February 12, 1912 – 2,000 years of imperial rule ends in China
On February 12, 1912, Empress Dowager Longyu of China signed the “Imperial Edict of theAbdication of the Qing Emperor”, which ended both the Qing dynasty and 2,000years of dynastic rule in China.The agreement granted the Qing court certain privileges: Puyi kept his imperialtitle and was to be treated by the republic with the honors of a foreignmonarch; the imperial court was to retain its residences at the Forbidden Cityand Summer Palace; and the republican governmentwould provide the emperor with an annual subsidy.
The Xinhai Revolution ended 2,000 years of dynastic rule in China.(Taken from China 1911-1928): Xinhai Revolution, Fragmentation, and Struggle for Reunification – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)
The threat of a civil war now loomed between the Beijing and Nanjingregimes. On December 18, 1911, mediatorsfrom the two sides met in Shanghaito negotiate. Sun was fully aware thatthe Beiyang Army was the most powerful military force in China, and thata civil war most likely would end in his own defeat. Thus, he was ready to cede political powerfor the survival of the nationalist government. In January 1912, the North-South Conference reached a compromise: Sunwould resign as provisional president in favor of Yuan, who would succeed hispost, in exchange for Yuan forcing the abdication of the child-Emperor Puyi(and thus ending the Qing monarchy).
Yuan then exerted pressure on Empress Dowager Longyu, the defacto regent of six-year old Puyi, to sign the abdication papers, warning herthat the Qing court would not be spared if the southern revolutionaries invadedBeijing. In early February 1912, Empress DowagerLongyu consented, and on February 12, signed the “Imperial Edict of theAbdication of the Qing Emperor”, which ended both the Qing dynasty and 2,000years of dynastic rule in China. The agreement granted the Qing court certainprivileges: Puyi kept his imperial title and was to be treated by the republicwith the honors of a foreign monarch; the imperial court was to retain itsresidences at the Forbidden City and Summer Palace; and therepublican government would provide the emperor with an annual subsidy.
On January 22, 1912, Sun announced his willingness to cedethe presidency to Yuan. On February 14,1912, the provisional Senate elected Yuan as the second provisional presidentof the republic; he was sworn into office on March 10. The following day, March 11, a provisionalconstitution was ratified.
Yuan Shikai in Power Fromthe outset, tensions existed between the pro-Sun groups, led by the Tongmenhui,and President Yuan and his supporters. To counter Yuan’s power base which was in the north, on February 14,1912, the provisional Senate voted to make Nanjing the capital of the republic. However, two weeks later, mutinous BeiyangArmy units rioted in Beijing. Yuan, who most likely masterminded thedisturbance, announced that he would remain in Beijing to guard against future unrest. The provisional Senate thus reconvened, andin another vote taken in April 1912, named Beijing as the capital of the republic.
President Yuan soon gained full control of government, andappeared intent on extending his powers. To counter Yuan and also prepare for the upcoming parliamentaryelections, in August 1912, Sun’s supporters formed the Kuomintang (KMT,English: Chinese Nationalist Party), merging the Tongmenhui and five smallerorganizations. In National Assemblyelections held in December 1912-January 1913, the KMT won a decisive victory,taking the most number of seats in both legislative houses over its rivals,including the pro-Yuan Republican Party.
Song Jiaoren, a leading KMT politician who had campaignedstrongly against Yuan and had vowed to reduce Yuan’s powers throughlegislation, appeared headed to become Prime Minister, and thus would form anew Cabinet. But in March 1913, he wasassassinated, perhaps under Yuan’s orders. When the newly elected National Assembly convened, the KMT-dominatedlegislature moved to enact measures to curb Yuan’s powers, and prepared toformulate a permanent constitution and hold national elections for thepresidency. Yuan now moved to destroythe political opposition, while his opponents in the south grew more militant –as a result, Chinabegan to fracture politically.
In July 1913, many southern provinces rose up in rebellion(sometimes called Sun Yat-sen’s “Second Revolution”), this time againstYuan. The Beiyang government (as thegovernment in Beijingwas called during the period 1912-1927) was militarily prepared, as Yuan hadrecently received a foreign loan which he used to build up his BeiyangArmy. In September 1913, Yuan’s forcescrushed the rebellion, and captured the insurgent strongholds in Nanchang and Nanjing,and forced Sun and other KMT leaders to flee into exile abroad.
In October 1913, the now intimidated National Assemblyelected Yuan as president of the republic for a five-year term. Yuan proceeded to break up all politicalopposition, first removing, coercing, or bribing KMT provincial officials. Then in November 1913, he dissolved the KMTand expelled KMT legislators from the National Assembly. As these expulsions caused the legislature tofail to reach a quorum to reconvene, in January 1914, Yuan dissolved theNational Assembly altogether. In itsplace, Yuan formed a quasi-legislative body of 66 of his supporters, who drewup and passed a “constitutional compact”, a new charter which replaced the 1912provisional constitution, and which gave Yuan unlimited powers in political,military, foreign affairs, and financial policy decisions. In December 1914, Yuan’s presidential tenurewas extended to ten years, with no terms limits –Yuan now ruled as a dictator.
Then in late 1915, Yuan made plans to return the country toa monarchy. He reasoned that the 1911Revolution that had toppled the Qing dynasty, and the ensuing republicangovernment, were divisive, transitory phases, and that only a monarchy couldrestore order and unity to the nation. In November 1915, a “Representative Assembly” was formed to study thematter, which subsequently issued many petitions to Yuan to becomeemperor. After pretending to refusethese petitions, on December 12, 1915, Yuan accepted, and named himself“Emperor of the Chinese Empire”. Yuan’sreign, as well as the country’s return to a monarchy as the “Empire of China”,was set to commence officially on January 1, 1916, when Yuan would perform theaccession rites.
Widespread protests broke out across much of China. Having experienced great repression under theQing dynasty, the Chinese people vehemently opposed the return to amonarchy. On December 25, 1915, themilitary governor of Yunnan Province declared hisprovince’s secession from the Beiyang government, and prepared for war. In rapid order, other provinces also seceded,including Guizhou, Guangxi,Guangdong, Shandong,Hunan, Shanxi,Jiangxi, and Jiangsu. The decisive showdown between Yuan’s army and forces of the rebellingprovinces took place in Sichuan Province, where rebel forces (under Yunnan Province’sNational Protection Army) dealt Yuan’s army a decisive defeat. During the fighting, Beiyang generals, whoalso opposed Yuan’s imperial ambitions, did not exert great effort to defeatthe rebel forces. In fact, Beiyang Armycommanders had already stopped supporting Yuan. Furthermore, while the foreign powers recognized the Beiyang regime asthe official government over China,Yuan’s planned monarchy received virtually no international support. Isolated and forced to postpone his accessionrites, Yuan finally abandoned his imperial designs on March 22, 1916. His political foes then also pressed him tostep down as president of the republic. Yuan died three months later, in June 1916, with his crumblinggovernment already unable to hold onto much of the country.
