military regimes that ruled from Beijing from 1912 to 1928 at Zhongnanhai. It was internationally recognized as the legitimate Government of the Republic of China...
to be a
civilianA civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agencies, which often use...
.