The Fight For The Republic in China

by B.L. Putnam Weale

From that day onwards for over a century no Emperor ventured out from behind the frowning Walls of the Forbidden City, save for brief annual ceremonies, such as the Worship of Heaven on the occasion of the Winter Solstice, and during the two "flights"—first in 1860 when Peking was occupied by an Anglo-French expedition and the Court incontinently sought sanctuary in the mountain Palaces of Jehol; and, again, in 1900, when with the pricking of the Boxer bubble and the arrival of the International relief armies, the Imperial Household was forced along the stony road to far-off Hsianfu. The effect of this immurement was soon visible; the Manchu rule, which was emphatically a rule of the sword, was rapidly so weakened that the emperors became no more than rois fainéants at the mercy of their minister.[1] The history of the Nineteenth Century is thus logically enough the history of successive collapses. Not only did overseas foreigners openly thunder at the gateways of the empire and force an ingress, but native rebellions were constant and common.

Genres: China

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Bertram Lenox Simpson (1877-1930), who wrote under the pseudonym Putnam Weale was a novelist and a journalist. He was one of the well-known figures who worked for the Customs in China. His works include: Indiscreet Letters from Peking (1906), The Fight for the Republic in China (1917), Wang the Ninth: The Story of a Chinese Boy (1920), The Port of Fragrance (1930), Manchu and Muscovite and The Re-Shaping of the Far East.

Reviews

[Tony Blackmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 1918 at a hopeful time after a failed attempt to establish a new Imperial line, this work by a life-long China hand details the early years of the Republic, especially the presidency of Yuan Shih-kai. It's a clear reminder that Chinese democracy was thottled at birth long before Chiang Kai-shek or the Kuomingtang entered history, let along later developments. The author blames the western powers for the failure of the Republic in China due to their own short-sightedness and self-interest. At the point the book was published as the end of WW I, Putnam Weale suggests that the Great Powers change their tack and welcome the Republic of China as an equal nation and a functioning liberal-democarcy. With a new president sympathetic to the Republican cause and Congress recalled, the author saw it as the moment to act. We know that didn't happen and the rest is, as they say, history.

[Ruben · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thoughtful analysis on China and western interests on it during first decades of XX century.
If you are looking, as I was, for an overview of modern Chinese history this book is not for you.