Xu Shichang

Xu Shichang

Xu Shichang ( Chinese  徐世昌 , Pinyin Xú Shìchāng , W.-G. Hsü Shih-ch'ang ; born October 20, 1855 in Weihui , Henan Chinese Empire ; † June 6, 1939 in Tianjin , Hebei ) was a high-ranking politician in both Chinese Empire as well as the Republic of China . He was President of the Chinese Republic. His adult name is Juren ( Chinese  菊 人 , Pinyin Júrén )

Early Years and Careers Before and After the 1911 Chinese Revolution

Although the city was his ancestors Yinxian (present District Yinzhou ) in the sub-provincial city of Ningbo in the province of Zhejiang , however, he was in Weihui in the (province of Henan educated) after the death of his father by his mother with a heavy hand. Even if he grew up here in rather poor conditions, he enjoyed a high moral education from his teacher, a government official, and his mother was careful about his company. One of his closest friends became Yuan Shikai at an early age , whose family promoted his advancement. He made it to the Viceroy of Manchuria . When the end of the Qing dynasty was already looming, he was made chief of staff because of his organizational talent and his contributions to administrative reform of the army based on the western model - regardless of the fact that he was a civilian. In the service of his friend Yuan Shikai, China's strongest man at the time, foreign minister since 1914, he resigned in late 1915 in protest because of his own imperial ambitions : he resumed his offices when Yuan abolished the monarchy. After Yuan's death in 1917 he became one of two prime ministers (at the side of Army General Duan Qirui ) under President Feng Guozhang .

President of the Republic of China

His own election as President on October 10, 1918 was largely orchestrated by generals of the Beiyang Army at the head of their rival '' cliques '' such as Duan Qirui and Feng Guozheng because, as a civilian, he had no actual military power, but narrow ones Had connections with the Beiyang Army. He also behaved neutrally towards the warlord cliques that emerged from this . As a result, Xu Duan Qirui, Cao Kun, a Zhili leader of the Northern Militarists , and Zhang Zuolin , leader of the Fengtian clique, who wanted to proclaim their own republic in this so-called warlord era , had to play off against each other for his post as long as possible to keep.

After assuming the presidency, Xu is known to have made a domestic appearance at a huge victory celebration on November 18, 1918, because China (still under Feng Guozhang) entered the First World War on August 17, 1917 at the side of the Triple Entente . In foreign policy he endeavored to consolidate the previous alliance policy by supporting the Allied powers in their intervention in the Russian civil war (against the Bolsheviks ) and sending Chinese troops to Vladivostok .

In 1919 news leaked from Europe that Duan Qirui had agreed to the transfer of the former German possessions in the Shandong ( Kiautschou ) province to Japan, which was intended by the main victorious powers as part of the Versailles peace treaty , which led to unrest and broad popular support found. Xu had the mass protests known as the May 4th Movement put down by knocking down the ringleaders and imprisoning them. As a result, the coalition between the Zhili and Anhui cliques broke up , and Duan fell by the wayside as a political loser. The warlord era was at its height. The conflicts with the republican south-east of China continued to smolder. After Xu also failed to reintegrate Mongolia, Cao Kun , Duan's successor in the Zhili clique and an opponent of Xu from the beginning , urged him out of office on June 2, 1922 and installed Li Yuanhong as president , who had already accompanied this office before Feng Guozhang's presidency.

Xu stayed in contact with the government circles in Tianjin, but also in Beijing, and spoke up - especially against the Japanese aggressors . Even if they tried - albeit unsuccessfully - to ensnare him as a political figure who still came from the empire. In the spring of 1939, his bladder infection worsened and he was sent to Beijing for treatment. He refused for fear of being kidnapped by the Japanese and died at the age of 85 in Tianjin. Xu would go down as the president with the longest term in office during the warlord era in China's history.

literature

• Jerome B. Grieder: Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance; Liberalism in the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1937. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1970.
• Haiyan Lee: Tears that Crumbled the Great Wall: The Archeology of Feeling in the May Fourth Folklore Movement. (In: Journal of Asian Studies. Volume 64, No. 1), 2005, pp. 35-65.
• HUANG Wen-Zhi: A Historical Investigation on the Attitudes of the United States Towards "21 Articles" in the Negotiation Between China and Japan [J], Department of History, AnHui University, Hefei 230039, China, 2006
• Liu Ping: The Left Wing Drama Movement in China and Its Relationship to Japan. (In: Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique. Volume 14, No. 2), 2006, pp. 449-466.
• Rana Mitter: A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York 2004.
• Jonathan D. Spence : The Search for Modern China . Norton, New York 1999, ISBN 0-393-30780-8 .
• Chow Tse-Tsung: The May Fourth Movement. Intellectual Revolution in Modern China. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1960.
• Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom: Chinese Students and Anti-Japanese Protests, Past and Present. (In: World Policy Journal. Volume 22, No. 2), 2005, pp. 59-65.
• The China Weekly Review, 4th Edition: Who's Who in China, Chinese Biographies 中國 名人 錄, Shanghai, 1931
• Thomas Weyrauch: China's neglected republic: 100 years in the shadow of world history, Volume 1 (1911–1949). Publishing house Giessen 2009
• Peter Zarrow (ed.): China in war and revolution, 1895–1949. Routledge, New York 2005.

Web links

Commons : Xu Shichang  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Government figures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Joana Breidenbach: Pál Nyíri, Joana Breidenbach (eds.): China inside out: contemporary Chinese nationalism and transnationalism (engl.) , Illustrated. 3rd edition, Central European University Press, 2005, ISBN 963-7326-14-6 , p. 90 (accessed June 11, 2012): “Another story turned out to be traumatic for the Russian nationalist soul. After the Russian Revolution , in late 1918, Chinese traders in the Far East called on the Chinese government to send troops to protect them. As a result, Chinese troops (approx. 1,600 soldiers and 700 people to support them) were sent to Vladivostock. "
2. ↑ Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom: Chinese Students and Anti-Japanese Protests, Past and Present . World Policy Journal. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 18, 2008. 

further reading

• Erich Gütinger: The history of the Chinese in Germany: An overview of the first 100 years from 1822. Waxmann Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-8309-1457-0 .
• Vera Schwarcz: The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 University of California Press, Berkeley 1986.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Xu is the family name here, Shichang is the first name.