百年袁家：袁世凯及杨氏夫人后裔百年家族史 (理想国)

by 王碧蓉

One of Yuan Shih-kais granddaughter said they she and her four sisters had never met their grandpa Yuan Shih-kai, but his influence in them was so great. This book focuses not on the Yuan Shih-kai who ended the monarchy of the Qing dynasty but later restored the monarchy for himself, it mainly tells about the Yuan Shih-kai in his family and the family of Yuan Shih-kai. It tells about the Yuan Shih-kai as a filial son, husband of ten wives and father of 32 children and the life stories of five wives and dozens decedents of Yuan Shih-kai. In the 100 years after Yuan Shih-kai passed away, what did he leave for his descendents? The second, third and fourth generation of the Yuan family, like most Chinese people, experienced the turbulent days of the Republic of China, the invasion of Japanese army, the KMT-CPC civil war, the birth of Peoples Republic of China, anti-rightist movement, cultural revolution and reform and open up. As descendents of Yuan Shih-kai, is their family background a blessing or a curse? This book shows the family history of Yuan Shih-kai and the descendents of his wife Yang, and it tells about the life stories of about ten people in the Yuan family. Some of them had an ordinary life, some had uncommon lives, and their lives are like a mirror of the course of China in one hundred years. Among the descendents of Yang, there are Yuan Kehuan, the famous national entrepreneur in the Republic of China, several teachers, overseas entrepreneurs, CPPCC delegate, ordinary company administrator, winner of Emmy Awards, architect, priest, painter, poet, musician and etc. The book also shows 179 precious photos, from Yuan-Shih-kai to his great-great-grandson to the fifth generation. It builds a special corridor of the figures of Yuan family in 100 years, it takes to know the Yuan descendants understanding of their forefather and their cognition of their family identity and the rarely-known stories of Yuan Shih-kais future generations.

488 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2013