Empire of China (1915-1916)
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Empire of China 中華 帝國 Zhōnghuá Dìguó 1915–1916 |
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| Official language | Chinese | ||||
| Capital | Beijing | ||||
| Form of rule | monarchy | ||||
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Kaiser 1915 to 1916 |
Hongxian |
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| National anthem | 中國 雄 立 宇宙 間 (China stands heroically in the universe) | ||||
| currency | Silver dollar cash |
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The Chinese Empire from 1915–1916 ( Chinese 中华 帝国 / 中華 帝國 , Zhōnghuá Dìguó) was a short-lived attempt by the President and military ruler Yuan Shikai from late 1915 to early 1916 to restore imperial rule in China and to restore his own dynasty, the Hongxian Dynasty , to found. Although the attempt was doomed to failure from the start, it set the Republic of China back years in its development and favored the breakup of the country into many small areas under the control of various warlords .
Preparation of the foundation
After he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as President of the Republic of China on March 10, 1912 , Yuan Shikai began to take various steps to secure his position of power and eliminate the opposition. For this purpose he cooperated with several major European powers as well as with Japan . Around August 1915, he asked his minister, Yang Du, to find out whether a majority among government officials could be obtained for the re-establishment of the monarchy under his leadership. After he was assured of this majority, Yuan set up a special assembly that unanimously elected him Emperor of China on December 11, 1915. Yuan officially refused the offer of emperor, but "softened" the same day when the congregation asked him again to become emperor. On December 12th, supported by his son Yuan Keding , he proclaimed the Chinese Empire and proclaimed himself Great Emperor of China (中華 帝國 大 皇帝). He gave himself and his dynasty founded the name Hongxian (洪 憲). However, he did not receive the formal coronation rites because, among other things, one of his Korean concubines sabotaged the dress fittings. Shortly after his accession to the throne, Yuan began to distribute titles of nobility to friends, relatives and people whom he hoped to win for his cause. The Aisin Gioro clan , who had established the emperors of the previous Qing dynasty and still lived in the Forbidden City , officially recognized Yuan's emperor and even offered an imperial marriage between a daughter of Yuan and the former emperor Puyi , who was still underage .
Setbacks and the end
Yuan planned to introduce a new year counting with the year 1916, which would have been Republic year 5 ( 民國 五年 ), and therefore declared it Hongxian year 1 ( 洪 憲 元年 ). In doing so, however, he met resistance not only from the forces loyal to the republic, but also from the military. It was interested in an instability of the Yuan government, as it feared that if its power was consolidated, Yuan could rule without the help of the military and curtail its influence.
Even so, his popular support was very weak, and so there were numerous rebellions shortly after he came to power. The first broke out in Yunnan , where Governor Cai E and General Tang Jiyao declared independence, followed by Jiangxi under Governor Li Liejun . The insurgents founded the army to protect the state ( 護國軍 , Huguójun ) and soon afterwards began the war to protect the state . In the course of this uprising, other provinces declared their independence from the empire. Yuan had failed to pay the generals of the Beiyang Army , of whose ranks he was himself, their outstanding wages, which resulted in them not being particularly aggressive against the insurgents. Despite their better equipment and training, the army even suffered several severe defeats, which further weakened Yuan's position.
When the foreign powers represented in China became aware of the weakness and unpopularity of Yuan, they officially withdrew their support, but also did not side with the insurgents. The Japanese Empire was the only one to intervene in the internal affairs of the empire. After an open threat of war, it pledged to help overthrow Yuan and recognized the conflict between the Empire and Republicans as a legitimate war. Japanese citizens were also allowed to fight on the side of the Republican forces. This although the Japanese gave an imperial rule a higher chance of normalizing the chaotic situation in the country than a republic. However, since they had their own interests in China, they were interested in an internally divided country.
Due to strong internal and external opposition, Yuan repeatedly postponed his official coronation in order to appease his enemies. On March 1, 1916, the preparations were officially stopped. On March 17th, Yuan first held a consultation with Liang Shiyi about abolishing the monarchy and announced its dissolution on March 22nd. The year Hongxian 1 ended on March 23rd and the Republican calendar was reinstated. All in all, Yuan's reign as emperor lasted only 83 days.
With his death on June 6, 1916, Yuan's presidency ended and former Vice President Li Yuanhong took over his office. He appointed the general of the Beiyang Army, Duan Qirui , as his prime minister and reinstated the national assembly and provisional constitution of the republic. However, as a result of the uprisings during the brief imperial rule, the central government in Beijing had lost control of large parts of the country and China slipped more and more into the time now known as the warlord era.
National symbols
Although the name of the state in Chinese was changed to Empire of China , Yuan kept the English name as Republic of China .
He also set up an office for the determination of the rituals (禮 制 館), which in June 1915 published the new national anthem China stands heroically in the universe (中 華雄立 宇宙 間). Your text was written by Yin Chang (廕 昌) and the music by Wang Lu (王 露). It remained the official anthem throughout Yuan's reign.
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中 華雄立 宇宙 間 ， |
China heroically stands in the Universe, |
China stands heroically in the universe, |
Yao was a legendary Chinese emperor. The era of Yao in its Chinese spelling (堯 天舜 日) means the time of peace and prosperity.
The national flag has been changed from the original five-lined flag to that shown above. The red cross symbolized the rule of the Han over the four peoples of Manchu , Mongols , Uyghurs and Tibetans . Together these make up the five peoples named in the national anthem. Both flags shown had the same meaning, but the version with the St. Andrew's cross was used much more often.
literature
- Denis Twitchett (Ed.): The Cambridge History of China. Volume 12: John K. Fairbank (Ed.): Republican China, 1912-1949. Part 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1983, ISBN 0-521-23541-3 .
Remarks
- ^ Wolfram Eberhard : History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 413). 3rd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-520-41303-5 , p. 385.
- ↑ a b c d e Kuo T'ing-i et al. Historical Annals of the ROC (1911-1949). Vol 1. pp. 207-41.
- ↑ 中國 的 旗幟 (flags of China)