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A Volatile World （6）
The Beginning of Troubled Times |
| CCTV.COM 2002-09-10 09:09:00 |
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 Built in a mixed Chinese－Western style, the tomb compared well with an imperial one. Yuan Shikai who had been an emperor for 83 days lay here. He died of worries on June 6, 1916. Anti－Yuan forces in the south had finally reached a peace agreement with Beijing government and maintained Yuan Shikai must be held responsible for his betrayal to the republic. But the Northern Warlords government buried its master in a state funeral.
Kept in a secret room in Zhongnanhai, “Gold Plate of Jia Hu” was opened on the second day after Yuan’s death. People saw Yuan Shikai wrote down names for successors, and Vice President Li Yuanhong was the first candidate to be nominated for president.
After Yuan’s death, Northern Warlords Army was still the strongest armed forces in the country. This army was first set up in Xiaozhan in the suburbs of Tianjin. Signs of army drills in those days can still be seen. Officers and soldiers were armed with modern weapons and drilled in German soldier’s exercises. Twenty years later, the army firmly dominated North China and even extended to the Yangtze River Basin. During the reign of the National Republic and under the Dragon flag, two presidents, three prime ministers and 10 army cabinet ministers came out of these young officers. After Yuan died, they got united to form a regiment of military governors and controlled the political situation of the north.
 In late fall of that year, Huang Xing died in Shanghai at the age of 37. A week later, Cai Er died of illness when he was 34 years old. People mourned over the death of the two young men who had been pillars of the republic, and worried about the fate of their country as well.
The First World War entered its fourth year in 1917 with more countries getting involved in war. The German submarine attacked all the merchant ships passing by, so the United States declared war on Germany. The American government persuaded the Chinese government to take the same action. China could temporarily stop paying indemnity for the 1900 War, known as Boxer Indemnity in the West, if it did.
China was finally embroiled in the war. Prime Minister Duan Qirui was in favor of going to war while President Li Yuanhong tried to remain neutral. Their contradictions became acute. Li Yuanhong asked Zhang Xun, a military governor in Anhui, to mediate the dispute.
More than 4,000 soldiers, wearing long braids, entered Beijing on June 9. Zhang Xun, nicknamed a marshal with a long braid, finally got a chance to do his filial duties to the Qing court. In the early morning of July 1, 12－year－old Pu Yi appeared in the Hall of Moral Cultivation and called in court officials. He issued an order that the republic had been dissolved and gave public notice to restore the monarchy. Old fogies and young diehards went out and took an active part in social activities. Beijing seemed to go back to the times of the Qing Empire. It was the second time for Beijing to establish a monarchy within a year.
In Tianjin, Duan Qirui pledged to fight against the monarchy. But the long－braid soldiers hung out white banners to surrender upon hearing the gunshots. A farce of restoring monarchy came to a hasty end.
Duan Qirui became Prime Minister once again. The first thing he did was to declare war on Germany. But he refused to resume parliament and the provisional law. He borrowed a large sum of money from Japan to increase his military strength. In July of 1917, more than 1,600 Chinese workers were sent to France to assist allied forces in war. But Duan’s soldiers didn’t go to the European battlefield. They went to Hunan. From then on, China landed itself in an impasse of a civil war that went on for more than a dozen years.
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Editor: Liu Baoyin CCTV.com
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