Podcasts about sun yat

fWotD Episode 2878: The True Record Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Saturday, 22 March 2025 is The True Record.The True Record (simplified Chinese: 真相画报; traditional Chinese: 真相畫報; pinyin: Zhēnxiāng Huàbào) was a pictorial magazine published in Shanghai, China, between June 1912 and March or April 1913. The magazine was established by brothers Gao Qifeng and Gao Jianfu as the nascent Republic of China was seeking to develop a new culture after centuries of Qing rule. It sought to monitor the new republic, report the welfare of the people, promote socialism, and distribute world knowledge. Under the Gaos and fellow editor Huang Binhong, the magazine published seventeen issues and expanded its reach from China through Southeast Asia and to Hawaii. Fervently supportive of Sun Yat-sen and the nationalist movement, the magazine was critical of Provisional President Yuan Shikai and closed during a time when he was consolidating his power.Produced using a combination of copperplate printing and collotype, The True Record featured colourful covers as well as numerous photographs and illustrations. Between its pages, seven types of imagery were included, from paintings and photographs to satirical manhua. Articles covered such topics as traditional and modern art, current events, technological innovations, and politics; works of creative writing were also included. Essays called for the creation of a "new national art", as well as the expansion of the national economy through industrial art and other means. Despite having been published for less than one year, The True Record has been described as one of the most important illustrated magazines of the first years of the Republic of China.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:50 UTC on Saturday, 22 March 2025.For the full current version of the article, see The True Record on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Niamh.

Vous écoutez le podcast "Les interviews Histoire", notre émission hebdomadaire gratuite pour tous. Abonnez-vous à "5.000 ans d'Histoire" et accédez à environ 350 podcasts d'1 heure pour seulement 2€ par mois sans Pub ! Avec une nouvelle émission chaque semaine : https://m.audiomeans.fr/s/S-tavkjvmo Alliance céleste, 14K, Sun Yee On, Bambou uni… derrière ces noms exotiques se cachent des organisations criminelles tentaculaires. À partir d'une vaste enquête et de rencontres avec des personnages hauts en couleur, Antoine Vitkine raconte l'histoire et les ambitions de la mafia chinoise, devenue la plus puissante au monde.Depuis près de deux siècles, les triades tissent leur toile. Elles ont fait tomber le dernier empereur de Chine, régné sur le Shanghai des années 1920 comme sur les salles de jeu de Macao. Sun Yat-sen, fondateur de la République de Chine, en fut même l'un des « parrains ». D'une implacable brutalité, elles possèdent leurs rites, leur hiérarchie stricte et des valeurs claniques.Ces « sociétés noires » ont su s'adapter au monde contemporain et déploient leur emprise sur tous les continents. Elles dominent le trafic de drogues, d'êtres humains et de contrefaçons, sont à la pointe du blanchiment d'argent et de la cybercriminalité, s'immiscent dans l'économie légale. Surtout, elles se sont mises au service des ambitions de Xi Jinping et de sa guerre contre l'Occident : soutien aux routes de la soie, répression des manifestants démocrates à Hong Kong, corruption politique au Canada, invasion du fentanyl aux États-Unis…Depuis quelques années, elles sont également devenues les banques occultes du crime organisé européen. Cette plongée sidérante dans le monde des triades révèle leurs liens avec le pouvoir de Pékin et leur impact sur les rapports de forces mondiaux. Un défi majeur pour nos démocraties.L'auteur, Antoine Vitkine est notre invité par téléphoneDistribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Today, we'll continue to talk about Sun Yat-sen University, which has been at the forefront of higher education in China, playing a crucial role in the country's academic development while nurturing leaders who would go on to shape the country's history.

Walking around Taipei a couple of years ago, I spotted a familiar sight – a bronze statue of a moustachioed man, cane in his right hand, left leg striding forward. The man is Sun Yat-sen, considered modern China's founding father. I recognised the statue because a larger version of it stands in the city centre of Nanjing, the mainland Chinese city that I was born and raised in. That one figure can be celebrated across the strait, both in Communist PRC and Taiwanese ROC, is the curious legacy left behind by Sun. March 12th this year is the centenary of Sun's death, so what better opportunity to look at his legacy, and who better to discuss Sun than the historian Rana Mitter, who needs no introduction with Chinese Whispers listeners. Further listening: Japan's role in the making of modern China What is it to be ‘Chinese'?

Walking around Taipei a couple of years ago, I spotted a familiar sight – a bronze statue of a moustachioed man, cane in his right hand, left leg striding forward. The man is Sun Yat-sen, considered modern China's founding father. I recognised the statue because a larger version of it stands in the city centre of Nanjing, the mainland Chinese city that I was born and raised in. That one figure can be celebrated across the strait, both in Communist PRC and Taiwanese ROC, is the curious legacy left behind by Sun. March 12th this year is the centenary of Sun's death, so what better opportunity to look at his legacy, and who better to discuss Sun than the historian Rana Mitter, who needs no introduction with Chinese Whispers listeners. Further listening: Japan's role in the making of modern China What is it to be ‘Chinese'?

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we'll talk about Sun Yat-sen University, which stands as a testament to the seamless integration of traditional Chinese values and modern educational reforms, shaping the intellectual landscape of China through its commitment to academic excellence and cultural innovation.

Es geht um Kulturexport, Industrienormen, HighTech und was Sun Yat-sen den Deutschen zu sagen hat.

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency. Today, we bring you a tale that is both a glimpse into history and a lesson in courage. Set in the late 19th century, our story follows a young Sun Yat-sen, the future father of modern China, as he navigates the traditional Confucian school system. In a classroom where rote learning and strict discipline reign supreme, Sun Yat-sen finds himself questioning the meaning behind the words he is forced to memorize. One day, after flawlessly reciting his lesson, he summons the courage to ask his teacher for an explanation, a move that shocks both his classmates and the teacher. Share your comments and join the conversation. _ LCTS ************************************************************ Support Our Podcast If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us continue creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $7 a month. As a patron, you will enjoy: ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience.

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency. Today, we bring you a tale that is both a glimpse into history and a lesson in courage. Set in the late 19th century, our story follows a young Sun Yat-sen, the future father of modern China, as he navigates the traditional Confucian school system. In a classroom where rote learning and strict discipline reign supreme, Sun Yat-sen finds himself questioning the meaning behind the words he is forced to memorize. One day, after flawlessly reciting his lesson, he summons the courage to ask his teacher for an explanation, a move that shocks both his classmates and the teacher. Share your comments and join the conversation. _ LCTS ************************************************************ Support Our Podcast If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us continue creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $7 a month. As a patron, you will enjoy: ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience.

Last time we spoke about the fifth encirclement campaign against the CCP. After surviving four encirclement campaigns by the NRA, the CCP faced an intensified fifth campaign in 1933, as the Japanese invaded Manchuria and North China. Despite growing in numbers, the CCP struggled against the KMT's modernized army, equipped with German weapons and strategies. A combination of blockades, fortified positions, and superior tactics eroded Red Army strength. By 1934, after significant losses, the Red Army retreated, marking the campaign's end and signaling the start of the CCP's eventual Long March. In the battle between the NRA and the Red Army, the NRA employed strategic counterinsurgency techniques to block Red infiltration and gained local support through loyalty and economic pressure. Meanwhile, the Red Army, hampered by internal issues and a shift in leadership towards the Twenty-eight Bolsheviks, struggled with morale and mass recruitment of untrained peasants. As the Red Army attempted aggressive tactics and reforms, they ultimately faced defeat, leading to their strategic retreat in the historic Long March.   #129 The Fujian Rebellion of 1933 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In the previous episode, during the fifth encirclement campaign, I briefly mentioned a rebellion that took place in Fujian province. Now this story actually crosses over a few we will be covering, such as the fifth encirclement campaign, already mentioned but also the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1931, part of the Mukden incident. So its a bit tricky for me to cover this one without giving away too much of what we will be speaking about later, but I will try my best to be mysterious.  Now the key player I guess you can say to this story is the 19th Route Army. The 19th Route Army's history can be traced back to the 1st division of the Guangdong Army. In 1926, this division underwent a significant transformation, becoming the 4th Army of the NRA. At that time, Li Jishen was appointed as the commander, with Chen Mingshu serving as the commander of the newly formed 10th Division. Other notable figures included Jiang Guangnai as the deputy commander and Cai Tingkai leading a subordinate regiment. All of these men will be key players in the Rebellion.  During the Northern Expedition, the 4th NRA Army distinguished itself with numerous successful campaigns. The 10th Division was subsequently expanded into the 11th Army. This new formation went on to play a pivotal role in during the Central Plains War of 1930, assisting Chiang Kai-shek in his struggle against warlords' anti-chiang coalition. As a result of this success, the 11th Army was reorganized into the 19th Route Army, with Jiang Guangnai assuming the role of overall commander and Cai Tingkai becoming the army commander. Following these developments, the 19th Route Army then went on to be part of the third encirclement campaign. Now again not to give away too much, but in 1931 the Mukden incident broke out initiating a 15 year war between China and Japan. Most of the action took place in Manchuria, pouring slightly into Northern China and Inner Mongolia, but there was an expedition performed in Shanghai. In many ways it was like a dress rehearsal for what would go down in 1937 during the battle of Shanghai. During the crisis, known then as the September 18th Incident, the 19th Route Army was redeployed to Shanghai.This transition occurred during a tumultuous period when Chiang Kai-shek faced significant political pressure and was forced to resign. The Nanjing National Government, dominated by the Guangdong faction, saw Chen Mingshu appointed as the commander of the garrison responsible for defending Beijing and Shanghai. Now this was a hyper chaotic time for China, and a particularly rough time for Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-Shek was dealing with multiple external and internal threats to China and his position as Generalissimo. First off, his encirclement campaigns against the Reds were not going well at all. His men were not accustomed nor trained properly to face guerilla warfare. When they assaulted the Jiangxi Soviet they were entering strange territory and were greeted by the countryfolk as enemies. The Reds, in contrast, felt at home among the villages. For years, they had lived alongside the people and built friendships; forging connections was a key aspect of Communist strategy. Whenever Chiang Kai-Sheks forces came too close for comfort, the guerrillas seamlessly blended into the local population. They established their own Soviets, spread their ideology at will, and disappeared when soldiers approached. They were like a fluid army. Over time, the Chinese public became less concerned about the ongoing presence of the Red Army and more weary of the topic. Those not living in areas affected by Communist infiltration struggled to grasp the urgency of this endless conflict and began to question whether the costs outweighed the benefits. Very little news was reported on the situation, and what was published came primarily from government sources, portraying it as a series of victories for the Nationalists—this battle was a success for the Nationalists, that one ended in a glorious triumph; the KMT troops had the Reds on the run. A few days later, another dispatch would reiterate the same points, as if the earlier battles had never occurred. The front lines never seemed to shift significantly. Chiang Kai-Shek maintained his position as Generalissimo like any other politician, through alliances. One of his key friends was Hu Hanmin. The relationship between Chiang Kai-Shek and Hu Hanmin was never straightforward. Their shared history was marked by significant jealousy, and in February 1931, they faced another separation. During a KMT conference, Hu Hanmin challenged the provisional constitution proposed by Chiang Kai-Shek, arguing that it was prematurely defining various governmental functions. He claimed that Chiang Kai-Shek was consolidating too much power for himself. Chiang Kai-Shek countered that Hu Hanmins concerns were mainly about party authority. This situation echoed their earlier disputes in Canton, where they had debated theories under Dr Sun Yat-sen's influence, but now their conflicts held more weight and didn't end in mere discussion. Hu Hanmin, overwhelmed by his anger, resigned from the presidency of the Legislative Yuan, a significant position at the time. In response, a similarly agitated Chiang Kai-Shek placed him under house arrest, or as the Chinese more delicately termed it, “in soft detainment.” Initially, this fact was not disclosed; Hu Hanmin simply vanished. This was quite an extreme action for someone who advocated democratic processes, leading to a barrage of inquiries from curious Europeans directed at Chiang Kai-Shek. What had happened? Where was Hu? Why had the innocuous Lin Sen been appointed as president of the Legislative Yuan? For a considerable time, the Generalissimo remained silent, but eventually, he reluctantly stated that Hu was fine—indeed, quite fine; it was simply that his personal freedom was temporarily restricted. This was all for his own benefit and that of the KMT. Without this restriction, the misguided individual might attempt to flee to Shanghai, which would only incite dissenting factions and provoke disorder. He was perfectly fine. The incident was added to the ever-growing list of accusations made by Chiang Kai-Sheks opponents, who claimed he was becoming a dictator. They argued that he was squandering the nation's resources to maintain his army while pursuing insignificant Communists, who, if left alone, might actually become good citizens. Rumors circulated that he was nurturing a group of young bullies reminiscent of the Italian "Blue Shirts." Additionally, there were concerns about the shady Chen brothers. Furthermore, it was alleged that Chiang Kai-Shek was in close contact with gangster Tu Yueh-sen in Shanghai, profiting immensely from the opium trade through this connection. In fact, Chiang had recently declared that opium would now be a government monopoly, similar to that of the British in Hong Kong, as he needed the funds. And now, this latest scandal! Criticism of the Generalissimo was rampant, especially among students. April passed, and the uproar over Hu Hanmin faded into discontented whispers, as the People's Congress approached, providing an opportunity for open discussion about the provisional constitution. However, by May 5, people were preoccupied with other concerns. The South was once again causing unrest, led by Wang Jingwei, with Eugene Chen involved as well. It began with the typical manifesto or circular telegram, signed by Wang Jingwei and the Jiangxi generals, who "impeached" Chiang Kai-Shek for his wrongdoings. Another telegram soon followed from the warlord in Canton, accusing the Generalissimo of assuming dictatorial powers. In response, Chiang Kai-Shek convened an urgent meeting of KMT leaders, asserting that the allegations must be openly discussed and investigated. He should have been able to rely on the Party's support during such a crisis, but the situation was unusual due to Hu Hanmin's detention. Some members of his own faction seized the moment to betray him. Sun Fo and Wang Chunghui retreated to Shanghai before moving on to Canton. Shortly after, the Canton warlord declared an alliance between Jiangxi and Guangdong, united in their fight, this was the Chiang-Gui War. On May 25, the southerners issued an ultimatum: Chiang Kai-Shek had to resign within forty-eight hours or face the consequences. A few days later, they established a new national government in Canton. Chiang Kai-Shek announced his intention to suppress the rebels but did not rush into action. Instead, there were discussions—more discussions—in the neutral setting of Shanghai. Throughout June and most of July, these negotiations continued, with Chiang Kai-Shek hoping to prevent a conflict that the nation could ill afford. The southerners persisted with their demands, and their appeal to Japan for support would haunt them for a long time. Their determination ultimately prevailed, and on July 21, it was announced in Canton that a punitive expedition was underway. By mid-August, Bai Chongxi's army was advancing through Hunan on the old route to Nanking. Chiang Kai-Shek prepared for the confrontation, and the capital was on high alert. Meanwhile, in the North, the Mukden Incident broke out. In the South, the generals and their associates held back, anticipating that war could be declared at any moment. However, Chiang Kai-Shek and his advisers understood that he was even less equipped than Zhang Xueliang to initiate an offensive against a powerful foreign nation. There was the League of Nations, established presumably to address crises like this, as well as the Kellogg Pact. Chiang Kai-Shek decided to refer the matter to the League, though his chances of a favorable outcome were slim: America, which might have otherwise been involved, was preoccupied with its own economic depression, and Britain remained indifferent. The more impulsive factions in China believed this response was insufficient, and the dissidents in the South demanded a stronger approach. The students were the most incensed. On September 28, hundreds of students in Shanghai took matters into their own hands. They seized control of a train at the railway station and traveled to Nanking, where they joined forces with fellow students from the capital's university. Together, they marched—five thousand strong—toward the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. They pushed past the guards, stormed the Minister's office, forcibly dragged him outside, and assaulted him. After recovering from his injuries in the hospital, the Minister chose to resign. The students then initiated a sit-in strike, declaring they would remain in Nanking until they received tangible action rather than mere diplomatic efforts. Authorities were unsure how to respond to them, as more pressing issues demanded the government's attention. It was clear that the South and Nanking needed to resolve their differences, as public opinion strongly supported this. Despite the ungracious criticisms emanating from Canton, where Eugene Chen was vocally denouncing Chiang Kai-shek for his diplomatic failures, Nanking sought to negotiate. In October, Chiang Kai-Shek released Hu Hanmin from his mild detention, and he appeared none the worse for the unexpected break. Along with three others, he traveled to Shanghai for a peace conference with the southern leaders. Hu urged the southerners to be reasonable and to cease calls for Chiang Kai-Shek's resignation. Chiang Kai-Shek remarked, “Regardless of the right or wrong of the situation, if desired, all blame can be placed squarely on me.” However, this uplifting scene was short-lived. As the Canton faction continued to insist on Chiang's resignation, Hu abruptly changed his stance and escalated the demands. He suggested that not only should Chiang resign, but he should also be exiled from China entirely. The conference ended in chaos. Various proposals were discussed and quickly dismissed. The South remained resolute; Chiang had to go. The sit-in students, frustrated with just sitting idle, started to escalate their actions. Their numbers had been steadily increasing since the initial demonstration, with boys traveling to Nanking from distant places; by the end of November, there were twelve thousand of them. They marched again to the new government buildings, demanding that Chiang Kai-Shek come out to engage in a discussion. “War on Japan!” they shouted. Chiang Kai-Shek made them wait in the cold winter weather for a full twenty-four hours before he finally appeared. He reprimanded them harshly and ordered them to return to school, leading to a subdued dispersal of the crowd. On December 15th, Chiang Kai-Shek capitulated to public pressure and resigned. Chiang Kai-Shek yet again nonchalantly got up and left heading home into the mountains. This left an extremely uneasy Sun Fo in the presidential chair facing what looked like a full blown Japanese invasion. The Japanese kept reiterating they were merely defending their citizens after the Chinese had attacked the South Manchurian Railway…but yeah they were certainly conquering. Sun Fo desperately looked to any veteran figures for help, but Hu Hanmin fled to Hong Kong, Wang Jingwei, arguably the man responsible for forcing Chiang Kai-Shek yet again to step down was suddenly far too ill to do anything and retired to the Shanghai Hospital. Meanwhile, all of the bankers had lost interest in the Nanjing government since Chiang Kai-Shek had departed, the government literally lost its coffers. The government had no means to properly pay its armies. Now the entire time the government had been tossing offers to Chiang Kai-Shek to come back, but he bided his time. Meanwhile Eugene Chen demanded China break off diplomatic relations with Japan, was told no so he resigned, followed soon after by Sun Fo. Wang Jingwei was tossed into the presidency position, which he must have relished, however it was just then when Shanghai was invaded. Chiang Kai-Shek still held his honorary position as CEC over the special committee so he simply waited and watched. Yet no one could manage the military like the generalissimo nor open the coin purses to fund it. Thus Chiang Kai-Shek was brought back, but not really as Generalissimo, now he had to work collaboratively with others, such as Wang Jingwei.  In 1932, the January 28 Incident unfolded, basically the Japanese performed another false flag operation trying to legitimize an expedition into Shanghai. Japanese marines began to land and on January 28th they were attacking in full force. The 19th Route Army met the enemy in what became a month-long resistance against great odds. Chiang Kai-Shek was being labeled a coward for not doing more against the Japanese, but he was keeping in touch with the commanders of the 19th Rout Army by telegraph. He advised them to guard Liuho, a village just across the Yangtze, believing the Japanese would make other landings to cut them off there. General Tsai neglected to take the advice, and low and behold the Japanese made the landing forcing the 19th Route Army to pull out. The entire situation looked incredibly bad for China. Fingers were pointed at the inept Nanjing government. Yet Chiang Kai-Shek was much more focused on the encirclement campaigns against the Reds. The people angrily accused him of “making war on his own people instead of attending to the real threat, Japan”. To this Chiang Kai-Shek replied “It is useless for China to talk of resisting Japan. When it has not yet stamped out the enemy in its midst. If China ventures to fight the Japanese, the Communists will attack from the rear and chaos will quickly overtake the whole country.” The 19th Route Army were hailed as heroes, receiving a lot of recognition as a prominent anti-Japanese force. Despite Japan's attempts to reinforce its troops, Chiang Kai-shek's return to leadership saw further NRA forces dispatched to join the fight. Eventually, the conflict reached a resolution through diplomatic negotiations, resulting in the withdrawal of the 19th Route Army from Shanghai. With the Japanese threat averted for the time being Chiang Kai-Shek redirected his efforts against the Reds. On May 21, 1932, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 19th Route Army to enter Fujian and forced the army to engage in a civil war against the Communists in Fujian. On December 6 of the same year, Jiang Guangnai took over as the chairman of Fujian Province, and Cai Tingkai was appointed as the director of the Fujian Pacification Office and commander of the 19th Route Army.  At this point the leadership of the 19th Route Army were not at all happy with Chiang Kai-Shek, who to them seemed to have done little to help face the Japanese. They were not friendly to the CCP by any means and were actively suppressing Communist organizations while fighting the Japanese. When they came to Fujian they continued to suppress communists and supported people's anti-Japanese patriotic movements. On August 18, 1932, the 61st Division of the 19th Route Army collectively executed 69 CCP members and suspected individuals outside the East Gate of Quanzhou, and they also carried out mass killings of government workers from the Soviet area during their offensive against it. Despite this the CCP and 19th Route Army did agree on one thing, the Japanese were a problem.  After November 22, 1933, as Japanese imperialism intensified its invasion of China, the people across the nation once again launched a wave of anti-Japanese salvation movements. On January 17 of the same year, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army issued a "Joint Anti-Japanese Declaration," proposing three conditions for cooperation with any armed forces to resist Japan: an immediate halt to attacks on the Soviet areas, immediate guarantees of the democratic rights of the people, and the immediate arming of the people to establish armed volunteer forces. However, Chiang Kai-shek's ruling group stubbornly persisted in its anti-Communist and anti-people policies, continuing to intensify attacks on the Red Army, and on May 31, he signed a peace agreement with the Japanese. Chiang Kai-Shek was met with another wave of opposition across the nation for appeasing the Japanese. The 19th Route Army basically concluded the Generalissimo was not going to help wage a war against their enemy. Thus in a rather insane fashion, the leadership of the 19th Route Army resolved to overthrow the Nanjing government so they could unite the anti-Japanese forces and push for a national resistance. At that time, Chen Mingshu, an early leader of the 19th Route Army who had gone abroad and had previously served as the vice president of the Executive Yuan of the National Government, returned to China in May 1933 and devoted all his efforts to opposing Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government. In Fuzhou, he secretly discussed three strategies with Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and Deng Xizeng: the first was to unite with Guangdong and Guangxi to overthrow Chiang Kai-Shek, supporting Hu Hanmin to organize an independent government; the second was to unite with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of Guangxi, and Chen Jitang of Guangdong, seizing Guangdong; the last was to unite with the Red Army to resist Chiang Kai-Shek together.  As a result, neither the first nor the second strategies could be realized. Under Chiang Kai-shek's repeated orders to engage in civil war, the 78th Division and the 62nd Division of the 19th Route Army faced severe blows from the Red Army in Fujian between July and September 1933. Thus, the 19th Route Army found itself in a dire situation where not engaging in the "anti-Communist" actions would lead to its annihilation by Chiang Kai-shek, while engaging in "anti-Communist" actions would result in its destruction by the Red Army. In the context of rising national anti-Japanese sentiment, the upper leadership of the 19th Route Army had to swiftly make the choice to unite with the Communists to resist Chiang Kai-Shek and fight against Japan. On September 22, 1933, Chen Mingshu's main aide, Chen Gongpei, who had participated in the Nanchang Uprising and later left the CCP, secretly arrived at the command post of the 3rd Red Army Corps stationed at Wangtai, to express the political stance of the 19th Route Army to leaders of the Red Army, such as Peng Dehuai, Teng Daiyuan, and Yuan Guoping, regarding anti-Chiang resistance and cooperation with the Red Army. In October, Chen Gongpei accompanied Xu Minghong, the plenipotentiary representative of the 19th Route Army and secretary-general of its headquarters, to Ruijin. On the 26th, he signed the "Preliminary Agreement Against Japan and Against Chiang" with Pan Jianxing, a representative of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The main contents included: both sides immediately cease military actions, temporarily define a military demarcation line, restore trade between both parties; the Fujian People's Revolutionary Government and the 19th Route Army agree to the existence and activities of all revolutionary organizations in Fujian, allow freedom of publication, speech, assembly, and strikes, and immediately release political prisoners, among other provisions. The Soviet Provisional Central Government also sent Pan Jianxing as a permanent representative in Fuzhou. Subsequently, Chen Mingshu, Li Jishen, Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and others actively prepared to establish a new government and made military preparations against Chiang Kai-Shek. On November 20, 1933, Li Jishen, Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, and representatives from over 100 cities across the country, along with 100,000 people from various sectors in Fuzhou, convened the National People's Temporary Representative Assembly in Fuzhou. The assembly issued the "Declaration of People's Rights of the Chinese People's Temporary Representative Assembly" and decided to establish the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China. They elected Li Jishen, Chen Mingshu, Chen Youren, Feng Yuxiang , Cai Tingkai, Jiang Guangnai, Huang Qixiang, Xu Qian, Fang Zhenwu, Li Zhangda, Sa Zhenbing, He Gonggan, and other 12 members to the government, with Li Jishen as the government chairman. On November 22, the People's Revolutionary Government was officially established, with the capital in Fuzhou. The People's Revolutionary Government Committee set up a Military Committee, an Economic Committee, and a Cultural Committee, chaired respectively by Li Jishen, Yu Xinqing, and Chen Mingshu; and established a Ministry of Finance, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Supreme Court, and a Political Security Bureau, led respectively by Jiang Guangnai, Chen Youren, Xu Qian, and Li Zhangda. The People's Revolutionary Government successively issued: The People's Revolutionary Government's Internal Telegram. The People's Revolutionary Government's External Declaration.The People's Political Program - Eighteen Articles of the Minimum Program and other documents, openly announcing anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang, and proposing some domestic and foreign policies with certain progressive significance. The "Internal Telegram of the People's Revolutionary Government" announced the government's future mission: 1) to seek the liberation of the Chinese nation and establish a truly independent and free country; 2) to eliminate the counter-revolutionary Nanjing government and establish a political power of the productive people; 3) to realize the equal rights of all ethnic groups in the country; 4) to guarantee the absolute freedom and equality of all productive people; 5) to eliminate the influence of imperialism in China, overthrow the warlords, eradicate the remnants of the feudal system, develop the national economy, and liberate the working people. The "Declaration of the People's Revolutionary Government to Foreign Countries" sternly pointed out the Nanjing government's traitorous behavior and warned the powers not to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek. The Declaration stated: "We believe that the policies of the pro-American and pro-League of Nations factions are based on dangerous principles... However, it must be recognized that the objective result of the pro-American and pro-League of Nations factions will put China under an international condominium system, which is no less harmful than Chiang Kai-shek's pro-Japanese policies... It is recognized that China's real power must be established on a national basis... We finally declare that overthrowing the Chiang regime is not only necessary for China's independence and national salvation, but also for the military and economic interests of the whole world... In order to enhance international security, we have to warn the powers not to make any loans to the Chiang Kai-shek government in Nanjing, whether it is money, goods, or weapons. We also declare that if any such loans are concluded in the future, the Chinese people and their revolutionary government will completely deny them." The People's Political Program - Eighteen Articles of the Minimum Program declared: "China is a semi-feudal society under the rule of imperialists. The greatest goal of the Chinese revolution is to eliminate the imperialist domination in China; at the same time, to sweep away all feudal forces and establish a government that fully represents the rights of the people..." The 18 articles of the minimum program are: (1) Abolish unequal treaties and renegotiate equal and mutually beneficial treaties with other countries; (2) Foreign-invested or foreign-managed enterprises and cultural undertakings that are harmful to the interests of the Chinese nation may be restricted or confiscated; (3) To sort out new and old foreign debts. All political loans that harm the country should be absolutely denied; others should be repaid conditionally; (4) Implementing foreign trade controls; (5) Strictly implement absolute tariff autonomy; (6) Open up the political system and deny all political rights to counter-revolutionaries who are dependent on imperialism and warlords; (7) All nationalities within China are equal, may freely unite for revolution, and recognize national self-determination; (8) Ensure the people's absolute freedom of body, residence, speech, assembly, association, strike, demonstration and publication; (9) Implement universal suffrage; (10) Abolish all excessive taxes and levies; (11) The principle of "everyone who tills the land owns the land" was established, and land was distributed according to the number of people. Forests, mines, and rivers were completely nationalized. (12) All important banking and transportation enterprises shall be under state control; (13) Use political power and state capital to support the scientific development of agricultural production; (14) Usury is strictly prohibited; (15) Unscrupulous merchants will be eliminated and the people's daily necessities will be sold under the state monopoly; (16) To formulate agricultural and industrial laws, improve the lives of farmers and workers, and ensure the development of agricultural and industrial organizations; (17) Promote universal education; (18) Implement conscription, arm the people, and assist them in their anti-imperialist and economic and political struggles. After the establishment of the People's Revolutionary Government, it caused a great stir domestically and internationally. However, due to Wang Ming's "leftist" closure policy, the local party organization in Fujian initially adopted a hostile strategy toward the People's Revolutionary Government. It wasn't until early December, after the Fuzhou Central Municipal Committee received a letter from the Central Committee dated October 30 addressing the Fuzhou Central Municipal Committee and all comrades in Fujian, that they began to adopt a proactive cooperative approach toward the People's Revolutionary Government and the 19th Route Army. After December 29, the Fuzhou Central Municipal Committee issued a declaration in the name of the "Far East Anti-Imperialist Non-War Anti-Fascist Alliance, Fuzhou Branch," publicly calling for the establishment of an anti-imperialist united front. The People's Revolutionary Government also fully reprinted this declaration in its official newspapers, the "People's Daily" and the "Guoguang Daily." The Fuzhou branch then mobilized people from all walks of life to establish the "Committee to Oppose Kuomintang Air Raids and Support the Soldiers of the 19th Route Army Against the Kuomintang," organizing personnel to visit the stationed troops of the 19th Route Army to comfort the soldiers. The People's Revolutionary Government also adopted a cooperative attitude toward the economic struggles of workers' organizations. On November 18, Chen Mingshu called for an emergency secret meeting of the 19th Route Army and other key figures at Heshui Rock in Gushan. The meeting took place at Longyuan Pavilion, and attendees included Li Jishen, Chen Mingshu, Cai Tingkai, Jiang Guangnai, Chen Youren, Huang Qixiang, Xu Qian, Li Zhangda, and more than ten other military commanders and the chief of staff of the 19th Route Army. The discussion, which lasted from morning until late at night, revolved around heated debates concerning the timing of the uprising. Cai Tingkai advocated for postponing the uprising by one to two months for several reasons; many generals in the 19th Route Army were still undecided or openly opposed to the rebellion, the troops had yet to be mobilized, defenses were unorganized, various forces had not surrendered, and traitors and spies were still active. Additionally, Guangdong and Guangxi were not providing support, and Chiang Kai-shek was already aware of their plans. Cai Tingkai argued for more time to accelerate preparations without drawing immediate attention from Chiang Kai-Shek. In contrast, Chen Mingshu and others believed this was the last opportunity for an uprising. They pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek's forces were concentrated in North China, and Jinpu and particularly in Jiangxi, where his main troops were engaged in the fifth encirclement campaign against the Soviet area. They estimated that only 20,000 to 30,000 troops could be redirected to Fujian. Overestimating the political instability of Chiang's regime, Chen Mingshu believed that once the 19th Route Army raised the flag of rebellion, support from other regions of China would follow. He also felt confident that one division of the 19th Route Army could resist two or three of Chiang's divisions and that with cooperation from the Red Army, even if Chiang Kai-Shek deployed ten divisions, they would prevail. Chen Mingshu concluded that regardless of the outcome, the effort would be heroic and they should proceed without hesitation. The meeting's opposing viewpoints led to intense discussions. Chen Mingshu, visibly passionate, declared that revolution required sacrifice and that delaying any longer would mean submission to Nanjing. Cai Tingkai, while originally advocating for a delay, conceded that the situation had reached a point of no return. He agreed to lead the 19th Route Army and fully back the new government. The meeting concluded with a decision to convene the National People's Provisional Congress in Fuzhou on November 20 to officially declare the uprising against Chiang Kai-Shek. Other topics discussed included replacing the blue sky, white sun party flag, military and financial logistics, and a declaration drafted by Chen Mingshu's advisors, Wang Lixi and Hu Qiuyuan. On November 20, 1933, the National People's Provisional Congress convened at the South Parade Ground in Fuzhou, with thousands of soldiers, students, merchants, and workers in attendance. A banner reading "China's National People's Provisional Congress" adorned the stage, and the leaders of the rebellion, including Cai Tingkai, Jiang Guangnai, and Li Jishen, were present, though Chen Mingshu was absent due to illness. Representatives from 25 provinces and various walks of life gathered for the event. Before the meeting, the 19th Route Army's newly formed air force performed stunts, to the applause of the crowd. At 9:40 AM, the meeting began with Huang Qixiang, who was elected chairman of the presidium, delivering an opening speech and reading the "Declaration of the People's Rights of the Provisional Chinese People's Congress." Several prominent figures spoke, and the meeting concluded with the adoption of proposals to establish the People's Revolutionary Government and a new national flag designed by Ouyang Yuqian. That evening, the presidium decided to form the People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China, abolishing the Nanjing government, declaring 1933 as the first year of the Republic, and establishing Fuzhou as the capital. Li Jishen was elected President, and several others, including Chen Mingshu, Jiang Guangnai, and Cai Tingkai, were appointed government members. However the Fujian Revolution failed to gain support from other forces within the KMT. The Guangxi clique was dissatisfied with the fact that the 19th Route Army reconciled with the CCP so they did not support it. Chen Jitang tossed his lot in with Chiang Kai-shek and did not support the Fujian Revolution either. At that time, the CCP was undergoing a power struggle. On December 5, the Central Committee of the CCP, headed by Wang Ming, issued a statement stating that the Fujian government was "non-people and still non-revolutionary and that anyone who wants to take a third way between revolution and counter-revolution will inevitably fail." . Thus, Chiang Kai-shek transferred eight divisions of the National Revolutionary Army into Fujian, and coordinated the attack with the air force and navy. The 19th Route Army quickly collapsed. Four out of the five armies defected before the battle even began. Most of them were disarmed by the Central Army that they had fought side by side with during the Shanghai Incident a year ago. On January 15, 1934, Chiang Kai-shek's forces captured Fuzhou. The People's Revolutionary Government and the headquarters of the 19th Route Army retreated to Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, respectively. By January 21, both Quanzhou and Zhangzhou had fallen, and the Fujian Rebellion had failed. The People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China collapsed within two months of its establishment. On the 21st, the remaining troops of the 19th Route Army switched over to supporting the central government, and the Fujian Revolution officially came to an end. Jiang Guangnai, Cai Tingkai, Chen Mingshu and Li Jishen fled to Hong Kong . The designation of the 19th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army was cancelled, and the troops were dispersed and integrated. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Yes it was a tad bit of an anti climatic event in the grand scheme of things. Yet the provincial rebellion was notable because the people involved wanted to fight the Japanese and believed their government was not doing enough to challenge the external threat. The reality however was far more complicated, the Japanese were far too formidable, for now. 

Burritt Sabin was born in New York City and came to Japan as a naval officer in 1975. His professional career in Japan started as a journalist, and he quickly moved into writing and historical research. The first book we're going to discuss today is about Yokohama,  one of the first Japanese ports to open to foreign trade in the 1850s. A Historical Guide to Yokohama: Sketches of the Twice-Risen Phoenix is a window into a time when Japan was rapidly opening up to the world. (The book is in English, despite what the Amazon listing says.)The other book we'll talk about is Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide,which highlights the first samurai capital in the 12th century. Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo chose this city for the seat of his military government, ushering in the Kamakura Period in 1185.Subjects covered in the podcast:1. Townsend Harris and the opening of Japan (Yokohama)2. The meeting of Sun Yat-sen and Miyazaki Toten in Yokohama3. The Hotel New Grand in Yokohama4. The Great Buddha of Kamakura5. Natsume Soseki's and Suzuki Daisetz's sojourn at Kigen-in, Kamakura6. The Kamakura bunshiSabin also discusses his three favorite books on Japan:1. The Death of Old Yokohama in the Earthquake of 1923 by Otis Manchester PooleA gripping account in real time of a man navigating the post-quake hellscape in an attempt to reach his family.2. Aru Shisei no To: Koshikata wa kanashiku mono kiroku (A Waif of the Streets: Record of a Sad Passage) by Hasegawa ShinHasegawa Shin (1884~1963) recounts growing up in poverty in late-19th century Yokohama, teaching himself to read and write and later becoming a leading popular playwright.3. Sugao Kamakura (The True Face of Kamakura) ed. by Osaragi JiroAn insightful collection of essays on Kamakura by writers who have made the city home.Be sure to check out Burritt Sabin's books A Historical Guide to Yokohama: Sketches of the Twice-Risen Phoenix (2002) and Kamakura: A Contemplative Guide (2021), available on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. The Books on Asia Podcast is sponsored by Stone Bridge Press. Check out their books on Japan at the publisher's website.Amy Chavez, podcast host, is author of Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan and The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island.Books on AsiaTwitter: @BooksOnAsiaSubscribe to the BOA podcast at https://linktr.ee/booksonasia

In this episode of Better Buildings for Humans, host Joe Menchefski welcomes Minjia Yang, Vice President of Investing for Health at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). With an impressive background spanning law, economics, and sustainable finance, Minjia discusses her role in advancing social sustainability and sustainable finance initiatives at IWBI. She shares insights on how WELL standards integrate human health, well-being, and equity into building design and operations across the globe. The conversation covers a range of topics, from sustainable finance innovations and ESG initiatives to balancing energy efficiency with occupant wellness. Minjia also highlights IWBI's work in aligning WELL standards with global sustainability reporting regulations, emphasizing the need for a people-first approach to building design. Tune in for a deep dive into the evolving world of healthy buildings and social sustainability. More About Minjia Yang: Minjia Yang is the Vice President of Investing for Health at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) where she leads the thought leadership platform to elevate the meaning of health, wellbeing and equity to organizations, communities and the investment landscape at scale. Minjia brings her interdisciplinary background in law, economics, finance and insights of global markets to partnership building, sustainable finance and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. Prior to joining IWBI, Minjia worked with Delos, a wellness technology company, to establish over 10 subsidiaries and joint ventures in Asia as well as the first venture capital fund focusing on wellness technology for the built environment. Minjia has extensive professional experience across public, private and nonprofit sectors in Asia, Africa and North America. She worked with Inter-American Development Bank, Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, social enterprises in Lesotho, nonprofit organizations in Haiti, Malaysia Prime Minister's office and consulting firms in Asia. Minjia holds her Bachelor of Laws degree from Sun Yat-sen University in China. She was elected as a Chinese youth representative to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) and also as a W. T. Chan Fellow to participate in the Social Entrepreneurship Program at University of California in Los Angeles. Minjia received the Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration on economics and finance from Cornell University. CONTACT: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minjiayang https://resources.wellcertified.com/people/staff/minjia-yang/ Where To Find Us: https://bbfhpod.advancedglazings.com/ www.advancedglazings.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/better-buildings-for-humans-podcast www.linkedin.com/in/advanced-glazings-ltd-848b4625 https://twitter.com/bbfhpod https://twitter.com/Solera_Daylight https://www.instagram.com/bbfhpod/ https://www.instagram.com/advancedglazingsltd https://www.facebook.com/AdvancedGlazingsltd

Last time we spoke about the Guangzhou, Gansu and Red Spear Uprisings. During China's Warlord Era, the CCP faced many challenges as they sought to implement land revolutions and armed uprisings. Following the Nanchang and Autumn Harvest uprisings, the CCP held an emergency meeting criticizing Chen Duxiu for his appeasement of the KMT right wing. With strong encouragement from Soviet advisors, the CCP planned a major uprising to seize control of Guangdong province. In November 1927, the CCP saw an opportunity as petty warlords in Guangdong and Guangxi engaged in conflict. Zhang Fakui's troops, vulnerable and demoralized, were targeted by the CCP. Mobilizing workers and peasants, the CCP initiated the Guangzhou Uprising. The uprising was ultimately suppressed by superior NRA troops, resulting in heavy CCP casualties and brutal reprisals. The failed uprisings, though unable to achieve immediate goals, ignited a persistent revolutionary spirit within the CCP, marking the beginning of a prolonged civil conflict that would shape China's future.   #121 The Sino-Soviet Conflict of 1929 Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. All the way back in 1919, the brand new Soviet government's assistance Commissar of foreign affairs, Lev Karakhan, issued a manifesto to the Beiyang government, promising the return of the Chinese Eastern Railway at zero financial cost. That statement was made in late July and alongside the railway, he also mentioned relinquishing a lot of rights the former Russian Empire had acquired from unequal treaties, such as the Boxer Protocol. This all became known as the Karakhan Manifesto, and it was formed in a time when the Soviets were fighting the Russian Civil War, advancing east into Siberia. In order to secure the war in Siberia the Soviets had to establish good relations with the Chinese. Yet six months after the july manifesto, Karakhan personally handed over a second version of said manifesto, one that did not influence the rather nice deal of handing over the Chinese eastern railway for free. The Soviets official statement was that they had accidentally promised the deal prior. The truth of the matter was some real politik work at play. The Soviets had been trying to secure a Sino-Soviet alliance against the Japanese, but it looked to them it would never come to be so they simply took the deal off the table.  Henceforth the issue cause a lot of friction. In March of 1920 the Fengtian forces disarmed White Russian Troops along the railway and seized control over its operations. In February of 1922 China and the USSR signed a agreement stipulating the Beiyang government would set up a special agency to manage the railway. Then in November the Chinese announced an area within 11 km along the railway would be designated a Eastern Province special district. In December the Soviet Union officially formed and by May the two nations agreed to settle a list of issues. The Soviets agreed to abolish all the unequal treaties formed by the Russian Empire handing over all the leased territories, consular jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, Boxer payments and such, but the Chinese Eastern Railway would be jointly managed by China and the USSR. Now since the railway sat in the area that Zhang Zuolin came to control, in September of 1924 the Soviets signed an agreement with the Fengtian clique. In this agreement, the Soviets lessened the 80 year lease over the railway to 60 years. The Soviets also promised to hand full control to Chinese administrators, but had a trick up their sleeve. The Soviets let the Chinese think they were adding workers and officials loyal to them, in reality the Soviets were creating more jobs on the railway while hiring Soviet workers. In the end the Soviets controlled roughly 67% of the key positions. When Zhang Zuolin went to war with Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun this changed things considerably. In December of 1925, Zhang Zuolin's army owed the Chinese eastern railway some 14 million rubles, prompting the Soviet administrator over the railway, Ivanov to prohibit Zhang Zuolin's army from using it. Fengtian commander Zhang Huanxiang simply arrested Ivanov disregarding his ban. The Soviets then sent an ultimatum to the Beiyang government demanding his release. So Zhang Zuolin ran to the Japanese to mediate. Things smoothed over until 1928 when the Huanggutun incident saw Zhang Zuolin assassinated. As we saw at the end of the northern expedition, his son Zhang Xueliang responded by raising the KMT flag on December 29th of 1928, joining Chiang Kai-Shek. The next day Zhang Xueliang was made commander in chief of the Northeast.  Now Chiang Kai-Shek's government had broken diplomatic relations with the USSR after the Shanghai massacre purge. Thus Zhang Xueliang felt the old treaties signed by his father with the Soviets were null and void and looked upon the Chinese Eastern Railway enviously. To give some context outside of China. At this point in time, the USSR was implementing rural collectivization, ie; the confiscation of land and foodstuffs. This led to wide scale conflict with peasants, famines broke out, I would say the most well known one being the Holodmor in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of people starved to death. The USSR was also still not being recognized by many western powers. Thus from the perspective of Zhang Xueliang, it looked like the USSR were fraught with internal and external difficulties, they had pretty much no friends, so taking the railway would probably be a walk in the park.  Zhang Xueliang began diplomatically, but negotiations were going nowhere, so he got tougher. He ordered his officials to take back control over the Chinese Eastern Railway zone police, municipal administration, taxation, land, everything. He instructed Zhang Jinghui, the governor of Harbin's special administrative zone to dispatch military police to search the Soviet embassy in Harbin and arrest the consul general. Zhang Jinghui did so and closed the Soviet consulates in Harbin, Qiqihar and Hailar. All of this of course pissed off the Soviets who responded by protesting the new Nanjing government, demanding the release of their people, while increasing troops to the border of Manchuria. The Soviets announced they were willing to reduce their control over the railway as a concession. This entire situation became known as the May 27th incident and unleashed a tit for tat situation. On July 13th, the Soviets sent an ultimatum giving three days for a response "If a satisfactory answer is not obtained, the Soviet government will be forced to resort to other means to defend all the rights of the Soviet Union." On the 17th the Soviets recalled their officials, cut off the railway traffic between China and the USSR, ejected Chinese envoys from the USSR and cut off diplomatic relations with China. In the background Joseph Stalin was initially hesitating to perform any military actions, not wanting to antagonize the Japanese in Manchuria. However the Soviet consul in Tokyo, sent back word that Japan was completely willing to stay out of any conflict if the Soviets limited it to just northern Manchuria. Thus Stalin decided to act. On August 6th, Stalin formed the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army under the command of General Vasily Blyukher. It was composed of three infantry divisions; the 1st Pacific Infantry Division, the 2nd Amur Infantry Division, and the 35th Trans-Baikal Infantry Division), one cavalry brigade (the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade), and the addition of the Buryat Mongolian Independent Cavalry Battalion. The total force was said to be as many as 30,000 with their headquarters located in Khabarovsk. Blyukher also had the support of the Far Eastern Fleet, roughly 14 shallow water heavy gunboats, a minesweeper detachment, an aviation detachment with 14 aircraft, and a marine battalion commanded by Yakov Ozolin. Blyukher had served during the civil war and was a military advisor in China attached to Chiang Kai-SHek's HQ. He had a large hand to play in the northern expedition, and was one of the select Soviets Chiang Kai-Shek intentionally made sure got home safe during the purge. Blyukher would exercises a unusual amount of autonomy with his far east command, based out of Khabarovsk. For the upcoming operation a 5th of the entire Red Army was mobilized to assist. On the other side Zhang Xueliang mobilized as many troops as he could, including many White Russians hiding out in Manchuria. His total strength on paper was 270,000, but only 100,000 would be actively facing the Soviets as the rest were needed to maintain public order and to defend southern Manchuria. The person in charge of the Eastern Line of the Chinese Eastern Railway was the brigade commander of the Jilin Army, Ding Chao, and the western line was the brigade commander of the Heilongjiang Army, Liang Zhongjia, and the chief of staff was Zhang Wenqing. Wang Shuchang led the First Army to guard the eastern line, and Hu Yukun led the Second Army to guard the western line. The Soviet army also had a quality advantage in equipment. In terms of artillery, the Soviet army had about 200 artillery pieces, including more than a dozen heavy artillery pieces, while the Chinese army had only 135 infantry artillery pieces and no heavy artillery. At the same time, the Soviet army also had a quality advantage in machine guns because it was equipped with 294 heavy machine guns and 268 highly mobile light machine guns. The Chinese army was equipped with only 99 heavy machine guns. In terms of air force, the Chinese army had 5 aircraft that were combat effective. On July 26th the Soviets bombarded Manzhouli from three directions along the western end of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Two days later a Soviet infantry regiment, 3 armored vehicles and 4 artillery pieces advanced to Shibali station, cutting the lines to Manzhouli. They then ordered the Chinese military and police to withdraw as they captured Manzhouli. Then on the 29th the began bombarding Dangbi. On August 8th, 100 Soviet troops carrying two artillery pieces and 3 machine guns engaged Chinese forces outside the south gate of Oupu County street, casualties were heavy for both sides. 5 Soviet aircraft circled over Suifenhe City firing 200 rounds and dropping bombs over the Dongshan Army defense post and Sandaodongzi. The next day 40 Soviet soldiers established two checkpoints at Guzhan blocking traffic and they even began kidnapping civilians. That same day 300 Soviet soldiers and two gunboats occupied the Hujiazhao factory. On the 12th, Sanjianfang, Zhongxing and Lijia's Oil Mill were occupied by over 2000 Soviet troops. Meanwhile 80 Soviets amphibiously assaulted Liuhetun using 8 small boats, killing its defenders before returning to the other side. The next day two Soviet gunboats, 300 marines and 2 aircraft attacked Suidong county in Heilongjiang province while another force attacked Oupu county with artillery. On the morning of the 14th both counties fell. In response the Nanjing government dispatched Liu Guang, the chief of the military department to inspect the Northeast front. On the 15th Zhang Xueliang issued mobilization orders against the USSR, seeing his standing front line forces bolstered to 100,000. On the 15th the foreign minister of the Nanjing government, Wang Zhengting reported to Chiang Kai-Shek negotiations were going nowhere, the Soviets were adamant about getting their rights returned over the Chinese Eastern Railways. The next day, Wang Zhenting told reporters that if the Soviets attacked anymore China would declare war. The next day Zhang Xueliang was interviewed by the Chicago Daily News and had this to say. "The Soviet Union disregarded international trust, trampled on the non-war pact, and rashly sent troops to invade our country. We respect the non-war pact and have repeatedly made concessions to show our responsibility for provoking the provocation. If the Russian side continues to advance, we will be willing to be the leader of the war, so we have prepared everything and will do our best to fight to the death."  On the 16th two Soviet infantry companies and one cavalry company attacked Zhalannur from Abagaitu along the border. The two sides fought for 2 hours until the Soviets stormed the Zhalannur station. After another 5 hours of combat the Soviets pulled back over the border. By this point enough was enough. China declared war on August 17th escalating what was an incident around the Chinese Eastern Railway zone into a full blown war.  Blyukher had developed a plan for an offensive consisting of two rapid operations. The first would be against the Chinese naval forces and the second against the ground forces via a large encirclement. After the war was declared on the 17th, the Soviet Army advanced into Manchuria from the western end of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The Red Banner Special Far Eastern Army initially dispatched a total of 6,091 infantrymen and 1,599 artillerymen in front of Manchuria, equipped with 88 artillery pieces of 76.2 mm or above, excluding artillery belonging to infantry regiments, 32 combat aircraft, 3 armored trains, and 9 T-18 light tanks . The army units included: the 35th and 36th Infantry Divisions of the 18th Infantry Army; the 5th Cavalry Brigade; the Buryat Mongolian Cavalry Battalion; an independent tank company equipped with T-18 tanks, the 6th Aviation Detachment, the 25th Aviation Detachment, the 26th Bomber Squadron, the 18th Army Artillery Battalion, the 18th Engineering Battalion, and a Railway Battalion.  The first battle broke out around Manzhouli. Liang Zhongjia, the brigade commander stationed in Manzhouli, reported this to his superiors of the engagement “of the battle situation, the 38th and 43rd regiments under my command fought with a regiment of Soviet infantry and cavalry for 4 hours in the afternoon and are still in a standoff. The Soviet army has more than one division of troops near Abagaitu”. At 10:30 p.m. on the 18th, the Soviets began to attack the positions of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 43rd Regiment of the Northeastern Army in Zhalannur. At 1 p.m. on August 19, the Soviets added about 600 to 700 troops opposite the positions of the 43rd Regiment of Zhalannur. At 5 a.m the Soviets dispatched five aircraft from Abagaitu to Shibali Station. On the 19th, the Soviets captured Suibin County with ease. At 6 a.m. on the 20th, the Soviets used armored trains to transport more than 200 troops to attack the 10th Cavalry Regiment of Liang Zhongjia's troops. After fighting for about an hour, the Soviets retreated. On the 23rd a battle broke out in Mishan and on the 25th 400 Soviet cavalry began building fortifications roughly a kilometer near the Chinese 43rd regiment at Zhalannur. Zhang Xueliang spoke again to the Chinese and foreign press on the 25th stating this. "Foreigners have many misunderstandings about the Eastern Province's actions this time, thinking that it is to take back the Eastern Route and violate the treaty. In fact, we have no intention of violating the 1924 Sino-Russian Agreement or the Agreement with Russia, because China has signed it and has no intention of violating it. China has no intention of taking back the route at all. What it wants is to remove the Russian personnel who are involved in the communist movement. Moreover, in this matter, the Eastern Route is a very small issue. The real point is that the Russians use China as a base for communism, and we have to take measures in self-defense." Between the 28th to the 30th an intense battle broke out at Wangqing.  On the 31st, Soviet gunboats bombarded three garrisons around  Heihe. On September 4th, the Soviet army bombarded the right wing of the 43rd and 38th Regiments stationed in Lannur. At 4 pm on the 9th, a single regiment of the Soviet army, under the cover of artillery, launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army at Manzhouli Station from the Shibali Station, but by 8:30 pm, they pulled back. At 4 pm, 8 Soviet aircraft bombed Suifenhe Station, causing over 50 Chinese casualties and injured a regimental commander. On the night of the 16th, more than 100 Soviet troops attacked the Kukdoboka checkpoint in Lubin County and burned down the checkpoint. On the 18th, the Soviet government announced to the ambassadors of various countries that they had always advocated for a peaceful solution to the issue of the Chinese Eastern Railway, while China's attitude was hypocritical and insincere. It was believed that future negotiations were hopeless, and all previous negotiations mediated by Germany were terminated. From now on, they stated quote “the Soviet Union would not bear any responsibility for any ominous incidents caused on the Sino-Russian border”. With negotiations completely broken down, Blyukher was given the greenlight to launch a fatal blow.  On October 2, more than a thousand Soviet infantryman, supported by aircraft and artillery stormed the positions of the 3rd Battalion of the 38th Regiment in Manzhouli. The two sides fought until the morning of the 3rd. On the 4th Zhang Xueiliang drafted the “national volunteer army organization regulations letter” trying to embolden the population stating "when the foreigners invade the border, the first thing to do is to resist. All citizens or groups who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the country on the battlefield will be volunteers or volunteer soldiers." The new regulations stipulated that volunteers of this new group would be named as the National Volunteer Army. On October the 10th, 30,000 Soviet forces on the Baikal side advanced through the northeastern border of China. At this time, the brigade responsible for defending Liang Zhongjia had been fighting with the Soviet troops for dozens of days. There was no backup and they were in urgent need of help. According to Chinese observations, the Soviets deployed nearly 80,000 troops by land, sea and air on the Sino-Soviet border. Along the eastern front, the Soviets capture in succession Sanjiangkou, Tongjiang and Fujin. Meanwhile at 5am on the 12th the Far Eastern Fleet commanded engaged in a firefight with the Songhua River Defense Fleet, near Sanjiangkou. According to Chinese reconnaissance, the Soviet warships participating in the battle included: the flagship "Sverdlov" a shallow-water heavy gunboat led by Sgassk, the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Sun Yat-sen", the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Red East", the shallow-water heavy gunboat "Lenin", the inland gunboat "Red Flag", and the inland gunboat "Proletariat", with a total of 4 152mm cannons, 26 120mm cannons, 6 85mm anti-aircraft guns, 8 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and more than ten aircraft for support. The Chinese forces were led by Yin Zuogan who commanded six shallow-water gunboats, including the "Lijie" (flagship), "Lisui", "Jiangping", "Jiang'an", and "Jiangtai", and the "Dongyi" armed barge as a towed artillery platform. Except for the "Jiangheng" of 550 tons and the "Liji" of 360 tons, the rest were all below 200 tons, and the entire fleet had 5 120mm guns. In the ensuing battle the Jiangping, Jiang'an, Jiangtai, Lijie, and Dongyi, were sunk, and the Lisui ship was seriously injured and forced to flee back to Fujin.The Chinese side claimed that they damaged two Soviet ships, sunk one, and shot down two fighter planes; but according to Soviet records, five Soviet soldiers were killed and 24 were injured.  At the same time as the naval battle around Sanjiangkou, two Soviet gunboats covered four armed ships, the Labor, Karl Marx, Mark Varyakin, and Pavel Zhuravlev, carrying a battalion of more than 400 people from the 2nd Infantry Division Volochaev Regiment, landing about 5 kilometers east of Tongjiang County and attacking the Chinese military station there. The Northeast Marine Battalion guarding the area and the Meng Zhaolin Battalion of the 9th Army Brigade jointly resisted and repelled the Soviet's initial attack. The Chinese suffered heavy losses, with more than 500 officers and soldiers killed and wounded, and more than 70 people including the Marine Battalion Captain Li Runqing captured.  On the 14th, the Chinese sank 6 tugboats, 2 merchant ships and 2 warships in the waterway 14 kilometers downstream of Fujin, forming a blockade line; and set up solid artillery positions and a 13-kilometer-long bunker line nearby, destroying all bridges on the road from Tongjiang to Fujin. A battle broke out at Tongjiang and according to the the report of Shen Honglie “the Northeast Navy suffered more than 500 casualties (including marines), 4 warships were sunk, 1 was seriously damaged, and the "Haijun" gunboat (45 tons) was captured by the Soviet army and renamed "Pobieda"; 17 officers including the battalion commander Meng Zhaolin and 350 soldiers of the army were killed; the Chinese side announced that 2 Soviet planes were shot down (some sources say 1), 3 Soviet warships were sunk, 4 were damaged, and more than 300 casualties”. On the 18th, the Soviets completely withdrew from the Tongjiang, allowing the two regiments of Lu Yongcai and Zhang Zuochen of the 9th Brigade to recapture it. On the 30th, Admiral Ozolin led some Soviet land forces in a major attack in the Fujian area. He organized the troops under his jurisdiction into two groups. He led the first group personally, who were supported by heavy gunboats Red East, Sun Yat-Sen and gunboats Red Flag, Proletarian, Buryat, minelayer Powerful and the armored boat Bars. Their mission was to annihilate the remnants of the river defense fleet anchored in Fujin. The second group was commanded by Onufryev, the commander of the Soviet 2nd infantry division. His group consisted of the shallow-water heavy gunboat Serdlov, gunboat Pauper and the transport fleets steam carrying the Volochaev Regiment and the 5th Amur regiment who landed at Fujin.  On the other side the Chinese had concentrated two infantry brigades, 3 cavalry regiments and a team of police with the support of the gunboats Jiangheng,  Lisui, Liji and the tugboat Lichuan. At 9 am on the 31st, the 7 Soviet ships suddenly destroyed the river blocking ropes and entered the Fujin River bank, bombarding the Chinese army, as cavalry landed. The Chinese ships "Lisui" and "Lichuan" sank successively, and only the "Jiangheng" managed to participate in the battle, but soon sank after firing only three shots. At 7 pm 21 Soviet ships sailed up the Songhua River, as part of the cavalry landed at Tuziyuan, advancing step by step towards Fujin. At 9 pm 7 Soviet ships approached the Fujin River bank, with roughly 700 infantry, cavalry and artillery soldiers of the 2nd Amur Infantry Division landed. The Chinese army collapsed without a fight, retreating to Huachuan, and by11am, Fujin county was occupied. Chinese sources reported “the Soviet army burned down the civil and military institutions separately and destroyed all the communication institutions. They distributed all the flour from the Jinchang Fire Mill to the poor, and plundered all the weapons, ammunition and military supplies." On the evening of November 1, the Soviet infantry, cavalry and artillery withdrew from the east gate. On the morning of the 2nd, the Soviet ships withdrew one after another. According to Soviet records, nearly 300 Chinese soldiers were killed in this battle, with thousands captured, while the Soviet army only lost 3 people and injured 11 people . The Chinese Songhua River fleet was completely destroyed, and 9 merchant ships were captured. In early November, the weather in the north became freezing cold, leading the rivers to freeze. Soviet warships retreated back to Khabarovsk, and their infantry and cavalry also returned by land. The war on the Eastern Front was basically over.  As for the western front, the main battlefields revolved around Manzhouli and Zhalannur. Since August 1929, conflicts here continued, a lot of back and forth stuff. The soviets would storm the areas and pull out. Yet in November, the war in the west escalated.  The commander of the Soviet Trans-Baikal Group, was Stepan Vostrezov, wielding the 21st, 35th and 36th infantry divisions, the 5th Cavalry Brigade, 331 heavy machine guns, 166 light machine guns, 32 combat aircraft, 3 armored trains, 58 light artillery, 30 heavy artillery, 9 T-18 ultra-light tanks, amongst other tanks. The Chinese side had about 16,000 people. There would be three major battles : the Battle of Zhallanur, the Battle of Manzhouli, and the Battle of Hailar. On November the 16th, the Soviets unleashed a large-scale offensive, tossing  nearly 40,000 troops, 400 artillery pieces, 40 tanks and 30 aircraft against the western front. At 11pm the Soviets crossed over the border. At 3am on the 17th the 5th Kuban Cavalry Brigade set out from Abagaitui, followed by the 35th Infantry Division who crossed the frozen surface of the Argun River, hooking around the rear of the Chinese garrison in Zhalannur along the east bank of the Argun River. At 7am Soviet aircraft began bombing the western front. The Chinese garrison headquarters, tram house, 38th Regiment building, and military police station were all bombed, and the radio station was also damaged. At noon, the Binzhou Railway was cut off 10-12 kilometers east of the city, and Zhalannur was attacked. Supported by 8 T-18 tanks and fighter planes, they attacked Zhalannur several times. On the morning of the 18th, the Soviet 5th Cavalry Brigade launched an attack against the 7,000-man 17th Brigade of the Chinese Army guarding Zhalannur. At 1pm on the 18th the Zhalannur Station and the Coal Mine was occupied by the Soviet army. The Chinese defenders, Brigadier Han Guangdi and Commander Zhang Linyu, were killed in action. More than half of the brigade officers and soldiers were killed and more than a thousand were captured. After capturing Zhalannur the Soviets concentrated their forces against Manzhouli. On the 19th, 7 T-18s supported the 108th Infantry Regiment of the Soviet 36th Division to attack Manzhouli from the east and west. Artillery pounded the city, before it was stormed. The 15th Brigade of the Chinese Army guarding the area was quickly surrounded by the Soviet army. Brigade Commander Liang Zhongjia and Chief of Staff Zhang Wenqing, alongside nearly 250 officers, fled to the Japanese consulate and surrendered to the Soviet army on the 20th. According to Soviet records, in the battles of Zhalannur and Manzhouli, over 1,500 Chinese soldiers were killed and more than 9,000 were captured, while the Soviet side lost 143 people, 665 were wounded and 4 were missing. Additionally 30 Chinese artillery pieces and 2 armored trains were captured by the Soviet army. The Soviets claimed that Chinese troops from Lake Khinkai were attacking Iman, modern day Dalnerechensk. In the name of self-defense, the Soviets began bombing Mishan on November 17 and mobilized  the Soviet Primorsky State Army and the 1st Pacific Rifle Infantry Division. The 1st Pacific Division and the 9th Independent Cavalry Brigade advanced towards Mishan, 40 kilometers from the border. Soviet records showed that during this battle the Chinese army suffered more than 1,500 casualties and 135 prisoners. The Soviets seized 6 machine guns, 6 mortars, 500 horses, 6 mortars, 200 horses and a large number of confidential documents. On November 23rd, 12 Soviet aircraft bombed Hailar, before capturing the city the next day.  By late November the Chinese had suffered something in the ballpark of 10,000 casualties along various fronts and an enormous amount of their equipment was taken by the Soviets. The Chinese officially reported 2000 deaths, 1000 wounded with more than 8000 captured. The Soviets reported 812 deaths, 665 wounded with under 100 missing. The Japanese had actually been quite the thorn for the Chinese during the war. They had intentionally barred Chinese forces from advancing north through their South Manchurian Railway zone, a large hindrance. Likewise the Kwantung army stationed in Liaoning were mobilizing, giving the impression they would exploit the situation at any moment.  In the face of quite a catastrophic and clear defeat, Nanjing's ministry of foreign affairs tossed a cease fire demand asking for foreign mediation. By December 3rd, Britain, France and the US asked both sides to stop the war so they could mediate a peace. The USSR rejected the participation of a third nation and suggested they could negotiate with China mono e mono. Zhang Xueliang accepted the proposal, dispatching Cai Yunsheng quickly to Shuangchengzi who signed an armistice with the Soviet representative Smanovsky. On the 16th real negotiations began and on the 22nd a draft agreement was signed. The draft stipulated both nations would re-cooperate over the Chinese Eastern Railway and that the Red Army would pull out of Manchuria as soon as both sides exchanged prisoners and officials. Thus the entire incident was resolved after humiliating China. While this all seemed completely needless, perhaps not significant, don't forget, the Japanese were watching it all happen in real time, taking notes, because they had their own ideas about Manchuria.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. And so the Soviets and brand new Nationalist Republic of China went to war over, honestly a petty squabble involving railway rights and earnings. It was a drop in the bucket for such a war torn nation and only further embarrassed it on the world stage. Yet the Soviets might not be the foreign nation China should be looking out for. 

At the opening session of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) 2024 Annual Meeting, attended by nearly 30,000 cancer specialists, Oncology Times reporter Peter Goodwin asked the President of CSCO, Xu Ruihua, MD, PhD, Professor and President of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China, to talk about some of the ways that progress in cancer treatments had been made more productive by co-operation between Chinese and Western centers of oncology excellence.

Dr. Weldon Gilcrease, associate professor of medicine at the University of Utah, program director of hematology and oncology fellowship, director of the liver tumor clinic and deputy director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting and Dr. Charles Lee, who completed his medical training in China and was a physician at Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences. In 1995, he joined Harvard Medical School to conduct research in MRI imaging for disease diagnosis share this story of the first known victim of forced organ harvesting by the Chinese Communist Government to escape to America after portions of his liver and lung were stolen from him.

Last time we spoke about the finale of the Northern Expedition, the reunification of China. In May the NRA advanced from the Yellow River bridgehead despite losing access to the Tianjin-Pukou railway, forcing a 60-mile march. General Chen Tiaoyuan captured Tehzhou on the 13th, as the NRA cleared northern Shandong. They then converged on Beijing, with Feng Yuxiang's 2nd Collective Army and Yan Xishan's 3rd Collective Army advancing from different directions. Yan Xishan fought the NPA, recapturing territories and capturing Nankou, which led to speculation he would enter Beijing first. Despite NPA counterattacks, the NRA forces continued their advance. By late May, the NRA's combined efforts and internal NPA issues led to a general retreat of the NPA forces. On June 6, Yan Xishan's troops entered Beijing. The NPA's Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by Japanese officers, leading to a power shift to his son Zhang Xueliang, who later aligned with Chiang Kai-Shek. By December 1928, China was unified under the KMT.   #118 The Chinese Civil War Draws First Blood Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So I said a few times during the northern expedition that I wanted to push aside the emerging Chinese civil war. Although we loosely covered a lot of the major events, this episode is going to try and narrow and focus it down. Now please note, up until this point I have to admit I had been using sources that were either skewed towards the Chinese nationalist views or were trying to be non biased. For some of these episodes I intentionally am using some CCP aligned sources, I will try my best to balance things out. Also a large part of this is going to be a retelling of the Shanghai Massacre, but more from the point of view of the CCP. All the way back in 1926, Chiang Kai-Shek had managed to seize power over the Kuomintang. He exerted control over the party and army as he unleashed the Northern Expedition. By November 9th Chiang Kai-Shek set up a new headquarters in Nanchang. Chiang Kai-Shek was determined to purge the party of communists and began to do so here. He began by recruiting a large number of right-wing Kuomintang members such as Dai Jitao and Wu Tiecheng. Dai Jitao was a member of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee and had served as the Minister of the KMT's propaganda department. After the death of Sun Yat-Sen, Dai Jitao had actively promoted an anti-communist movement, drawing support from warlords, right wingers and those the CCP would describe as “imperialists”. In May of 1925 with the support of Chiang Kai-Shek, Dai Jitao began an anti-communist campaign in Shanghai. He ran two successful pamphlets loosely translated in English as "The Philosophical Foundation of Sun Yat-senism" and "National Revolution and the Chinese Kuomintang”. Both worked to promote the teachings of Confucius and Mencius while distorting Sun Yat-sen's thoughts. Dai Jitao was arguing that Sun Yat-Sen's ideology chiefly came from Confucianism instead of western philosophy and that in fact the man was a traditionalist. He twisted Sun Yat-Sen's three principles, castrating them of revolutionary content. All of this quickly became a "banner" for the Kuomintang right-winger to carry out anti-communist activities. After Chiang Kai-Shek arrived in Nanchang, he immediately invited him to go north to jointly plan the purge of the party and anti-communism. Wu Tiecheng joined Dai Jitao, he was the director of the Guangzhou Public security Bureau and a well known KMT right-winger. Prior to the Zhongshan ship incident, Wu Tiecheng stated he had suggested to Chiang Kai-Shek that they impose sanctions on the CCP. In his words “with the registration materials of the special household registration of our Public Security Bureau, we can immediately arrest a dozen of the main Communist Party members, and then use a ship to transport them to a small island near Zhongshan County , or send them to Shanghai. As for the minor members, they will be temporarily detained." Chiang Kai-Shek said "I will think about it first." After the Zhongshan incident, Chiang Kai-Shek pretended to dismiss him from his post, but specially invited him later to Nanchang and dispatched him to Japan as a liaison. Another large figure who was invited over was Huang Fu, who had served as the Minister of Foreign affairs and Education for the Beiyang Government and as its Prime Minister. When Chiang Kai-Shek came to Nanchang he wrote to Huang Fu twice inviting him to come south. On December 31st, Zhang Jingjiang and Chen Guofu were also invited to Nanchang. Zhang Jingjiang was a member of the KMT's Central Supervisory Committee. After the secondary Plenary session of the second central committee, he became chairman of it. He used his authority and colluded with Chen Guofu, the Minister of Organization to dissolve the Guangzhou Municipal Party committee, which at the time was being led by left winger KMT. They did this by placing confidants in various positions to steal power. Simultaneously, they suppressed worker and peasant movements in Guangdong, even dispatching gangsters to kill their leaders and burn down the provincial and Hong Kong strike committee HQ. All of these people gathered at Nanchang formed a anti-communist cabal backing Chiang Kai-Shek. In January of 1927 these men went up Mount Lushan to a famous hotel called Xianyan where they plotted. After several days of meetings, as my source argues, mostly based on the advice of Huang Fu, these following decisions were obtained. Number 1, they would enact a policy of separating from the USSR and purging the party of CCP. Number 2, the NRA must settle the southeast by forming an alliance with the gentry and merchant class there. Number 3 in their diplomatic efforts they had to abandon the USSR and ally themselves to Japan. Number 4, to increase their military power they had to unite with Feng Yuxiangs Guominjun and Yan Xishan.   Upon returning to Nanchang, Chiang Kai-Shek took action, first by attacking Borodin. He sent a telegram to Xu Qian, the chairman of the Wuhan joint conference, stating Borodin had insulted him in public at Wuhan and demanded he be removed from his advisory position. He also recomended expell Borodin back to the USSR. The source I am reading states Chiang Kai-Shek had two rationales for going after Borodin. "Chiang Kai-Shek felt that except for Borodin, the Kuomintang leaders in Wuhan were all politically incompetent. ... As long as Borodin was there, he could not gain a dominant position. Secondly, he was using Borodin like a scape goat to hide his real anti-Soviet purpose'. At this time Chiang Kai-Shek was being labeled a USSR stooge by the NPA and a Japanese stooge by the CCP. In response, Chiang Kai-Shek stated publicly "Our alliance with Russia was left by the Prime Minister. Although its representatives have been arrogant for a long time and oppressed our party leaders in many ways, I believe that this has nothing to do with the Soviet Union's spirit of treating us equally. No matter what their personal attitudes are, we will never change our relationship with the Soviet Union towards Japan. Why should we unite with the Soviet Union? It is because the Soviet Union can treat China equally. Since the Soviet Union has not given up treating us equally, how can we give up the policy of alliance with Russia. ... Not only Japan, but any country, if it can treat China equally, then we will treat them the same way as we treat the Soviet Union. It is not impossible to unite with them. We unite with the Soviet Union to seek freedom and equality for China. It is completely based on the meaning of treating our nation equally, so we must unite with the Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union does not treat us equally and oppresses us in the same way, we will also oppose them in the same way. I have said for a long time." In regards to the CCP Chiang Kai-Shek stated to his close confidants “When I was in Guangzhou, I was always paying attention to the actions of the CCP. I wanted to implement my proposal to overthrow the CCP in Guangzhou, however I did not do so. I was unable to do so because it could mean the end of the Kuomintang”. After the success of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-Shek lamented to his confidants “although our army has won a great victory, I still worry the enemy is not at our front but at our rear. The CCP is causing much trouble within, we must make sure it does not split out party or even collapse our army. There are thorns everywhere”. Publically Chiang Kai-Shek stated "Now there is a rumor that I distrust and alienate my Communist comrades and have a tendency to oppose them. In fact, it cannot be said that I will not oppose the Communist Party. I has always supported the Communist Party... But that is to say, if the Communist Party becomes strong in the future and its members are arrogant and tyrannical, I will definitely correct them and punish them. ... Now many Communist Party members are actually oppressing the Kuomintang members, showing an overbearing attitude, and tend to exclude Kuomintang members, making Kuomintang members embarrassed. In this way, I can no longer treat Communist Party members with the same preferential treatment as before. If I still have the same attitude as before, then I am not in the position of a Kuomintang member, and I cannot be a Kuomintang member. Although I am not a Communist Party member, from a revolutionary perspective, I have to take some responsibility for the success or failure of the Communist Party! I am the leader of the Chinese revolution, not just the leader of the Kuomintang. The Communist Party is a part of the Chinese revolutionary forces. Therefore, if Communist Party members do something wrong or act tyrannically, I have the responsibility and power to intervene and punish them." As you can see, publicly Chiang Kai-Shek was always walking on eggshells when attacking the CCP. If you know the old boiling frog analogy, it's more or less like Chiang Kai-Shek gradually getting the public to attack the CCP. At the ceremony where Li Liejun was appointed chairman of Jiangxi, Chiang Kai-shek once again gave a speech, saying that communism was only a method of economic development, which might be applicable in some countries, but if China adopted communism, it would be a great harm and would only lead to the overthrow and revolution of China. In late January, Chiang Kai-Shek met with Momuro Keijiro, a representative sent by Japan's minister of Finance and Navy at Lushan. Chiang Kai-Shek explained to Keijiro that he understood the importance of the political and economic relationship between Manchuria and Japan. He understood the Japanese had spilt a lot of blood there during the Russo-Japanese War. He believed Manchuria required special consideration and hoped the Japanese would correctly evaluate the KMT's struggle to reunify China. Chiang Kai-Shek then met with the Japanese consul General in Jiujiang, Edo Sentaro, explaining he did not only intend to abolish the unequal treaties but would try to respect the existing conditions as much as possible, such as guaranteeing the recognition of foreign loans and repayments and respecting foreign owned enterprises.  After these meetings Chiang Kai-Shek met with representatives of the Imperial Japanese Military such as Nagami Masuki and Matsumuro Takayoshi. It was Dai Jitao who set up these meetings. Chiang Kai-Shek began the talks by making it clear the KMT would not work with the CCP and was willing to work with Japan to prevent the spread of Communism in China. Chiang Kai-Shek also met with the Japanese politician Yamamoto Jotario who would go on to say in Beijing that he believed the Generalissimo was an outstanding military leader. Needless to say, as my source would put it “Chiang Kai-Shek was closely colluding with Japanese imperialism”. He was also establishing contacts with the US. He dispatched Wang Zhengting to Shanghai to meet the American consul general there. Wang Zhengting told him the KMT had washed their hands of the communists and that there would be nor more incidents such as the one that befell Hankou. The American consul general in Guangzhou was likewise contacted through the finance minister of Guangdong, Kong Xiangxi. What the American consuls told their government was “if the powers want to drive the Soviets out of China, they should establish direct contact with Chiang Kai-Shek”. Chiang Kai-Shek also publicly expressed regret to numerous nations for incidents such as the one in Nanjing. He was gaining a reputation as being the only leader in China capable of restoring order amongst the chaos. Many of these foreign diplomats privately told Chiang Kai-Shek that if he wanted to really brush shoulders with them he had to purge the communists and soon. To truly purge the communists Chiang Kai-Shek reaches a deal with the bourgeoisie of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. They will support him economically if he helps suppress the worker movements in Shanghai. They fund Chiang Kai-Shek some 500,000 Yuan in early March, then on the 29th the Shanghai Commercial Federation pledges 5 million Yuan, with another 3 million on April 1st. Around this time Chiang Kai-Shek secretly send Wang Boling, the deputy commander of the 1st army; Yang Hu, chief of the special affairs department of the general HQ and Chen Qun the director of the political department of the eastern route army to Shanghai in disguise to meet Huang Jinrong. Huang Jinrong was a chief detective working in the French concession of Shanghai. He also happened to be one of the top three gangsters working under Du Yuesheng of the Green Gang. Huang Jinrong summoned Du Yuesheng and the other Green Gang leader Zhang Xiaolin, as they all discussed how to purge the communists. The Green Gang leaders seized the opportunity to help the KMT. They began monitoring the CCP, armed their gang members and began to attack anyone who was picketing. They formed the “China Progress Association”, which in reality was just Green Gang members. This association proceeded to attack the Shanghai General Labor Union, providing the perfect pretext for Chiang Kai-Shek to act.  On April 1st Wang Jingwei returns to Shanghai from aboard. By the 3rd Chiang Kai-Shek telegrams that Wang Jingwei is reinstated and holds secret talks with him. On the 8th Chiang Kai-Shek organizes a Shanghai Provisional Political Committee, stipulating it will decide all military, political and financial decisions and will replace the Shanghai special municipality provincial government that was established after the third Shanghai worker uprising. On the 9th he unleashes martial law prohibiting assemblies, strikes and marches, and established the Songhu Martial Law Command, with Bai Chongxi and Zhou Fengqi as the commander and deputy commander. Chiang Kai-Shek then takes his leave for Nanjing, leaving the job to Bai Chongxi who will supervise a coup in Shanghai. In a vain attempt Chen Duxiu tells the CCP to ease up on the Anti-Chiang Kai-Shek stuff. Then its announced to them that Chen Duxiu had managed to form a deal with Wang Jingwei. Chiang Kai-Shek send word from Nanjing to carry out the purge, in a very “execute order 66 fashion”.  April the 12th takes a wild turn in Shanghai. In the early morning a signal is raised over a warship anchored near the Gaochang temple. Hundreds of well armed Green Gang, Triads and some secret agents wearing blue shorts and white cloth  armbands with a black gongs on them, dispersed from the French concession in several cars. From 1 to 5am they attacked the picketing workers in Zhabei, Nanshi, Huxi, Wusong, Hongkou and other districts. The workers resisted immediately causing fierce street battles to break out. The 26th Army of the NRA, an old Sun Chuanfang unit that recently defected, came to forcibly confiscate guns while stating they were “mediating an internal strife amongst the workers”. Over 2700 armed workers in Shanghai were disarmed. More than 120 were killed with another 180 injured. The Shanghai General Labor Union club and all their associated pickets in the districts were occupied. Within the foreign concessions, foreign military and police forces arrested more than 1000 CCP members and workers who were immediately handed over to Chiang Kai-Shek's men. On the morning of the 13th, the workers from Shanghai's tobacco, silk factories, trams, municipal administration, postal services, sailors and various other industries went on strike. Over 200,000 workers took to the streets and the Shanghai General Labor Union held a mass rally in Qingyun Road Square in Zhabei with over 100,000 participants. They held a quick conference calling for resolutions. The first resolution was to hand over their weapons. Secondly those who destroyed their unions should be severely punished. Third the families of those killed needed to be compensated. Fourth protests should be made against the imperialists within the concessions. Fifth a telegram needed to be sent to the central government, then whole nation and world to demand assistance. Lastly the military authorities should be responsible for protecting the Shanghai trade unions. After the conference, the masses marched upon the headquarters of the 2nd division of the 26th army along Baoshan road to petition for the release of their comrades and for their weapons to be returned to them. They marched for a kilometer and upon reaching the Sandeli area of Baoshan road, soldiers of the 2nd division rushed out and opened fire upon them killing more than 100 on the spot. It was said Baoshan road was flooded with blood. That afternoon Chiang Kai-Sheks forces occupied the Shanghai General Labor Union and General Command of the Shanghai workers. They closed down and disbanded numerous revolutionary organizations and carried out searches and murders. Within 3 days after the Shanghai incident, more than 300 Shanghai CCP members were killed, another 500 were arrested and 5000 went “missing”. Like I said in the previous podcast on this very subject, I will leave it to you as to what missing meant. On the 15th of april the Kuomintang in Guangzhou launched their own coup. On that day more than 2000 CCP members and their supporters were arrested, 200 trade unions were closed. This all would b followed by similar activities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian and Guangxi where CCP members were purged. The NPA in the north would likewise crack down on communists. Li Dazhao had been placed on the Beiyang governments list of most wanted back in 1926 following the March 18th massacre. Since then he was hiding in the Soviet Embassy in Beijing, continuing to lead political maneuvers against the warlords. When the first united front collapsed as a result of Chiang Kai-Sheks purges, Zhang Zuolin ordered troops to raid the Soviet embassy. Li Dazhao, his wife and daughter were all arrested. Among 19 other communists, Li Dazhao was executed on April 28th of 1927 by strangulation. One of the behemoths who ushered in the New Culture Movement and was a founder of the CCP had become one of its greatest martyrs. The first united front was no more and in response to this the CCP declared "Chiang Kai-shek has become an open enemy of the national revolution, a tool of imperialism, and the culprit of the white terror of massacring workers, peasants and revolutionary masses”. This was followed by a call to mobilize, unite and form a solid front to fight the warlords and KMT. In May of 1927 the Communist International issued “the May Emergency Directive” to the CCP. (1) Without land revolution, victory is impossible; without land revolution, the Kuomintang Central Committee will become a pitiful plaything in the hands of unreliable generals. Excessive behavior must be opposed, but not by the army, but through the peasant associations. (2) It is necessary to make concessions to artisans, merchants and small landowners, and to unite with these strata. Only the land of large and medium-sized landowners should be confiscated; the land of officers and soldiers should not be touched. (3) Some old leaders of the KMT Central Committee will waver and compromise. We should recruit more new leaders of workers and peasants from below to join the KMT Central Committee and renew the KMT's upper echelons. (4) Mobilize 20,000 Communist Party members and 50,000 revolutionary workers and peasants in Hunan and Hubei to form several new armies and build our own reliable army. (5) A revolutionary military tribunal headed by prominent Kuomintang and non-Communists should be established to punish those officers who persecute workers and peasants.  Wang Jingwei obtained this document from Luo Yi, the representative of the Communist International. The high-ranking officials of the Kuomintang believed that this was the Communist International's armed seizure of power and they were determined to purge the party. Thus began the Wuhan-Nanjing war. However as we saw, Wang Jingwei would perform his own purge of the communists on May 21st as he found out the Soviets were pushing the CCP to seize control over his regime. In order to resist the KMT's massacres, or as the CCP put it “the white terror”, the CCP Central Committee reorganized itself on July 12th of 1927. Chen Duxiu and other early CCP leaders who had insisted on compromising with the KMT were dismissed from their posts and labeled right-wing capitulationists. The CCP formed an alliance with left wing KMT members forming a quasi second front where they planned an armed uprising in Nanchang hoping it would spark a large peasant uprising. They were led by He Long and Zhou Enlai. He Long a ethnic Tujia and Hunanese native was born to a poor peasant family. He received no formal education and worked as a cowherder during his youth. When he was 20 he killed a local Qing tax assessor who had killed his uncle for defaulting on his taxes. From this point he fled and became an outlaw, apparently his signature weapon was a butcher knife. In 1918 he raised a volunteer revolutionary army aligned with an emerging Hunanese warlord. By 1920 he joined the NRA and began brushing shoulders with CCP members. During the northern expedition he commanded the 1st division, 9th corps and served under Zhang Fakui. By late 1926 he joined the CCP. When the first united front collapsed he joined up with the CCP and took command of the 20th corps, 1st column of the Red Army. Zhou Enlai was born in Huai'an of Jiangsu in 1898. He was born to a scholarly family, many of them officials, but like many during the late 19th century in China suffered tremendously. Zhou Enlai was adopted by his fathers youngest brother Zhou Yigan who was also ill with tuberculosis. The adoption was more of a way to cover Zhou Yigans lack of an heir. Zhou Yigan died soon after and Zhou Enlai was raised by his widow Chen. He received a traditional literacy education. Zhou Enlai's biological mother died when he was 9 and Chen when he was 10. He then fell into the care of his uncle Zho Yigeng in Fengtian. Zhou Enlai continued his education at Nankai Middle School who were adopting an educational model used at the Philipps academy in the US. Zhou Enlai excelled at debate, acting, drama the sort of skill sets needed for public service. Like many students of his day he went to Japan in 1917 for further studies. He tried to learn Japanese to enter Japanese schools but failed to do so. He also faced a lot of racism in Japan, prompting him to become quite anti japanese. While in Japan he became very interested in news about the Russian Revolution. This led him to read works from Chen Duxiu.  In 1919 he returned to Tianjin where it is said he led student protests during the May Fourth movement, though a lot of modern scholars don't believe he did. Zhou Enlai then became a university student at Nankai and an activist. He led the Awakening Society and would find himself arrested. During this time he became familiar with Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu. Then in 1920 he went to study in Marseille. In 1921 he joined a Chinese Communist Cell while in Paris. By 1922 he helped found a European branch of the CCP. When the first United Front began he joined the KMT and in 1924 was summoned back to China. He joined the Political department of the Whampoa military academy. He was made Whampoa's chief political officer, but he also took the post as secretary of the CCP of Guangdong, Guangxi and served as a Major-General. Soon he became the secretary of the CCP's Guangdong Provincial committee. In 1925 he got his first taste of military command against Chen Jiongming, accompanying the Whampoa cadets as a political officer. When Chen Jiongming regrouped and attacked Guangzhou again that year, Chiang Kai-Shek personally appointed Zhou Enlai as director of the 1st corps political department. Soon after he was appointed a KMT party representative as chief commissar of the 1st corps. With the newfound position he began appointing communists as commissars in 4 out of the 5 corps divisions. However his work at Whampoa came to an end during the Zhongshan Warship incident as Chiang Kai-Shek began purging communists from high ranking positions. Whampoa was a significant part of his career providing him with skills and a network. Until the first united fronts collapse he worked to form numerous armed CPP groups. He was sent to Shanghai where he was part of the effort to stage an uprising there. During the massacre he was arrested and nearly killed if not for the work of Zhao Shu, a representative of the 26th army who released him. From there he fled to Hankou where he participated in the CCP's 5th national congress. When Wang Jingwei unleashed his purge, Zhou Enlai went into hiding. When the CCP called for an uprising in Nanchang, Zhou Enlai as a CCP secretary was in a unique position to lead it. The CCP designated Zhou Enlai, Li Lisan, Yun Daiying and Peng Pai to form a Front Committee. The troops available to them were the 24th and 10th divisions of the 11th army of the 2nd front army, the entire 20th army, 73rd and 75th regiment of the 25th division of the 4th army and part of the officer training corps of the 3rd army of the 5th front army led by Zhu De. He Long was the commander in chief of the 2nd front army, Ye Ting was his deputy and acting front line commander. Zhou Enlai was the chief of staff with Liu Bocheng as director of the political directorate. At this time, the main force of the 3rd Army of the 5th Front Army of the Kuomintang Wuhan Government was located in Zhangshu, Ji'an; the main force of the 9th Army was located in Jinxian and Linchuan; and the main force of the 6th Army was advancing to Nanchang via Pingxiang; the rest of the 2md Front Army was located in Jiujiang; only the 5th Front Army Guard Regiment and parts of the 3rd, 6th, and 9th Armies, totaling more than 3,000 people, were stationed in Nanchang and its suburbs. The CCP Front Committee decided to launch an uprising on August 1 before the arrival of reinforcements. At 2:00am on August 1st the Nanchang uprising began. The 1st and 2nd division of the 20th army launched attacks against the defenders of the Old Fantai Yamen, Dashiyuan street and the  Niuxing railway station. Meanwhile the 24th division of the 11th army attacked the Songbaixiang catholic church, Xinyingfang and Baihuazhou. The bloody battle lasted until dawn inflicting 3000 casualties and capturing more than 5000 small arms of various types, 700,000 rounds of ammunition and a few cannons. During the afternoon the 73rd regiment of the 25th division station at Mahuiling, 3 battalions of the 75th regiment and a machine gun company of the 74th regiment led by Nie Rongzhen and Zhou Shidi revolted and came to Nanchang by the 2nd of august.  For the moment it seemed the CCP had achieved a grand success at Nanchang. The CCP then began proclaiming Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei had betrayed the revolution and that of Sun Yat-Sens three principles by choosing to side with the imperialists and warlords. Meanwhile the CCP aligned military units began to gather in Nanchang requiring a reorganization. It was decided the uprising army would continue to use the designation of 2nd front army of the NRA with He Long serving as its commander in chief and Ye Ting as his deputy. Ye Ting would also command the 11th army consisting of the 24th, 25th and 10th divisions, Nie Rongzhen would be his CCP party representative; He Long would command the 20th Army consisting of the 1st and 2nd divisions with Liao Qianwu as his CCP party representative. Zhou Enlai with Zhu De as his deputy would lead the 9th army with Zhu Kejing as his CCP party representative. Altogether they were 20,000 strong and now very well armed. There was to be a great celebration, it seemed this was the grand moment the CCP would take the center stage. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Chinese Civil War had officially just begun. Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei purged their respective regimes of communists unleashing a white terror. In a scramble to survive the CCP reorganized itself and sought revenge with their first target being Nanchang. From here until 1949, the CCP and KMT would fight for the future of China.  

On this podcast today, I am joined by three scholars: postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt, Gil Hizi; assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Xinyan Peng; and lecturer and researcher at the University of Ghent, Mieke Matthyssen. All three guests join me to talk about their chapters in the new book, Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today: A Keyword Approach (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today takes readers on a journey into a central aspect of life in China, so-called "self-development." Twelve contributors have each written wonderfully elaborate chapters drawing on a wide range of material from practices in education, labor, and self-help as they spotlight "keywords" by which individuals make sense of their self-development journeys - including new forms of resistance to social norms. The book consists of twelve chapters and twelve keywords. In this episode, we talk about how three terms relate to self-development ethics and politics in China today: Gil Hizi joins me to talk about the Chinese term 'xinshang' (apprecation), Xinyang Peng discusses duanlian (exercise) and Mieke Matthyssen expands on the term tangping (lying flat). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

On this podcast today, I am joined by three scholars: postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt, Gil Hizi; assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Xinyan Peng; and lecturer and researcher at the University of Ghent, Mieke Matthyssen. All three guests join me to talk about their chapters in the new book, Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today: A Keyword Approach (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today takes readers on a journey into a central aspect of life in China, so-called "self-development." Twelve contributors have each written wonderfully elaborate chapters drawing on a wide range of material from practices in education, labor, and self-help as they spotlight "keywords" by which individuals make sense of their self-development journeys - including new forms of resistance to social norms. The book consists of twelve chapters and twelve keywords. In this episode, we talk about how three terms relate to self-development ethics and politics in China today: Gil Hizi joins me to talk about the Chinese term 'xinshang' (apprecation), Xinyang Peng discusses duanlian (exercise) and Mieke Matthyssen expands on the term tangping (lying flat). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

On this podcast today, I am joined by three scholars: postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt, Gil Hizi; assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Xinyan Peng; and lecturer and researcher at the University of Ghent, Mieke Matthyssen. All three guests join me to talk about their chapters in the new book, Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today: A Keyword Approach (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today takes readers on a journey into a central aspect of life in China, so-called "self-development." Twelve contributors have each written wonderfully elaborate chapters drawing on a wide range of material from practices in education, labor, and self-help as they spotlight "keywords" by which individuals make sense of their self-development journeys - including new forms of resistance to social norms. The book consists of twelve chapters and twelve keywords. In this episode, we talk about how three terms relate to self-development ethics and politics in China today: Gil Hizi joins me to talk about the Chinese term 'xinshang' (apprecation), Xinyang Peng discusses duanlian (exercise) and Mieke Matthyssen expands on the term tangping (lying flat). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

On this podcast today, I am joined by three scholars: postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt, Gil Hizi; assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Xinyan Peng; and lecturer and researcher at the University of Ghent, Mieke Matthyssen. All three guests join me to talk about their chapters in the new book, Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today: A Keyword Approach (Amsterdam University Press, 2022). Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today takes readers on a journey into a central aspect of life in China, so-called "self-development." Twelve contributors have each written wonderfully elaborate chapters drawing on a wide range of material from practices in education, labor, and self-help as they spotlight "keywords" by which individuals make sense of their self-development journeys - including new forms of resistance to social norms. The book consists of twelve chapters and twelve keywords. In this episode, we talk about how three terms relate to self-development ethics and politics in China today: Gil Hizi joins me to talk about the Chinese term 'xinshang' (apprecation), Xinyan Peng discusses duanlian (exercise) and Mieke Matthyssen expands on the term tangping (lying flat). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

On this podcast today, I am joined by three scholars: postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt, Gil Hizi; assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Xinyan Peng; and lecturer and researcher at the University of Ghent, Mieke Matthyssen. All three guests join me to talk about their chapters in the new book, Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today: A Keyword Approach (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) Self-Development Ethics and Politics in China Today takes readers on a journey into a central aspect of life in China, so-called "self-development." Twelve contributors have each written wonderfully elaborate chapters drawing on a wide range of material from practices in education, labor, and self-help as they spotlight "keywords" by which individuals make sense of their self-development journeys - including new forms of resistance to social norms. The book consists of twelve chapters and twelve keywords. In this episode, we talk about how three terms relate to self-development ethics and politics in China today: Gil Hizi joins me to talk about the Chinese term 'xinshang' (apprecation), Xinyang Peng discusses duanlian (exercise) and Mieke Matthyssen expands on the term tangping (lying flat). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Systrarna Soong gifte sig med några av Kinas viktigaste män och fick med hjälp av sin charm, intelligens och ställning ett stort politiskt inflytande på Kinas 1900-talshistoria. Trots att de kom från en av Kinas rikaste familjer hamnade de på var sin sida i kampen mellan nationalisterna och kommunisterna.Systrarna Soong – Ai-ling, Ching-ling och Mei-ling föddes i slutat av 1800-talet till en förmögen, kristen familj i Shanghai där fadern Charlie Soong i hemlighet stödde de revolutionära nationalisterna. Efter kommunisternas seger 1949 hamnade två systrar i landsflykt och den tredje fick en priviligierad ställning i det röda Kina.I detta avsnitt av podden Historia Nu samtalar programledaren Urban Lindstedt med Ingemar Ottosson, docent i historia vid Lunds universitet, om systrarna Soong. Ingemar Ottosson har bland annat skrivit boken Sidenvägen.Familjen Soong har beskrivits som en av de fyra stora familjerna i Kina på 1900-talet. Systrarna skickades redan som barn till USA för att studera, vilket var mycket ovanligt vid den tiden. När de återvände talade de flytande engelska, hade världsliga erfarenheter och visste hur man klädde sig i den senaste modet – de hade en kosmopolitisk aura som kändes exotisk.Ett modernt kinesisk ordspråk säger, ”En älskade pengar, en älskade makt och en älskade sitt land”. Systrarnas äktenskap gav dem en plattform att verka från. Mellansystern Ching-ling förälskade sig i revolutionären Sun Yat-sen, grundaren av nationalistpartiet Kuomintang. Storasystern Ai-ling gifte sig med bankmannen H H Kung, en god vän och finansiär till Sun Yat-sen. Lillasystern Mei-ling gifte sig med militären och nationalistledaren Chiang Kai-shek.När Chiang Kai-shek tog över Nationalistpartiet efter Sun Yat-sens död blev Suns änka Ching-ling hemlig medlem i det kommunistiska Komintern. Hon skulle vistas i Stalins Moskva och kom senare att leva ett privilegierat liv i det kommunistiska Kina, men utan reell makt. Först på dödsbädden blev hon medlem i det kinesiska kommunistpartiet.Mei-ling och Chiang Kai-shek flydde till Taiwan efter det kommunistiska maktövertagandet 1949, där Chiang blev en hårdför diktator. Ai-ling och H H Kung tog sig till USA för ett anonymt välbärgat liv i exil.Bild: Systrarna Soong, från vänster till höger: Soong Ai-ling (1890 – 1973), Soong Mei-ling (1897 – 2003) och Soong Ching-ling (1893 – 1981) i Chongqing (Chunking), Kina, 1940. Systrarna var unikt inflytelserik i kinesisk politik i början av 1900-talet, med Ai-ling som gifte sig med bankiren och finansministern H. H. Kung, Mei-ling som arbetade med och gifte sig med den kinesiska nationalistledaren Chiang Kai-shek och Ching-ling som gifte sig med Republiken Kinas första president, Sun Yat-sen. Wikipedia, Public Domain.Musik: Chinese Orient av Simon Sharp, Storyblock AudioLyssna också på Chiang Kai-shek – salthandlarsonen som förlorade Kina.Klippare: Emanuel Lehtonen Vill du stödja podden och samtidigt höra ännu mer av Historia Nu? Gå med i vårt gille genom att klicka här: https://plus.acast.com/s/historianu-med-urban-lindstedt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For over two thousand years, China lived under imperial rule. A series of dynasties and emperors were the defining feature of Chinese governance.  However, in the early 20th century, China threw off its imperial rulers and became, for the first time in its history, a republic.  Much of the reason why China became a republic was due to one man. Learn more about Sun Yat-sen and the downfall of imperial China on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Sign up for ButcherBox today by going to Butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily at checkout to get $30 off your first box! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Zhejiang. Chiang Kai-Shek kept the momentum going by invading Zhejiang after taking Jiangxi and Fujian. However Sun Chuanfang in desperation ran to an unlikely ally, Zhang Zuolin to form the National Pacification Army. Now the NPA would go to war with the NRA. The NRA also faced internal strife as strikes broke out in Guangzhou and Wuhan. After quelling the worker strikes, the NRA began to concentrate on the Zhejiang campaign performing strategic counter attacks against Sun Chuanfangs offensives. By early 1927 Sun Chuanfang's control over Zhejiang was being undermined by Zhejiang independence movement leaders who joined the KMT to overthrow him. Sun Chuanfang was served disastrous defeats, his armies began to rout with many plundering before they fled north. Those that still continued the fight fled for Shanghai, where Sun Chuanfang prepared to make a last stand to hold the NRA back before Zhejiang fell.   #113 The Northern Expedition Part 4: The taking of Shanghai & Nanking Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The NRA east route army had concentrated around Sungchiang just in front of Shanghai. They made it seem they were preparing for a major assault on the super city, yet up the Yangtze, half of the NRA were secretly preparing an offensive directed against Nanking. If the NRA captured Nanking and its strategic Tianjin-Pukou railway line, Sun Chuanfang's forces south of the Yangtze would be isolated and cut off from reinforcements and supplies. On February 19th of 1927, Sun Chuanfang pulled his battered armies out of Zhejiang as he awaited reinforcements from Zhang Zongchang's Shandong army. Meanwhile the KMT called upon their agents and allies within Shanghai to foment disorder. Going back to November of 1926, KMT and CCP members within Shanghai had been assembling recruits together to strengthen their first united front. Shanghai held a large part of China's modern factory workers, numbering in the several hundred of thousands. They represented a considerable percent of the Shanghai population. Following the formation of the NPA, Shanghai unions began attacking Sun Chuanfang for bringing Shandong mercenaries into Zhejiang and strongly disagreed with his alliance with the northerners. They had real grievances with the northerners, because they had ties to foreign powers like the Empire of Japan. Those in Shanghai sought to break the chains of foreign imperialism and wanted more autonomy. From 1926 onwards many unions, particularly those directed by the CCP organized demonstrations against Sun Chuanfang and the NPA. By February of 1927 the anti-Sun Chuanfang movement really heated up. The National General Labor Union of the CCP had ordered some assassinations to terrorize the Chinese and foreign industrialists. To bring even more Shanghai workers under their influence and hurt Sun Chuanfangs hold over the city the CCP organized a political strike, similar to what had occurred in Hong Kong the year prior. A general strike in Shanghai was planned for February 19th and it would include the foreign concession factories. The strikers had 5 political and 12 economic demands. A major aim of the strike was to seize power through the use of the masses, even against a well armed regime like Sun Chuanfangs. The CCP hoped to direct large crowds of workers against Sun Chuanfang's police stations and garrison posts where they could seize their weapons to arm some workers corps. They had acquired quite a bit of experience during the Hong Kong and Guangzhou strikers when it came to arming workers. However the response of Sun Chuanfangs regime would be vastly different than the KMT in Guangzhou.  Sun Chuanfangs garrison commander at Shanghai responded violently and quickly. He dispatched broadsword carrying executioners and soldiers through the city grabbing and beheading any strikers on sight. Heads were placed on lamp posts at street corners and on spikes all around. Its estimated out of perhaps 100,000 to 350,000 workers who striked, the headcount ranged between 100-500. The CCP continued its efforts to attack police stations, but the general strike died out on the third day. In a form of retaliation the Shanghai workers held a mass trial and execution of at least one police officer. A new garrison commander was sent to Sahnghai, Pi Shucheng in an effort to reinforce the city. By the point he showed up the CCP gave up and told the strikers to get back to work to end the bloodshed. What became known as the second shanghai uprising failed to achieve much.  Despite its failure, the second uprising in Shanghai displayed disunity under Sun Chuanfangs rule. By mid February Sun Chuanfangs Shanghai navy had begun to act suspiciously. On the 22nd as the CCP led sorties against the Shanghai Police, shells from the warships Chienkang and Chienwei fll over the Jiangnan arsenal. Thinking not much of it, Sun Chuanfang blamed a few young officers for the bombardment and gave his Admiral Yang Shuchuang a demerit. Sun Chuanfang was of course reluctant at this point to penalize his subordinates for fear they mutiny. The bombardment did not knock out the aresnal but a fire began mysteriously on the 28th blowing up 40 crates of artillery shells. The uprising did little to weaken Sun Chuanfangs hold over Shanghai, so the NRA shifted strategy. Over in Hangzhou, NRA units advance to the Sungchiang front while NRA units in Jiangxi advance downriver towards Nanking. The 6th and 7th NRA armies advance along the Jiangxi-Anhui border as the eastern route command dug in near Shanghai. Back in December, at the Nanchang conference Chiang Kai-Shek and Borodin had managed to smooth the tension between the CCP and KMT. Borodin agreed to curtain some union disorder that were interfering with the war effort so the First United Front would not collapse. However within the new conquered territories, many that contained enormous industrial potential, strikes and labor violence kept breaking out. This was quite dangerous for the stability of the NRA as they performed the northern expedition. But from the CCP point of view they were simply organizing the enormous untapped power of Chinese workers. The CCP began to really grow in power at Wuhan and were becoming less cooperative with Chiang Kai-Shek. They believed Chiang Kai-Shek was dependent and at the mercy of Soviet aid. They also believed, since he had left Guangdong, a more malleable KMT military figure would better suit their interests. Thus a concerted effort was made to replace Chiang Kai-Shek. You could call it a anti-Chiang movement sprang up and it was taking an effect on the Northern Expedition. Chiang Kai-Shek had just wired the Wuhan administration three times for funds to pay some disgruntled 7th army troops. The administration at Wuhan created by a joint council of the party and government, by insistence of Borodin, were generally compliant to Chiang Kai-Sheks demands. One of their leaders was Xu Chen, the current minister of justice. According to a group close to Wang Jingwei, it seemed the CCP, Chiang Kai-Sheks inner circle and the new Joint Council at Wuhan between January and February of 1927 were becoming quite dependent on Soviet advice. Early in January the CCP were attacking Chiang Kai-Shek with propaganda aimed to make it seem he was in bed with other warlords and the Japanese, thus a betrayer to Dr Sun Yat-Sens movement. Xu Chen the current commander of the 8th NRA army became a potential replacement for Chiang Kai-Shek, but the CCP were still afraid to risk open strife with the KMT. Borodin and CCP leaders like Mao Zedong were encouraged by the CCP membership growth in the countryside and within military units around Wuhan. As the NRA advance through Hunan, CCP membership increased as they spread through peasant associations. It was a similar case in Hubei. The Hunanese commander of the 2nd NRA army brought up the issue at a KMT meeting warning his colleagues “not to neglect the dangers of internal strife. Many of our members have become sidetracked by… ideas … not indicated in Sun Yat-sen's instructions,… not belittle the enemy. Our enemies are now uniting together and gathering to attack us. We should concentrate the power of the Party and obey its orders strictly regardless of our own opinions.” Chiang Kai-Shek of course was not oblivious to the danger all around him. He launched his own sort of counterattack. He began claiming the CCP strategy and those who were following them, threatened the all-class union of the KMT. On February 19th he urged a KMT audience during a speech to “look to … the doctrines of Sun Yat-sen and nothing else.” The anti Chiang Kai-Shek sentiment was felt in crowds at Wuhan. On February 24th, a crowd of 50,000 assembled at the party HQ parade ground where they made fiery speeches against Chiang Kai-Shek and against the Northern Expedition. “All we have seen is military power, but no Party power; individual will but not Party will…. Old degenerate counterrevolutionaries have caused these pathetic facts of the Party. That is why we must… knock down the feudal influences.” After this several people began chanting “Down with the Old and Degenerate!” Then another man made a speech stating “a few individuals could not do the work…. Now the old, rotten feudal thinking members manipulate the KMT, we must therefore knock them down.” Then the chant turned to “Down with Chang Ching-chiang,Oppose the Military Dictatorship.” Then the head of the NRA's Political Departments, Teng Yenta stated “democratic centralization was the way to achieve the ideals of the Three People's Principles, but now our leadership has been occupied by the old, ignorant, and the incompetent …, and we must overthrow personal dictatorship … and bring the military under control….” Chiang Kai-Shek was enraged by all of this of course and he refuted the charges made against him. He singled out Xu Chen who had just made himself chairman of the new Joint Council without KMT party authorization. Chiang Kai-Shek began a little investigation and concluded it was Borodin's doing so he telegrammed Moscow on February 26th requesting Borodin be sent back to the USSR. The next day at a KMT meeting, Chiang Kai-Shek told his colleagues he felt despite the fact the NRA advanced into new territories, while the people saw them as KMT members, they only heard propaganda from the CCP. By March the anti-Chiang cabal now sought to replace him with General Tang Shengchih, the Hunanese defector made commander of the 8th NRA army. According to one soviet report written on the 5th of March, Tang Shengchih was seen to be much more dependent on Soviet aid and a lot more cooperative in helping the anti-chiang effort amongst the other generals. A new anti-chiang alliance would require the support of other high ranking generals such as Chang Fakuai new corps, Chen Mingshu's 11th army, Chu Peitehs 3rd army and the 9th and 10th armies. According to the same Soviet report, Tang Shenchih managed to turn Li Tsungjen against Chiang Kai-Shek and this hampered Chiang Kai-Sheks ability to obtain funds from Wuhan to pay Li Tsunjens 7th army.  Spring of 1927 brought more disunity to the First United Front and thus hurt the Northern Expedition. Although the NRA were clearly on a roll in Zhejiang and Fujian, their progress north of Wuhan and downriver from Jiangxi lost steam. Chiang Kai-Shek still held confidence of the men in the eastern route army concentrating along the Jiangsu-Anhui border, but their offensive was also halted. In southern Honan where the NRA were facing the remnants of Wu Peifu's army, winter's chill was beginning to slow down the expedition.  The offensive kicked back up with a bunch of defections amongst Sun Chuanfang's forces in Anhui. Chen Tiaoyuan, Sun Chuanfangs commander in Chief for his Anhui forces, had became dissatisfied with him and how he was ruling the 5 province empire…which I guess is now more like 2. Chen Tiaoyuan was demoralized, who could blame him. Back on December 5th of 1926, Chen Tiaoyuan began secret negotiations by dispatching some of his subordinates such as Fan Shao-kai over to the KMT hoping to defect and gain a decent position. Simultaneously, Sun Chuanfang maintained hope of holding his frontline in Anhui by promoting subordinates. Sun Chuanfang appointed Chen Tiaoyuan to be the director of defenses over the province on December 21st. On February 20th of 1927, one of Chen Tiaoyuans divisions, led by Liu Paoti defected to the NRA when he was guarding a strategic pass known as the Chimen gateway. This was a 5000 foot high range leading into Anhui. Now the NRA held a mountain side door leading directly into Anhui. The mountain range in question also happened to be the last natural barrier that Sun Chuanfang's troops were utilizing to defend the lower Yangtze area, including of course Shanghai. After that Chen Tiaoyuang tossed the towel to the inevitable and defected to the NRA. Chen Tiaoyuan proved his defection by turning his defensive sector along the Yangtze over on March 2nd. He brought with him the mixed brigade of Wang Pu and elements of the Hunan Army led by Yue Kaixin. The NRA proceeded to advance over the Yellow Mountain and down it to seize Taiping in Anhui on march 3rd. Pretty much unopposed the NRA marched upon Nanking through Anhui taking several routes. By March 17th, the 17th Division of Cheng Chens 6th NRA Army had advanced 200 miles downstream using river steamboats and was only 70 miles away from Nanking. Over the north banks of the Yangtze the NRA formed a spearhead and thrusted it into the soft midsection of the north-south railway. By mid march the NRA captured Hofei in northern Anhui. At this point Sun Chuanfangs relationship with his navy was greatly waning and he was becoming more and more dependent on the Tsinpu railway as an escape option to head north rather than via the sea. Thus March of 1927 saw the NRA effectively begin trapping Sun Chuanfang into the Yangtze delta around Shanghai.  The NRA southern forces were now advancing out of Zhejiang into the delta region. One pincer was heading north along the shores of Lake Tai aiming for the Shanghai-Nanking railway at Changzhou. Meanwhile in Anhui the 6th army was attacking Wuhu on the 6th of March. Anti-foreign disorder broke out at Wuhu as NRA political agents raillied crowds of civilians and soldiers to mob the foreigners maritime customs office and clubhouse. This sent the foreigners to flee downriver to Shanghai by ship carrying more tales of anti-foreign abuse with them. The eastern route force facing Shanghai was met with heavy artillery bombardment as more and more NPA troops from Shandong arrived. Several NRA attacks north of Shanghai against railway links were made, threatening the city's defensive capabilities. By mid march many forces defending Shanghai began evacuating for Nanking. On March 15th the eastern route army had its first major breakthrough over the hills that overlooked Lake Tai. NRA forces managed to outflank the enemy artillery placements and erected a real blockade by march 16th. Now a new NRA pincer moved west against Lishui, 40 miles from Nanking. Along the east shore of said lake, the NRA was effectively blocked by Shandong troops who held an advantage in heavy artillery. By mid march many Shandong reinforcements arrived at Changzhou along the Nanking-Shanghai railway, but were simply turned back to Nanking. Not a good look.  From Wuhu the NRA kept the advance towards Tangtu which was outflanked and captured on the 17th, while the east route force took up a position 50 miles from Nanking on some ridges where Sun Chuanfang had once headquartered. On the 18th, north of the Yangtze the 7th NRA army just captured Hofei and its railway link. The delta area's defenses were falling apart everywhere one looked. The Dogmeat General took one look and ordered a general withdrawal of all the Shandong forces from the Shanghai area to some positions north of the Yangtze. With that Shanghai defenses fell apart. Over at the Sungchiang front the forces of Pi Shucheng retreated into the city towards the railway station, but did not high tail it to Nanking despite being ordered to do so. According to foreign and Chinese journalists, Pi Shucheng had been waiting for the opportune moment to defect to the NRA and had been secretly negotiating to turn Shanghai over. Thus it seemed the NRA had managed to capture the city without provoking the foreigners. On the 20th the NRA managed to flank the railroad artillery position still manned by some White Russian forces. They managed this through more defections, this time from Shanghai police. The Shanghai police controlled the waterways and aided the NRA in navigating them so they could advance more rapidly. Simultaneously Suzhou, Changzhou and Henglin were captured. Sun Chuanfang was receiving zero aid from the sea for over a week by this point as AdmiralYang Shuchuang had taken the fleet upriver to join the NRA's river fleet. Of course Admiral Yang Shuchuangs defection had been in the works for well over a year, but his timing could not have been worse for Sun Chuanfang. On March 21st a bloodless seizure of Shanghai proceeded. Now going back to our conversation about the anti-Chiang Kai-Shek movement, there had been a lot of development during this time period. In January of 1927, Wang Jingwei with his left wing allies, members of the CCP and Borodin had transferred the seat of the KMT government from Guangzhou to Wuhan. On March 1st the KMT government then reorganized the military commission and placed Chiang Kai-Shek under its jurisdiction with the secret intent to arrest him. As the NRA was about to storm Shanghai, a major opportunity presented itself to the CCP. Most of the Northern Chinese defenders still stuck in Shanghai were simply looking to surrender. Thus on March 21st, CCP leaders Zhou Enlai and Chen Duxiu launched an armed uprising. The CCP seized weapons, created a general strike and seized most of the city. This caused many of Sun Chuanfangs soldiers to flee to the railway station or coasts, looting as they did. Major battle took place between armed workers and soldiers, causing fires and damaged to heavily populated areas of the city. For example in the northern suburb of Zhapei, armed workers burnt down 3000 homes. By the night of the 22nd Bai Chongxi's NRA troops were gradually occupying the city, however the general strike was disrupting their efforts. General Bai Chongxi' ordered the CCP to call off the general strike on the 24th, but for over 4 days 322 Chinese were killed and over 2000 were wounded. As the NRA consolidated their authority over the city, their top spokesmen, Chiang Kai-SHek, Ho Yingqin and Bai Chongxi tried to alleviate the foreign community who were ridden with frightened refugees in the international settlement. The settlement was a literal warzone, fitted with barbed wire, gates, marines and soldiers behind sandbag trenches and such. Very real and many false stories were spread of anti-foreign atrocities. The NRA put out notices stating “The purpose of the military operations of the Northern Expedition is to establish a nation governed by the people and to get rid of the warlords. Our army occupied Hunan, Kiangsi, Hupeh, Fukien, Chekiang, Anhui, and other provinces and the unification of the entire nation will be accomplished soon. The Party Army's success is the victory of the people…. In accordance with international morality we shall guard the lives and property of foreigners. We have occupied Shanghai by more than force. We request that consuls inform your nationals to carry on your activities as usual and order the marines not to misunderstand our motives and not to carry out means to obstruct our revolutionary cause'. And now we come to a large and confusing part of the story. At Nanking and Shanghai major events would unfold, seeing the end of the first United Front. After a few days, anti-foreign actions would follow the capture of Nanking requiring more and more public assurances from the KMT. The last demoralized rear guard crossed the Yangtze to get to the safer northern bank. By doing this, now the NPA's most southern position was the rail terminal at Pukou. The NRA vanguard entered Nanking on March 24th, with units of the 6th army and countless NPA Anhui defectors alongside them. Chiang Kai-Shek loyalists in the KMT then charged the head of the 6th NRA army's political department, a CCP member named Lin Xuhan with masterminding attacks upon foreigners. These attacks provoked the foreign powers to then attack Chiang Kai-Shek, diverting his attention from the northern expedition and weakening his authority over the new Wuhan government. Elements of the 6th army had stirred up anti-foreign attitudes amongst their troops and civilians within Nanking. Yet the foreign community in the city would go on to say the attacks they witnessed were not made by civilian mobs. Whatever motivations, the situation that unfolded at Nanking signified a giant breach of soldier discipline. For Chiang Kai-Shek to have permitted such actions to take place was inconsistent with his strategy of avoiding any provocation upon the foreign powers. Yet over 25,000 Nanking refugees flooded over to Shanghai as 25,000 foreign marines and soldiers began defending the concessions, assuring the NRA they were ready for a fight. Going back in time somewhat, the March 20th coup was something akin to a patient zero. Back on January 3rd of 1927 elements of the KMT at Wuhan had triggered mobs to attack the British concessions until they gave back authority at Hankou and Kiukiang to the Chinese. Yet the KMT had never given such orders to do so. It seemed the CCP were pushing these actions. Between March 7th to the 17th, the new Joint Council at Wuhan was openly being defiant towards Chiang Kai-Shek and they held their first plenary session to work against him. They met with KMT leftists and CCP members and agreed to appoint CCP members, Su Chaocheng and Tan Pingshan as ministers; promoted CCP peasant and labour groups and dispatched three representatives to the Third Communist International to discuss China's role in the would be world revolution. It did not seem the CCP intended to keep their promise to the KMT about China not going communist. All of this authority at Wuhan undermined Chiang Kai-Sheks authority and those loyal to him. They immediately voted to take direct control of military funds which had been previously handled by the minister of Finance, T.V Soong, obviously considered a loyal supporter to Chiang Kai-Shek. In order to gain more influence in the NRA, the Wuhan guys began creating a parallel military chain of command and recruited CCP members into major officer positions. They hoped such actions would see more military types defect over to their cause. Now by this point the NRA really had become a giant beast. When the northern expedition launched in July of 1926 the were 8 armies, by March of 1927 they were now 40. Wuhans fiscal and political control over said armies would clearly undermine and probably be capable of getting rid of Chiang Kai-Shek, so it was a no brainer to attempt seizing them for the CCP. The Wuhan cabal hoped to incorporate some of the new armies, made mostly of defectors, whose alliances were probably flimsy to be under their control. Chiang Kai-Shek tried to counter these attacks, but anything he did would be seen as censorship or anti-communist, thus shattering the first united front, from which he still depended….or did he?  Now technically the Wuhan Cabal was only able to do what they were doing because leading KMT figures were not present such as Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei. Thus lesser members like Xu Chen and Teng Yenta were able to make some big decisions. Both men were CCP aligned and worked to abolish Chiang Kai-Sheks posts that he held such as ministry of the military which was replaced by the Wuhan Military council. The Wuhan cabal was able to reduce Chiang Kai-Sheks role as commander in chief and give various tasks to other military commanders. Likewise the military education programs at the KMT academics removed Chiang Kai-Sheks supervisory role, depriving him of obtaining the loyalty of the new junior officer corps. Appointment, promotions and dismissals of commanders would be done by the Military council, ie: Xu CHen and Teng Yenta. They first relieved Chen Mingshu, a known Chiang Kai-Shek loyalist and replaced him with a Moscow certified star Tang Shengchih. It became very obvious what they were trying to do. Thus as the Wuhan cabal tore apart Chiang Kai-Sheks authority piece by piece, the NRA's war against Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang began to collapse. Without a high degree of coordination and leadership, the NRA was finding it difficult to fight the numerically superior NPA forces. In March of 1927, Wuhan proclaimed all regulations ordered by Chiang Kai-Sheks HQ to be nullified. This meant although he retained authority over troops at the frontlines, Wuhan now claimed authority over all the other troops. All of these attacks upon Chiang Kai-Shek caused massive confusion in the ranks. Many within the KMT believed and rightfully so that the CCP was trying to take leadership over the movement. As the northern expedition took the NRA into Jiangsu, the momentum of their previous victories had pushed them across the Yangtze. This was heavily aided by the recent Shanghai Navy defectors who eased the crossing using their vessels. Those already operating north of the Yangtze such as the 3rd, 7th and 10th armies were pressing past Hofei towards Pengpu by early April. Pengpu was the capital of Anhui, forming a sort of bridgehead over the Huai river with a railway depot for Zhang Zongchang's armies. Thus its capture would open a door to the invasion of North China. Yet the NRA's momentum died in confusion over which direction they were to take, because of the Wuhan cabal-Chiang Kai-Shek fighting, and their logistical support was falling apart. It seemed to all like the northern expedition might never make it to the north.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The NRA managed to seize the super cities of Shanghai and Nanking. The NRA now dominated most of south China and were about to begin invading the north, when internal problems arose. The CCP and Chiang Kai-Shek were not seeing eye to eye and now a civil war seemed to be breaking out in the first united front.

As part of IALC's ongoing series of podcasts in world languages, this podcast brings together four of the leading Chinese lung cancer experts who discuss current research and clinical issues, in Mandarin. Host: Chunxia Su, M.D., PhD, Professor of Oncology, Doctoral Supervisor, School of Medicine, Tongji University Guest: Xiuning Le, MD, Department of Thoracic-Head & Neck Med Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson Guest: Jianming Ying, Professor & Director Department of Pathology National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Guest: Professor Li Zhang, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine, Doctoral Supervisor, Second Class Professor, and Chief Expert on Lung Cancer at Sun Yat sen University Cancer Prevention and Treatment Center

Last time we spoke about the second Zhili-Fengtian War.  After the first Zhili-Fengtian War of 1922, the Zhili warlords took control of Beijing. Cao Kun bribed his way into the presidency as Zhang Zuolin retreated to Manchuria to rebuild his army. Zhang appointed key officials and boosted military production, significantly enhancing his army, navy, and air force. The catalyst for the second Zhili-Fengtian War in 1924 was the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War. Zhang Zuolin declared war on the Zhili clique, accusing them of corruption and oppression. The war saw battles at Rehe, Shanhaiguan, and other locations, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. However, the Zhili forces were plagued by internal betrayal and logistical challenges. Feng Yuxiang's unexpected coup in Beijing further weakened the Zhili's position. Ultimately, the Fengtian army's superior strategy and coordination led to their victory, capturing key cities and forcing Zhili leaders to flee.   #106 the First United Front Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The second Zhili-Fengtian war was by far the most intense war to date for China's Warlord Era. Perhaps up to 450,000 troops participated in battles stretching along the Great Wall Line from Shanhaiguan to Beijing. The casualties were reported to be around 30,000, but estimates for China's Warlord Era are notoriously flimsy. Ultimately it was won by Feng Yuxiang's betrayal against Wu Peifu. Feng Yuxiang's Beijing coup certainly turned the tide, and now he had emerged a major player on the scene. Feng Yuxiang went to work, expelling the former Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi from the Forbidden city and placed Cao Kun under house arrest. Now immediately after Feng Yuxiang had taken Beijing, he began reorganizing his forces into the 1st National Army or better known as the Guominjun. Feng Yuxiang acted as its commander in chief with his co-conspirators Hu Qingyi and Sun Yueh as commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Armies. Now the Guominjun wer certainly an odd motley crew. The Guominjun's ideology was a blend of Chinese nationalism, progressive social reforms, military modernization, and ethical governance influenced by Christianity. Feng Yuxiang's leadership and vision shaped the faction into quite a unique force, striving to create a unified, modern, and moral China. Feng took care of his men's well being, he educated them, promoted their sense of nationalism. Within his territory Feng promoted education, built schools, and established social welfare programs. He believed that improving the living standards of the common people was essential for national strength and stability. He implemented a series of social reforms in the areas he controlled. These included land reforms aimed at reducing the power of landlords and distributing land more equitably among peasants. His Guominjun would become known for its efforts to combat corruption and inefficiency within its ranks and in the administration of its territories. Feng Yuxiang sought to create a more ethical and efficient government. Feng supported the modernization of China's infrastructure and industry. This included building railways, improving communications, and promoting technological advancements. The Guominjun was driven by a strong sense of Chinese nationalism, emphasizing the need to unify China and end the fragmentation caused by warlordism. They aimed to establish a central government that could restore national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Guominjun placed a high emphasis on military discipline and modern training methods. Feng Yuxiang's background in the Beiyang Army influenced his approach to building a modern, professional military force. The Guominjun's ideological alignment with nationalism and reform brought them into close cooperation with the Kuomintang. The alliance with the KMT was based on shared goals of unification and modernization, though it was sometimes strained by ideological and strategic differences. Because of the geographical distance between their spheres of influence they would be more or less isolated from each other and thus it made it difficult to coordinate actions. Feng Yuxiang had hoped by imprisoning Cao Kun and exiling Puyi he would gain popular support amongst the Republican and anti-Manchu in the Beiyang government. Feng Yuxiang also proclaimed the Guominjun troops to be the first in the history of the Republic to serve as a national military establishment rather than a personal army. However no one forget his acts of treachery, the coup d'etat certainly gave him a bad rep. One of the few successes he would have was persuading Dr Sun Yat-Sen to come over to Beijing to take part in the new government. With the collapse of the Zhili clique, a more tenuous balance of power emerged in Beijing. Feng Yuxiang's position in Beijing was weakened each day, because of the maneuvers of Zhang Zuolin. He had moved the Fengtian forces south of Manchuria, proceeding south of the Tientsin-Pukou railway. This effectively gave Zhang Zuolin control over East China from Manchuria down to the Yangtze Valley. Alongside this Zhang Zuolin reached an agreement with Duan Qirui to bring him into the new fold. A 5 day conference took place at Tientsin from November 11th to 16th, including the new triumvirate of Zhang Zuolin, Feng Yuxiang and Duan Qirui. They discussed the future of the Beiyang government. Feng Yuxiang quickly discovered he had little negotiating power beyond his dominance in Beijing and even that was tenuous as Zhang Zuolin pretty much surrounded them all. Feng Yuxiang found out his trump card, the promise from Dr Sun Yat-Sen that he would come participate in the new Beiyang government was useless as both Zhang Zuolin and Duan Qirui had likewise received the same promise from him. During the conference the new triumvirate agreed Duan Qirui would become a figurehead of the new government with a position called the chief executive. Despite Duan Qirui's status as the leader of the practically non-existant Anhui Clique, he was more palatable to the surviving Zhili clique warlords than Zhang Zuolin or Feng Yuxiang. They made sure not to make Duan Qirui a president or premier, his role was specifically meant to be temporary, this was done to lure Dr Sun Yat-Sen over to Beijing. Meanwhile Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin retained their territories and became the military leaders of the new regime.  On November 24th, Duan Qirui arrived to Beijing and assumed his new office. On December 9th the foreign powers recognized Duan Qirui's new government on the basis he did not alter their pre-existing unequal treaties. This was inevitable as Japan was the leading imperial power in asia and backed both Zhang Zuoli and Duan Qirui. He formed a cabinet without any Guominjun members. It would seem no one had forgotten Feng Yuxiangs treachery, but then again, his Guominjun had no officers with sufficient prestige to be nominated to any posts. Feng Yuxiang had little hope of exerting any control in the new government.  Feng Yuxiang responded the dire situation by resigning his post as inspector general and retired, stating he would spending his future in study and travel. Yet his Guominjun forces still controlled Beijing. Zhang Zuolin took a cue from his move by also resigning his titles, heading over to Tientsin. Thus Duan Qirui with no military power, personally under threat of Feng Yuxiang's forces in Beijing was facing a daunting situation. He had to try and maintain the peace between the two warlords while forming a government acceptable to the foreign powers. His government then decided to make Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin defense commissioners of the northwest and northeast respectively. Feng Yuxiang now would control Suiyuan and Chahar, setting up new headquarters in Kalgan. Feng Yuxiang's new position did not prove lucrative and it was not an adequate power base. His only real ally was the KMT, but he was far to isolated from them, thus he turned to the Soviet Union.Feng Yuxiangs socialist actions had attracted the attention of communists and indeed within his entourage were many communists. The Soviets were enemies with the Empire of Japan. The Empire of Japan backed Zhang Zuolin, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The Soviets basically saw Feng Yuxiang as a possible balance against the Japanese who were continuing to expand their influence in Manchuria. Dr Sun Yat-Sen came to the north alongside the Soviet Michael Borodin. Dr Sun Yat-Sen had pleaded with western nations for a long time to support his government with finance and arms, but none offered anything tangible.  Dr Sun Yat-Sen ‘s problem was his hard stance against the unequal treaties. All of the western powers knew, it was Dr Sun Yat-Sen's priority to get rid of the unequal treaties, thus they all refused to support his efforts. However there was a new nation that did not support the unequal treaties, in fact they even publicly stated so, the Soviet Union. Back in Autumn of 1920, Sun Yat-Sen met with representatives of the Commuturn in Shanghai. Sun Yat-Sen told them he believed Lenin wanted him to be the founder of the CCP, because Chen Duxiu did not have much influence with the people of China, unlike him, he was after all kind of a rockstar. After numerous attempts to gain support from Japan or the West, Sun Yat-Sen began to seriously consider cooperating with the CCP who were being supported by the Soviet Union.  In December of 1921, Sun Yat-Sen met with Hendriks Josephs Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known as Marin, because why is his name that long haha, in Guilin. Marin was a official representative of the Commiturn, Sun Yat-Sen came to him expressing his admiration for the Russian Revolution and for Lenin. He stated that he wanted to learn more about the Soviet achievement, especially their new economic policies. In August of 1922, the soviet diplomat to China, Adolf Joffe was trying to settle issues regarding Outer Mongolia and the Chinese Far Eastern Railway, to which he had little to no success, but during the process he also met with Dr Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat-Sen brought up the idea of cooperating with the CCP, it sounded promising. For a few months the Soviets brainstormed and by the 4th congress of the Communist international decided to get the CCP to agree to such a thing. In July of 1922 the CCP accepted Marin's proposal to join the Kuomintang in an alliance. This became known as the Sun-Joffe Manifesto and what it resulted in was the First United Front.  In July the Soviets instructed the CCP to join the alliance, but there was a ton of push back. In Hanzhou, Marin met with Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Cai Hesen , Zhang Guotao, Gao Junyu , Maring , and Zhang Tailei. Marin pointed out to them that the Kuomintang was a party of all classes who were trying to promote democratic revolution. The CCP joining the KMT would be in line with Lenin's outline on the international communist revolution. Many of the CCP leadership pointed out issues, like anti-communist elements in the KMT, but ultimately they all decided it was a good idea as the reality was, the CCP was only 300 members, they needed help to grow. Thus it was decided, some of the CCP leading figures would join the KMT, with the secret intention of persuading KMT members to join the CCP.  According to testimony from Zhou Fohai, a CCP member at the time who would later join Wang Jingwei's collaborationist government "At that time, the Soviets wanted to collude with Wu Peifu, so it first gave Wu Peifu the honorific title of 'enlightened warlord'. At that time, Sun Hongyi was close to Wu Peifu, while Li Dazhao was close to Sun Hongyi. They took advantage of this relationship and had a secret relationship with Wu Peifu. Li Dazhao went to Luoyang several times, and it seems that there were records in the newspapers at that time. His methods were really clever. Wu Peifu ordered Gao Enhong to appoint Communists as the chief inspectors of the four lines of Beijing-Hankou, Beijing-Fengtian, Jinpu and Longhai. The inspector of Beijing-Hankou was Bao Huicai, and the inspector of Jinpu seemed to be Li Minzhi... Before the Soviets was abandoned by Wu Peifu, it once had an affair with Chen Jiongming. Chen Jiongming... specially summoned Chen Duxiu to Guangdong as its education committee member Chairman of the National People's Congress. At that time, Chen Jiongming's rebellious deeds were already well known, and Guangdong was clearly divided into two factions, Sun and Chen. The Soviets naturally used its strength to shift the situation. So the Soviets colluded with him. Chen Jiongming paid 500 yuan a month to Chen Gongbo to publish the "Qun Bao", which was a result of their collusion. Later, when Chen Jiongming was hiding in Huizhou, Ma Lin and Tan Pingshan went to Huizhou twice to discuss the terms of cooperation. Who would have thought that Chen Jiongming would dare to bombard Guanyin Mountain and endanger Premier Sun. After this rebellious act, Chen Jiongming was despised by the Chinese people. The Soviets was afraid of the attack of public opinion, so it did not dare to openly ally with him. Abandoned by Wu Peifu in the north and isolated from Chen Jiongming in the south, the Soviets, in 1923, followed the orders of the Third International and tried to infiltrate the Kuomintang and carried out its conspiracy to destroy the Kuomintang. " On January 12th of 1923, the Soviets passed a resolution recognizing the First United Front. Sun Yat-Sen accepted the alliance, but with two reservations; number 1, China would not become a communist nation; number 2 that the Soviets would give up the unequal treaties the Russian Empire previously held over China. On January 26th Sun Yat-Sen and Joffe issued a joint statement, declaring the cooperation between the KMT, CCP and Soviet Union. Now its important to note, Sun Yat-Sen did not believe the Soviet system could or would be functional for China. He believed China's largest problem was reunification under national independence. The Soviets abolished the unequal treaties that the Russian Empire had made with China and declared Outer Mongolia was part of China resolving that debacle. The Soviets even stated they promised not to carry out a communist revolution within China. Sun Yat-Sen stated publicly he was willing to accept CCP members into the KMT. Now this was clearly only done in order to receive Soviet finances and arms, but secondly, he truly believed their membership would help strengthen the nationalist movement.  Many in the KMT were concerned with this venture. On February 9th of 1924, at Tsinghua University, Sun Yat-Sen was answering questions about the issue where he stated “Russia is Russia, and China is China. Russia has its own ideology, and China has its own ideology. In my previous speech, I mentioned Russia everywhere. I was talking about the organization of its revolutionary party, not its revolutionary ideology.” Now here comes Mr. Borodin. In September of 1923, Borodin was sent to serve as Dr Sun Yat-Sens political advisor, specifically responsible for facilitating the First United Front. Borodin spoke no Chinese, thus he conversed in English. He had a heavy midwestern American accent, which masked his Russian origin, helping him communicate with the largely anglophone and American educated leadership within the KMT. He was accompanied by Ho Chi Minh, yes the future leader of communist Vietnam.  Borodin showed up in early October to Guangzhou where he held some private talks with the CCP. The CCP had been complaining about how the KMT were quite anti-communist in general, how the alliance made no sense if it was agreed there would be no Communist Revolution pushed by the Soviet Union within China. Borodin told them the real purpose of the alliance was actually a reorganization effort and to infiltrate the KMT. "In the newspapers, I talked about the Kuomintang, but for us, what I said was actually the increase in the influence of the CCP... We must never forget that what we are actually doing is to stabilize the CCP. This goal should be remembered forever."  Now despite the new alliance with the Soviets, Sun Yat-Sen did not stop reaching out to the US and Japan causing Borodin headaches. In his report to Stalin, Borodin mentioned that on January 23, 1924, he talked with Sun Yat-Sen "I asked Sun Yat-sen again and again: How long will he hold on to the fantasy that the Chinese people may get some help from the United States, Britain or Japan? Hasn't he been waiting for such help for too long? Isn't it time to sum up the past full of illusions and failures and turn to a new path?" Then in late January of 1924, during the First Congress of the Kuomintang, Sun Yat-Sen expanded upon the Three Principles of the Peoples and this deeply concerned Borodin who reported to Stalin "Sun agreed to the revolutionary program formulated for the Kuomintang, which catered to us; but he disagreed to publicly say that he would establish a united front with us. For this reason, he did not fully trust us." Borodin also came to Sun Yat-Sen about his program stating “You are facing a choice. Do you want to move forward with the 1.5 billion people in the imperialist camp? Or do you want to move forward with the 1.25 billion people who are oppressed by imperialism? You should make a decision”. Although Sun Yat-Sen would accept many of Borodin's suggestions, ultimately it was Sun Yat-Sen calling the shots, and he butted heads often with Borodin. Borodin stated at one point to those around him "the American spirit was deeply rooted in his mind. Generally speaking, it was difficult to make Sun Yat-sen change his mind." By the end of 1923, Chiang Kai-Shek led Dr Sun Yat-Sen's delegation to the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-Shek reported back to Sun Yat-Sen “The strategy and purpose of the Soviet Union's so-called ‘world revolution' is more dangerous to the independence movement of Eastern nations than Western colonialism.” Sun Yat-Sen replied that he believed Chiang Kai-Shek was over-worrying and that he “deeply believed that only by allowing the Chinese Communist Party members to be under the leadership of our party and under the unified command of our party can we prevent them from creating class struggles and hindering the progress of our national revolution. If our Northern Expedition is victorious, the Three Principles of the People can be implemented as scheduled. By then, even if the Soviet wants to sabotage our national revolution, it will be impossible. Moreover, the Soviet Union only recognizes our party as the only party leading the revolution in China, and strongly urges its CCP members to join our party and obey its leadership, but does not deny that China has no possibility of implementing its communism. Therefore, it still insists on its decision to ally with Russia and tolerate the CCP” Trouble soon brewed in June of 1924, many leading KMT figures wrote to Sun Yat-Sen accusing the CCP of raising the banner of anti-imperialism and anti-militarism causing the KMT to suffer scorn from western powers and Chinese nationalist scorn. Sun Yat-Sen knew of the problem, it was largely CCP students led by Chen Duxiu making a scene. He explained  "The Chinese young students headed by Chen Duxiu are self-righteous. They initially wanted to monopolize Russian relations and prevent Russia from interacting with our party. Peter used Russia's help to establish his own faction and compete with our party. If I suspect Chen Duxiu and implicate Russia, it will be exactly what Chen Duxiu is planning and help him succeed. If (Chen Duxiu and others) do not obey our party, I will abandon them." Sun Yat-Sen also tried his best to restrict the CCP to be in his own direct orbit. Chen Duxiu had been repeatedly criticizing Sun Yat-Sen's policies in his newspapers, so Sun Yat-Sen went to Borodin to correct the issue. “Since the CCP have joined the KMT, they should obey party discipline and should not publicly criticize the KMT. If the CCP do not obey the KMT, I will expel them; if the Soviet Union protects the Chinese Communist Party, I will oppose the Soviet Union.” Sun Yat-Sen honestly failed to see the threat that the CCP really posed. He truly believed the CCP joined the KMT was not a cooperation between two equal parties. He believed the KMT was China's only revolutionary party while the CCP were just a group of scholars who supported Leninism. He never really took them seriously, but he also made sure never to give them arms when they continuously demanded them.  As for the CCP, they regarded the KMT as quite backwards, many leaders in the CCP thought Dr Sun Yat-Sen was no different than the warlords. When Marin proposed to the CCP that they join the KMT, Chen Duxiu raised opposition arguing "the purpose and foundation of the revolution of the CCP and the KMT are different. The KMT's policies of alliance with the United States, Zhang Zuolin and Duan Qirui are too incompatible with communism. Outside Guangdong Province, it is still regarded as a political party fighting for power and profit. The Sun Yat-sen faction of the KMT has always been absolutely intolerant of the opinions of new members and cannot give them power". A lot of the CCP resented what they saw as Sun Yat-Sen appeasing the right while disenfranchising them. Once the First United Front was established, the Soviets took over management of the Chinese Eastern Railway and began occupying Outer Mongolia. Then money and arms began pouring in, military advisors came to help create Sun Yat-Sens Northern expedition. Sun Yat-Sen dispatched Chiang Kai-Shek to Moscow to investigate their politics and military, while Borodin was made the KMT's organization trainer.  In May of 1924 Borodin helped found the Whampoa Military Academy. There officers of the National Revolutionary Army were trained, the backbone of the KMT. They would all under the leadership of Dr Sun Yat-Sen's number two, Chiang Kai-Shek. The quality of the education was guaranteed by regular visits from Soviet Officers. Many future big names would graduate from the academy, such as Lin Biao and Zhou Enlai. Borodin also established the Peasant Training institute, where a young Mao Zedong would serve. Things were not at all rainbows and sunshine. On May 1st of 1924, a large celebration was held in Guangzhou for the Peasant department. Sun Yat-Sen gave a speech calling on everyone to fight for national liberation and to put the theme of class struggle in a secondary position. This certainly did not sit well with the CCP, whose members began calling for breaking the alliance and arguing the KMT would lose the support of the Soviet Union. Borodin happened to be away at the time, and when prompted, Sun Yat-Sen kept saying they would resolve the matter when he returned. Frantic telegrams were sent and by June 20th Borodin returned. On June 25th a meeting was held with the leaders of the KMT and CCP. Borodin agreed with the point that the CCP was a party within the party of the KMT, but also stated the KMT had to give some ground to the CCP if they wanted to keep favor with the Soviet Union. Suddenly a wave of anti communist statements were lobbed from prominent KMT members, such as Wang Jingwei. They further launched a petition to expel certain communists. On July 15th in retaliation, Chinese workers in Shamian went on strike. Despite these setbacks the First United Front remained firm. Mao Zedong would see an appointment as Minister of Propaganda of the KMT. His job entailed hunting down newspapers and anyone who distributed leaflets, demanding they come to the Propaganda Department for review prior. In the next episode, if not a future one, Mao Zedong's propaganda department would have a lot of work ahead of them. Now all the way back to when I mentioned Sun Yat-Sen and Borodin visited Feng Yuxiang. Borodin came bearing a similar deal to what the KMT/CCP had with the Soviet Union and at first Feng Yuxiang was uncooperative. Yet cooped up in his Kalgan HQ, Feng Yuxiang had no backers, he was very low on funds. Most importantly he lacked arsenal facilities. Feng Yuxiang had struggled to cope, hunting everyone for backers, but the Northwest was not easily accessible. When he made orders with private traders bound for coastal ports, they were simply seized by local warlords who controlled coastal areas. Without domestic capabilities or access to the sea, Feng Yuxiang was pretty much screwed. Thus he caved into the Soviets  An agreement was bought for Soviet financial aid and munitions by February of 1925, brokered by Borodin. From April to August, war materials began to pour into Feng Yuxiangs camp. The cargo was divided into two shipments, traveling over the trans siberian railway from Moscow to Verkhne Udinsk, then south over caravan trade routes to Maimaicheng. In 1925 it took 500 mongol carts to move the small arms, ammunition, rifles and field guns from Maimaicheng to Ulaan Baater, then over motor vehicles to Pingdichuan, to a station on the Beijing-Suiyuan railway all the way over to Fengzheng. It was a heavy haul to be sure: 5,000 cases of petroleum, 1,000 boxes of ammunition, 15,000 rifles, 15 million rounds of rifle ammunition, 27 colt machine guns, 630,000 machine gun ammunition, 1,000 entrenching tools, 30.000 hand grenades, and 100 poods of explosives. Another haul in 1925 included 64,000 rifles, 15.000 carbines, 72 million rounds of rifle and carbine ammunition, 189 machine guns, 6.45 million rounds of machine gun ammunition, 66 field guns, 18,000 revolvers, 5 million rounds of revolver ammunition, 50 field kitchens, 150 twowheel carts, and 16,000 swords. With a new supply line, Feng Yuxiang would distance himself from Zhang Zuolin. The triumvirate was becoming undone and a new war was looming. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. While it seemed a decent compromise had been established with the triumvirate of Zhang Zuolin, Duan Qirui and Feng Yuxiang, dark clouds were emerging. The Guominjun and Kuomintang were both getting in bed with the Reds and soon everyone would be mobilizing for another grand war. 

Dr Philip Smith, Digital and Education Editor of Gut and Honorary Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, UK interviews Professor Jianping Guo from Institute of Precision Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, on the paper "High-fat diet promotes liver tumorigenesis via palmitoylation and activation of AKT" published in paper copy in Gut in July 2024. A close transcript of this podcast is available at this link: https://bit.ly/3zlcoVF Please subscribe to the Gut podcast on your favourite platform to get the latest podcast every month. If you enjoy our podcast, you can leave us a review or a comment on Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3UOTwqS) or Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3Ifxq9p).

Last time we spoke about the first Jiangsu-Zhejiang War. Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin became swift rivals after the first Zhili-Fengtian War. The Zhili clique remained in control of Beijing and began bullying everyone into submission, trying to unify China under their thumb. Zhang Zuolin went to work reorganizing and retraining his army, for another war was looming over the horizon. Then in the southeast of China, conflict emerged between Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The Zhili backed Qi Xieyuan wanted to control Shanghai, which was under the control of Lu Yungxiang of the Anhui clique. The Anhui clique were on the death bed, Zhejiang was the last province under their control, thus he elected to fight for it. Lu Yungxiang sought help from anyone who possibly could help him, such as Zhang Zuolin and Dr Sun Yat-Sen, but little did he know but he was contributing to a much larger war.    #105 the Second Zhili-Fengtian War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Hello again, so after the first Zhili-Fengtian war of 1922, the Zhili warlords seized control over Beijing. Cao Kun bribed his way into the presidency as Zhang Zuolin licked his wounds and went back to Manchuria where he rebuilt his entire army. Zhang Zuolin appointed Yang Yuting as inspector general of the Mukden arsenal and Wang Yintai as director of the department of materials. He began purchasing more Renault FT tanks, increased his military production, now seeing 150 artillery pieces, 1000 machine guns, 60,000 rifles, 100,000 artillery shells and 600,000 rifle rounds pumping out of factories annually. He increased his navy and airforce, naming his son Zhang Xueliang as director of the aviation office. He purchased German and Italian aircraft, nearing 300 planes within 4 groups. Air bases and fields were built alongside naval headquarters and training schools in places like Harbin. To improve communications, additional water and coal supply stations were built in Suizhong, Xingcheng and Dayaogou so he could rapidly deploy troops via rail. Roads were further developed to increase transportation in areas without rail, each army was given wire communications such as telegraph or telephone lines, linking them to their general HQ's. Radio communication units were also developed, radio stations were built in Shenyang, Harbin and Jin county. The Fengtian military was reformed. Commanders like Bao Deshan and Xu Changyou who were blamed for losing the first zhili-fengtian war were court-martialed and executed in the spring of 1923. The rising star, Dogmeat General Zhang Zongchang aided Zhang Zuolin by massively recruiting White Russians who brought over all sorts of expertise and skills. The White Russians were commanded by Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev, alongside them Zhang also hired Japanese units. The Fengtian army expanded to 27 brigades from its original 25, organized into 3 armies of 3 divisions. Each division had three brigades. The cavalry was expanded from three to four divisions, with three brigades forming a division and the rest attached to infantry divisions as cavalry companies. The artillery regiments expanded from 4 to 10. Each division consisted of three brigades with either an infantry brigade or a combined brigade, and every division had an engineering battalion and a transportation battalion attached. Combined brigades were bolstered with an engineering company and a transportation company. All said an done the strength of the Fengtian army totaled more than 250,000 troops, and its performance was significantly improved. The best troops were found in the 2nd Brigade, commanded by Zhang Xueliang, and the 6th Brigade, commanded by Guo Songling, and they were viewed as the model units of the Fengtian army. The catalyst for what would be known as the second Zhili-Fengtian War, occurred on September 3rd of 1924, the first Jiangsu-Zhejiang War. When Lu Yungxiang of Zhejiang refused to cede administration of Shanghai to Qi Xieyuan, both Zhang Zuolin and Dr. Sun Yat-sen pledged to defend the neutrality of Zhejiang and end pulling everyone into a larger war. On September 4th, Dr Sun Yat-Sen held a meeting at his mansion in Guangzhou. There he announced he would assist Zhejiang to preserve Guangdong, thus he was enacting the Northern Expedition. His plan for the northern expedition was to first attack Jiangxi, after it was conquered next was Anhui. From there his KMT forces would link up with the Zhejiang forces, near the Jinpu road where they could march north to take Beijing. On September the 5th Dr Sun Yat-Sen publicly denounced Cao Kun and Wu Peifu and asked the people of Guangdong to work harder than they ever have so they could eliminate the warlords and China could be ruled by her people again. On September the 4th, in response to the war in the southeast, Zhang Zuolin declared war on the Zhili clique on the grounds of being in an alliance with Zhejiang and Dr Sun Yat-Sen. He also denounced Cao Kun, bringing up his bribery scheme. Zhang Zuolin's statement, and forgive me its poorly translated went something like this. "Curse Cao Kun with Power who bribed congressmen, raising teeth and claws, and stole power. Cao Kun harms the people. Now I Zhang Zuolin in charge of Manchuria and her people, and who is loyal to the people, and  is duty-bound will lead the three armies to wipe out the thieves." On September the 9th, Duan Qirui added his voice in a telegram against Cao Kun accusing him "of not knowing who the country and the people are, what ethics, justice and integrity are and unleashing four provinces to attack Zhejiang, excluding dissidents, hurting innocent people, and greedy for his own dignity. You have committed a heinous sin, and you have gone too far. How can you survive? The virtuous and powerful people in the world, who have great responsibilities for a while, will definitely be able to do their duty and act bravely when they see justice." On the 15th of September, Zhang Zuolin issued another telegram to Cao Kun, in the form of an ultimatum "This year natural disasters are prevalent and hungry people are everywhere. I have tried to say that attacking Zhejiang is wrong, and I have the strength to respond in favor of peace. However, the ink has not yet dried. Yet at the same time, the Zhili marched into Fengtian, detained Shanhaiguan trains, and blocked traffic. What was the purpose of this? In recent years, Cao Kun has been a puppet of Wu Peifu, which has caused public resentment. The impossibility of a military expedition is evident from the successive defeats of the Zhili army. We planned to send another envoy, but the train traffic has been cut off and we cannot enter Beijing. Therefore, we wait for the final answer." Indeed on September the 13th suddenly all the trains running along the Beijing-Fengtian railway stopped on Zhili orders. The war in Zhejiang had provided Wu Peifu with the occasion to force a showdown with Zhang Zuolin. Wu Peifu felt confident he would win. Wu Peifu had mobilized over a quarter of a million troops, divided into 3 armies. Wu Peifu trusted his military abilities and felt his subordinates were loyal to him, he was highly mistaken in that last part.  It would turn out, the christian general, Feng Yuxiang had major grievances. If you remember from the last episode, when ordered to attack Lu Yungxiang, Feng Yuxiang had refused. Instead Feng Yuxiang weaved a web, he pulled Wang Huaiqing to his side, the Beijing garrison commander Sun Yueh and Hu Qingyi. He complained to them about his army being slighted in the distribution of munition and supplies and he would move his troops very slowly out of Beijing when the war began. As it turned out, secret negotiations had been made. Zhang Zuolin's son Zhang Xueliang in the spring of 1923 had sent a letter to Feng Yuxiang and then his most trusted lt, Fu Xingpei to Beijing to secretly meet with him. Fu Xingpei met with Feng Yuxiang and his chief of staff Liu Ji at a secluded location in Nanyuan. The first meeting was brief, but fruitful as follow up meetings were made, now mediated through Duan Qiriu. Duan Qiriu brought the parties over to his residence in the Japanese quarter of Tientsin. There Feng Yuxiang was given a bribe between 1-2.5 million Japanese Yen. This bribe came from Zhang Zuolin's Japanese supplied war chest. Zhang Zuolin afterwards had every reason to believe Feng Yuxiang was in his pocket so he concentrated most of his forces around Shanhaiguan. The Zhili Cliques forces would come from the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Rehe (knowns as Jehol today), Chahar and Suiyuan. Meanwhile the Fengtian would have troops from Jilin, Heilongjiang and Fengtian. The 2nd war certainly exceed the first by a large margin and it would also involve battles over land, sea and air. The Zhili held an edge in numbers, but alienated generals would ultimately lose them the war. There was also an enormous technological gap between the Zhili and Fengtian armies. As I had mentioned the Fengtian had purchased a lot of western and Japanese weaponry and equipment. The Zhili clique also purchased western materials, but they were far behind the Fengtian army. Furthermore the Zhili clique had just experienced a series of small wars in Sichuan, Hunan, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong. Their troops were exhausted, lacked pay, and thus morale was not high. Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian army faced 4 major objectives to see the Zhili clique defeated. Ultimately they needed to capture Beijing and Tianjin. Yet to do so they first had to retake Shanhaiguan so their forces could enter Xujialing. Thus Zhang Zuolin would need to gather his forces near Shanhaiguan to capture it. This task fell to his 1st and 2nd army led by Jiang Dengxuan and Zhang Xueliang. If Shanhaiguan could not be taken, at least two brigades would be needed in the Qiansuo region, where a railroad station was roughly 20 kms east of Shanhaiguan. Once that region was secured, the main force could redeploy around Suizhong county for a second attempt against Shanhaiguan. Next the 2nd army would advance into Rehe, Yi County and Dayaogou. They would then take Chaoyang, Jianping, Chengde and Lingyuan. Most of this responsibility fell onto Zhang Zongchang's 3rd Combined Brigade and Li Jinglin's 1st Division. After they completed this they would enter the Lengkou pass and take Luanzhou. A Fengtian cavalry group would attack Rehe with the objective of taking Chifeng. The cavalry group would also cover the flank of other Fengtian forces and mop up the enemy left behind. If the situation arose, the Cavalry group could also attack along the Great Wall via the Xifengkou or Gubeikou pass. The Fengtian reserve forces would be deployed between Xingcheng and Suizhong to guard Jinzhou. The Fengtian air forces headquartered at Shenyang would mobilize 3 groups for the war effort under the direct command of the 1st and 2nd Armies known as the Combined Corps. Other air units would be deployed to Yi county under the command of Zhang Xueliang. Wu Peifu took the title of commander in chief and set up his headquarters in Sizhaotang. Wu Peifu made special arrangements for the battle; his 1st army led by Peng Shouxin would take an eastern route advancing along the Beijing-Fengcheng line to attack Liaoshen from Shanhaiguan; the 2nd army of Wang Huaiqing would advance along the middle route from Xikou to attack Rechao; and the third army of Feng Yuxiang would take the western route from Gubeikou to attack Kailu. Wu Peifu also had set up a commander in chief of maritime defense Zheng Shiqi stationed at Shandong and a naval commander in chief Du Xiui. His air force was organized into 4 groups stationed in Beidaihe, Luanxian, Chaoyang and the Zhili aviation department, over 70 aircraft in total.  On September the 14th, Zhang Zuolin as commander in chief of the Fengtian army led them down the border area. Likewise Wu Peifu did the same from Luoyang. On the 15th the 23rd Brigade of Li Shuangkai, part of Li Jinglin's 2nd army engaged the Zhili 4th battalion of Yijun Zhenbiao around Yizhou, Jiuguan and Taimen. This effectively kicked off the war. From there the war front would run from Chaoyang to Jidong, with major battles taking place in Rehe, Shanhaiguan, Chaoyang, Chifeng, Jiumenmen and Shimenzhai.  The Fengtian forces planned to unleash their offensive against Shanhaiguan once the initiative was won in Rehe. Therefore Zhang Zuolin personally led the battle in Rehe. The 1st Fengtian army divided into a north and south group. The southern group attacked from Beizhen, passing through Chaoyang and Lingyuang to enter Xifengkou with Wu Junsheng's cavalry as the main force. The north group ran from Tongliao to Kailu, then headed south to Chengde via Chifeng, then would launch an attack at the western part of Xifengkou.  The southern attack went pretty smooth as the Zhili army did not put up serious resistance. On the 16th the Fengtian forces seized Yizhou and Fuxin. After this they concentrated their attacks against Chaoyang. Liu Fufu defended Chaoyang with the Zhili 26th brigade of the 12th division, but he only put up a symbolic defense, quickly abandoning the city. On the 23rd Chaoyang was occupied by Fengtian forces who scoured the county. Meanwhile the northern group attacked Jianping, Lingyuan and Chifeng. During the battle for Lingyuan, the Fengtian encountered determined resistance from Zhili forces led by Wang Huaiqing and Dong Zhengguo. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the Fengtian managed to take the city. Simultaneously the 2nd Fengtian army forces led by Xu Lanzhou and Wu Guangxin attacked Chifeng. The battle for the city raged for a few days seeing Fengtian air forces bomb the city until October 8th when it was captured. The fall of Chifeng marked a decisive moment in the battle for Rehe, the Fengtian had taken the initiative. Now the leading Fengtian troops began a rapid advance towards Lengkou at the foot of the Great Wall. Both sides knew the entire battle depended on Shanhaiguan. The Zhili had heavily fortified it and following the loss of Rehe they continued to strengthen it. Wu Peifu dispatched Peng Shouxin to setup the defenses of Shanhaiguan. Zhang Zuolin had Jiang Dengxuan and Zhang Xueliang form a new headquarters near Shanhaiguan as Guo Songling led the 2nd and 6th Brigades to frontally attack it. As Guo Songling did so, Jiang Dengxuan  and his deputy commander Han Linchun led the 4th and 16th brigades to face the Zhili forces north of Jiumenmen. Small scale battles broke out on the 17th that gradually escalated. On the 29th and 30th, the Fengtian began unleashing artillery and aerial bombardment upon the Zhili positions between Shanhaiguan and Changli. During that process the Fengtian forces seized Wanjiatun, Longwang Temple, Yaojiazhuang and other towns. By October 4th the Fentgian army approached the position of the Zhili 15th division. On the 7th Zhang Zuolin issued a general attack order, sending Fengtian forces across the board. The first line of Zhili troops relied on the solid fortifications and fired back upon the advancing enemy. The Fengtian gradually turned their attention to the Jiumenmen Gate located at the northwest part of the Shanhaiguan pass. On the 8th Jiang Dengxuan personally led the 19th Brigade to attack the Haungtu Ridge on the northside of Jiumenmen. His forces quickly encircled Jiumenmen before the 2nd and 6th brigades stormed and occupied it. The fall of Jiumenmen severed demoralized the Zhili defenders whose lines began to waiver. The Fengtian began breaching lines, capturing Liyu, Waiyu, Xiangmayu and now outflanked Shanhaiguan. At this point a brigade was sent to attack Shimenzhai along the north side of Jiumentou. Shimenzhai is roughly 25 kms away from Shanhaiguan, if captured the Fengtian could use it as a springboard to attack Qinhuangdao, cutting off the Zhili armies line of retreat. In order to protect the line of retreat, Peng Shouxin organized a force to reinforce Shimenzhai. On the 11th, Wu Peifu came over to Shanhaiguan, while also inspecting Shimenzhai, Zhaojiayu, Shahezhai and other significant Zhili positions. Seeing Jiumenmen had fallen, Wu Peifu ordered forces to recapture it on the 14th. The Fengtian defenders there were put into a desperate battle to hold onto it. On the 15th, a Fengtian regiment led by Sun Xuchang broke through the Zhili defensive line. On the 16th the Fengtian forces surged through the breach and stormed Shimenzhai. The Zhili forces routed in the area allowing the Fengtian forces to quickly seize Liujiang. On the 17th Zheng Xizhen led the Zhili 6th brigade to reinforce the battlefield emerging north of Qinhuangdao. Now we need to take a step away from the battle, because a lot of things were happening all over the place, that would have a deep impact on the war. While all of this was going on in the far north, in the south, Dr Sun Yat-Sen personally led the KMT forces north to try and prevent Zhili commander Sun Chuanfang from reinforcing his Zhili comrades in the north. Yet like again, in a fashion that just kept recurring, an issue came about. The Guangzhou merchants corps and forces led loyal to Chen Jiongming began an uprising in Guangzhou. Sun Yat Sen was forced to turn his army back to quell the rebellion. As Sun Yat-Sen pulled back, Sun Chuanfang had brought his forces into Zhejiang and Shanghai.  Meanwhile another ploy on the part of Zhang Zuolin paid off big time. The christian general Feng Yuxiang who was commanding the Zhili 3rd army began making some trouble. When the Zhili 2nd army suffered its initial defeat, Wang Huaiqing sent word asking for help from Feng Yuxiang. Instead he ordered his 3rd army to stay put at the Gubeikou pass.  Now back in the battle Wu Peifu had come to the front lines and was taking charge of operations. Zhili reinforcements arrived from Henan and Shanxi led by Zhang Fulai and began helping a counter attack against Shimenzhai. The Fengtian defenders also reinforced their lines, with Jiang Dengxuan taking command of the front lines personally. Despite the reinforcements, the Fengtian defenses were beginning to crumble, their casualties mounting. At the same time the main Fengtian forces were fighting at Shanhaiguan, failing to make progress. Then the Fengtian army received unconfirmed intelligence from the Japanese, that the Zhili clique had enlisted the Zhengji shipping company to use 13 transports to move 4 divisions directly into the rear of the Fengtian forces via the Taku Forts. The Japanese intelligence did not indicate where the landings would be made however. The Fengtian commanders believed it was possibly Yingkou or Huludao, perhaps both. Many Fengtian commanders called for deploying the general reserve as a rear guard, but the deputy chief of the general staff, Fu Xingpei opposed the idea, claiming the Jiumenkou sector required them. Yang Yuting the chief of the general staff worried the terrain of Jiumenkou was far too narrow and restrictive to deploy such large number of troops. Finally Zhang Zuolin ended the debate by ordering the General Reserve, under the command of Zhang Zuoxiang to rush to Jiumenkou. Despite committing the General reserve, things did not improve. In fact some interpersonal problems emerged. Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling had secretly redeployed 8 infantry regiments and two artillery brigades from Shanhaiguan to the Jiumenkou sector. These units were to be led by Guo Songling, but the artillery battalion commander, Yan Zongzhou, a classmate of Guo Songling was removed from command by the artillery regiment commander Chen Chen. Upon hearing the news from Yan Zongzhou, enraged Guo Songling removed Chen Chen of command and gave it back to Yan Zongzhou. However Jiang Dengxuan and Han Linchun had given approval to Chen Chen when he asked to remove Yan Zongzhou, so now they were embarrassed. They then complained to Zhang Zuolin about Guo Songling's actions. Zhang Zuolin ordered both Chen Chen and Yan Zongzhou to go back to their original commands, and this only pissed off Guo Songling more. Like a kindergarten aged child Guo Songling took his 8th infantry regiment out of the battlefield and retreated to the rear. Zhang Xueliang then hunted him down and smooth-talked him to come back and engage the enemy. This entire stupid situation could have very well cost them the battle, fortunately it happened at night and the Zhili army none the wiser did not exploit the situation.  Back over in the Rehe front, Zhang Zongchang stormed the Lengkou pass against 4 Zhili divisions; the 9th led by Dong Zhengguo, the 20th led by Yan Zhitang, the 1st Shaanxi division led by Hu Jingyi and the 23rd led by Wang Chengbin. Unfortunately Wang Chengbin and Hu Jingyi had formed a pact with Feng Yuxiang and literally stepped aside during Zhang Zongchangs attack. To add insult to injury, Yan Zhitang and Dong Zhengguo hated each other and each held back to preserve their own strength. Again in the warlord era, petty warlords would pull this kind of shit all the time. As Zheng Zongchangs forces attacked, basically everyone fled Lengkou. Seizing the opportunity Zhang Zongchang pushed even deeper into the enemy lines. It was around this time, word spread that the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War had concluded in a Zhili victory, thus it seemed if Shanhaiguan was not taken swiftly, the Zhili would win the war.  Yet the dark horse that was General Feng Yuxiang struck. On October 22nd, Feng Yuxiang betrayed the Zhili Clique. Feng Yuxiang formed a truce with the Fengtian commander Li Jingling on the night of October 20th. He then suddenly withdrew 8000 troops of Wu Peifu's 3rd and 26th Divisions, leaving only 4000 men at their defensive lines. He took said troops and secretly stormed Beijing where he performed a coup against President Cao Kun. At midnight on October 23rd the commander of the Beijing guards, Sun Yueh admitted Feng Yuxiang and his men into Beijing. Together they seized control over  key government buildings and gates. Feng Yuxiang then forced Cao Kun to dismiss Wu Peifu from his military positions. stripped him of the presidency and placed him under house arrest. Afterwards Feng Yuxiang issued a public statement denouncing the civil war and urged the warlords to settle their differences via negotiations. Feng Yuxiangs subordinates then took control of the railway line between Tientsin and Shanhaiguan and the railway line at Changhsintian south of Beijing. Meanwhile Yan Xishan dispatched a force from Shanxi to seize the railway junction at Shihchiachuang, blocking any movement from Hunan along the Peking-Hankou railway. Thus Qi Xieyuan and Sun Chuanfang could no longer advance north to aid Wu Peifu. Back at the battle, Zhang Zongchang saw the thinning of the defensive lines when Feng Yuxiang pulled men out and stormed it alongside Li Jinglin. Their forces broke through and advanced south along the Luan River towards Luanzhou, then in the direction of Tianjin. They seized the train station at Luanzhou as Sun Xuchang's 10th Brigade captured Jiumenkou. The Fengtian cavalry then stormed the Xifengkou pass and pushed forward. By this point the Zhili morale had all but disappeared as news of Feng Yuxiang's coup in Beijing was spreading along the lines. Even cry baby Guo Songling, hearing the news, grabbed his force and performed an all out charge into the Zhili lines breaking through and advanced eastwards. Now cut off between Qinhuangdao and Shanhaiguan, on the 31st of October, many high ranking Zhili officers began fleeing via ships at Qinhuangdao. Countless Zhili forces were surrounded and began mass surrendering. Wu Peifu meanwhile fled first to Tianjin where he began frantically telegraphing Zhili armies in Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei and Zhejiang for help. Things got even worse, more railway lines were cut by Anhui clique members such as Zheng Shiqi in Shandong, Cangzhou and Machang. Likewise Zheng Shishangs cut lines of the Jinpu railway at Hanzhuang and even Yan Xishan came out of his turtle shell to cut the Jinghan railway line at Shijiazhuang. The Fengtian army overran Tangshan and Lutai asFeng Yuxiang's forces stormed Yangcun and Beicang, forcing Wu Peifu to flee to Junliangcheng. Then Duan Qiriu sent a message to Wu Peifu advising he should depart by sea. Completely surrounded with no allies, Wu Peifu fled with 2000 troops on the transport Huajia on November 3rd. He went to Tanggu where Sun Chuanfang defended him.  It had been the most impressive war of the warlord period to that point. Nearly 450,000 troops had been involved in a month-long war along the Great Wall area from Shanhaiguan to Beijing. The casualties are tough to estimate, perhaps 20-30,000 perished. After taking Beijing, Feng Yuxiang reorganized his forces in the 1st Guominjun army, hiring his co-conspirators such as Sun Yueh and Hu Chingyi who would eventually lead the 2nd and 3rd armies. On November 5th, Zhang Zuolin removed Emperor Puyi from the Forbidden City. Puyi went into exile in Tianjin where the Japanese would keep a close eye upon.  Zhang Zuolin, Feng Yuxiang and Duan Qiriu then met in Tianjin where they agreed to form a provisional government with Duan Qiriu as its figurehead. The choice of Duan Qiriu seemed to be palatable to everyone, including the remaining Zhili warlords in the Yangtze region. On December 9th, Duan Qiriu's government was recognized. Dr Sun Yat-Sen of course refused to recognize the new Beiyang government and would begin to flirt more with the CCP and their larger backer, the Soviet Union.  For now the Beiyang government, for whatever it was actually worth, remained in the hands of three players. Duan Qiriu who no longer possessed a strong army, Feng Yuxiang who had just shown himself to be quite a treacherous man and did not wield a very strong army and lastly Zhang Zuolin who now wielded the largest army in China, was backed by Japan and controlled vast sums of territory.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. So the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang and Second Zhili-Fengtian Wars were now over. It seems Zhang Zuolin had just become king of the hill, but what did that mean for China? Would Zhang Zuolin pursue a policy of reunifying China? Would he expand south? Or would the chaos continue, what do you think?  

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry George's Progress and Poverty was one of the best-selling books of the 19th century, and his ideas were taken up by by powerful figures as diverse as Sun Yat-sen, Leo Tolstoy, and Theodor Herzl. Yet, in the 21st century, George is often reduced to a footnote in the history of the Gilded Age. In Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (Johns Hopkins UP, 2023), Christopher William England uncovers the influence of Georgism in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement's contributions to American liberalism. In surveying George's devotees and their impacts at the municipal and national levels, England demonstrates that George's ideas were pivotal in reconciling liberalism to a democratic welfare state. In this episode, we discuss George's land value tax, domestic and international Georgist movements, and the influence of Progress and Poverty on American and British liberalism. Reed Schwartz (@reedschwartzsf) is an MPhil student in Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Outer Mongolia and the First Anhui-Zhili War. During the Xinhai Revolution, Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing Dynasty. Conflict arose between Mongolian nobles and Chinese authorities, leading to the formation of a provisional government under Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. Then the Russian civil war led to Russian encroachment of both red and white forces. Russian influence grew, particularly through Grigory Semyonov's attempt to establish a pan-Mongolian state. Duan Qirui seized the opportunity to invade Mongolia under the guise it was to thwart Bolshevism. While he did this to save face, it actually resulted in further conflict, this time with the Fengtian Clique. Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin combined their cliques to face Duan Qirui winning a very unexpected victory over the Anhui Clique. Duan Qirui resigned from all his posts in disgrace and now the Anhui Clique was a shadow of its former self.   #99 The First Guangdong-Guangxi War   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We just covered the first major war in the north, the first Anhui-Zhili War. Out of all the books and even the very few youtube videos I have seen trying to cover China's Warlord Era, typically they do First Anhui-Zhili War, then follow this up with the first Zhili-Fengtian war, second zhili-fengtian war, rarely the anti-fengtian war then suddenly everything jumps south into the Northern Expedition. The reality of China's Warlord era however, is that there really is not chronological series of events. For those statician's out there, its more like a horrifying ANOVA study, if you get the reference, we both share a certain pain haha. Multiple military wars and political wars were raging across China and they all affected other peoples and events, causing this nightmare of incoherency. For this series I am going to try my best to do it in a chronological order, and stating that we are jumping south today.  Back to Yuan Shikai, in 1915 when he was planning to proclaim himself Emperor Walrus over a new dynasty, as we saw multiple provinces declared independence, some even actively rebelled. One of these provinces was Guangxi where Viceroy Lu Rongting declared an open rebellion against Yuan Shikai. Lu Rongting had been appointed governor over Guangxi after the second revolution. Yet after Cai E and Tang Jiyao unleashed the National Protection War, Lu immediately bandwagoned. Some historians suggest Lu Rongting did this because he felt Yuan Shikai was overlooking him and actively preventing him from expanding his sphere of influence into Guangdong. After the death of Yuan Shikai, the new president, Li Yuanhong appointed Lu Rongting as the governor of Guangdong, but this certainly did not sit well with Long Jiguang. Long Jiguang was the current governor of Guangdong and a supporter of Duan Qirui and the Anhui Clique. He was secretly working inline with the Anhui Clique, obeying the Beiyang government, undermining the National Protection movement in the south. When his colleagues such as Liang Qichao, Wang Chonghui and Tang Shaoyi found out they were the ones who asked president Li Yuanghong to get rid of him. Long Jiguang stated he was unwilling to resign his post, and this prompted Lu Rongting to dispatch Mo Rongxin, Ma Ji and Tan Haoming to lead a Guangxi based army to invade Guangdong to get rid of its pesky rebellious governor, or I guess better said anti-rebellious governor.  Now rewinding a bit, when Zhang Xun forced Li Yuanhong to dissolve parliament, Guangdong and Guangxi both declared independence, I think for the 4th time? Hard to keep track of how many times southern provinces declare independence to be honest. When Zhang Xun restored the Manchu monarchy, this prompted Dr Sun Yat-Sen to sail south from Shanghai to Guangzhou to start a rebellion movement, because Mr. Sun is gunna do Mr. Sun stuff. Dr Sun Yat-Sen planned to rely on the power of southwestern provinces to rebel against this new tyrannical monarchy. Then in a matter of days, Zhang Xun's great restoration failed and Duan Qirui became the de facto leader over Beijing with his Anhui Clique dominating the scene in north china. Dr Sun Yat-Sen had planned for a political war, but Duan Qirui dissolved all means of doing so, now the only options were militarily.  On August 25th, a meeting was held in Guangzhou where Dr Sun Yat-Sen announced he was going to launch a Northern Expedition with himself as Generalissimo. A new military government, or I guess you can call it a Junta was formed and Lu Rongting and Tang Jiyao were both appointed Marshals within it. Many armies were mobilized in Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Guangxi. Respective cliques within these provinces all mobilized for their own reasons. One of these armies was commanded by Long Jiguang, though much of his military strength had been depleted during the second revolution. All he had left was 20 battalions, roughly 5000 men. There were several local militia styled armies, such as the “Fu Army” led by Li Fulin or the second Mixed Brigade of Huang Mingtang, but even with these added, Long Jiguang could not hope to face what was coming his way. The armies in Guangxi and Yunnan were better organized, better equipped and more numerous at this time. After the Junta had been created, the Beiyang government took it as a threat obviously and began to put into motion plans to destroy it. At first the governor of Chaomei, Mo Qingyu was sent with military forces to disband the Junta. He was decisively defeated by a coalition army commanded by Chen Bingkun, Shen Hognying, Lin Hu and Dr Sun Yat-Sen. After this Dr Sun Yat-Sen appointed Chen Jiongming to be the commander in chief of the Fujian and Guangdong Army. Then Dr Sun Yat-Sen, through his ally Zhu Qinglan managed to transfer command of the 20th battalion of the Guangdong Army to Chen Jiongming. Chen Jiongming took these troops and immediately attacked the Fujian governor Li Houji, occupying Longyan, Zhangzhou, Tingzhou and other areas along the Fujian, Guangdong border area. After doing this he proclaimed himself a defender of the area and began taxing the populace, being a warlord 101 basically. He established an independence base area in the eastern part of Guangdong and the southern part of Fujian, which was not cooperating with the Old Guangxi Clique.  Now back to Lu Rongting. Lu Rongting was running out of allies. He had backed Duan Qirui, who was forced to give up his posts, and now Feng Guozhang and his Zhili clique were the big dogs in Beijing. Lu Rongting was unsure how to proceed, so he began publicly supporting Dr Sun Yat-Sen and the Guangzhou government. Lu Rongting then tried to dismantle the Guangzhou government through a reconciliation effort with the Beiyang government. Lu Rongting was basically turning everyone against Dr Sun Yat-Sen growing the Old Guangxi Cliques influence. Dr Sun Yat-Sen could see the paint on the wall, so he resigned from his position in May of 1918. An election was quickly held seeing Cen Chunxuan, another Old Guangxi member become president over the Guangzhou government, but in reality, Lu Rongting was pulling the strings. In the meantime, Chen Jiongming over in his area was also doing something similar by trying to negotiate a peace with Beijing. In 1918, Chen Jiongming was appointed by the Guangzhou government as the governor of Fujian province in October. Chen Jiongming set up simple government agencies, actively maintained the social order dominated by local gentry, and vigorously built Zhangzhou's urban infrastructure, reclaimed wasteland, and developed modern education and industry. During the period of protecting the law, merchants gathered in Zhangzhou and the market flourished. While he made Zhangzhou a sort of central government station, overall he was quite the anarchist in how he sought things to be done. By December, Chen Jiongming resigned stating publicly "My governorship over Fujian is in vain because we cannot feed the hungry, clothe the cold, and defend our army in battle. Fujian should be governed by Fujianese”  In December of 1919, Dr Sun Yat-Sen saw Guangdong was building an army and stating publicly  "Today's urgent task of saving the country is to pacify the Gui thieves first and unify the southwest" Dr Sun Yat-Sen planned to return to Guangdong to attack the Old Guangxi Clique forces. Heordered Chen Jiongming several times to send troops to help drive away the Old Guangxi Cliques,  however, in his words "Chen Jiongming made no reply despite repeated calls to urge her to return to Guangdong." Zhu Zhixin, was dispatched 3 times to Zhangzhou with orders of Dr Sun Yat-sen to urge Chen Jiongming to mobilize. He wrote back to Dr Sun Yat-Sen: "Chen Jiongming's forces have exhausted all their strength and are as tired as ever. At this time, the relationship has been hurt, and it is useless to mobilize." Reading between the lines of these sorts of statements and messages, Chen Jiongming clearly had issues with Dr Sun Yat-Sens politics and did not want to get involved at the time. Thus until July of 1920 the Old Guangxi Clique was continuing to negotiate with the Zhili Clique officials controlling the Beiyang government. They agreed to help expel Duan Qirui and his Anhui goons, if the Old Guangxi clique guys would help expel Dr Sun Yat-Sen's followers in Guangdong. On July 14th however, the first Anhui-Zhili war broke out. Li Houji the governor of Fujian at the time, expressed a desire to support the Anhui clique's military and requested Guangdong forces depart southern Fujian. On July 15th, figures in the fractured Chinese navy such as Xu Shaozhen and Li Qian who supported Dr Sun Yat-Sen organized thousands of troops to fight the Old Guangxi clique. Xu Shaozhen became commander in chief and led the forces to attack Guangzhou from 5 different directions. On August 11th, the Old Guangxi clique mobilized their forces, thus beginning the Guangdong-Guangxi War or the first Yue-Gui War. The Old Guangxi Clique had roughly 70,000 troops, but they were by no means a unified force. There were the combined forces of Guizhou Warlords, Yunnan Warlords and Zhejiang Warlords. The Guizhou forces were led by Liu Zhilu, the Zhejiang forces were led by Lu Gongwang and the Yunnan forces were led by Fang Sengtao. The Guizhou would attack Guangdong with the Zhejiang army on their right and the Yunnanese to their left. Guangdong meanwhile would have roughly 25,000 troops led surprising by Chen Jiongming who had a change of heart, he was also aided by Xu Chongzhi and Hong Zhaolin. Chen Jiongming on the 12th of August had suddenly sworn an oath at the Zhangzhou park condemning Mo Rongxin, here is the statement “Ever since Mo Rongxin and others seized control of Guangdong, they have harmed our people in every possible way. The will of the people will be destroyed, the people killed, and expelled...to the extent that they condone the robbers and beggars' soldiers and harass Yan Lu, which is even more difficult to describe. The pain our people suffered from the loss of their provinces was a hundred times greater than the pain suffered by Korea, Annan, and Poland. They are naturally thieves, and seeking money and killing people is their usual skill. Recently, the bandits stationed in Hunan and Guangxi moved into Fujian to oppress our army. Their only intention is to hate the Cantonese people and act as if they are an enemy country... The Cantonese army today is fighting for the hometown and the country, and all its factions and other issues are unknown. It is to swear an oath with tears and to tell each other sincerely. My fellow countrymen, please take this opportunity to learn from me! All officers and men of the Guangdong army kowtowed together”. Chen Jiongming would also go on to accuse Mo Rongxin of "The Gui regards Guangdong as a conquered territory... Now that we are facing heavy troops, it is really unbearable. Although I am weak, I am willing to fight to the death" On August 16th the main bulk of the Old Guangxi clique forces had not yet reached the Guangdong-Fujian border, thus Chen Jiongming set up his headquarters at Zhang Ji Villages, leaving 20 battalions behind in Zhangzhou as a reserve. Chen Jiongming then took personal commander of the central forces, dispatched armies led by Li Bingrong, Deng Benyin, Luo Shaoxiong, Xiong Lue, amongst other officers to attack Raoping and Chao'an from the direction of Pinghe. After this they would break through Fengshun and Zijin, coordinating with a left and right wing. Meanwhile the left wing of Hong Zhaolin and Liang Hongkai led forces from Yunxiao and Zhao'an to attack Chenghai and Shantou while Xu Chongzhi commanding the right wing attacked Jioaling and Shantou from Shanghang. In all around 82 battalions were engaging two major fronts.  The eastern part of Guangdong had been under Guizhou warlord rule for over 4 years when suddenly Chen Jiongming called “the Cantonese people to govern Guangdong and implement democratic politics”. The people there rallied to him, and this would have a profound effect on the war there. The left Guangdong army that departed Zhao'an quickly crossed the border where they defeated troops under Liu Zhilu, the commander of a major Guangxi army. After defeated him they stormed the garrisons at Chaomei, Huanggang, Chenghai and were approaching Shantou. On the 19th, Yu Yingyang, the commander of an artillery battalion under Liu Zhilu had already seized Shantou and declared independence and his desire to defect to the Guangdong army. Honestly this is how most battles worked in the warlord era, subordinate officers looking to dodge a real battle by switching sides, typically selling out their bosses in the process. This prompted Liu Zhilu to flee for Guangzhou. The next day, Deng Keng led the left Guangdong army to capture Shantou and soon they were pursuing the Guizhou forces towards Jieyang and Chaoyang.  Meanwhile the right Guangdong army crossed the border from Yongding to attack Dabu Sanheba. Dabu Sanheba fell on the 16th, and it was followed the next day by Jiaoling. On the 18th an entire day of fighting was seen near Meixian where forces under Liu Daqing, commander of a Guangxi army and the governor of Huizhou were defeated. Meixian was captured on the 19th and Xingning on the 20th. After this the forward Guangxi army had collapsed allowing the Guangdong army to redirect itself towards Longchun and Heyuan. The army in Zhejiang watched the situation, but kept out of it while the Yunnan forces simply began a withdrawal as it seemed clear the Guangdong forces were likely to win. Again, the Guangdong forces were outnumbered perhaps 3 to 1, but these types of battles and lesser wars were won and done by perspectives.  Ye Ju was leading a central thrust for the Guangdong forces, quickly taking Chao'an and Raoping. As he advanced towards Gaopo and Fengshun, there he encountered real resistance. 6 to 7000 men under the Guizhou clique General Zhuo Guiting stood firm, fighting Ye Ju for two days. Then the left wing of the Guangdong army captured Shantou and the right wing the upper reaches of the Dongjiang river, prompting General Zhuo Guiting to order a retreat. As his men fled, the reached the vicinity of Shigongshen where they were intercepted by Yang Kunru leading another Guangdong army who assailed them a long way.On the 26th the Chaomei area in eastern Guangdong was captured. On the same day, Dr Sun Yat Sen proclaimed "The Guangdong army attacked the thieves and recovered Chao and Mei in a few days. The speed of arriving here really broke the courage of the Gui thieves." This caused a panic in Lu Rongting who deployed troops from Guangxi to reinforce the front. The Guangxi army mobilized the first army of Ma Ji, 2nd army of Lin Hu, elements of the 3rd army of Shen Hongying, the 1st Brigade Marine Corps of Li Genyuang and other brigades to the front lines which were now at Heyuan, Boluo and Huiyang. The Guangdong forces continued their march seeing the right wing take Laolong on September 2nd. The battle along the front line was brutal and lost until October. Wei Bangping and Li Fulin representing the Guangzhou government attempted peace talks with the Guangdong forces, as the situation was looking increasingly bad for the Old Guangxi clique. The Old Guangxi clique dispatched police forces to crack down on newspapers, banning numerous publications that were critical of their war efforts. On the 13th of september all newspaper in Guangzhou ceased publications and any newspapers coming over from Hong Kong were confiscated for “publishing false military reports and subverting operations”. Meanwhile, starting in early September the Guangdong forces began working alongside the Cantonese people chanting slogans like “Cantonese people save yourselves, Cantonese people govern Guangdong”.  Heyuan at the frontlines was the gateway to Huizhou. To defend Huizhou, the Guizhou forces had unleashed a month-long bloody battle. To help the war effort, Dr Sun Yat-Sen sent word to Zhu Zhixun over at the Pearl River Estuary, to mobilize the troops garrisoning the Human Fortress to rebel against the Guangxi menace. On September 16th, Zhu Zhixin managed to instigate a small rebellion. The commander of the Human Fortress garrison, Qiu Weinan declared independence from Guangxi, and during the mayhem that soon ensued he was killed by a stray bullet. Despite this, the Guangdong army had won a series of victories, managing to launch a province wide war to expel the Guangxi menace. Civilian forces were uprising against them, in late september Wei Bangping, the director of Police forces for Guangdong and Li Fulin the garrison commander of Guanghui who also happened to be a former Old Guangxi clique member, covertly moved troops from Xiangshen, Foshan and other places to the south bank of the pearl river in Guangzhou. There they declared the independence of Henan on the 26th. All the inland riverway warships and railway lines were taken and soon a letter was sent to Mo Rongxin urging him to quote "Return the power of governing Guangdong Province to the Cantonese people, and lead his troops back to Guangxi to avoid military disasters." Then Wei Bangping and Li Fulin led forces into Sanshui taking control over the vital Guangsan Road, effectively cutting off the Guizhou Army's supply line going from Xijiang to Guangzhou. This was a heavy blow to the Guizhou Army's rear and ability to continue the war effort. During this same time, Huang Mingtang the commander in chief of the 4th army seized Leizhou; Zheng Runqi the deputy commander under Wei Bangpings 5th Army raised a new force in Xiangshan and Chen Dechun the superintendent of Qingxiang and deputy commander of the 2nd army declared independence at Wuyi. From here Taishan, Xinhui, Kaiping, Enping, and Chixi fell under civilian army control. Qujiang, Yingde, and Qingyuan in Beijiang, Gaoyao, Xingxing and other counties in Xijiang, and Qinlian and Qiongya in the south all declared independence one after another. Within the dire circumstances, Mo Rongxin convened a meeting of over 30 representatives from the Guangzhou Chamber of commerce, the Provincial Council and the Public security association on October 2nd. The representatives proposed Mo Rongxin step down so Tang Yanguang could take his position and for the war to end as quickly as possible. On October 14th of 1920, all officers of the Guangzhou Navy held a closed door meeting in Haungpu Park where they unanimously opposed a new effort brought forward by Lin Baoyi, the commander in Chief of their navy to unify the northern and southern navies. On the 19th workers of the Guangdong-Hankou railway then launched a general strike, armed with pistols and explosives which they used against the Guizhou Army forces trying to use railway lines. Over 30 schools in Guangzhou then formed a mass meeting about the entire debacle and what they should do. The principals of the schools proclaimed "if Mr. Mo doesnt leave Guangdong, classes will not be held in each school."  Back on the frontlines, on October the 16th the Guangdong right army finally captured Heyuan, opening the way to Huizhou. Simultaneously the central and left Guangdong armies captured Yong'an, Xiangpu, Lantang, Hengli and Sanduozhu effectively pressing the battle towards Huizhou. Now Huizhou is surrounded by mountains and rivers, making it quite easy to defend. Mo Rongxin concentrated the strength of his 40th Battalion there. At this point the commander of the 2nd army, Xu Chongzhi fell ill, prompting Chen Jiongming to replace him with a man named Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-shek joined up in the middle army to begin a siege of Huizhou. The Guangdong forces would captured Huizhou by the 22nd. The very next day, Chen Jiongming held a meeting within the city and the commanders decided to march upon Zengcheng, Shillong and Dongguan in three directions. After this they would attack Guangzhou to finish the campaign.  During this crisis the populations of Bao'an, Sanshui and other nearby cities began an uprising, lashing out against the Guizhou army. As Dr Sun Yat-Sen recalled "The strong people raised their flags and responded, while the old and weak people welcomed them. This is quite the charm of the Revolution of 1911." Within Guangzhou, civilians launched waves of worker strikes, school strikes and general strikes. Mo Rongxin had run out of forces to fall upon, it was all falling apart. On the 24th, Lu Rongting, acting in the name of the president of the Guangzhou government declared the dissolution of the government and the independence of Guangdong and Guangxi. The president of the Guangzhou government, Cen Chunxuan fled for Shanghai. On the 25th of October, Shilon was taken, the next day Dongguan fell and finally seeing the situation was over, Mo Rongxin canceled the supposed Guangdong independence movement. On the 27th Zengcheng fell as Mo Rongxin had the Guangzhou Arsenal blown up and the governors seal was given to Tang Tingguang as he fled the city. Yang Yongtai, the governor of Guangdong province resigned via a telegram, handing his governor seal to Wei Bangping. On the 28th, Jiongming deployed forces to Guangzhou and around the areas of Shougouling and Baiyun to try and catch fleeing enemies. The three Guangdong armies gathered around Guangzhou, launching a general offensive together on the 29th. Mo Rongxin after fleecing after department he could fled with 10,000 remaining loyal troops west as Guangzhou was finally captured. On the 30th, Wang Jingwei and Liao Zhongkai sent telegrams to Dr Sun Yat-Sen stating they were going to appoint Chen Jiongming as the governor of Guangdong; to remove Lin Baoyi as commander in chief of the navy and replace him with Tang Yanguang. On November 1st, Chen Jiongming became the governor of Guangdong and remained the commander in chief of the Guangdong Army. On november 2nd, Chen Jiongming liberated the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, denying its use to Cen Chunxuan and Mo Rongxin. The same day, Xu Chongzhi paraded through Guangzhou to raise morale for the citizenry, newspapers reported "the citizens rejoiced and rushed to set off cannons. Looking at all the situations, there was a sign of great joy." On the 6th, Tang Tingguang handed the governor seal to Chen Jiongming and sent a telegram dismissing the governor of Guangdong. On the 10th, Chen Jiongming was officially elected governor over Guangdong. Yet the enemy was still not fully defeated. The Guizhou army was retreating along the Xijiang River, where they performed a scorched earth policy, burning and looting every town they came by along the river. They also set up outposts along the Xijiang and Beijing rivers to prevent the Guangdong army from following. To rid the province of the nuisance, Chen Jiongming reorganized the entire Guangdong Army into 5 armies. The 1st army was personally commanded by Chen Jiongming who also acted as commander in chief; the 2nd army went back to Xu Chongzhi, the 3rd to Hong Zhaolin, the 4th to Li Fulin and the 5th to Wei Bangping. After resupplying, the Guangdong army marched west into two large groups to pursue the enemy to Guangxi. When the Guangdong forces entered Guangzhou, the Guizhou army first retreated to Zhaoqing. Because Wei Bangping and Li Fulin seized control over the Guangsan route, the Guangxi Army could only retreat from the Guangdong-Han Road. While under attack, the Guizhou Army divided its self into two groupsl one led by Ma Ji and Shen Hongying who retreated north along the Yua-Han road, the other led by Lin Hu and Han Caifeng headed further south. The Guangdong army pursued their enemy over both land and river, seizing Zhaoqing on the 15th. By the 21st, Lu Rongting ordered all forces still in Guangdong to return swiftly into Guangxi. This effectively was the end of the Guangdong-Guangxi war. On November 28th, Dr Sun Yat-sen returned to Guangzhou from Shanghai via Hong Kong and announced the reorganization of the military government. Overall what would be the first Guangdong-Guangxi war had ended the old Guangxi Clique. The Old Guangxi clique was not down for the count, but they had severely lost face. Guangxi province was not the most developed one in China, it made it very difficult to raise funds to keep the army going. Lu Rongtings ability to control and influence the Old Guangxi Clique began to dwindle. It would only force him and others to perform an identical war against Guangdong in 1921, in desperation to maintain their power. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In the grand scheme of things, it was another drop in the bucket, yet it was extremely representative of the regular ongoing of China's warlord era. Wherever you looked from 1918-1928, regional warlords fought petty wars to control strategic regions, simply to further exert their own power. For the Old Guangxi Clique it was a bitter lesson, not that they learnt from it though.

Last time we spoke about Manchu Restoration of Zhang Xun. After the death of  Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui maneuvered to maintain control amidst the political chaos. After being outed from Premiership for trying to drag China into WW1, General Zhang Xun suddenly marched upon Beijing seizing the capital. Zhang Xun then proclaimed the Qing Dynasty restored with Emperor Puyi back on the throne, shocking the entire nation. Li Yuanhong freaked out, ran for his life and begged Duan Qirui to come back and save the republic. Ironically Duan was already in the process of marching upon the capital, so with a smile he went along with everything making it look like he was a hero. After taking back power, Duan resumed his premiership, but made sure to get rid of any threat to his authority. However, Duan's authoritarian rule and neglect of certain officers led to opposition from figures like Feng Guozhang, who formed the Zhili Clique.    #98 The Invasion of Outer Mongolia & First Anhui/Zhili War   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. During the Xinhai Revolution many provinces and regions declared independence, one of them was Outer Mongolia. In 1910, the Qing Dynasty had appointed the Mongol, Sando to be viceroy over Mongolia, with his base being in the capital city of Urga. Just a month after his arrival conflicts emerged, prompting Sando to ask Jebstundamba Khutuktu, the spiritual leader of the Mongolians to help out but he refused and this led to a campaign to have Sando removed. More conflicts followed and by spring of 1911, prominent Mongolian nobles, such as Prince Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren persuaded Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to form a meeting of the nobility to discuss declaring independence. The meeting resulted in a deadlock. 18 nobles wishing to declare independence took matters into their own hands pressuring Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to send a secret delegation to Russia for help. Of course at this time Russia sought Outer Mongolia as a buffer state. The Mongols knew this and offered economic concessions if the Russians helped arm them and brought troops over. Russia did not want to add Outer Mongolia to the empire however, so she offered diplomatic support rather than military support. The Russian minister to Beijing informed the Qing the Mongols had sent a delegation and this prompted the Qing to order Sando to investigate. Yet while all of this was going on, the Wuchang Uprising had sprung up and soon rebellion would hit the entire nation. When the Mongols received news of what was happening to China, they simply joined in and declared independence. By December 1st a provisional government of Khalkha was set up under the theocratic rule of Jebtsundamba Khutuktu who became the Bodg Khaan over the new Bogd Khanate. Fast forward to 1915, the new Republic of China and the Bogd Khanate reached an agreement that Outer Mongolia could be autonomous under Chinese suzerainty, a protectorate basically. Then came the Russian Revolution and with it, the Russian Civil War. This resulted in a rather bizarre movement springing up along the Siberian/Mongolian border. Grigory Semyonov a White movement member in Transbaikal with Japanese backing, took quite an interest in Mongolia. Semyonov spoke Mongolian and Buryat fluently, he was also a soldier who fought in WW1 and then during the civil war. He led an anti-soviet rebellion, but lost after a few months and was forced to flee to Harbin. He moved to Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia and from there setup a base to launch raids into siberia to help the white movement. By the summer of 1918 he managed to captured Chita, setting it up as his own capital as he declared a Great Mongol State. Semyonov fancied unifying the Oirat Mongol lands, parts of Xinjiang, Transbaikal, Inner and Outer Mongolia, Tannu Uriankai, Kobdo Hulunbe'er and even Tibet to form a new Mongolian state.  The situation caused a divide amongst the leadership in Outer Mongolia. Some favored their current protectorate relationship with China and wanted to end the Semyonov threat. Others were dissatisfied with the status quo and saw it as a great opportunity. The Chinese high commissioner in Mongolia, Chen Yi was soon delivered word from some of the Mongolian nobles, Soviet forces were preparing to invade Mongolia. The Cossack consular guards at Urga, Khovd and Uliastai had all fled. The Russian communities in Mongolia were beginning to support a Bolshevik regime. It was under said pretext, Semyonov and his white Russian colleagues came to Mongolia. Chen Yi began frantically sending telegrams to Beijing requesting troops while simultaneously persuading the Bogd Khaan government to agree to allow a Chinese battalion to come over. Chen Yi and Mongol noles came up with a document with 64 points titled "On respecting of Outer Mongolia by the government of China and improvement of her position in future after self-abolishing of autonomy", yes they could have summarized it somewhat, though I imagine the english translation is lacking. The stipulations offered to replace the Mongolian government with Chinese officials; introduce Chinese garrisons and the keeping of feudal titles. However by July of 1918, the Soviet threat seemed to have dissipated. Meanwhile Semyonov had assembled a detachment of Buryats and Inner Mongolian nationalists to fight for his pan-Mongolian cause. They made several attempts to try and persuade the Bogd Khaan's government to join, but the Mongol nobles thought it foolish to throw their lot under a new master they knew nothing about. Gradually Semyonov threatened to invade Mongolia to force their compliance. The Bogd Khaanate was in a bad position. They lacked the strength to repel Semyonov, on the other hand they were not interested in Chinese troops entering their lands.  Now taking a step back, there was another player in the region. When the Manchu Restoration of Zhang Xun broke out, Zhang Zuolin, the warlord of Manchuria sat on the fence in Mukden. Yet a subordinate of his, Feng Tielin had just unsuccessfully plotted against him and was implicated in the Manchu Restoration. This gave Zhang a good excuse to imprison and dismiss the man from his command and better yet he stole the man's troops. In August of 1917, Zhang Zuolin took control over Heilongjiang province after a small rebellion had broken out there. Then in October, the warlord in Jilin province turned out to also be a Manchu Restorationist, or at least Zhang accused him as such, so he used diplomacy to get rid of the man. After this Zhang seized Jilin and thus controlled all of Manchuria, excluding parts under Japanese occupation.  In February of 198, Duan Qirui sent a rather unpopular subordinate named Xu Shucheng to try and persuade Zhang Zuolin to join the Anfu club. The reason was because Duan Qirui distrusted Wu Peifu and the emerging Zhili clique and saw Zhang as a beneficial ally. Xu Shucheng was the founder of the Anfu club, the political arm of the Anhui clique. They recently earned 3/4s of the seats in the national assembly. Xu was also a fixer in many ways, at one point he discovered Lu Jianzhang had tried to persuade his nephew, Feng Yuxiang the Christian warlord, to fight the Anhui CLique. Xu leaked this and had Lu executed. Thus he had a pretty rough reputation. Xu came to Zhang with a bribe from Duan Qirui, it was information that a shipment of Japanese arms worth 30,000 yuan, enough to equip roughly 7 mixed brigades and just come to port in Qinhuangdao. Zhang Zuolin performed a random inspection of the port and confiscated the goods, reminds you of the New York mob. In response to this friendly gesture, Zhang sent 50,000 of his troops southwards to aid Duan Qirui's new campaign that he called “unification of China by force”. For this nice gesture, the Beiyang government gave Zhang Zuolin the title of inspector of the 3 Manchurian provinces. At this point Zhang Zuolin truly became known as the tiger of Manchuria, or the “king of the northeast”. Things were not great, but not bad between Duan and Zhang, then Xu Shucheng received a new command, and things changed dramatically.  Because of the situation in Outer Mongolia, Duan Qirui decided to form a new “Northwestern Frontier Army” and he gave command of it to his right hand man, Xu Shuzheng. Now, allegedly this was also coerced by the Japanese who had their own designs on Outer Mongolia. But Duan Qirui certainly had his motives for such an action. The leaked information about the Nishihara loans alongside other bad press had most of the Chinese public against him. His reputation as a republican patriot had been tarnished, even defeating Zhang Xun had not done a ton to reverse it. Duan Qirui had cultivated a large and strong army during WW1, but now the war was over and all of his political enemies questioned why he kept the army. Of course everyone knew the real reason why, he wanted to defeat his rivals in the south to reunify China. When the Russian began to encroach in Mongolia, it was a perfect excuse to use said army, legitimizing it somewhat. Publicly Duan Qiruir stated the Northwestern Frontier army would go to Outer Mongolia to defend them against Bolshevik encroachment. Their expedition was supposed to commence in July 1919, but their train broke down on them. In October, Xu was forced to lead a spearhead of just 4000 men to storm the capital of Urga. There was no actual battle, the Chinese entered peacefully and began occupying the capital. They were soon followed up with 10,000 additional forces who began to occupy Mongolia. Xu Shuzheng met with Chen Yi and the Mongol nobles and stated the 64 point document needed to be renegotiated. He then submitted a much tougher set of conditions calling for the express declaration of Chinese sovereignty over Mongolia; to increase Mongolia's population via Chinese colonization; to promote commerce, industry and agriculture. If the Mongols resisted these conditions, Xu threatened to deport the Bogd Khaan to China. To make a point Xu then placed troops directly in front of Bogd Khaan's palace. It seems Xu may have also been pressured by Japan to install some pro-Japanese chinese officials in Mongolia to thwart any future Russian encroachment. These demands, titled “the eight articles” were given to the Mongolian Parliament on November 15th and the upper house accepted them, but the lower house did not. Many members publicly called for armed resistance. The most tenacious were the buddhist monks to fight off the Chinese, but the upper house ultimately prevailed. Then a petition to end autonomy signed by the ministers and deputy ministers of the Bogd Khaans government was presented to Xu. Body Khaan refused to give his seal still. Then a new Prime Minister was installed by the orders of Xu Shuzheng, his name and do forgive me was Gonchigjalzangiin Badamdorj. Alongside the conservatives within the Mongolian political scene they forced the acceptance of the Chinese demands. Xu Shuzheng was hailed as a hero in China. Dr Sun Yat-sen even sent a letter of congratulations from the rival Guangzhou government, it was clearly satirical, but those like Duan Qirui paraded it as propaganda. Now Xu Shuzheng then humiliated the Mongolian Council of Khans in a speech and would return in February of 1920 to preside over an extremely humiliating ceremony. During the ceremony the Bogd Khan and other Mongol nobles were forced to kowtow before Xu Shuzheng and the new Five races under one union flag. This ceremony was so insulting, it would mark the beginning of active Mongolian resistance against China. The occupation of Mongolia had aroused frustration from Zhang Zuolin because he regarded Mongolia to be within his sphere of influence. Xu Shuzheng after occupying Mongolia began to set up banks in the northwest, raised public loans and all of this was of course done to increase his own personal power. At this time, since he was the 2nd strongest Anhui Clique leader, he had so many forces under his thumb he was seen to be greater than Zhang Zuolin the “inspector of the three provinces of Manchuria”. Xu Shuzheng's Northwestern Army had troops in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang and Shaanxi. Now while Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian Clique could not hope to defeat the Anhui Clique alone, they were not in fact alone. Zhang Zuolin with his ear to the political ongoings in northern China would find a new ally to thwart Duan and Xu's encroachment into his realm. We need to rewind just a little bit to explain the rather chaotic political situation in north China. After Zhang Xun's Manchu Restoration was defeated, Duan Qirui found himself in a bit of an awkward position. He was now the defender of the republic, he took back his premiership, but his puppet Li Yuanghong had fled his position as president, it was now Feng Guozhang who was president. Now Feng Guozhang was not elected or anything, he was merely filling out the term of Li Yuanghong. Before leaving Nanjing to come over to Beijing, Feng compelled Duan to accept his appointees to offices in the Yangtze area, where his power base was located. Now there was a division of military power, a sort of split within the Beiyang army between the Premier and President. This led to the “Anfu Club” being created of Duan followers and in turn the Zhili Clique of Feng followers. The Anfu Club was far better organized, better funded and was dominated by Duan and Xu. Xu by the way was nicknamed Little Xu, because he was seen as simply Duan lackey as they say. The Anfu Club also had high ranking politicians like Wang Yitang, Zeng Yujun and Liu Enge. Yet the Anfu Club was not really an alliance of military guys, it was more a political force that exerted influence over Parliament and other parts of the civil bureaucracy. There was no war at this point despite the conflict between Duan and Feng growing. Thus the fighting was all within the political realm for awhile, they simply fought to control government institutions and such. Duan and Feng's main objective at this time was simply to dominate Parliament, and Duan was winning. Duan mae Wang Yitang the speaker of the house who made sure Feng could not dissolve parliament. If Feng dissolved parliament it would call for an election that could see Duan lose premiership again. Now a little bit about the Zhili Clique, from 1917-1920 the clique was not really united politically or militarily. They were really a riff raff of pissed off Beiyang officers and politicians whom Duan Qirui had overlooked. Their most influential military commanders in the beginning were Wang Zhanyuan  the warlord of Hubei, Li Chun and Chen Guangyuan the warlords of Jiangsu. The Zhili clique lacked strong leadership and a real source of funding. They did not have much influence over Parliament, thus they were quite hopeless against the Anhui clique who were only getting stronger each day. In October of 1918, the Anfu Club managed to secure a new president, Xu Shichang. Xu Shichang was the former viceroy of Manchuria, considered a safe pick by the Anfu members. Xu lacked a following, he was quite old, a school type, someone they all assumed could be easily manipulated, basically a new Li Yuanghong. By the end of 1918 the Anfu club appeared to be in a position to unify China for the first time since the death of Yuan Shikai. However they depended heavily on Japanese loans and as a result easily fell victim to those who would label them to be in league with Japan. Members of the Zhili clique capitalized on this, spreading accusations left right and center, making public statements accusing the Anfu members of selling China out to Japan. By 1919 the Anfu group still looked sturdy, but then the Treaty of Versailles situation hit. The public outrage to the peace talks led many Anhui clique members of Duan's cabinet to flee to Japan. Then the May Fourth Movement began, prompting the Zhili clique to latch themselves onto the cause of the student protestors.  Duan Qirui realized his stronghold on Beijing was becoming fragile. Any direct attack against another warlord would be dangerous, thus he tried to do things covertly. He began by trying to economically strangle areas of his enemies, he reduced government funds to their provinces. He also tried to set up new appointments in the central provinces to dominate them. He appointed General Zhang Jingyao to be the military governor over Hunan province. Wu Peifu whose powerbase was in Sichuan and western Hunan saw this as a direct threat. Now when this was occuring, Japan was facing economic problems and thus could no longer loan money to the Anhui clique. This led the Anfu club to seek a new source of revenue. Meanwhile, Wu Peifu reacted to the threat to his territory by seeking out support from the Zhili clique, in particular he went to his old mentor Cao Kun. Cao Kun had been an officer in the Beiyang Army, initially he did not side with Feng or Duan. When the Anhui clique began to move into central China, this drove Cao to the Zhili clique. Wu Peifu approached his old mentor with a plan, it was to be a campaign against the Anhui. Cao agreed to the idea, only if Wu could prove they would have enough forces capable of attacking Anhui's powerbase around Beijing. Wu then went to work calling upon the warlords of Sichuan, Shanxi and Hubei who were all not receiving much funding from the central government. Thus they all banded together. In November of 1919 Wu Peifu met with Tang Jiyao and Lu Rongting at Hengyang, where they signed a treaty entitled "Rough Draft of the National Salvation Allied Army" This effectively formed the basis of a true anti-Anhui clique alliance. After this in April of 1920, while visiting a memorial service at Baoding for soldiers who died in Hunan, Cao Kun added more warlords to the new anti-Anhui clique alliance, including the rulers of Hubei, Henan, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Zhili. The conflict became public as both sides began deploying for the coming war. By May of 1920, Wu Peifu was prepared to launch a campaign to strike into northern China and he began to mobilize his armies up the Tientsin-Pukow railway. Yet before this he also did something else, Wu extended a hand out to an unlikely figure, Zhang Zuolin. He explained his campaign plan to Zhang Zuolin, and advised him, a campaign from the northeast above the Great Wall might be very beneficial to them both, wink wink. Thus in March of 1920, Zhang Zuolin had arranged a feast in Mukden for the warlords of Zhili, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. It was a secret conference to set up a solid 8 province alliance against the Anhui clique. This intense period of scheming saw President Xu Shichang invite Zhang Zuolin over for a meeting in Beijing. American writer Nathaniel Peffer was there and had this to say of Zhang. “Until his triumphal entry into Peking in 1920, Zhang Zuolin had not come down out of his Mukden fastness for years. In those years a legend had grown up round him — a legend of a fierce, uncouth, primitive creature of the wilds. It was with some zest, therefore, that I accepted an invitation of his nearly English-speaking secretary to attend an audience for foreign correspondents. It was with even greater amazement that I found myself bowing to a slender, delicate little person in subdued silks, soft-spoken and with hands as lovely and graceful as I have ever seen on a man. The terror of the north country looked like a precious aesthete. There was nothing of the aesthete in his speech or his demeanour, however. The interview was marked by none of the usual subtle evasion, the nice circumlocution. There was blunt talk on both sides; and it was eloquent that, when our questions verged on the brutally frank, the secretary who interpreted did not translate them as they were put, but softened them until the meaning was transformed. The quailing of the servitors when the tea was a second late also was eloquent. When he recommended the execution of a whole regiment as a proper punishment for mutiny; one was glad the regiment was not in his command”. During the meeting, Zhang told Xu he had no idea what a “zhili group was or what an Anfu group was”. Everyone should just cooperate in general for a northern cause. Then Zhang Zuolin traveled from Beijing to Baoding to meet with the Zhili's defacto leader Cao Kun. As Zhang was on his way, the anti-anfu coalition managed to force President Xu Shichang to dismiss Xu Shuzheng from all of his posts. Allegedly, after this President Xu Shichang sent an invitation to Zhang Zuolin to come back to his residence after his trip to Baoding was done and he planned to kill him. Premier Duan heard of the plan and told the president to not go through with it, because Zhang Zuolin had supported him in the past. Nonetheless Zhang Zuolin high tailed it back to Manchuria under a disguise. Once back in Mukden, Zhang Zuolin sent a telegram to Xu and Duan stating “in the future instead of mediating politically, I will do so militarily”.  In July various Zhili and Fengtian generals such as Cao Kun, Zhang Zuolin, Wang Zhanyuan, Li Shun, Chen Guangyuan, Zhao Ti and Ma Fuxiang all signed a denunciation of the Anhui clique and its political arm, the Anfu Club. This denunciation was circulated through a telegram called Paoting-fu on July 12th. Duan Qirui was outraged by the situation and demanded President Xu Shichang dismiss Cao Kun and Zhang Zuolin from all of their positions. In response to the very obvious threat, Duan formed the National Stabilization army, using 5 divisions and 4 combined brigades with himself as commander in chief and General Xu Shuzheng as his general chief of staff. Duan deployed his forces in 2 fronts, the west covering the regions of Zhouzhou, Gu'an and Laishui and the east covering Hamlet, Beijimiao, Yang and Liang.  Cao Kun gathered their 3rd division and 9 combined brigades to form a Traitor Suppression army, with Wu Peifu as the front line commander-in-chief. The Zhili clique deployed their forces in the region of the Yang hamlet and due west of Gaobei. In the northeast, Zhang Zuolin deployed 3 divisions, roughly 70,00 men at the Machang and Junliangcheng. The battle plan was for the Zhili to strike from the south, converging on Baoding and then Beijing while the Fengtian would advance through the Shanhai pass of the Great Wall to attack the northern territories. Now the Anhui clique basically held dominance over the Beijing area, Anhui and along most of China's coast, however the Zhili clique now was dominating Jiangsu province, thus severing the vital railway that the Anhui depended on to move troops from north to south. While Duan could see the Zhili were mobilizing, the appearance of 3 Fengtian divisions advancing through Shanghaiguan caught his men by complete surprise. Duan in a rather panicked fashion ordered his troops in the capital to converge around Tientsin where he was forced to meet both enemies on a southern and northern front. On July 14th of 1920, the Anhui army made the first move by simultaneously attacking both fronts.  Zhili troops were forced to abandon Gaobei and 2 days later with Japanese assistance the Anhui forces were able to capture the Yang Hamlet, forcing the Zhili to form a second line of defense in the Beicang region. It was at Beicang where the Anhui forces finally lost momentum and were halted. On July 17th, Wu Peifu personally took command of the Zhili western front, where he unleashed a daring maneuver. He outflanked the Anhui forces at Zhouzhou and proceeded to storm the western Anhui army HQ. There Wu Peifu captured the Anhui front line commander-in-chief Qu Tongfeng and many of his officers, including the 1st division commander. After the capture of Zhuozhou, Wu Peifu pursued the retreating Anhui forces towards Beijing.  With the exception of the Anhui 15th division, their western front was all but annihilated.Also on the same day, the Fengtian army crashed into the Anhui eastern front.General Xu Shuzheng received word of the collapse of the western front and promptly fled to Langfang and then Beijing, leaving his forces to surrender to the combined forces of Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin. While the majority of the Anhui forces would be taken prisoners, many also managed to escape to Zhejiang and Shanghai, but they were a fraction of what they once were. By July 19th, Duan realized he had lost the war and publicly announced he was resigning from all of his posts. On the 23rd the combined Zhili and Fengtian forces entered Nanyuan and gradually pacified Beijing accepting the surrender of the Anhui clique. In less than a week of battle, the strongest clique was unexpectedly defeated. Zhang Zuolin's military capabilities received a enormous boom from the short battle. His men had captured vast quantities of arms, armaments, ammunition and military vehicles from the Japanese financed frontier defense army of the Anhui clique. It apparently took 100 railway wagons to send all the looted goods back to Mukden, alongside 12 captured aircraft. Zhang Zuolin also suffered pretty much nothing during the battle. The fengtian had merely put a heavy force on the field, they actually sat back quite idly most of the time allowing Wu Peifu to take the lionshare of the actual action against the enemy.  At this junction Zhang Zuolin faced two large decisions. First he could return to his powerbase in the northeast with assurances Beijing would not interfere with the development of his provinces. The Japanese were likewise constantly hassling Zhang to refrain from getting involved in the national political scene, to just develop his own region. Obviously Japan was arguing this while dangling financial aid because they were heavily invested in Manchuria and did not want any threats aimed at it, especially from Beijing. Wang Yongjiang, who would become a brilliant economic administrator to the Fengtian Clique, aiding in a lot of reforms, he believed the northeast provinces could continue to develop while keeping out of anything going on south of the Great Wall. He also added his voice, arguing Zhang should just stay the hell away from Beijing and its chaos. The second choice was of course, diving right into the chaos. After the fall of the Anhui Clique, Zhang Zuolin for the first time had tasted a real victory, especially one over a superior adversary. For the first time he had the opportunity to influence the politics of China, he could stop being just a mere bandit leader. Could someone like Zhang Zuolin be the man to reunify China? This he wondered. Thus his choices were to go back to being the tiger of Manchuria or become the man who would lead all of China. What do you think he would choose?  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The occupation of Mongolia looked like a good idea at the time to Duan Qirui, perhaps its could save his reputation so he could focus on defeating the pesky southern warlords. What a shock it was to find out all of the north rallied together to knock him off his tower. Now the Zhili and Fengtian cliques controlled Beijing, but would they work together, or simply fall into conflict, furthering China's misery.

Last time we spoke about Chinese laborers during the Great War. Although China took upa stance of neutrality at the offset of WW1, there was still this enormous desire to join the Entente side. The new Republic of China wanted to get a seat at the peace table to hopefully undue some of the terrible unequal treaties. To procure that seat, China approached France, Britain, Russia and by the end of the war America to send their workers to help the war effort. On the western and eastern fronts, chinese laborers made a colossal contribution that tipped the scale of the war towards an Entente victory. On the Eastern front some Chinese fought in irregular units and under emergency circumstances even on the western front some saw combat. When the laborers came back home they brought with them new ideas that would dramatically change China. The people of China demanded change, but how would China fare by the end of the Great War?   #90 Twenty-One Demands & the Walrus Emperor   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Taking a look back at China at the outbreak of WW1. Yuan Shikai certainly had a lot on his plate. When European nations began declaring war in late July, it brought military conflict to China. Yuan Shikai and his advisors thought over all the options laid bare before them and decided to proclaim neutrality on August 6th of 1914. As we have seen the other great powers, particularly Japan did not care. Japan besieged Tsingtao, despite China tossing protests. Yuan Shikai had little choice but to permit the Japanese military actions against Qingdao. The fighting that broke out in the Kiautschou area would constitute the only acts of war on Chinese soil during the first world war. Unfortunately the Japanese were not going to settle with just defeating the Germans. Japan had already gained a enormous sphere of influence in Manchuria after her victories in the 1st Sino-Japanese war and Russo-Japanese War. When China underwent its Xinhai revolution it became fragile, quite vulnerable and thus opened a floodgate.  With WW1 raging on in Europe, the global powers were all too preoccupied to contest any actions in Asia, giving Japan an enormous opportunity. Japan sought to expand her commercial interests in Manchuria, but also elsewhere. After seizing Qingdao, Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu and Foreign Minister Kato Takaai drafted the infamous Twenty-One Demands. From the Japanese perspective, Yuan Shikai's government looked rogue, untrustworthy, they had no idea how long the thing would stand up, it might crumble at a moments notice. Their leases in south Manchuria were going to run out soon, thus they needed to extend them. Then there was the situation of Shandong province. Its always Shandong as they say. Japan was technically occupying it, having taken it from the Germans who previously held a concession over it. Being a concession, it was known Shandong would be returned to China, but now then when was an unknown variable. Japan also had some economic trade with China that made her somewhat dependent upon her. For example Yawata, Japan's first iron and steel complex that had been financed with Chinese indemnity payments ironically, was also dependent on Chinese raw materials that had been streaming into Japan since 1901. Japan industrialists needed to firm up their commercial relations with places like the Hanyehping works in Hankou. They hoped to establish joint sino-japanese control over strategic resources. Japan also strongly sought to be the dominate power in Asia, she wanted the western powers to back off. With these things in mind, the twenty-one demands were born. And by demands they were technically more “requests”, nevertheless they amounted to substantial infractions upon Chinese sovereignty. On January 18th of 1915, Japanese ambassador Hioki Eki delivered the twenty-one demands to Yuan Shikai in a private audience. They were delivered with a warning of dire consequences if the Beiyang government were to reject them. I know it might be quite boring and rather a University professor thing to do, but I will read the demands out. Now the Twenty-One Demands were divided into 5 groups Group 1 (four demands) confirmed Japan's recent seizure of German ports and operations in Shandong Province, and expanded Japan's sphere of influence over the railways, coasts and major cities of the province. Group 2 (seven demands) pertained to Japan's South Manchuria Railway Zone, extending the leasehold over the territory for 99 years, and expanding Japan's sphere of influence in southern Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, to include rights of settlement and extraterritoriality, appointment of financial and administrative officials to the government and priority for Japanese investments in those areas. Japan demanded access to Inner Mongolia for raw materials, as a manufacturing site, and as a strategic buffer against Russian encroachment in Korea. Group 3 (two demands) gave Japan control of the Han-Ye-Ping (Hanyang, Daye, and Pingxiang) mining and metallurgical complex in central China; it was deep in debt to Japan. Group 4 (one demand) barred China from giving any further coastal or island concessions to foreign powers. Group 5 (seven demands) was the most aggressive. China was to hire Japanese advisors who could take effective control of China's finance and police. Japan would be empowered to build three major railways, and also Buddhist temples and schools. Japan would gain effective control of Fujian, across the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan, which had been ceded to Japan in 1895. Now Japan knew what they were asking for, particularly in group 5 were basically like asking China to become a full colony under Japanese rule. Traditional history holds the narrative that Japan simply was taking advantage of the first world war to press China for imperial gains and Yuan Shikai accepted the demands in exchange for funding and support of his future monarchical project. Yuan Shikai ever since has been vilified as a sort of traitor who negotiated a dirty deal with the Japanese. Its a bit more complicated than that however as you can imagine. Yuan Shikai was outraged when the Japanese minister came over with the demands, it was a heavy blow against him and his new government. Accordinging to US minister Paul Reinsch “Yuan was stunned, unable to speak for a long time”. When the Chinese were trying to smooth talk Yuan and his advisors they made flowery speeches about how Japan would shoulder the modernizing of China, that the demands were in the spirit of Amity, friendship and peace. Yuan Shikai remarked to this “our country would no longer be a country and our people would be slaves.” Yuan Shikai understood full well what Japan sought, but he was powerless to stop them. What he did do to try and curb some of the damage was delay the response by replacing his foreign minister Sun Baoqi with Lu Zhengxiang, whose slow and overly polite manner, greatly frustrated and pissed off the Japanese. The classic Chinese approach to diplomacy, stall stall stall. It is said Lu often spent an hour or more in courtesies like tea-drinking before getting down to business. Over 24 meetings would be held over the demands. Now the Japanese wanted all of this to be kept secret as it would hurt both nations reputations on the world stage. Yuan Shikai did not play by their rules. Instead he leaked the demands to foreign diplomats and representatives, and in turn this got leaked to the media and caused nationwide protests. Yuan Shikai hoped the protests would push the Japanese to back off. Yuan Shikai also tried to persuade foreign intervention. First he sent his Japanese adviser Argia Nagao back to Japan to prod the Genro. Then he began speaking to the Americans who were very focused on maintaining their Open Door Policy and the British who were very suspicious of Japan's intentions. Neither nation wanted to see China simply falling into Japan's orbit. And of course Yuan Shikai tried to negotiate the demands themselves, particularly the group 5 demands which he pointed out “these items interfere with China's internal politics and infringe on our national sovereignty. It is hard to agree.” Towards the economic demands he remarked “these demands are too broad and cannot be enforced.” Regarding Japan's demands that China not lease islands or coastal regions to “Taguo /a third country”, Yuan Shikai wanted to change the words “Taguo” to “waiguo / foreign countries”. That change altered China's national interests for it meant China would not allow any country, including Japan to lease or rent Chinese islands or coastal regions.  Overall though, Yuan Shikai was very careful not to be overly aggressive for he knew full well, no one was able to help China at that moment if Japan decided to start another war. He also was playing with fire massively, for he unleashed Chinese nationalism, something that could and would get out of hand. The Chinese stalled for as long as they could, but the Japanese patience would run out on May 7th. Japanese ambassador Hioki Eki issued an ultimatum, but this time with only thirteen demands. Yuan Shikai's government had only 2 days to accept. After months of tenacious diplomacy, the final version of the demands was quite different. The 5th group had been dropped and more other items were less harsh. Yuan Shikai was powerless he was going to have to accept the demands and he knew full well this was yet another humiliation against China and her people. The supreme state council met on the 8th, where Yuan Shikai told his officials it was a shameful and heartbreaking agony to accept the demons, but they had no choice, lest war ravage them all again. He looked at his council and stated bluntly, China needed to catch up to Japan within a decade to remedy the situation. Yuan Shikai would issue secretly on May 14th, a notice to high ranking officials throughout the country, telling them to expose Japan's ambitions and China's debility. He urged them to bear in mind the extreme pain of this humiliation and advised them to work hard to create a bright future to avoid the collapse of the state and the extinction of the nation. The demands were reluctantly accepted on May 9th, and henceforth May 9th was declared “a day of national humiliation” commemorated annually.  The consequence of accepting the thirteen demands, became colloquially known as “the Shandong problem”, again its always Shandong province haha. Now at the beginning of the war China supported the Entente under certain conditions. One of those conditions was that Kiautschou Bay, the leased territory of the Shandong peninsula belonging to the Germans, would be returned to China. Something that occurred very very often during WW1, particularly on the part of Britain, was the issue of double promising. I literally made up a term I think. Britain during WW1 in an effort to secure allies or certain objectives would promise two different states or non-state actors the exact same thing after the war was done. A lot of the problems facing the middle-east today can be attributed to this. In the case of the Shandong problem, when Japan entered the war on behalf of the Entente, Britain basically promised they could keep their holdings, this of course included Shandong. We will come back to the Shandong problem as its a surprisingly long lasting one, but now I want to take quite a silly detour. Yuan Shikai is quite a character to say the least. He was viewed very differently at given times.Take for example the public perception of him after the Xinhai Revolution took place. Many honestly saw him as a sort of Napoleon Bonaparte like figure. Many also questioned what Yuan Shikai truly sought, did he believe in things like democracy? One author I have used during these recent podcasts, who in my opinion is a hilarious Yuan Shikai apologist tried to argue the case “Yuan Shikai did not understand what democracy was, thus that is why he did the things he did”. Now beginning around 1913, there were rumors Yuan Shikai simply sought to make himself an emperor over a new dynasty. This of course came at a time everyone was vying for power over the Republic, China was supposed to be a Republic after all, I think we all know however this was not ever a reality. Yuan Shikai certainly tried to make the case he was a Republican, that he believed in the republicanism espoused by just about all the leading figures. He also would make statements publicly espousing “I will never proclaim myself to be a monarch”. Yet as we have seen he certainly sent the wheels into motion to create a dictatorship. Yet for public appearances he kept the charade he was doing his absolute best as president and that he unwaveringly supported republicanism.  Thus there were two major hurdles in the way, if lets say he did want to become an emperor: 1) he kept making pledges he would not do so and 2) the republican system obviously did not allow for this, there had been a revolution to stop the monarchy after all! There was little to no options if someone wanted to make themselves emperor over China…unless they made it seem like thats what the people wanted. In 1915, Yuan Shikai quasi stomped all political rivals, I say quasi because there actually were rivals literally everywhere, but for the most part he had concentrated power into his own hands. Now, the apologist author had this to say about Yuan Shikai's sudden change of heart for the monarchy “His belief in superstition was perhaps another factor, for geomancers had told him that by establishing a monarchy he would smash his family curse, which held that men in the Yuan family would rarely live beyond their fifties. The suggestion here was that he would live long if he founded a monarchy. Also, fengshui masters had told him that his ancestral tombs had shown a blessed sign favouring imperial rule” The author then finishes by stating, its a difficult question and further inquiry should be made. That is the classic end of any scholar article, where they know full well they can't justify what they are writing haha. According to the high ranking official Zhu Qiqian who was close to Yuan Shikai “Yuan's monarchical movement started with Kaiser Wilhelm II telling the Chinese that monarchy would be more suitable for China”. British minister Jordan had a meeting with Yuan Shikai on OCtober 2nd of 1915, and on the topic of him becoming emperor, he simply stated “this is China's internal affairs which should not be interfered with by any others.” American minister Reinsch basically said the same thing when asked. News outlets began spreading rumors Yuan Shikai was going to declare himself emperor. In June of 1915, Japanese media reported as such, but Yuan Shikai responded “nothing is more foolish than a man becoming emperor. For national salvation, I have already sacrificed myself, and I would rather not sacrifice my descendants.” Well despite this, a monarchical movement began, orchestrated by many people such as Yuan Shikai's son Yuan Keding. Our friend from the last podcast, Liang Shiyi, now minister of communications, raised funds and organized popular petitions for Yuan to form a monarchy. Soon numerous petition groups “organically” with quotation marks, sprang up all over Beijing all claiming republicanism held too many weaknesses and that China was in a dire strait needing a strong monarchy. Petition groups sprang up in provinces urging the same thing. Beijing was filled with noisy parades, procession, petitioners ran around rampantly.  Then the United Association of National Petition was founded on September 19th, 1915 in Beijing to champion monarchism. Supporters gathered in Beijing, producing this “organic” impression everyone wanted the monarchy back.  Facing so many petitioners, Yuan Shikai decided to let the people determine the future of the national political system and by the people, I mean him. On October 8th, 1915 he approved the order that a “Canzhengyuan”, political participation council organize a “ Guomindaibiaodahui”, a national representative assembly. They would form a final ruling on the issue. The order required all the representatives had to be elected, each county had to choose one, and various ethnic groups, civil societies and overseas Chinese organizations also needed to select representatives. Yuan Shikai hoped such an arrangement would dispel any perceptions he was just appointing himself Emperor. Each county representative went to his provincial capital to cast a ballot. The political participation council in Beijing collected the ballots and announced the results. The representatives were selected and each received 500$ for travel expenses. Yuan Shikai dispatched Zhu Qiqian to secretly telegram all provincial officials to regulate the “election” air quotes. Yuan Shikai had all of his confidents working for this election. High ranking officials, family members, friends and so forth. On December 11, 1915 the Political Participation Council announced the results, all 1993 ballots endorsed a constitutional monarchy with Yuan Shikai as emperor. So yeah, every ballot, hrmmmm. On behalf of the representatives, the council begged Yuan Shikai to assume the throne immediately, claiming it was the will of the people. Yuan Shikai declined, arguing he had pledged to support the republic, that as the guardian of republicanism he would lose trust if he became emperor. He asked the council to find another candidate. What proceeded as you can imagine was simple theatrics. That afternoon, the council held a special meeting and decided to present a second imperial advocacy. In the advocacy were things proving Yuan Shikai was an indispensable ruler, qualified for taking the throne. His 6 great accomplishments were suppressing the Boxer Rebellion, enforcing progressive reforms, achieving a post-revolutionary conciliation, crushing the second revolution and conducting intense diplomacy with neighbors like Japan. To absolve Yuan Shikai of the guilt of violating his republican pledges the document stated “the pledge to the republic was effective only if the peoples' will supported republicanism. If the people have switched to constitutional monarchy, the previous pledge was automatically relinquished. As the presidency does not exist anymore, the former presidential pledges naturally disappear”. And thus Yuan Shikai reluctantly, under extreme pressure issued a public order declaring his acceptance on December 13th, 1915. Thus Yuan Shikai became the Hongxian Emperor and began to implement imperial orders. To woo over the national elites, he created a system of noble ranks and bestowed 130 prominent individuals titles as princes, dukes, marquis, earls, viscounts and barons. His closest friends were given special appellations and exempted from imperial duties. Xu Shichang, Li Jingxi, Zhang Jian and Zhao Erxun, his closest 4 friends became the Songshansiyou “four friends of Mount Song”. Yet just as he was getting down to the work as they say, an anti-yuan movement swept the country, go figure. High ranking Beiyang generals and politicians were amongst Yuan Shikai's, lets call them, reluctant collaborators, and some were even opponents. His monarchy turned them hostile. Many had supported him for decades and their very careers were beholden to his patronage. But the monarchy was simple incompatible with the times. Li Yuanhong, a leading figure in the Beiyang Clique who was linked to Yuan Shikai through marriage, strongly resisted the monarchy. He was the first to have the title prince bestowed upon him, but he refused and threatened to commit suicide if coerced to take it. Xu Shichang, simply resigned. Feng Guozhang, a military commander in Nanjing was very angry about the situation. Feng Guozhang came to Beijing to try and persuade Yuan Shikai to not become emperor, and Yuan Shikai promised him for months it was only rumors, he'd never do it, not Yuan come on man! Once he became emperor, Feng Guozhang felt betrayed and became quite an obstacle to Yuan Shikai. Then there was Duan Qirui another Yuan Shikai loyalist, but he concealed his anti-monarchy stance. He simply told Yuan Shikai that if he tried to become emperor, he would become a villain in chinese history. Duan Qirui was the only high ranking general not to be given a noble title rank. Instead he was given a personal chef by Yuan Shikai, and Duan Qirui made sure never to eat any food prepared by the man. All these names by the way are important figures of the Beiyang clique, cliques will become a dominating feature when we get into the warlord era. Basically the leader of the Beiyang clique, Yuan Shikai had greatly pissed off all of his followers.  Of course Dr. Sun Yat-sen responded immediately to Yuan Shikai becoming emperor, calling for another revolution. In his words “the future of our motherland has suddenly became more darkened. The republic built by our martyrs has unexpectedly turned out to be the private possession of the Yuan family. Four hundred million compatriots wept profusely ... and see the third revolution as the best remedy for national salvation.” Dr Sun Yat-Sen portrayed Yuan Shikai as a “minzei” national thief and now the Chinese people lived in bondage. He called upon the people to fight to save the republic. Soon KMT revolutionaries began to seize county seats, first in Shandong led by Ju Zheng, then they occupied parts in Guangdong and attacked the provincial capital there. However Dr Sun Yat-Sen was not the only player in town anymore. There was the new Nation Army led by Cai E in Yunnan province and Liang Qichao. Liang Qichao was one of the first big voices against Yuan Shikai's monarchial movement when they were emerging as rumors. He was also something of a sensei to Cai E, pushing him to coordinate military commanders in the southwest. Liang Qichao left northern China for Shanghai after Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor and then made his way to Hong Kong, before traveling to Vietnam. From there he gradually traveled to join up with the Nation Army in March of 1916. And there he created a rival government. Then there were the liberal types, many intellectuals who had traveled abroad like Chen Duxiu. Chen Duxiu published in the New Youth an article stating “the nomenclatures of emperors and kings should have already perished after the Qing abdication edict, but unfortunately the Prepare for Peace Society led to the problem of the national political system.” Many pro-Yuan Shikai intellectuals suddenly turned against him, such as Li Dazhao. Born in Zhili, Li Dazhao had benefited from Yuan Shikai's reforms and supported him for quite some time, but the monarchism enraged him. As Li Dazhao joined the anti-Yuan movement he declared “All those who dare to rekindle the tyrannical cinders, or reignite the monarchical flames, whether the followers of the Prepare for Peace Society or the adherents of dynastic restoration, should be regarded as traitors of the state and public enemies of citizens. Their organization should be exterminated, their books burned, their backers eradicated, and their roots removed. Their sprouts should be destroyed so that they could not grow and proliferate. Then, there will be a hope of great prospect for our country”. Japan, never one to let an opportunity slip by them, began communicating with Cai E, Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao and Beiyang generals like Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui. Japan began training and arming them. Soon military commanders in Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan working in league with Liang Qichao declared war against Yuan Shikai. Zhang Xun in Xuzhou of Jiangxi province refused to fly the Beiyang republic flag and made sure his men grew long queues, expressing their loyalty to the Qing dynasty. Liang Qichao dispatched Cai E to Kunming where he met with Tang Jiyao, a local military commander to begin a rebellion. On December 24th, Yuan Shikai received a telegram from Cai E urging him to return China into a Republic and he had one day to do so, or else. Yuan Shikai rejected the order and on the 25th of December, Yunnan province declared independence, uh oh. The Nation Army consisted of 3 main forces, Cai E's first army who marched upon Sichuan; Li Liejun's 2nd army who marched upon Guangxi and Hunan and Tang Jiyao's 3rd army who were held in reserve. Their goal was to occupy southern China so a Northern expedition could be launched to overthrow Yuan Shikai.  On January 1st, 1916 they issued an proclamation, claiming Yuan Shikai had performed 20 egregious crimes and must go into exile and let China be a republic again. Within days their armies marched upon Sichuan and Guizhou. By February Guizhou declared independence. Yuan Shikai immediately went to work stripping the rebels of their official titles and ordered Cao Kun to lead a military expedition against Yunnan. Under Cao Kun was Ma Jizeng who took an army through Hunan to attack Guizhou and Yunnan. A second force was led by Zhang Jingyao through Sichuan then Yunnan. A third force led by Long Jiguang went through Guangxi and then Yunnan. There were fierce battles, one particularly rough one at Xuzhou, where Cai E's armies seized the city in January, but lost it by March. The war was dubbed “the strange war,” because it really became  “a war of tongues,”. Each side kept through accusations in telegrams, newspapers and pamphlets. Now Yuan Shikai's Beiyang forces were superior in terms of numbers, weaponry and such, but the southerners were using terrain against them. All of the Beiyang forces were northern chinese, not used to southern climate and it proved difficult for them to acclimate. They were also not in the greatest state of morale, having to fight for the tin pot emperor as it were.  As a result the Beiyang forces did not seize the quick victory they thought they would. Though one major triumph was when Feng Yuxiang took Xuzhou on March 2nd, 1916 earning himself the title of baron. For those who don't know, Feng Yuxiang would famously become known as the Christian warlord. Meanwhile, Guangxi declared independence on March 15th led by Lu Rongting. Looking at a brutal stalemate of a war, Feng Guozhang began secretly telegraming Yuan Shikai to give up the monarchy, not a good sign. By early 1916, all the war fronts were seeing disasters. On March 21st, Yuan Shikai convened a special meeting with his high ranking officials. He proposed abolishing the monarchy and only one diehard loyalist general, Ni Sichong said he shouldn't, the rest all said yes. The following day Yuan announced his decision to step down from being an emperor. On March 23rd, 1916 the Hongxian dynasty ended, yes he was emperor for 83 days.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. I bet some of you are wondering why I titled this the Walrus Emperor. I could not help myself, he honestly is such a goofy character and the propaganda outlets of his day drew him as this fat walrus, seriously give it a google “Yuan Shikai Walrus”. You wont be disappointed

Last time we spoke about the rise of Yuan Shikai, the outbreak of WW1 and the siege of Tsingtao. Yuan Shikai used every dirty little trick to seize and maintain his authority in the new republic. He forced the KMT's hand, prompting Dr. Sun Yat-sen to usher in a second revolution, but it ultimately failed as Yuan Shikai controlled the best army in China. Simultaneously world war one broke out and this placed China in an awkward position. Multiple nations held special territorial concessions in China and now they might bring the war to her borders. China protested as much as she could, but the Empire of Japan simply did not care when they came over to lay a siege against the Germans at Tsingtao. The siege of Tsingtao saw many historical firsts and was quite brutal. After all was said and done, China was served yet another humiliation, with many more to come.    #89 China's forgotten role during the Great War   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Now this episode is actually going to be a bit of a side step from the chronological narrative so to say. China underwent an enormous amount of events during the course of WW1, most having to do with political relations towards the Empire of Japan. However, quite some time ago, on my personal channel, the pacific war channel, I tackled asia during WW1. I wrote a few episode looking at China, Japan, southeast asian nations, and something I found quite interesting is how China aided the Entente powers. People completely overlook this aspect of the Great War, but China and some of her southeast neighbors provided an incredible amount of manpower to both the western and eastern fronts. Stating that, I want to simply dabble into the specific subject of “what exactly did China do for the war effort?”. In the next episode we will jump into things like the twenty-one demands and the Treaty of Versailles. The declarations of war in Europe in late July and early August brought military conflicts immediately upon Chinese territory. On August 6th, 1914 China proclaimed her neutrality and prohibited the belligerents of WW1 from undertaking military operations upon Chinese soil. Now at the beginning it was sort of believed if not perceived the Great War was essentially a conflict between imperial powers, over their colonial possessions in a big game of world supremacy, thus China expected to remain neutral as a partially colonized country. Japan certainly did not care and began a siege against Tsingtao. China initially protested against the Japanese warfare upon her soil, but there was little Yuan Shikai could do about it. We wont get into here, but Japan certainly followed up her disrespect against China immediately after the siege of Tsingtao. Needless to say, China remained neutral for most of the war and this placed her in an interesting position. Now Yuan Shikai secretly offered British Minister John Jorden, 50,000 Chinese troops to help retake Tsingtao, but the British refused. The reason they refused was because of Japan. Japan refused to allow Chinese soldiers to fight in the war, because she was hoping to secure her authority as a powerhouse in the east. While Chinese citizens were not allowed by the Chinese government to participate in the fighting, this did not stop them from other actions Liang Shiyi was in charge of railways, the most profitable ministry within the government at the time and he had a grand idea. He called it “Yigong daibing” “laborers in the place of soldiers”. Now during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the idea of Chinese people going abroad to work was unprecedented. Both the Ming and Qing dynasties discouraged citizens from leaving the country and would persecute those who had. The Qing issued decrees banning emigration in 1717 and 1729, which would not be repealed until 1893. Thus when Liang Shiyi brought up the idea in 1915, it sort of showed how much China had changed in a short amount of time. He discussed his idea with Entente diplomats in early 1915. His original suggested to the British was to use military laborers, men who would carry guns, not be hired laborers. Now you might be asking, why do such a thing, what did China have to gain? If Britain accepted the proposal, it would mean China was fighting on the side of the Entente. But Britain turned Liang down in early 1915 and it is obvious as to why. Anyone who officially joined the war on either side, when the war was over would get a respected seat at the peace table, whereupon you could make demands. For a humiliated nation like China, seeing numerous global powers encroach upon her with unequal treaties, it was a no brainer getting a seat at that peace table might gain them what they wanted, to be rid of the unequal treaties, hell maybe even join the big boy club.  Having received the no from the British as one does, Liang went to the French. Now France from the offset of WW1 was in quite a panic and the idea of acquiring new human resources looked like an amazing idea. For France particularly in the summer of 1915, such an idea might be the decisive factor to win them the war. It also just so happened France was in the processing of securing new human resources from her vast colonial empire. If you want to hear more about French Indochina and Thailand's experience with WW1, please check out my specific episode on it, or my long format documentary on Asia during WW1 at the Pacific War Channel…or podbean I do have audio podcasts same channel name. Thus France began working with Chinese diplomats on the issue of recruit Chinese laborers. Come the summer of 1916, Britain's perspective had dramatically changed since 1915, as they were short on manpower.  Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig requested 21,000 laborers be recruited to fill Britain's manpower shortage. This was to be restricted to the Western Front, as the British home front held domestic labor unions who vigorously fought any attempt to bring Chinese workers to the isles. Beginning in August of 1916, Britain began its Chinese recruitment plan. Now China as I said would remain neutral for most of the war, so technically the Chinese laborers were hired on the basis of a written contract, ie: treated like a regular work force. Now I am going to start off with the western front, thus the Chinese laborers fell into two categories, the travailleurs and spécialistes, translated semi-skilled labor and skilled labor, not literal translations, but as I interpret it. Funny enough my job outside the podcast business has me coordinating semi-skilled educational programs for high school students so I certainly know a lot about this haha. To summarize, semi-skilled labor is a term today referring to basic common labor whereas skilled labor is more difficult requiring more education. You can make a son of comparisons, but I find this one makes sense to the most people: a semi-skilled laborer in the kitchen setting is a dishwasher, you can grab a new worker, show them the ropes rather quickly and let them work, whereas a skilled laborer is a line cook, it takes some culinary education or a lot of training until that person can do the job effectively. I also worked in the restaurant business for a long time haha.  So with France the general contracts were for 5 years, with the British it was 3 years. The Chinese laborers in France would legally be equal to their french counterparts. They would be allowed to celebrate both Chinese and French holidays with benefits paid about 5 francs per day. For the British the Chinese would work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, paid one franc per day, while their families back in China received 10 Mexican dollars a month. Its difficult to estimate but a WW1 era franc probably can go for about 15 USD, so thats like 75$ per day for France, while for the British its 15$ a day + roughly 1100 USD a month. Now the laborers needed to be transported, fed, clothed and houses, and this was to be at the cost of France and Britain. Between 1916-1918 France recruited roughly 40,000 Chinese laborers, while Britain hired 100,000 who worked in France under their authority. When the United States joined the war, the American Expeditionary Force arranged to borrow 10,000 Chinese laborers from France to employ them under identical terms. The majority of the 140,000 Chinese laborers came from Shandong province. In 1916, the French government approached China asking to recruit its citizens for non-combatant use. A contract was agreed upon may 14th 1916 supplying 50,000 laborers who would make their way to Marseille in july of 1916. This was followed up by Britain's War Committee in London who formed the Chinese Labour corps, with its main recruiting base established in Weihaiwei on october 31st 1916. The first transport ship carried 1,088 laborers sailing from Weihaiwei on january 18th 1917. The journey took three months, each volunteer received an embarkment fee of 20 yuan, followed by 10 yuan a month paid to their families in China. By the end of the war this would account for roughly 2.2 billion dollars earned by Chinese laborers. As a result of the German submarine attacks, Britain needed a safe route and shipped 84,000 Chinese laborers through Canada. This was done in absolute secrecy as at the time Canada had the discriminatory Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and Chinese Head Tax. Thus they boarded trains journeying 6000 kilometers from Vancouver to Montreal never leaving the train. As reported by the Halifax Herald in 1920 “They were herded like so much cattle in cars, forbidden to leave the train and guarded like criminals”. It was a grueling experience to be sure. China began to ship thousands of men to Britain, France and Russia. These non-combatants would repair tanks, assemble shells, transport supplies like munition, and dig trenches amongst many other things. Hundreds of Chinese students served as translators. It should be noted that the Chinese government and many intellectuals saw the overseas work as an enormous opportunity for Chinese youth to learn new technical skills and ingenuity which could be brought back to the homeland. The French and British military were the ones doing the recruiting, thus the majority would fall under military management and were organized into military type units commanded by officers. If they broke the rules, they could be court martialed and at least and at least 10 under British authority were executed during the war. It should be noted, during WW1 there were a lot of executions for numerous reasons, such as cowardice on the battlefield. Now the Chinese were promised they would not be working under fire, but more often than not they worked in close proximity to military zones, particularly under the British. Until China officially joined the war, the French kept their Chinese workers pretty far from the front lines. After China joined the war in 1917, the French began to assign Chinese to military zones more frequently. There were major differences between the French and British labor programs. The French mainly recruited through the mediation of Chinese contractors, while the British used their own agents. Also as you probably already noticed, the French offered better treatment than the British. For example the French paid higher wages and their labor laws were less restrictive, compared to that of the British labor corps. Now this was the early 20th century, racism was rampant, arguably more so for the British side, who notably locked their worker camps up with wire. The American expeditionary Forces apparently were the most racist, and this is not surprising as America certainly had more experience with Chinese labor. Between 1882-1943 Chinese laborers in American were discriminated against heavily, and the Americans in France had similar attitudes. Racism aside, there obviously were cultural differences, leading to misunderstandings and ignorance on both sides. It did not help that there was a lack of interpreters leading to managerial problems. Despite the racism, cultural misunderstandings and instances of mistreatment it has to be noted, Chinese laborers were a crucial component of the Entente war effort. The great war was a total war, it involved the frontlines and home front. The Chinese who came to France were youthful and strong men. They worked extremely hard, as I said 10 hour days, typically 7 days a week with some holidays.  By the end of the war and for a considerable amount of time afterwards, virtually all cranes in Dieppe, Havre, Rouen, Calais and Zeneghem were operated by Chinese. The French had a lot of praise for the Chinese laborers. General Ferdinand Foch said of them “Chinese laborers are first-class workers who could be made into excellent soldiers, capable of exemplary bearing under modern artillery fire.” H.R Wakefield of the British had this to say in a report “a splendid and versatile worker, inured to hardship and almost indifferent to the weather . ...It was certain that he would learn rapidly to cope with all the multitudinous kinds of work demanded by the huge British military organization overseas. ...Chinese [laborers] have a marvelous gift of imitation, and consequently they learn new and difficult tasks with great facility. ...[T]heir speed and endurance are phenomenal. Although the introduction of Chinese labor was a great experiment and there were some who shook their heads when it was first suggested…the experiment has succeeded, the doubters have become enthusiasts, the work accomplished has already been enormous, disputes and misunderstandings have been marvelously rare. The credit for this success can be equally shared by the British and Chinese”. It was said the Chinese work ethic impressed the British and French so much they became more welcoming to them compared to Indian and Egyptian workers. The British government began the repatriation of Chinese laborers in the fall of 1919 and this was completed on April 6th of 1920. The French repatriation program ended in March of 1922. By the end of the war, roughly 3000 Chinese laborers remained and settled down in France, including 1850 qualified men who signed new contracts to work for metallurgical industries. Other workers found employment in the mechanical or aeronautical sectors. Many of those who remained married French women. Two lived long enough to receive the French Legion of Honor in 1989. The Chinese under the British often found themselves working near battlefields and many did as a result. They were hit by bombardments and some Chinese workers even found themselves tossed into combat against German forces during emergencies. Tragically, after the war was over, there was a colossal amount of work needed for mine clearing and many Chinese would perish during this. By October of 1919, 50,000 Chinese laborers remained in the British camps as they were being evacuated roughly 15,000 per month. Nearly 2000 were buried in France. Many would not even make it to France. On february 17th, 1917 the French passenger ship SS Athos was sunk by the German U-boat SM U-65 off the coast of Malta. The ship was carrying 900 Chinese workers and 543 of them were killed. Roughly 3000 Chinese lost their lives in the Entente war effort in the west. The United States had recently severed diplomatic ties to Germany as a result of its unrestricted submarine warfare and pushed China to do the same. China severed diplomatic ties with Germany in March. The United States further advised China, that if they wished to be at the peace agreements China should declare war on Germany. China took the advice and declared war on the central powers on august 14th 1917.  Now this was all for the Chinese laborers in the western front, but the Chinese also did the same for the Russian empire. Like Britain and France, Russia's economy was collapsing as a result of WW1. The massive mobilizations and insane levels of casualties for the Russians forced the Tsarist government to procure labor by unconventional means. At first they began using women and POW's to compensate, but this quickly proved insufficient, so Russia turned to China. Now Russia had experience hiring Chinese labor since the 1890s, specifically for railway construction. It's more difficult to obtain information on the eastern laborers, but Chinese scholars estimate up to a possible 200,000 Chinese laborers worked in Russia. The system for Russia was nothing like France or Britain. Prior to WW1, private Russian companies and state projects using Chinese agents recruited workers within China, mostly in Shandong, Hebei and Manchuria. They contracted workers individually or in groups, who were given Russian visas and transportation by ship to Vladivostok or by train from Harbin. These laborers helped build the Trans-Siberian railway,  local urban infrastructure and agricultural work, playing a key role in the development of the Russian Far East. Thus when WW1 came around, Russia already had a system in place to hire workers. They worked in coal mines in the Donetsk region, cut timber in the Siberian Taiga, constructed railways in the polar zones of Northern Russia, carried ammunition and dug trenches in the eastern front.    Most of their recruitment was done in northeast China by the private companies like the Yicheng company, until 1916 when the Tsarist government tried to simplify things by placing control of recruiting under the Chinese Eastern Railway company in Harbin. The Chinese eastern railway company took care of all the administrative formalities such as performing medical examinations of workers, clothing them, provisioning them for the journey and placing them on guarded trains. And here is where the eastern workers differed rather dramatically from the western workers. Once in Russia, the Chinese workers were pretty much abandoned for a lack of better words. In the west, Chinese laborers worked under contract for the governments of Britain or France who managed them. In the east the Russian government did not manage them, it was private merchants. This meant many Chinese in the east did not receive adequate sheltering, clothing or food once in Russia. Conditions were extremely rough, the Chinese worked 10-11 hours a day, 7 days a week, living out of badly heated and overcrowded barracks. Sometimes they had no water supplies nor basic sanitation facilities. Many fell ill from the cold, lack of any medical care or food. Unlike with the French or British, Russian officers were not always assigned to overlook them, thus countless were just left on their own. Many of these laborers were employed to build a 1044 kilometer railway linking St-Petersburg to a new port in Murmansk. This meant they had to lay a line across frozen marches, lakes, rocky terrains and through countryside that was uninhabited and could supply nothing but timber. They worked in the cold, nights could reach 40 degree celsius. Many died due to extreme cold, lack of nutrition and disease. Because of the terrible conditions, Chinese laborers routinely protesting and performed violent riots. The Russians suppressed them very harshly, considering the incidents, mutiny's and a sort of sabotage of war related production. After receiving so many reports of mistreatment of their workers in Russia, the Chinese government demanded their own official representatives be allowed to accompany large groups of the workers in Russia to defend their labor rights. Russia refused to satisfy the demands, but did try to improve the working conditions. Unlike in the west where the Chinese laborers were strictly monitored and confined to specific areas, the Russians kind of dumped them everywhere. With so many Chinese scattered about Russia when the Russian government collapsed because of the Russian revolution, countless were stranded. Many Chinese laborers joined the Red Army or various guerilla groups during the Russian Civil War.  Many Chinese laborers truly sympathized with the Bolshevik cause, others simply joined the Red Army to survive. Those who did join the Red Army often did so for food or the opportunity to get back home as the revolution left many stranded. Ren Fuchen was China's first bolshevik and he was the commander of the Chinese Red Eagle Battalion. Estimates vary significantly, but it is estimated up to 40,000 Chinese laborers joined the red army fighting in multiple fronts like Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Volga and Siberia. They had no attachment to Russia or its places and thus were very useful as executioners and many were used as shock troops as no one expected to be attacked by Chinese. Their wartime experiences and cross-cultural exchanges with the Russians would play a critical role in shaping China's political trajectory during the interwar period. As we will discuss in greater detail in other episodes, the Bolsheviks sprang for the seed that would eventually create the CCP. It was during this cross cultural exchange in Russia that communism made its way to China, on the backs of the laborers coming home.  Thus this rather extraordinary story of Chinese departing their country to work or in some cases fight in the Western and Eastern front during WW1 was significant both for the history of China, but also global history. Working and fighting side by side with the Entente displayed China's determination to play a role in world affairs. Taking a step back, think about China's history until this point. Its more or less always been shutting out the world, rather than embracing it. When China was forced open under very brutal and tragic circumstances, it robbed her of being really able to join the world order. Despite being so ingrained in the global economy for so long, she was a very isolated state. It seemed to China, this was finally the moment she could rise to the occasion, change her fate as it were. China clearly signaled this to the world by her actions during the Great War. Also this was the first major time for her citizenry to really experience the west. It provided them with an opportunity to observe and learn from other civilizations, many students for example who went over would reflect on Chinese society. When they returned home, the brought with them new ideas and a strong desire for change. From the east this brought Marxist ideology, from the west it was various forms of democracy, capitalism, hell things we think of today as basic human rights.  Chinese laborers abroad came back to China forming a new national identity. There was also a large element of seeking experience and education. It was not simply the common class going out on their own, the Chinese Republic was pushing people specifically to go out into the world, receive education and vocational training to bring back to China. In something of a grand migration scheme the Republic hoped by sending some of their brightest students and technical laborers, they might manage something along the lines of what the Japanese did during the Meiji years. To give a more specific example, take the story of Li Shizeng. Li Shizeng was an intellectual, politician, and entrepreneur who went to study in France at the turn of the 20th century. He was very influential and helped translate many French books into Chinese. He advocated for dramatic reforms in China and was always pushing to have Chinese come into personal contact with the west, encouraging study and work abroad. In 1902 when he went to France for the first time alongside Wu Zhihui, they discussed the possibility of sending ordinary Chinese to Europe. For them the key to China's salvation was education in western nations. Sending students to the west as laborers was a perfect vehicle. Li Shizhens thought if a 1000 young Chinese workers traveled to France, they would make an enormous impact on Chinese society upon their return, imagine 140,000. In 1912 Li Shizhen alongside a group of other intellectuals, including a young Wang Jingwei formed the “Liu-Fa Jianxuhui” the Society for Frugal study in France. The major purpose of the society was to increase educational opportunities, to introduce Chinese to world civilizations, advanced learning and to develop a Chinese national economy.  When the Chinese laborers saw what a western country looked like, how their citizens worked and lived, it had a profound effect on them. One laborer named Fu Shengsan, explained the situation in an article titled “ Hua gong zai fa yu zhou guo de sun yi” “Chinese Laborers in France and Their Contribution to the Motherland”for the Chinese laborers weekly. He wrote that Chinese laborers did not really understand the relationship between an individual and their nation, or between a family and a nation, before coming to the west. After witnessing Europeans fighting for their country in WW1, it aroused a sense of nationalism and patriotism amongst the Chinese. Many came back home trying to explain this knowledge. Fu would write that the belief Westerners were superior to Chinese was false and that China just needed to become strong like them. All of this would drive China towards the May fourth movement, a watershed moment in Modern Chinese history, but that is a story for another day. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. China underwent great hardship during the Great War, something I will be talking about in the next episode, but she also became a valued member of the Entente, and helped to win the war. Yet the experience of Chinese laborers would have a profound effect on the future of modern China, showing China's people they could rise to the occasion.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the turbulent end of China's imperial system, violent revolutionary movements, and the fraught establishment of a republican government. During these decades of reform and revolution, millions of far-flung “overseas Chinese” remained connected to Chinese domestic movements. Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898-1918 (Stanford UP, 2023) uses rich archival sources and a new network approach to examine how reform and revolution in North American Chinatowns influenced political change in ChinaPo and the transpacific Chinese diaspora from 1898 to 1918. Historian Zhongping Chen focuses on the transnational activities of Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, and other politicians, especially their mobilization of the Chinese in North America to join reformist or revolutionary parties in patriotic fights for a Western-style constitutional monarchy or republic in China. These new reformist and revolutionary parties, including the first Chinese women's political organization, led transpacific movements against American anti-Chinese racism in 1905 and supported constitutional reform and the Republican Revolution in China around 1911, achieving transpacific expansion through innovative use of cross-cultural political ideologies and intertwined institutional and interpersonal networks. Through network analysis of the origins, interrelations, and influences of Chinese reform and revolution in North America, this book makes a significant contribution to modern Chinese history, Asian American and Asian Canadian history, and Chinese diasporic scholarship. Zhongping Chen is Professor of History at the University of Victoria. He is also the author of Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century (Stanford University Press, 2011). He has been working on several digital projects such as “Victoria's Chinatown: A Gateway to the Past and Present of Chinese Canadians” and “Chinese Canadian Artifacts Project." Li-Ping Chen is a teaching fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the turbulent end of China's imperial system, violent revolutionary movements, and the fraught establishment of a republican government. During these decades of reform and revolution, millions of far-flung “overseas Chinese” remained connected to Chinese domestic movements. Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898-1918 (Stanford UP, 2023) uses rich archival sources and a new network approach to examine how reform and revolution in North American Chinatowns influenced political change in ChinaPo and the transpacific Chinese diaspora from 1898 to 1918. Historian Zhongping Chen focuses on the transnational activities of Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, and other politicians, especially their mobilization of the Chinese in North America to join reformist or revolutionary parties in patriotic fights for a Western-style constitutional monarchy or republic in China. These new reformist and revolutionary parties, including the first Chinese women's political organization, led transpacific movements against American anti-Chinese racism in 1905 and supported constitutional reform and the Republican Revolution in China around 1911, achieving transpacific expansion through innovative use of cross-cultural political ideologies and intertwined institutional and interpersonal networks. Through network analysis of the origins, interrelations, and influences of Chinese reform and revolution in North America, this book makes a significant contribution to modern Chinese history, Asian American and Asian Canadian history, and Chinese diasporic scholarship. Zhongping Chen is Professor of History at the University of Victoria. He is also the author of Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century (Stanford University Press, 2011). He has been working on several digital projects such as “Victoria's Chinatown: A Gateway to the Past and Present of Chinese Canadians” and “Chinese Canadian Artifacts Project." Li-Ping Chen is a teaching fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the turbulent end of China's imperial system, violent revolutionary movements, and the fraught establishment of a republican government. During these decades of reform and revolution, millions of far-flung “overseas Chinese” remained connected to Chinese domestic movements. Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898-1918 (Stanford UP, 2023) uses rich archival sources and a new network approach to examine how reform and revolution in North American Chinatowns influenced political change in ChinaPo and the transpacific Chinese diaspora from 1898 to 1918. Historian Zhongping Chen focuses on the transnational activities of Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, and other politicians, especially their mobilization of the Chinese in North America to join reformist or revolutionary parties in patriotic fights for a Western-style constitutional monarchy or republic in China. These new reformist and revolutionary parties, including the first Chinese women's political organization, led transpacific movements against American anti-Chinese racism in 1905 and supported constitutional reform and the Republican Revolution in China around 1911, achieving transpacific expansion through innovative use of cross-cultural political ideologies and intertwined institutional and interpersonal networks. Through network analysis of the origins, interrelations, and influences of Chinese reform and revolution in North America, this book makes a significant contribution to modern Chinese history, Asian American and Asian Canadian history, and Chinese diasporic scholarship. Zhongping Chen is Professor of History at the University of Victoria. He is also the author of Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century (Stanford University Press, 2011). He has been working on several digital projects such as “Victoria's Chinatown: A Gateway to the Past and Present of Chinese Canadians” and “Chinese Canadian Artifacts Project." Li-Ping Chen is a teaching fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the turbulent end of China's imperial system, violent revolutionary movements, and the fraught establishment of a republican government. During these decades of reform and revolution, millions of far-flung “overseas Chinese” remained connected to Chinese domestic movements. Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898-1918 (Stanford UP, 2023) uses rich archival sources and a new network approach to examine how reform and revolution in North American Chinatowns influenced political change in ChinaPo and the transpacific Chinese diaspora from 1898 to 1918. Historian Zhongping Chen focuses on the transnational activities of Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, and other politicians, especially their mobilization of the Chinese in North America to join reformist or revolutionary parties in patriotic fights for a Western-style constitutional monarchy or republic in China. These new reformist and revolutionary parties, including the first Chinese women's political organization, led transpacific movements against American anti-Chinese racism in 1905 and supported constitutional reform and the Republican Revolution in China around 1911, achieving transpacific expansion through innovative use of cross-cultural political ideologies and intertwined institutional and interpersonal networks. Through network analysis of the origins, interrelations, and influences of Chinese reform and revolution in North America, this book makes a significant contribution to modern Chinese history, Asian American and Asian Canadian history, and Chinese diasporic scholarship. Zhongping Chen is Professor of History at the University of Victoria. He is also the author of Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century (Stanford University Press, 2011). He has been working on several digital projects such as “Victoria's Chinatown: A Gateway to the Past and Present of Chinese Canadians” and “Chinese Canadian Artifacts Project." Li-Ping Chen is a teaching fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the turbulent end of China's imperial system, violent revolutionary movements, and the fraught establishment of a republican government. During these decades of reform and revolution, millions of far-flung “overseas Chinese” remained connected to Chinese domestic movements. Transpacific Reform and Revolution: The Chinese in North America, 1898-1918 (Stanford UP, 2023) uses rich archival sources and a new network approach to examine how reform and revolution in North American Chinatowns influenced political change in ChinaPo and the transpacific Chinese diaspora from 1898 to 1918. Historian Zhongping Chen focuses on the transnational activities of Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, and other politicians, especially their mobilization of the Chinese in North America to join reformist or revolutionary parties in patriotic fights for a Western-style constitutional monarchy or republic in China. These new reformist and revolutionary parties, including the first Chinese women's political organization, led transpacific movements against American anti-Chinese racism in 1905 and supported constitutional reform and the Republican Revolution in China around 1911, achieving transpacific expansion through innovative use of cross-cultural political ideologies and intertwined institutional and interpersonal networks. Through network analysis of the origins, interrelations, and influences of Chinese reform and revolution in North America, this book makes a significant contribution to modern Chinese history, Asian American and Asian Canadian history, and Chinese diasporic scholarship. Zhongping Chen is Professor of History at the University of Victoria. He is also the author of Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century (Stanford University Press, 2011). He has been working on several digital projects such as “Victoria's Chinatown: A Gateway to the Past and Present of Chinese Canadians” and “Chinese Canadian Artifacts Project." Li-Ping Chen is a teaching fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

Last time we spoke about the Wuchang Uprising and the Xinhai revolution. The revolutionary armies formed a massive assault, managing to seize Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankou. However, the Qing Dynasty had a card up their sleeve in the form of Yuan Shikai and his Beiyang Army. Yuan Shikai defeated the rebel armies with ease, but when the time came to eradicate them for good, he held back. Instead he plotted with the revolutionaries, to coerce the emperor to abdicate in order for himself to be made president over the new Republic. In a masterstroke Yuan Shikai seized the presidency and immediately went to work consolidating his power. Through the use of policial abuses, bribery, threats and assassination, Yuan Shikai was securing his control over the new republic. However all of his actions were met with outraged from the public and particularly the KMT. Now Dr Sun Yat-Sen would unleash a second revolution to save the republic.   #88 A Great War and the Siege of Tsingtao   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. When Yuan Shikai became provisional president he was hailed by the senate  “of all the presidential elections in world history, only [George] Washington enjoyed unanimous approval. Now, you [Yuan], sir, have repeated Washington's record. To the world, you are the second Washington in this regard. To our Republican China, you are the first.” A few days later, Manchu elite troops, the Eight Banners, delivered Yuan a letter, which read that the “people in North China regard you as China's first Washington; the people from South China see you as the world's second Washington. There is no doubt how much the entire country adores you”. Now the original abdication edict given to Yuan Shikai read like this “Yuan Shikai holds the absolute authority along with the civilian army [ minjun – the south] to organize the provisional republican government and discuss the approach for achieving the unification of the country.” But Yuan Shikai revised the edict “Yuan Shikai holds the absolute authority to organize the provisional republican government and discuss the approach for unifying the country along with the civilian army.” In early 1912, Dt Sun Yat-Sen had set 3 conditions for Yuan Shikai's assumption of the provisional presidency: Nanjing would be the national capital, he would assume his presidency in Nanjing, and he would have to respect the Provisional Constitution. As mentioned in he previous episode, Yuan Shikai performed some false flag-like operations to make sure Beijing became the capital, where he and his Beiyang Army had the strongest position. It is estimated in 1912 China had roughly a million soldiers. This was a enormous financial burden on the government and quite a threat to the regime as many of these soldiers began to join cliques that were loyal to local warlords. When soldiers pay is delayed they tend to mutiny, thus Yuan Shikai demobilized them in late april of 1912. He sought to reduce the military to half a million in 50 divisions. He disbanded 16 divisions in Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan and Sichuan. Within Nanjing he made sure 100,000 troops under the command of Huang Xing were ordered to step down. By june of 1912 Nanjing's force would be a third its original size. Now while the number of troops were reduced everywhere, this did not hinder his own Beiyang Army, for they were an army of quality over quantity. It was the pro-KMT forces that would suffer the most and this was intentional. To prevent local forces from becoming regional powers, Yuan Shikai began enforcing a policy of separating powers between military command and civilian administration in the provinces. Yet as we mentioned in the last episode, as Yuan Shikai weakened the other forces he strengthened his own. He took foreign loans in secrecy, known infamously as the  shanhoudajiekuan or Reorganization loan. The Chinese public were outraged at the humiliating situation, and the KMT were the most furious. In early May General Li Chun led the 8th division from Baoding to Wuhan while also dispatching crack troops to reinforce Shanghai. On June 9th, Yuan Shikai removed the pro KMT governor of Jiangxi, Li Liejun and replaced him with Vice President Li Yuanhong. On June 13th, Yuan Shikai replaced the pro-KMT military governor of Guangdong Hu Hanman with Chen Jiongmin. Then on June 30th pro-kmt governor of Anhui Bai Wenwei was dismissed and on that same day Li Yuanhong performed a mass arrest of many party leaders in Wuhan. Yuan Shikai then dispatched the 6th division under Li Chun into Jiangxi on July 3rd. It was obvious to the KMT what was going on. All of the political maneuvering coupled with the assassination of Song Jiaoren prompted Dr Sun Yat-Sen to unleash a second revolution. On July 12th, Li Liejun issued an anti-Yuan declaration which effectively began the second revolution. With this Jiangxi claimed its independence. 3 days later Haung Xing scrambled to Nanjing where he organized an anti-yuan force and announced Jiangsu independent. 2 days after this the previous governor of Anhui Bai Wenwei declared his province independent. The next day Chen Qimei announced Shanghai's independence, this was followed by Guangdong under Chen Jiongming, then Fujian. Of course the KMT actions drew a quick response from Yuan Shikai. He had of course already preemptively moved his forces as I mentioned to key locations where they would easily dominate their KMT opponents. Yuan Shikai had been given ample time and ample funding in 1913. Meanwhile the revolutionary forces were divided, poorly organized, poorly armed, they lacked the same fever they held during the first revolution. Yuan Shikai also used propaganda to demonize the KMT and justify his military campaign. Yuan Shikai accused Dr Sun Yat-Sen of “revolutionary proclivity” meaning he only knew who to bring chaos and destruction. Yuan Shikai remarked  “Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing have no real ability besides causing disturbances and bringing troubles.” On July 22nd anti-yuan forces were defeated around Xuzhou by the 2nd division led by Feng Guozhang and Zhan Xun. They fled to Nanjing and from the 22nd to the 28th, rebel groups attacked the Manufactural bureau of Jiangan. The Beiyang navy came to help the army and repelled the attack. On the 30th, 2 forces led by Long Jiguang, Li Yaohan joined up around Zhaoqing and advanced upon the Sanshui district. The next day a Beiyang force led by Ni Sichong attacked Fengtai. By the 2nd of august Fengtai fell to the beiyang forces. When Sichuan declared independence on August 4th, Yuan Shikai ordered Yunnan's warlord Tang Jiyao to attack the Sichuan rebels. On August 5th, Beiyang forces attacked Shou country, 2 days later many Anhui forces deserted the revolutionaries to join Yuan Shikai and on the 11th the capital of Anqing was taken. That same day He Haiming led 2000 to try and defend Nanjing against the Beiyang Army; as Long Jiguang seized Guangzhou. The next day Hunan canceled their independence movement as the Beiyang navy captured Wusong. On September 1st, Nanjing fell, prompted Sun Yat-Sen, Huang Xing and Chen Qimei to flee to Japan. On September 11th, Chongqing's defenders simply dispersed, and the second revolution had collapsed. There were many reasons why Yuan Shikai won. The strength and disparity between his forces and the revolutionaries was vast. His army was well trained, the reorganization loan had greatly boosted them. The revolutionaries were very divided, there was certainly many vying for power. The general public were so tired of war and conflict. They loathed the assassination of Song Jiaoren, they simply wanted peace. National mood simply favored Yuan Shikai. Dr Sun Yat-sen yet again, went to work strengthening his KMT abroad. The foreign powers threw their support to Yuan Shikai's government. Yuan Shikai now exacted all effort to eliminate revolutionaries with firm support from the progressive party. Its estimated 1000 activists were killed and many more were arrested. The purge saw countless accused without a fair trial, some not even a trial at all. Freedom of speech was stamped out, countless newspapers ordered censored.  Yuan Shikai's military victories during the second revolution saw him secure positions in Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Guangdong and Fujian. Though local forces persisted to be a problem, Yuan Shikai was dramatically centralizing power. After crushing the second revolution, Yuan Shikai passed the Presidential election law on October 5th of 1913. It is said Yuan Shikai resorted to using citizen corps to besiege Congress, harassing and threatening them into voting for him. In the first round Yuan Shikai received 471 ballots, in the second 497, but neither were enough. The third round of voting saw him win 507, just enough to become president. He refused to take the oath in Congress and instead did a ceremony in the former imperial palace. He sat in the emperors throne in his military uniform before he had a grand parade on the Tiananmen Rostrum with 20,000 of his loyal troops.  Yuan Shikai dissolved Congress on January 10th of 1914 because “it lacked a legitimate quorum due to the expulsion of Nationalist legislators; it was not effectively organized; it was not operating efficiently or achieving much; and it was deliberately fostering nationwide chaos” He literally gave them all 400$ and told them to go home. After this he ordered the suspension of all provincial assemblies and local autonomous organs. In other words he made himself a dictator. He did create a Political Council called Zhengzhuhuiyi but it was nothing more than an advisory body. On January 26th the Political Council convened a Constitutional drafting conference. On March 14th of 1914 the conference drafted the Constitution of the Republic of China which Yuan Shikai proclaimed in effect on May 1st.  The new Constitution gave Yuan Shikai paramount power to convene and shut down legislature. No clear lines were drawn between the executive, judicial and legislative branches, basically Yuan Shikai controlled all 3. Yet Yuan Shikai's authority all rested upon one thing, his military power. To assert control over all the provinces, he promoted military governors. These military governor would have civil authority and control over their own armies. For those of you who know the next period of Chinese history, yes the Warlords were being born. Yet while the beginnings of the warlord era were approaching, the year of 1914 brought something else to China. World War One began at a time when China was in complete disarray. She was militarily weak, in financial chaos and very unstable politically. Yuan Shikai attempted keeping China neutral during the war, but the war came to her door nonetheless. On August 6th of 1914, China proclaimed its neutrality and prohibited warring states from undertaking any military actions on her soil. However with so many different world powers holding concessions on her territory, well it was going to happen one way or another. By the way what I am about to talk about is known as the Siege of Tsingtau, its actually an incredible historic event, multiple firsts in history occur. If you want to see a visualization of this go over to my youtube channel the pacific war channel and check it out alongside my entire series/documentary on Asia during WW1.  Going back in time somewhat, in 1902 Britain and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Because of this, when WW1 broke out, the alliance basically encouraged the Japanese Empire to enter the war on the side of Britain for mutual defense. At the outbreak of the war, Britain feared the German East Asiatic Squadron would raid her merchant shipping and planned to run the Germans out by destroying their bases and communications. If you want to learn more about the honestly courageous and badass German raiders of the Pacific during WW1, again check out the pacific war channel, I particularly liked making the episode on German Raiders. Within the first week of the war, Britain requested assistance from Japan to identify German shipping. I must emphasize the word “assistance”, Britain in no way wanted Japan to start attacking and seizing German colonial possessions in China and the Asia-Pacific. You see the German empire held numerous islands out in the pacific and notably the port city of Tsingtao, current day Qingdao. Yes the place that makes the delicious beer, honestly a personal favorite of mine. Well in the face a a extremely weak German presence in the pacific, and all these goodies just sitting around, the Japanese empire was not going to let the opportunity slip. Japan held larger ambitions in the Asia-Pacific, so she instead offered to enter the war and join the Entente. Britain did not want this, but the German raiders were causing absolute havoc upon her and Anzac shipping, so she reluctantly accepted this, but privately warned Japan not to seize German islands in the south Pacific, because she desired them to be taken by Australia and New Zealand.  Japan's war aims were to first capture the German base at Tsingtao, then the Marshall, Caroline, and Marianas islands and secondly to hunt down the East Asiatic Squadron. On August 15th Japan issued an ultimatum to Germany demanding her warships withdraw from Chinese and Japanese waters and transfer control of Tsingtao to Japan. When the ultimatum expired on the 23rd Japan declared war on Germany. The Germans hoped their garrison would be able to hold out until the war in Europe was won and done, so they instructed governor of the leased territory of Jiāozhōu, Alfred Meyer-Waldeck to defend Tsingtaoto the last. Kaiser Wilhelm II exact words to Admiral Alfred Meyer-Waldeck were "... it would shame me more to surrender Tsingtao to the Japanese than Berlin to the Russians"   When the war broke out, most of the warships of the East Asia Squadron led by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee were dispersed across the Pacific. Meyer-Waldeck assembled all the available warships he could; the torpedo boat S90, unprotected cruiser Cormoran, Auxiliary cruiser Cormoran, steamer Ryazan, gunboats Luchs, Tiger, Jaguar, Iltis and the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth. Obviously Tsingtao's warships would be absolutely dwarfed by the Imperial Japanese Navy who dispatched the 2nd squadron under Vice Admiral Sadakichi Kato on August 27th, supported by some British warships.   Tsingtao's defenses consisted of the port, town and three defensive lines, the first extending from the Kaiserstuhl to the Litsuner Heights. The second line lay across the steep hills from Prinz Heinrich to Kuschan. The third line consisted of three fortified hills, Mount Moltke, Mount Bismarck and Mount Iltis, each equipped with guns of various caliber; Fort Moltke had two 240mm guns; Fort Bismarck had four 280 mm howitzers; Fort Iltis had two 240mm guns. Tsingtao's towns seaward and landward defenses were 4 batteries and 5 redoubts. Meyer-Waldeck had at his disposal, 1300 marines of the 3rd Seebataillon, 750 naval gunners, 180 naval personnel staff, 400 sailors, 1500 reservists and 100 Chinese policemen, totalling nearly 4000 men. They had 90 guns of various calibers, 120 machine guns, 28 automobiles and two Etrich Taube aircraft. By the way this is 1914, very early days of WW1 and the aircraft literally look like something Leonardo Davinci would have sketched.   You might be asking, what is China doing during all of this, since they proclaimed neutrality and demanded other nations not fight on their soil. Just like the Russo-Japanese War, China yet again took the humiliation. The Chinese government initially protested against the Japanese warfare on her soil against the Germans, however given Japan simply did not care, Yuan Shikai begrudgingly had no choice but to permit the Japanese encroachment against Qingdao. The battle for Tsingtao would be the only acts of war on Chinese soil during the first world war.   On August 22nd the SMS Lauting and S90 were attacked by the HMS Kennet led by Lt Commander F. A Russel of the China squadron. The Germans raced back to port with the S90 scoring two hits on Kennet, before she peeled off when a Tsingtao 4 inch shore battery began to fire upon her. On the 27th the IJN 2nd squadron led by Vice-Admiral Sadakichi Kato began a naval blockade of Jiaozhou. The fleet quickly seized 3 coastal islands and began minesweeping operations. On the 30th a storm drove the IJN destroyer Shirotaye aground on a coastal island, allowing the HMS Jaguar to surge out of the port and destroy her. On September 2nd the Japanese began landing 23,000 soldiers of Major General Mitsumo Kamio's 18th infantry division along with 142 pieces of artillery. They fanned the area, finding no enemy north of the Paisha River. The region was experiencing a terrible flood making it a muddy nightmare. It was at this point, the local Chinese protested the breach of neutrality, but offered no real opposition. By the 7th an advance guard was riding to Tsingtao. Meanwhile the British were suspicious the Japanese intended to seize all of Shandong province, so they dispatched a symbolic force of 1500 men led by Brigadier General Nathaniel Walter Barnardiston from Tientsin. They would be followed up by 500 men of the 36th Sikhs.    Meyer-Waldeck responded to the landings by withdrawing his forces to the two inner defensive lines. On the 5th the IJN Wakamiya launched a Farman seaplane that scouted the port and town. The pilot reported the East Asiatic squadron was absent, prompting the IJN to dispatch two fast squadrons to hunt them down. The next day, the Wakamiya launched another Farman who unsuccessfully attacked the Jaguar and Kaiserin Elisabeth in Jiaozhou bay with bomblets. This would be the second air-sea battle to occur in history. The first occurred during the Balkan wars in 1913. In response both cruisers had guns removed from them to be added to the land defenses, establishing Battery Elisabeth.    On 13th, Japanese cavalry ran into a German outpost at Jimo causing them to flee after a short skirmish. The Japanese seized the small town of Jiaozhou and on the 14th cut the Shandong railway. You really have to imagine how pathetic the Chinese government looked during all of this. Now the weather conditions were abysmal, the flooding and mud was so terrible, Kamio knew it would take weeks to move his entire division over the peninsula, so instead he took a calculated risk. Kamio ordered his 24th infantry brigade, whom were just landing ashore at the time, to re-embark as his cavalry, engineers and 23rd infantry brigade continued their advance to Jimo, thus abandoning the bridgehead. Kamio ordered the rest of his forces to land in Lau Schan Bay. On the 17th, the Japanese attacked Wang-ko-huang, 13 miles from Jimo causing the Germans to withdraw from the town during the night. The next day the Japanese arrived at Jimo exhausted and nearly starving as IJN cruisers bombarded the empty beaches of Lau Shan Bay allowing the 23rd infantry brigade to land. With Jimo secured, Kamio ordered his forces to seize the Hotung pass, driving back another small German outpost. After a cavalry company of the 24th brigade made contact with the forces at Jimo, Tsingtao was now effectively surrounded.   On the 19th the Japanese seized Mecklenburg House, a mountain spa, and broke through the outermost defensive line. Kamio now figured the Germans would only mount a defense within the city's fortifications, so he ordered his forces to close in, causing the German patrols to withdraw inwards. Because of the terrible terrain conditions, the Japanese began constructing piers at Lau Schan and an airfield at Jimo. On the 21st the Imperial Japanese Army launched four Farmans from Jimo to survey, bomb and if possible shoot down German aircraft. In late September Japanese Farmans would perform the first night-time bombing raid in history. The Germans had accidentally crashed one of their Taubes, leaving only one to be operated by legendary Lt Gunther Plüschow. Plüschow performed daily reconnaissance flights and attempted to bomb Entente vessels. Plüschow would become the first aviator in history to be fired upon and receive damage by flak from naval ships. In late September according to Plüschow, he ran into a Farman performing reconnaissance over Tsingtao harbor and he claims he shot the pilot with his pistol causing the aircraft to crash. If this was true, this would be the first aerial victory or first over claiming aerial victory in history. Again the Siege of Tsingtao is full of many history firsts, yet honestly hardly anyone knows about this event.   Meyer-Waldeck realized the Japanese were maneuvering past the mountain line unmolested, so he ordered a counter attack as his artillery began firing up to 1500 shells upon the incoming enemy per day. On the 25th a German force of 130 men, 2 field guns and 4 machine guns raided an outpost on Kletter Pass. The Japanese stood their ground and forced the Germans back, meanwhile the British began landing at Lau Schan. On the 26th, Kamio ordered a general advance, causing the Germans to completely pull back to their second line. The Japanese crossed the river Paisha early in the day, swiftly crossing the seven-mile lowland plain and reached the northern bank of the Litsun. To help their withdrawal, the Jaguar and S90 came up the harbor side and bombarded the Japanese right flank. The outer mountain outposts fell one by one, nearly bloodlessly. The Kaiserin Elisaeth, Jaguar and S90 continued to shell the harbor flank, prompting Kamio to assign a field battery to engage them. The German ships managed to destroy an observation post and neutralized the battery. Kamio then requested Vice Admiral Kato begin a bombardment of the German land batteries to cover his advance, but Kato instead bombarded the German sea batteries. The infamous interservice rivalry between the IJA and IJN was blossoming. Meyer-Waldeck knew they would soon have to abandon the second line. He ordered his engineers to prepare a small outpost on the crest of Prinz Heinrich Hill. They connected a telephone and heliograph to its heavy land batteries. 60 men with 4 machine-guns manned the outpost with provisions for a 2-month siege.   On the night of the 27th, Kamio ordered the 46th infantry regiment, reinforced with an engineer platoon, to scale the hill, right in the middle of a typhoon. The men reached the crest by dawn, but were quickly pinned down by German machine gun fire. The Japanese charged the outpost numerous times, receiving heavy casualties, until the German CO decided to negotiate. He offered to surrender the peak, if the Japanese would allow his men to withdraw back to Tsingtao. The Japanese commander simply refused and seized the CO by force. The Germans surrendered after suffering 6 deaths with 54 men captured, the Japanese suffered 24 deaths, with 150 total casualties.   Meanwhile the Kaiserin Elisabeth, Leopard and S90 continued to shell the Japanese right flank, prompting the IJN and IJA field artillery to counter fire. On the 28th, the Japanese were closing in on the German inner line, as their engineers began constructing concrete platforms upon Prinz Heinrich Hill for heavy artillery deployment. Meyer-Waldeck ordered the land batteries and Plüschow to hit the Japanese rear. That same day the Cormoran, Iltis and Luchs were scuttled, lest they become prizes of war. On October 2nd, 3 German companies performed a night raid against the Japanese right flank. It quickly fell apart, seeing 29 Germans killed and 6 captured. The Japanese began digging trenches a km away from the German line as the British finally advanced to the front line. A large issue began where the Japanese had a difficult time with friendly fire as they could not tell the British and Germans apart, kind of funny if you ask me. To remedy this the British were given Japanese overcoats, to distinguish them from the Germans.   On 6th and 10th Entente blockading ships dueled with Tsingtao's coastal batteries, but were driven off. On the 14th, the entire fleet performed a massive bombardment, seeing HMS Triumph take some light damage. On the 15th flash floods drowned 25 Japanese within their trenchwork, showcasing how terrible the typhoon weather was. On the 17th Meyer-Waldeck ordered S90 to attempt an escape. The S90 slipped out of the harbor during the night, but ran into the IJN cruiser Takachiho. S90 fired a torpedo, detonating her magazine, sinking the cruiser and claiming the lives of 256 men. The S90 then attempted to flee, but would be interned at a Qing port further down the coast. On the 21st, the 36th Sikh landed at Lachan Bay.   On the 22nd Meyer-Waldeck ordered another raid seeing 80 Germans creep towards the Japanese trenches only to be turned back when sentries opened fire. By the 25th the IJA artillery were all in position, each with 15 days worth of ammunition. Kamio ordered them all to fire 80 shells per day, beginning on the 31st. Meanwhile Japanese engineers formed special platoons with rifle grenades and bamboo tubes filled with explosives. Many lessons had been learnt during the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese sapping and trench warfare was quite advanced for 1914 standard. The Entente fleet drew close and on October 31st, the birthday of Emperor Taisho, 100 field guns and naval guns began a mass bombardment, directed by balloons, Farmans and the observation post atop Prinz Heinrich Hill. It was truly a very advanced battle, showcasing how much war had changed at the turn of the century.The first day destroyed Tsingtao's land batteries as sappers drew 300 meters forward. The Redoubts were particularly hit hard by artillery and to the left of the German line, 100 Chinese in the village of Taotungchien were unfortunately caught in shell fire. Yet again like the Russo-Japanese War, little attention was paid to the Chinese victims.  The next day Meyer-Waldeck had Kaiserin Elisabeth and Jaguar scuttled as their crews joined the garrison.    After Tsingtao's land batteries were neutralized, the Japanese bombardment targeted redoubts and barbed wire fields. On November 2nd the sappers advanced another 300 meters. On the 3rd, redoubts were systematically pulverized, barbed wire was flattened and the Tsingtao power station was obliterated. By the 4th the Japanese had a parallel assault line dug and at dawn Japanese infantry and engineering platoons assaulted the water pumping station. They seized the station, capturing 21 prisoners, now Tsingtao had no well water, basically she was doomed. That same night the Japanese sappers advanced another 300 meters, while their British counterparts holding a rather difficult section of the line failed to keep up with them. The British suffered 26 casualties from small arms fire. On 5th the Entente Fleet closed in to point-blank range and the IJN Suwo destroyed the Huitschuen huk, killing 8 men and that of the last sea battery. Barbed wire lay crushed, redouts pulverized or abandoned, Tsingtao lay defenseless by land and sea. On the night of the 6th, the Japanese dug their final assault line running between 100 to 1000 meters from the German trenches.    On the 6th Meyer-Waldeck knew it was the end and ordered Plüschow to fly his final dispatches back to Berlin. Plüschow flew 250 km's before crash landing in a rice paddy. He burned his Taube and began advancing on foot. Plüschow walked all the way to Daschou where some locals erected a party for him. He managed to obtain a pass to cross China as well as a junk to sail down a river to Nanjing. Plüschow felt he was being watched, he assumed he would be arrested at any moment so he leapt aboard a rickshaw and traveled to the local railway station. There he bribed a guard and slipped aboard a train to Shanghai. AtShanghai, Plüschow met up with a friend who provided him with documents as a Swiss national, as well as some money and a ticket on a ship sailing for Nagasaki, then Honolulu, and, finally, to San Francisco. In January 1915, he crossed the United States to New York City. He was reluctant to approach the German consulate there, as he had entered the country under a false identity. Worse, he read in a newspaper that he was presumed to be in New York. Luck favored him again, this time he met with a friend from Berlin who managed to get him travel documents for a ship that sailed on January 30, 1915, for Italy. After crossing the Atlantic Plüschow's ship docked at Gibraltar, where the British arrested him as an enemy alien. To their amazement they discovered he was the famous aviator of Tsingtao.   You would think that would be the end of his incredible story, but no. On May 1, 1915, Plüschow was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Donington Hall in Leicestershire. On July 4, 1915, he escaped during a storm and headed for London. Scotland Yard began hunting him down, issuing an alert, asking the public to be on the lookout for a man with a "dragon tattoo" on his arm. Plüschow disguised himself as a worker and felt safe enough to take souvenir photographs of himself at the London docks. He then occupied his time by reading books about Patagonia, and also visited the British Museum. Now this was wartime, so there were no notices  published announcing the departure of ships, but by observing the riverway, Plüschow saw the ferry Princess Juliana, sailing for the neutral Netherlands and managed to sneak aboard. He arrived safely and finally reached Germany, where he was at first arrested as a spy since no one believed he could have possibly accomplished such a feat. Plüschow became the only German combatant during either World War to have successfully escaped from a prison camp in the British Isles. Once he was identified, Plüschow was acclaimed as "the hero from Tsingtao". He was decorated, promoted, and assigned command of the naval base at Libau in occupied Latvian Courland. In June 1916, in an airplane hangar at Libau, Plüschow got married. There he wrote his first book, “The Adventures of the Aviator from Tsingtau”. It sold more than 700,000 copies.    Back at Tsingtao, Kamio gave the British sappers time to dig their approach next to his parallel line as his units probed the German lines for weak points. A Japanese company led by Major General Yoshimi Yamada the commander of the 24th infantry brigade assaulted Redoubt 4 causing the Germans to launch a bayonet charge pushing them back. Meyer-Waldeck ordered reinforcements to quickly head over to Redoubt 4, but before they arrived a second Japanese company surrounded Redoubt 4 forcing their surrender. 200 prisoners were seized and the rising sun flag was hoisted. The German reinforcements arrived to the scene and performed a counter attack, but were crushed quickly. Meanwhile the Japanese stormed Redoubt 3, surrounding and firing into its loopholes and cracks until the Germans surrendered. A local German reserve force launched a counter-attack, overwhelming a Japanese flank outpost before the main force crashed down upon them. Japanese platoons then spread out along the trench lines. Redoubt 2 was attacked from both flanks and rear, falling quickly. 3 hours of battle saw numerous courageous bayonet charges from both sides, as all the Redoubts were stormed and captured, excluding Rebouts 1 and 5 who held out desperately. Kamio then ordered the general assault to begin as the Japanese forces charged through a gap in the German center line.   At 5:10am on the 7th, the north battery of Shaotan Hill was captured, half an hour later the east battery of Tahtungehin and Fort Chungchiawa, the base for the German right wing were seized. As the Japanese surged forward a company stormed up Iltis Hill. Searchlights poured down upon them and soon the Japanese wielding bayonets and Katana's charged into the Germans , fighting in hand to hand combat. Two opposing officers dueled Katana against German dress sword, seeing the Japanese officer cut down his opponent. After this the Germans upon Iltis surrendered. Another company stormed Bismarck Hill seeing a quick surrender as men atop Iltis cheered. Meyer-Waldeck knew it was over and seeking to save lives, ordered Major von Kayser with a small force to march out of Redoubt 1 and 5 waving white flags. On the morning of the 7th, on an ironically beautiful day, Japanese and British troops entered Tsingtao with shouts of Banzai.   Its said as the Japanese entered the city, the Germans looked on with curiosity, but upon seeing the British, the Germans turned their backs and spat in contempt. The Japanese had suffered 733 deaths, 1282 wounded; the British 12 deaths with 53 wounded; the Germans 199 deaths and 504 wounded and 98 Chinese civilians were killed, 30 wounded and countless incidents of rape against Chinese women by Japanese soldiers were reported. A memorial service was held in Tsingtao as the Germans buried their dead. 4700 Germans were taken to POW camps in Japan and were famously treated well until 1919. 170 of the German prisoners would remain in Japan having found wives or new lives. To this day little  remains of German influence in Qingdao. Yet the old brewery in Qingdao still produces the pre-war-style German beer titled “Tsingtao”. It was another brutal humiliation against China. Unfortunately it was just the start to such abuses during the great war. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Yuan Shikai was now the defacto dictator or better said Father of Warlords over China. World War One, was not something China wanted to be a part of, but they would have absolutely no choice when the war literally came to their door. Japan was the first to start encroaching and they were nowhere near done.

Last time we spoke about the Railway Protection Movement and the Wuchang Uprising. Emperor Guangxi and Empress Dowager Cixi were dead leaving regent Zaifeng in charge of the ailing dynasty. Alongside their deaths, the Guangzhou-Hankou and Sichuan-Hankow railway lines would become the trigger to end the Qing dynasty. The people were already angry, but would become furious when news came that the railway lines were going to be nationalized using foreign loans. Some in Sichuan attempted financing their railway line to thwart the foreigners, but in the end they simply were unable. Zaifeng unleashed the brutish General Zhao Erfeng to quell the protesters, but this massively backfired. Revolutionaries within the Hubei army unleashed an uprising in Wuchang. The mutineers formed a military government representing Hubei with Li Yuanhong as their leader. The year is 1911, Wuchang is but the spark that will light the flame of revolution.   #87 The Xinhai Revolution of 1911   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The insurrection that broke out in Wuchang on October 10th of 1911, was not a sheer accident. It was part of a larger event occurring all over China. Revolutionary leaders like Dr. Sun Yat-sen had inspired multiple groups of revolutionaries, many of whom recruited men within the New Armies forming in the provinces. These groups also had links to secret societies. If you pop open wikipedia and look up the Xinhai Revolution or 1911 revolution one of the first things you will notice is the page consists of a long list of uprisings. Uprisings sprang out all over China. Some of these groups were connected, many were not at all. A famous revolutionary leader, Song Jiaron founded the Revolutionary Alliance in 1911. Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing helped Sun Yat-sen start a second uprising in Guangzhou that failed, and this basically ended the Revolutionary Alliance's role as the dominant revolutionary group. When the Wuchang uprising began, all these leaders were taken by surprise. The Hubei revolutionaries had very loose connections to the revolutionary alliance. It was Song Jiaorens intent to use the Revolutionary alliance as a sort of authority over the multiple revolutionary groups. Song Jiaoren advised the Wuchang uprisers to take it slower, but they simply were impatient for action.  As a result of the Wuchang uprising, the Qing court ordered the Minister of War, General Yinchang and General Feng Guozhang to lead the Beiyang Army to quell the rebellion in Hubei. In the last episode I mentioned Admiral Sa Zhenbing was also asked to take the Qing navy to quell the rebellion, but they simply sailed off to Shanghai and got caught up in their own sort of mutiny. Now while this was going on, back in 1909 Yuan Shikai, the man who created the Beiyang Army, had been relieved of all his posts by Zaifeng. Yuan Shikai kept networking with influential figures during his exile. Something particularly important he did was manage his contacts that could help him remain in control of his precious Beiyang army. He married his niece to his adopted son Duan Qirui. Duan Qirui was reported to him regularly the ongoings of the beiyang Army. Now the Qing court knew the only force capable of quelling the rebellion was the Beiyang army, but their loyalty seemed to still be with the exiled Yuan Shikai. The Qing court in a panic had been repeatedly requesting Yuan Shikai return, offering him first Viceroy of Huguang and then Prime Minister of the Imperial Court. But Yuan Shikai kept procrastinating, stating he had a foot ailment and could not take such appointments. The Qing court kept begging and on October 30th, Yuan Shikai finally agreed and became Prime Minister on November 1st. As soon as Yuan Shikai took this position he asked Zaifeng to withdraw from Politics, effectively resigning as regent. After this Yuan Shikai formed a new cabinet, notably Han dominant. Empress Dowager Longyu awarded Yuan Shikai the noble title of Marquis of the 1st rank. Basically the Qing court was bending over backwards to please Yuan Shikai because he literally was holding them hostage because he made it clear the Beiyang army was his to command alone. Meanwhile Yinchang and Feng had traveled to Hankou by rail and attempted to seize control over the city's northern suburbs. By October 18th, 1000 revolutionary soldiers had attacked Liujiamiao train station located at the northern approach to Hankou. The rebels were driven back initially, but later that day they regrouped and with the help of railway workers ambushed a train coming in with Qing soldiers. The train derailed, as Qing soldiers fought the rebels, but many also fled for their lives. 400 Qing soldiers were killed by the revolutionary force who proceeded to capture Liujiaomiao. The revolutionaries were greatly emboldened and grew to a force 5000 strong. On October the 20th, the rebels attacked Wushengguan, but were dealt a defeat and forced to withdraw back to Liujiaomiao. Despite the defeat, the rebels had proven themselves capable and this had an enormous impact. On October the 22nd, Tongmenghui in Hunan province led by Jiao Defeng and Chen Zuoxin declared an uprising at Changsha. They captured the city, killing the local Qing general and announced a new Hunan Military government in opposition to the Qing dynasty. Alongside this on October 22nd, Tongmenghui in Shaanxi led by Jing Dingcheng, Qian Ding and Jing Wumu launched an uprising and captured Xi'an after two days of battle. The Hui muslim community was divided on who to support. Hui of Gangsu supported the Qing dynasty while Hui of Shaanxi supported the revolutionaries. The Hui muslims of Xi'an joined the revolutionaries to slaughter Manchu, but General Ma Anliang led over 20 battalions of Hui Muslims to fight for the Qing against a revolutionary army led by Zhang Fengui. Within the Xi'an area, over 20,000 Manchu would be massacred by revolutionary forces. However Ma Anliang would be very successfully fighting back for the Qing forces, it was only after learning later on that the throne was abdicating that Ma Anliang would change sides. Thus Hunan and Shaanxi had both declared independence from the dynasty. Back in Hubei, the Qing court removed Yinchang from command and handed formal power to Yuan Shikai whose loyal lt's Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang were right and ready for action. Duan and Feng led the 1st and 2nd armies who marched upon Wuhan. By the 26th, the Beiyang Army was advancing by rail and stormed the northern suburbs of Hankou. They began their assault using heavy artillery and machine guns to devastating effect. The revolutionary forces took 500 deaths, under the rather poor leadership of Zhang Jingliang. It was suspected Zhang Jingliang was sitting on the fence, possibly collaborating with the Qing. The revolutionaries would lose control over Liujiamiao and regain it twice. By the 28th Liujiamiao saw house to house fighting between the two sides. On that same day Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing arrived to Hankou from Shanghai. They came to offer their support to the revolutionaries. Huang Xing had brought over 1000 revolutionary troops to help bolster Wuchangs 5000 strong force. With the additional support the revolutionaries were able to hold the Qing forces back, but they lacked heavy artillery and machine guns. The Qing forces were dishing out severe casualties. Facing such tough resistance, Feng Guozhang became enraged and ordered Hankou razed to the ground. A fire would burn throughout the city for over 3 days. By the 1st of November, the Qing had seized control over Hankou, but both sides had suffered casualties in the thousands as a result. On November 3rd, Li Yuanhong handed command of the revolutionary forces to Huang Xing who had proven himself a more capable military leader. New recruits from Hunan began to boost their force and by November the 11th the province declared independence. Around this time, the Qing Navy had effectively defected, multiple warships had gone to assist revolutionaries in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. An uprising broke out in Hangzhou seeing revolutionaries capture a large quantity of military supplies. Here a young Chiang Kai-shek captured some government offices and gradually Hangzhou. The revolutionaries of Zhejiang and Jiangsu raised a siege against Nanjing using Qing warships. The siege was led by Xu Shaozhen, Chen Qimei and other defected generals. Between November 24th to December 1st, the revolutionaries captured Wulongshan, Mufushan, Tianbao, Yuhuatai and countless other Qing strongholds. On December 2nd, Nanjing fell to the revolutionaries, it was a tremendous victory.  Back over in Hubei, the revolutionaries now 13,000 strong at Hanyang, forded the Han river marching to take back Hankou. Yuan Shikai was on the other side of the river leading a force 30,000 strong. While many revolutionary leaders sought to defend Hanyang, it was Huang Xing who seized the initiative. On November 17th the revolutionary forces began an artillery bombardment of Hankou from the Guishan heights, before launching a two-pronged attack. Their artillery was quite inaccurate and as their infantry advanced, Yuan Shikai's artillery quickly pinned down their right flank. This saw the revolutionary left flank managing to ford the river alone, whom ran into Qing defenders who easily repelled them back by the 18th. The revolutionary army suffered 800 casualties in the disastrous attempt. On the 21st of November, Yuan Shikai launched an attack against Hanyang. One force bypassed the revolutionaries' defenses by assaulting Xiaogan further to the west. The two armies gradually converged and fought at Sanyanqiao. The next day another Qing force forded the Han river from Hankou and seized the strategic heights in Hanyang. The revolutionaries sent reinforcements twice from Wuchang to advance across the Yangtze river to Hanyang, but suffered tremendous casualties in the process. Another group of revolutionaries in Wuchang planned to cross the Yangtze to advance to strike Liujiamiao behind the Qing defensive lines, but apparently their commander got too drunk and failed to initiate on time. As a result his force failed to help the general assault which saw the Qing artillery bombardment the revolutionaries as they attempted crossing the Yangtze. Facing such terrible losses, the Hubei revolutionaries began to preserve their strength, causing outrage amongst the Hunan revolutionaries. After a week of brutal house to house combat, Yuan Shikai's forces gradually fought their way to the center of Hanyang. There they captured the munitions factory and revolutionaries artillery position upon Guishan. By November 27th, the revolutionaries were in a full retreat from Hanyang after suffering 3300 deaths trying to defend the city. By the end of November, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang both submitted plans to Yuan Shikai on how to deliver the killing blow to Wuchang. However despite their victories at Hankou and Hanyang, things overall were not good for the Qing loyalists. During the battle for Hanyang, as Huang Xing became the defacto commander in chief, Song Jiaoren had decided to withdraw south of the Yangtze to create a secondary revolutionary center. This was of course occurring everywhere in China. The fight to dethrone the Manchu empire had created an enormous power vacuum that many were eager to set upon. Within weeks of the Wuchang uprising, as I had mentioned over in Shanghai leaders of the revolutionary alliance began an uprising declaring Shanghai independent. This spread to Zhejiang and Jiangsu, and soon 14 provinces had seceded. With so many provinces declaring independence and so many revolutionary groups vying for power, the need for a central government became a necessity. If the movement was to survive, regional rivalries needed to be overcome, national unity was essential. Wuchang and Shanghai being two of the strongest factions began to clash, but while they did the siege of Nanjing saw the great secondary capital seized by rebels.  Now while all of this was going on, secret talks were being made between the revolutionaries and none other than Yuan Shikai. Unbeknownst to the Qing court as they continuously lavished Yuan Shikai with titles, he was being tossed countless bribes to come to the revolutionary side. On november 3rd the Qing Court under immense pressure had passed the 19 articles, intending to finally reconstitute the Qing government into a constitutional monarchy. 6 days later Huang Xing cabled Yuan Shikai inviting him to join their republic. Yuan Shikai was thus in one of the most advantageous positions possible. For he and he alone could control the strongest army in CHina, the Beiyang army. He could crush the rebels in Wuchang, but he did not do so. In fact he had held his men back the entire time. On December 1st, Yuan Shikai agreed to a 3 day cease-fire and secretly began talks with the revolutionaries in Hankou. The 3 day ceasefire soon turned into another 3 days, then 15 days, and finally it encompassed all of december. On December 2nd Nanjing fell, and the revolutionaries agreed the new provisional government should be set up there. Revolutionary leaders met there and passed an outline on December 3rd on how they would create a republic. A public announcement was made that within a week's time they would elect a provisional government. This all was done within the scramble for power, for example Song Jiaoren and Chen Qimei had stayed in Shanghai attempted to hold their own assembly. On December the 18th, a North-South Conference was held in Shanghai trying to figure out how to solve issues between the north and south. Yuan Shikai sent his subordinate Tang Shaoyi to negotiate with the revolutionaries in Wuhan. Meanwhile the revolutionaries chose Wu Tingfang to speak to the foreign powers of the UK, US, Germany, Russia, France and Japan about helping support their new republic. Thus simultaneously, the Revolutionaries were negotiating with foreign powers to fix future deals with their republic as they negotiated with Yuan Shikai to allow their revolution to succeed. In the end, it was Yuan Shikai who held the keys to the car as we say. You might be asking yourself, ok, but where is Dr. Sun Yat-Sen during all of this? At the offset of the Wuchang uprising Dr Sun Yat-sen was in Denver Colorado. He had been in the US for quite some time fund raising for revolutions. He was shocked to find out about the Wuchang uprising and there was little he could do about everything. Huang Xing was thus his 2nd in command trying to hold the fort down for him. Dr Sun Yat-Sen with his closest foreign advisor and friend, Homer Lea rushed over to Britain trying to secure financing for a future Chinese republic, before sailing back to China by December 21st. He had come back just in the nick of time as the presidential election was held on December 29th. Over 45 representatives from 17 provinces participated and Sun Yat-Sen received 16 out of 17 votes. On January 1st of 1912, Sun Yat-Sen announced the establishment of the republic of China in Nanjing and was inaugurated as the provisional president of the republic. General Li Yunhong was made provisional vice president; Huang Xing became minister of the army; Song Jiaoran became director general of law making and countless other positions were filled. At the same time many leaders sought to establish the new flag of the republic. Wuchang wanted to use their 9 star flag; Lu Hadong wanted to use his Blue Sky with a White sun flag; Huang Xing favored a flag bearing the mythical well field system of village agriculture, but in the end a major compromise was met. The new flag would be the banner of 5 Races under one Union. If you google the flag, you can see its 5 colors; red for Han, yellow for Manchu, blue for Mongols, white for Muslims and black for Tibetans. This was all grand, but there was one problem, Yuan Shikai could obliterate their new republic at any moment. To solve the Yuan Shikai problem, some of the revolutionaries sought to lure him to the south. To do so they began secretly negotiating with him, offering to appoint him president over the new Nanjing government. However if Yuan Shikai were to move to the south, he would lose the power of his northern armies. On January 16th, while returning to his residence, Yuan Shikai was ambushed in a terrorist attack organized by the Tongmenghui. 18 revolutionaries  tried to kill him with a bomb at Donghuamen in Beijing. 10 Qing guards were killed in the process, but Yuan Shikai was not seriously injured. Yuan Shikai sent a message to the revolutionaries the next day pledging his loyalty to their cause and asking them not to try assassinating him again. To make a point, Yuan Shikai secretly ordered his troops to begin looting and burning down parts of Beijing like the Dong'anmen gate. Thousands of people were killed in this type of mutiny. Yuan Shikai was showcasing to the rebels the new government would be in Beijing and that he refused to move to Nanjing where he would not be able to control his military as effectively.  In the meantime there was the pesky issue of…well the Qing dynasty and their emperor still existed! The entire time Yuan Shikai and the revolutionaries were playing game of thrones, Yuan Shikai was also manipulating the Qing court. Yuan Shikai told the Qing court and Empress Dowager Longyu the revolutionaries would butcher them all, unless dramatic concessions were made. Zaifeng stepped down as regent on December 6th, and the Empress Dowager Longyu took over the empire. Yuan Shikai made it clear to her, Puyi had to abdicate the throne, because he would not be able to protect them from the revolutionaries. On February the 12th, Yuan Shikai and Empress Dowager Longyu met, and as recalled in Puyi's autobiography “The Dowager Empress was sitting on a kang [platform] in a side room of the Mind Nature Palace, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief as a fat old man [Yuan] knelt before her on a red cushion, tears streaming down his face. I was sitting to the right of the widow and wondering why both adults were crying. There was no one in the room other than the three of us and everything was very quiet; the fat man snorted as he spoke and I couldn't understand what he was saying... This was the time when Yuan directly raised the question of abdication”. Yuan Shikai pressured Empress Dowager Longyu, by stating the imperial family's lives would not be spared if the emperor did not abdicate. If the revolutionaries reached Beijing before an abdication, the provisional government would not honor and terms between them. On February the 3rd Longyu gave Yuan Shikai full authority to negotiate the abdication terms between the Qing dynasty and the provisional government. Yuan Shikai sneakily drew up his own terms and dispatched it to the revolutionaries. The Imperial edict of abdication of the Qing Emperor would thus end 276 years of Qing rule and imperial rule that has lasted over 2132 years. Nearly 4000 years of monarchy had come to an end. Throughout China's grand history, old dynasties had always been replaced by new dynasties. After 1911, it was the first time a monarchy was completely overthrown and a republic was ushered in.  Puyi would retain his imperial title and be treated as a monarch by the new Republic. Puyi and the royal family could remain in the northern half of the Forbidden city and the Summer palace. The Republic would grant them an annual 4 million taels. The reign of the last Qing emperor Puyi, had thus come to an end. All of this was negotiated through Yuan Shikai with the revolutionaries. He promised the revolutionaries he would get the emperor to abdicate, in return to be made the president of the new provisional government. It was a masterstroke of deception and power grabbing. In many ways you game of thrones fans can think of him as little finger if he actually won the throne…well maybe in the books he might still do so if Martin ever gets his fat ass to finish them.  The revolutionaries really had no choice in the matter. During the battles, Yuan Shikai proved his Beiyang army was overwhelmingly more powerful. The only reason Yuan Shikai did not crush the rebellion was simply because he sought the best outcome for himself. After working most of his life to bring an end to the Qing dynasty, to usher in democracy, Dr Sun Yat-sen had to give up his presidency. It was a bittersweet moment to be sure. Dr Sun Yat-Sen is considered the Father of the Nation by both China and Taiwan. Though Dr Sun Yat-Sen had to step down, he still fought bitterly to keep the new capital as Nanjing rather than Beijing. But Yuan Shikai's powerbase was in Beijing, his Beiyang Army and loyal officers were all there.  On February the 14th the issue came to a vote in the provincial senate, 20-5 in favor of Beijing vs Nanjing, there were two other votes for Wuhan and Tianjin. The senate majority wanted to secure the peace with Yuan Shikai, and there was also the added effect of checking against a Manchu restoration or Mongol secession. Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing argued for Nanjing to balance against Yuan Shikai's power base in the north. Li Yuanhong presented Wuhan as a compromise, the provincial senate voted again, this time 19 vs 6 for Nanjing. Sun Yat-Sen then dispatched Cai Yuanpei and Wang Jingwei to persuade Yuan Shikai to move to Nanjing. Yuan Shikai welcomed the delegation and agreed to the move, but then suddenly on February 29th riots and fires broke out all over Beijing. It was allegedly orchestrated by Cao Kun a loyal officer under Yuan Shikai. The chaos gave Yuan Shikai pretext to stay in Beijing, lest the unrest continue. Thus Yuan Shikai won the issue, Beijing would be the capital. The battles during the Xinhai revolution had raged on for 41 days and in the end 13 provinces joined the revolution. In October of 1912 Yuan Shikai conferred honors to commanders on both sides of the battles to commemorate the founding of the new republic. It is estimated the battles had taken the lives of 4300 soldiers. Yuan Shikai was air quotes elected provisional president of the republic of China on February 14th and sworn in March 10th. In 1912, the Chinese national assembly elections were held, the first for the new republic. 30,000 electors chose 2000 members of the provincial assemblies and 596 members of the house of representatives and 274 senate members were elected by the provincial assemblies. Adult males over the age of 21 who were educated, owned property, paid taxes or who could prove they resided in China for more than 2 years were allowed to vote. Its estimated 40 million people registered for the election, that's roughly 5% of the population. Now Sun Yat-Sen was not going to allow Yuan Shikai to steal the new republic without a fight. Sun Yat-Sen was no fool and knew he  would have to take a backseat for awhile so he asked Song Jiaoren to lead the political war effort to try and dismantle Yuan Shikai's stranglehold. Song Jiaoren mobilized the Tongmenghui. He offered an alliance to like minded small parties to join the Tongmenghui and thus ushered in the Kuomintang on August 25th of 1912 at the Huguang Guild Hall in Beijing. Song Jiaoren's KMT party won 269 out of 596 seats in the house of representatives and 123 seats out of 274 in the senate. The remaining seats were taken by the 3 other parties; the republicans led by Li Yuanhong; The Unity Party led by Zhang Binglin and the Democratic Party led by Tang Hualong. There were countless other smaller parties, but effectively Song Jiaoren was regarded as the next prime candidate for the position of Prime Minister. The 3 other losing parties all merged into the Progressive Party under the leadership of Liang Qichao and thus they were the opposition.  At this point Yuan Shikai held overwhelming executive power and Song Jiaoren was leading the fight to dismantle that. During his campaigning Song Jiaoren made it abundantly clear he vehemently desired to limit the powers of the president. He also always took the chance to be critical of Yuan Shikai's obvious ambitions. Song Jiaoren from the very beginning began a campaign against Yuan Shikai, accusing him of attempting to restore a monarchical system, most likely to make himself Emperor. Song Jiaoren was learning from Dr Sun Yat-Sen and proved himself a very capable politician, but he also made a ton of enemies, above all else, Yuan Shikai. It looked like Song Jiaoren's first major action would be to push for an election of a future president. On March 20th of 1913, while traveling with a group of colleagues to parliament in Beijing, Song Jiaoran was shot twice at the Shanghai railway station by a lone gunman named Wu Shiying. Wu Shiying had been contracted by Ying Guixin, the leader of the Green Gang an underworld group. Ying Guixin also happened to be the chief of intelligence for Chen Qimei and a close associate of Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai had his secretary Zhao Bingjun order the hit. Song Jiaoren died two days later from his wounds. An investigation was made implicating Ying Guixin in the assassination, but Ying Guixin fled for his life and was murdered by two unknown swordsmen. Then Zhao Bingjun was poisoned. Talk about loose ends? Chinese media sources all pointed fingers at Yuan Shikai and indeed the population basically knew it was him. However there was no significant evidence to pin the crime upon Yuan Shikai and thus he was never actually implicated.  Yuan Shikai was busy planning further assassinations of his political enemies and in april he secretly secured a loan of 25 million pounds sterling from Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan. This loan was used to bolster his Beiyang Army. In order to secure this loan the Beiyang government had to cede partial control over its national treasury to foreign ownership as leverage. This of course was humiliating and done without parliament causing massive outrage. The ones giving the most voice against Yuan Shikai were of course the KMT, whose leader had just been assassinated. Yuan Shikai began a process of bribing and killing his KMT enemies. Yuan Shikai began dismissing governors who were pro KMT and did whatever he possibly could to collapse them.  Meanwhile as a result of the formation of the republic of China, all the revolutionary armies had been disbanded, but their soldiers were not compensated for toppling the Qing dynasty. This led to wide scale discontent. Yuan Shikai continued to gradually seize control over the government, while increasing his Beiyang Army and diminishing any other military forces that could threaten him. Yuan Shikai had thus greatly angered the revolutionary soldiers and the KMT. His political abuses were rampant, he was using violence to basically dissolve any opposition. The paint was on the wall as they say. Dr Sun Yat-Sen and the KMT would not stand for it any longer, there was to be a second revolution. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Wuchang Uprising was a springboard for other uprisings that ushered in the Xinhai revolution. The Qing dynasty had fallen and now a new Republic of China had emerged, but for how long could this experiment last? Yuan Shikai sought to seize ultimate power and it seems he was winning.

Did you know: In 1920, ROC founder Sun Yat-sen wrote a letter in support of Israel's nationhood aspirations? And, the ROC govt in Nanjing was the first Asian state to recognize the State of Israel in 1948? Israel was the first non-communist nation to recognize the People's Republic of China? However: Israel and the PRC only set up official relations in 1992, and a year later opened a trade office/de facto embassy in Taiwan.  Taiwan sought Israel's help with atomic-related matters.  This episode isn't a commentary on current events. Instead, it's a conversation with 91-year-old professor Meron Medzini from Jerusalem, who was awarded a medal for contributions to bilateral ties and Taiwan studies. This is an episode for hardcore history lovers, with loads of fascinating stories and, “now we know” info from a man who watched Israel, China (the PRC), and modern democratic Taiwan grow and evolve from their inceptions. Check out formosafiles.com for pics, links, and more.   

Last time we spoke about the New Policies of the ailing Qing Dynasty and the rise of revolutionaries, such as Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Empress Dowager Cixi begrudgingly had to endorse major reforms to try and keep her ailing dynasty alive. It was a step in the right direction, however it came far too late. The Qing dynasty was simultaneously trying to please the foreign powers and her populace. Yet her populace were being strangled with taxes, their faith in their government had never sunk so low and in general many simply felt it was time for real change. Once intellectuals who went abroad came back with new ideologies, it was like death coming to the door. Revolutionaries began protests, strikes, assassinations and uprisings. Dr Sun Yat-sen became one of the most prolific backers of the major uprisings, traveling around the globe trying to received funding support from Overseas Chinese and allies. It was only a matter of time.   #86 The Wuchang Uprising   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. There was a little something I glossed over in the last podcast and I did so on purpose, I just felt this episode needed to start with this event. 1900-1908 saw an incredible amount of change for China. As much as I am foreshadowing the downfall of the Qing dynasty, it has to be said the efforts to modernize during this time period were colossal. In their own little way, the Chinese had a sort of Meiji restoration. But while it was going on, at full speed, the year 1908 would change a lot. Despite all of these changes there was a looming, a rather glaring problem. The Manchu minority still dominated the Han majority. Cixi resisted tooth and nail to make sure the inner circle was Manchu. Even Li Hongzhang, whom held a very special relationship with Cixi and was arguably one of the most important people of the empire, was never made a member of the Grand Council. Cixi clinged to the notion the Dragon throne must be occupied by a Manchu and she would undermine the chance of a parliamentary monarchy for a Republic. One of the most fervent advocates of military action to overthrow the Manchu dynasty, is the man we have come to talk about in the last podcast, Dr Sun Yat-Sen. He had been attempting uprising since 1895 and not only would he not give up, he just kept gaining more traction. The empress dowager did not take the uprisings lightly, in her words 'these flames that could spark off a prairie fire', and cable after cable urged them to 'extinguish them; do not let them spread'. The Empress Dowager had a lot on her plate, the western powers were ever encroaching, the Boxer protocol had China paying incredible sums to them. Reforms were likewise expensive, the populace were being fleeced dry and certainly not happy about it. Revolutionaries were trying to kill her and overthrow the Manchu run dynasty. Hell I have not really gone into it, but Japan was spending an incredible amount of money and getting as close as possible to any high ranking official within the dynasty to try and dominate it. The Japanese figured the Empress Dowager was going to die sooner or later so they tossed their efforts at trying to make Guangxu a puppet, then something happened.  In 1908 Emperor Guangxu became gravely ill, doctors from multiple provinces were summoned to Beijing. Guangxu wrote notes to his doctors complaining about hearing noises , 'sometimes distant wind and rain and human voices and drum beating, other times cicadas chirping and silk being torn. There is not a moment of peace.' He described 'great pains from the waist down', difficulty in lifting his arms to wash his face, deafness and 'shivering from cold even under four quilts'. He berated his doctors for not curing him or making him feel better. But he hung on tenaciously to life. Now during the summer of 1908, Cixi began to suffer from diarrhea. The year was an extremely busy one for her. She was micromanaging countless aspects of reforms and was meeting with the 13th Dalai Lama, a very important issue as the British had recently encroached upon Tibet. After her 73th birthday on November 3rd of 1908, she felt death was on its way. She ordered Prince Qing to go to the eastern Mausoleums to check out her burial ground and in the meantime she focused her attention upon keeping the empires affairs in order. Then there was the issue of Guangxu. He was bedridden, seemingly on the verge of death, but refused to die. In her mind if he survived her, he might send the empire straight into the hands of the Japanese. And thus Empress Dowager Cixi ordered her adoptive son to be killed. Some of you older listeners or those who've heard about the history of Cixi, might be gasping. But yes indeed since 2008 it a forensic examination of Guangxu's remains have indicated he had a level of arsenic over 2000 times that of an ordinary person. Guangxu was certainly poisoned with arsenic, but who did it, hmmm. There are some who believe it was Yuan Shikai who poisoned the emperor because he knew he would be executed if Cixi died before him. Now Cixi would have had a much easier time poisoning him as she had better access to him. Regardless, at 6:33pm on November 14th Guangxu was pronounced dead by the royal physicians.The Grand Council gathered at Cixi's bedside while Guangxu lay dying and when she learnt of his death, Cixi arranged his succession. Zaifeng was made regent and his two year old son Puyi, Cixis great nephew was named the new emperor of the Qing dynasty. Cixi was said to work throughout the night until 11am in the morning, getting everything settled. 3 hours later she died. And so went one of the most influential figures in modern Chinese history, love her or hate her. Now something else was brewing in the empire. All of the reforms and modernization led to a China to dramatically expand her railways. In the last years of the Qing dynasty the governments railway policy experienced a transition however. The Qing prior to 1908 had supported the provinces efforts to build railways. Then in 1908, Zhang Zhidong was appointed superintendent of the Guangzhou-Hankou railway, and in December of that same year also superintendent over the Sichuan-Hankow line. Alongside the Minister of Communications Sheng Xuanhuai, these two men began shifting the Qing policy to nationalize the two mentioned railways and would rely on foreign investments for railway construction. Historian Sun Zijian has this to say about the issue “Preparations were inadequate. The government neither offered extensive persuasive propaganda nor obtained the approval of the National Assembly or provincial assemblies. The court simply nationalized the railways in an autocratic manner. When nationalization met with opposition, instead of defusing the crisis flexibly, the government persisted in its arbitrary ways. When it found mistakes in the decision-making, the government refused to make any modifications. In the end, the crisis spun out of control. A reasonable policy properly executed could have succeeded'. According to historian Chen Tingxiang the Qing government's response to the backlash, that would become known as the Railway Protection Movement, failed for 3 reasons. 1) The announcement and implementation of the railway nationalization was reckless. 2) the government was internally divided on the issue. 3) the officials suspicions of each other led to the failure in quelling the unrest. Historian Chen Xiaodong also had 3 points to make about the issue. He stated first the Qing government did not present the two issues: railway nationalization and foreign loans to the provincial assemblies and national assembly. Second they violated the new corporation law and attempted to confiscate the shares of the commercial company. And three the Qing government refused to listen to the pleas of the Sichuan provincial officials and were unwilling to compromise forcing the people into desperate actions.  Now going back in time to explain some of this, in 1898 and 1900 Sheng Xuanhuai negotiated the Guangzhou-Hankou railway loan protocol with the “American China Development Company” receiving the right to build the line. But the company breached the contract by failing to finish the line on time and secretly sold 4000 of the 6000 shares of the company to Belgium. By 1905 Zhang Zhidong recommended negotiations and recovered the rights to the line. Though the Chinese got back the rights to the line, they still lacked funds to build it. In Zhang Zhidong's words “at present, the only way to do this great project is to rely on borrowed money.” In 1907 to build up the Hubei portion of the line, Zhang Zhidong sought to burrow 2 million pounds from Everard Fraser, the British consul general in Hankou. The following year Zhang Zhidong was appointed the supervisor over the Guangzhou-Hankou line and the Hubei portion of the Sichuan line. On June 6th of 1909 Zhang Zhidong drafted a loan agreement with Germany's Deutsche Bank, the British Hongkong and Shanghai banking corporation and France's Banque Indoseuz. The US wanted to get in on that sweet piece of pie, but during the process on October 4th, Zhang Zhidong died of illness. Because they were in the process of negotiations everything would be shuffled around.  On November 5th of 1909, the Hubei railway association opposed the loan and abrogated the protocol. On the 14th a coalition of Hubei gentry, merchants, military officials and educational representatives got together and announced they would fund the railway. They asked the Ministry of Communications and Board of Revenue to cancel the draft agreements with the foreigners. In March of 1910 the coalition was given the right to establish a railway company, but many knew their fund raising could be untrustworthy. This prompted the officials from Britain, France, Germany and America to angrily demand their rights and interests be met. The Qing foreign ministry and ministry of communications offered no answer to this. They both tossed the buck as they say to the board of revenue, who was pissed they were evading responsibility. The foreigners then sent direct communications to the Qing government, receiving no reply. Thus the initial loan was shelved. In August of 1910 Sheng Xuanhuai reported  “setting up associations in Hunan and Hubei to resist foreign loans, raise funds, and build the railway on their own are only empty promises of no use in solving real problems. … Their claimed fund-raising figures are unreliable.” The matter was investigated  at multiple levels. On October 14th, Sheng Xuanhuai reported regent Zaifeng the Hunan portion of the line required 34 million taels of silver, but the railway company had only collected 1.7 million silver dollars. The Hubei portion required 67 million but the railway company only raised just under 1 million silver collars. If the two railway lines were to be built, they simply had to borrow from foreigners. Zaifeng appointed Sheng Xuanhuai as the minister of communications on January 6th of 1911, and Sheng secretly began to negotiate with the representatives of the 4 nations. By late april they reached an agreement and in may Zaifeng made an imperial edict announcing the nationalization of the railway lines. Its also important to note some other external factors. In june of 1910, the Japanese and Russians signed a second agreement stipulating the boundaries of there sphere of influence over Manchuria. Once that was signed Japan formally annexed Korea. Then Russia on January 12th of 1911 requested the Qing government release them rights in Xinjiang, Mongolia and parts of Manchuria. On March 25th the Qing government was forced to agree and then Britain came and stepped up aggression in Tibet. By January of 1911 the British army was occupying Pianma in Yunnan province. It was under these circumstances, the Qing sort of buried their heads in the sand and focused on the railway projects.  Zaifeng was determined to pursue railway nationalization. In order to carry this out he had to adopt a series of radical actions. On May 9th of 1911, Zaifeng canceled the earlier approval of the private railway companies rights to the Hubei and Hunan portions of the line. Then on the 18th he appointed Duanfang as minister in charge of the Guangzhou-Hankou and Sichuan-Hankou lines. Then on May 23rd and 30th he ordered the provinces of Sichuan and Hunan to stop collecting taxes to support the public shares on their rail lines. All of this was designed to get the railway companies to come to new terms. The nationalization of the rail lines was met with fierce opposition from the people of Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong and Hubei. Zaifengs immediate problem was dealing with the funds collected by the private companies, he needed to buy them out. Many called to have the government bail the companies out, others said they should be held accountable and audited. Zaifeng decided to collect all the shares and issue railway bonds at same value, thus the people who wished to de-vest could. The investors were not happy, specifically the Sichuanese who had the largest public shareholding. Basically all of the investors would only be partially compensated by the government bond scheme, what they wanted was a proper buyout, silver not bonds. The Sichuan railway company by 1911 had raised 14 million taels, 4 of which had been expended and 3 were lost in speculation. Zaifeng was not happy with the governor general of Sichuan and hastily appointed  General Zhao Erfeng to replace him by August 4th to force the issue to a resolvement. Zhao Erfeng made his way to Chengde and made sure to bring numerous military and police units to maintain order. On August 5th Zhao Erfeng was given orders to force the shareholders in Sichuan to take the bonds. It should be noted Zhao Erfeng had the nickname “the butcher”.  On August 11th, more than 10,000 protestors began rallies against the proposals in Chengdu and organized a series of strikes and boycotts. Students, merchants and workers were showing solidarity. Zaifeng was outraged at the situation and ordered Zhao Erfeng to “firmly suppress the unrest”. This was sweet music to Zhao Erfengs ears and he began requesting funds for additional troops, too which Zaifeng approved. Yet Zhao Erfeng soon found out, the situation was much more dire than they all believed. Zhao Erfeng began sending requests to Zaifeng to reach some sort of solution to the crisis. But on September 2nd Zaifeng issued strict orders to him stating  “ suppress [the disturbance] effectively, disperse [the protesters] quickly, and not let the situation lead to chaos. If the troubles persist and lead to unrest, you will be punished” Zhao Erfeng was pushed into a corner, he had no choice.  On September 7th he lured out Luo Lun, Pu Dianjun and other leaders of what was then being called the Railway Protection League, the Provincial assembly and the private railway company to the governor general's office by falsely telling them “a telegram from Beijing brings good news. We need to exchange views right away.” Once the men arrived, they were arrested. News broke out of the act and the city of Chengde erupted. Thousands of people flocked to the governor generals office. Zhao Erfeng dispatched troops to cut them off at street corners, but the angry crowd broke through barricades and poured into the governor general's office. At this point Zhao Erfeng ordered the troops to fire upon the people. The angry mob suffered heavy casualties. Despite this the next day more protestors showed up and dozens more were shot. All of Sichuan rose up in arms. On the 7th Zhao Erfeng reported “thousands of people fiercely attacking the governor-general's office. It is not sure whether stability can be restored. We need the court to dispatch thousands of strong troops from the capital to rush to Sichuan to prepare for trouble.” Zaifeng had gambled on forcing the railway protestors into submission and now he had provoked a rebellion. There was no other action than to push forward. On September 9th, Zaifend issued a decree praising Zhao Erfengs performance and gave out the order “select a capable general to quickly lead nearby troops to Sichuan, where Zhao Erfeng will assume command.” On the 12th Zaifeng against the pleas of numerous advisors to peacefully comply with the public opinion, ordered Zhao Erfeng “to direct the new and old armies to destroy those promoting rebellion so that [the unrest] does not spread”. The next day Zaifeng received a telegram, stating Chengdu was surrounded. At this point Zaifeng was sort of grasping at straws. He appointed Cen Chunxuan to deal with the Sichuan situation. Cen Chunxuan was “to work with Zhao Erfeng in calming and suppressing the unrest in Sichuan.” But Cen Chunxian instead advocated for completely reversing the course of action and try to regain the publics confidence through a gentle approach. Cen Chunxian telegram the court advising “the temporary release under guarantee of the detained gentry, and promise the Sichuan people will not lose a penny of their capital; and that no innocent people will be killed. The people and the government must move forward together. There should be some words of self-reproach in the edict. If the court could do this, public opinion will be calmed, … people everywhere will dance for joy”. Prince Qing and his colleagues disagreed with the stance and the Ministry of Communications told the Qing court they rejected the idea all together. Zaifeng took the advice and rejected it as well. Cen Chunxuan telegram the Qing Court “a wind-heat (fengre) has aggravated my old illness and makes it very hard to go to my post. Please relieve me of my position.” By rejecting Cen Chunxians proposal, Zaifeng had lost the last chance to resolve the Sichuan railway crisis. Now going a little bit back a bit because its important, we talked a lot about the new policies. Within Hubei province a sort of elite army had been developed. As part of the New Army program, Hubei like other provinces modernized its military force. French, German, American advisors had come to help with the process. In the end the Hubei new Army became one of the best armies in China, second pretty much only to Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army. Because of this the Hubei army became a sort of model for neighboring provinces' programs. Now Yuan Shikai had strict political controls over the Beiyang army ‘soldiers who form an association, or spread rumors, should be executed.” He privatized his army, by promoting officers from within, building internal cliques around himself. And it was pretty insane stuff, he had an altar for his men to pray to him where they would kowtow every day. The Hubei New Army on the other hand was more loosely controlled by the Qing court. This left some room for revolutionaries to get in. The distribution of the Hubei army garrisons helped facilitate the rapid spread of revolutionary influence. A few amount of troops were scattered throughout the countryside, with the vast majority concentrated around Wuchang. The urban social networks thus crept into the military. Now just before the year 1911 its estimated 2000 of the 15,000 troops were members of the  “wenxue she” Literature Society and perhaps another 2000 were members of the “gongjin hui” Forward Together society. The Hubei army is thought to have had roughly 5000 revolutionaries, 4000 who were lukewarm on revolutionary ideas and only 1000 firmly loyal to the Qing. With everything going on, by fall of 1911, the revolutionaries in the Hubei army were preparing an uprising. The revolutionary groups I mentioned, began talks with the Tongmenghui in September of 1911. They were attempting to collaborate to perform an uprising, set for October 6th, during the mid-autumn festival in the Wuhan area. They were forced to postpone a bit. On October the 9th, one of the revolutionary leaders, Sun Wu was supervising the making of explosives in the Russian concession in Hankou when one of the devices accidentally exploded. Sun Wu was hospitalized and the hospital staff discovered his identity and reported him to the Qing authorities. Fearing the jig was up, the revolutionaries within the Hubei army in Wuchang led by Jiang Yiwu, the leader of the Literary Society decided to launch the uprising immediately. However disaster struck twice as the plot was leaked to the viceroy of Huguang who immediately ordered a crackdown. General Ruicheng the Viceroy of Huguang and the divisional commander of the Hubei army Zhang Biao fled for their lives. The previously elected revolutionary commander in chief, Liu Gong was in Hankou, the vice commander Liu Ying was stuck in Jingshan. Jiang Yiwu had also fled and Sun Wu was gravely wounded. Within the catastrophe, provincial commander Wu Zhaolin stepped up to take charge. On the night of October 10th, Wu Zhaolin led revolutionary elements of the Hubei ne army and staged a mutiny at the Huguang garrison. In the process they captured the viceroy's residence, but the viceroy managed to escape. The city was thrown into disorder and many Manchu were killed. “From the night of the 10th to noon of the 11th … the casualties of the revolutionary army were about 20 … while more than 500 Manchu soldiers were killed, and over 300 captured.” The next day, one of the high ranking officers within the Hubei army, Li Yuanhong was persuaded to become the temporary leader of the movement. Wu Zhaolin stated “After the uprising, both military and civil administration will be needed. I propose that we elect Li Yuanhong as military governor of Hubei, and Tang Hualong as head of the civil administration. These two are highly respected in Hubei, so if they agree to be in charge, other provinces are likely to respond and support us” Li Yuanhong was initially very hesitant about it screaming at Wu Zhaolin after his statement “Why do you want a revolution? You put your own family in danger! You are a scholar, not a revolutionary. Don't join the revolution!” But he came around. On October 11th, the mutineers formed a military government representing Hubei. Li Yuanhong led the charge in cutting off his queue and was appointed military governor. At this time Hubei had just suffered some major floods, thus Li Yuanghong began his tenure by ordering “let government employees and civilians go back to work, and give a tax break for a year to alleviate their financial difficulties”. The governments miliary organization was quite chaotic from the offset, it was said “The revolution had just broken forth and many different ideas were put forth. Departments were established and abolished one after the other, and responsibilities kept changing.” It was quickly decided the military would deal with military affairs, leaving civil affairs to civil administrators. The new chief of the civil government, Tang Hualong ordered the existing treaties to be respected hoping foreigners would recognize their new military government. On the 15th the US consul met with Li Yuanhong and Tang Hualong asking about the their treaties and debts with the Qing government. Tang Hualong responded ‘The military government will only recognize debts of the Qing government if they were incurred before October 10; the relief funds for the Hubei floods should be raised locally from wealthy gentry; as for the government structure, there will be no more imperial system, and a republican government will be established after the revolution”. This prompted the US to declare neutrality, followed by Britain, France, Russia and Japan. Prior to the revolution, Tang Hualong had encouraged individual security forces in Hankou to join a Federation of Hankou associations with Ma Zhongji as their president. After the revolution he began arming them to help the revolutionary forces and maintain order. They would become instrumental against Qing forces. 2 days after the Wuchang uprising, the Qing court ordered Admiral Sa Zhenbing to take his fleet to Hubei. However Sa Zhenbing also happened to be Li Yuanhongs teacher at the Tianjin naval academy. Tang Hualong thus proposed Li write him a letter urging for a naval mutiny. Meanwhile Tang Hualong wrote to his brother, Tang Xiangming, who happened to be an aide to Sa Zhenbing “the Wuchang Uprising is justified, and is supported all over the country. Revolution is inevitable. We hope you encourage the navy to abandon the Qing and thus earn special merit.” Many of the naval officers were sympathetic to the revolution and soon gave up on the confrontation. Sa Zhenbing in response to a potential mutiny simply left the fleet and retired in Shanghai. The entire fleet left the Wuhan battleground and headed for Jiujiang. At Jiujiang the navy would mutiny on October 23rd Tang Xiangming was elected interim naval commander. Another revolutionary leader, Huang Xing who helped Sun Yat-sen found the Tongmenghui came to Wuchang to meet Li Yuanhong. On October 28th, Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren came to Wuchang and Huang Xing asked to become wartime commander in chief, while Song Jiaoren asked to assist the military government of hubei with foreign affairs. By early November Li Yuanhong told the men, since their province had the first successful uprising, they needed to set an example for the nation. They needed to form a constitutional document to form a new republic of China. They would model it on the constitution of the US, advocating for a federal system based on the principles of local self governance, guaranteed civil rights and the establishment of a separation of powers. It was the first time in Chinese history that a principle of separation of powers would be adopted in fundamental law. The revolutionaries were all busy planning, however the Qing were not going to just sit back idle. The wrath of the Qing was about to be unleashed. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. What began as a railway protection movement had spiraled out of control when Zaifeng unleashed the butcher known as General Zhao Erfeng upon Sichuan. In his attempts to quell the protestors, Zhao Erfeng had ushered in a full blown revolution. The Wuchang Revolution would springforth multiple revolutions and soon the Qing dynasty would come to an end.

Last time we spoke about the invasion of Sakhalin and the Portsmouth Treaty. The Japanese had defeated their enemy upon the land and sea, yet the reality was, both empires were ailing. They were both verging bankruptcy, but Russia held the edge in more troops and deeper allied pockets for loans. The Japanese sought the aid of President Theodore Roosevelt to usher a peace, but more importantly one that favored Japan's war aims. With his advice, Japan seized Sakhalin to improve their poker hand. At the Portsmouth negotiations, the Japanese would be rather shocked to find their American hero somewhat championed the Russian side when it came to war indemnities. In the end Japan signed the Portsmouth Treaty and would face an outraged population back home. The Hibiya riots erupted, and now the Japanese felt betrayed by America. Yet what of China, how was this going to affect her?   #85 Old Ways Meet New Policies    Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The turn of the 20th century saw the Qing government face an unprecedented national crisis. The Boxer Rebellion did not go well. The Empress Dowager Cixi and the Beijing government literally fled the capital, not a good look. On January 29th of 1901, Empress Dowager Cixi, from her refuge in Xi'an issued an imperial edict in the name of Emperor Guangxu “After we moved out of the capital city, the empress has been constantly busy with state affairs. As emperor, I deeply regret my mistakes. In the past decades, problems have accumulated and been papered over as we mindlessly followed the old ways, leading to the calamity we face today. Now that peace negotiations are underway, we should reform all political affairs so that the country can become strong and prosperous”. To the Qing government she issued this “submit suggestions regarding reform measures within two months. The suggestions should be based on the current situation with reference to both Chinese and Western experience. Reform proposals should cover law, administration, people's livelihood, education, the examination system, military affairs, and public finance. What should be continued and what changed? What should be eliminated and what combined? What should be done to strengthen China, develop human talent, reach fiscal balance, and build a strong army?'. Thus the Qing officials busied themselves looking into the matters and expressed their opinions in countless memorials. The most influential of these opinions would come from three memorials jointly submitted by the Governor General of Jiangnang, Liu Kunyi and the governor general of Hubei-Hunan, Zhang Zhidong.  The first memorial proposed 4 methods for improving education. It advised setting up schools of liberal arts and military academies. To reform the civil examination system, abolish the military examination system and encourage studies abroad. The second memorial proposed 11 measures to reform the administration. They should promote frugality, abandon outdated rules, cease the sale of office, reform official salaries, eliminate clerks and runners, bring more leniency to criminal punishments, change the policies for official selection, find new ways to support the livelihood of Manchu serving in the eight banners, eliminate garrisons, eliminate the Green Standard army and simplify literary formalities. The third memorial proposed 12 reforms based on Western practices. To dispatch intellectuals to tour the world, to adopt foreign military practices, a new military strengthening program, improve agriculture, further industrialize, enact some new laws on mining/transport and commerce, revise the criminal code, introduce silver coins, introduce a stamp tax, create a modern postal service, learn foreign medicine practices and translate more foreign books.  These memorials were approved by Cixi and would become the blueprint for the New Policy Reforms of the late Qing dynasty. On July 20th, Cixi issued another edict to affirm these ideas would be implemented ‘“For the sake of the dynasty and people, the emperor and I have no other choice.” The Zongli Yamen was officially changed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Outdated posts were eliminated, such as the director general of the Yellow River and Grand Canal, governorship over Hubei, Yunnan and Guangdong provinces whom already held governor-generals, the court of sacrificial worship and the court of banqueting, those 2 last ones are something else arent they. For the military, traditional troops were disbanded or retrained as a reserve army or for police forces. The military examination system was abolished, new military academies were created. A military training bureau was created to train the “New Army” and a Ministry of Police took charge of public security instead of the wonky Green Standard system. To further economic development, a Ministry of Commerce was created. New regulations for chambers of commerce were promulgated. Business laws and provisional regulations for corporate registration were both promulgated. An exhibition center to encourage industrialization was set up in Beijing; vocational colleges were created; the Board of Revenue Bank was also created. On September 7th of 1901, the Qing government signed the humiliating Boxer Protocol and on the 6th of October Cixi made her glamorous return to the capital. China began a new approach with the west. On January 28th of 1902, the Qing court invited foreign ministers to the Imperial Palace ““The audience was conducted throughout with more formality and dignity and with greater outward show of respect for the foreign representatives than heretofore; the event was especially noteworthy as being the first occasion on which the empress dowager has openly appeared in an audience, and not behind the screen of gauze”. Qing officials of all ranks followed suit, trying their best to please the foreign representatives. The term walking on eggshells applies, the Boxer Rebellion had greatly pissed off most of the powerful nations. Thus the Qing dynasty was doing its very best to please both the foreign powers and its people, trying desperately to maintain its ailing rule. Yet the damage beginning all the way in the 1830's was too much. The Qing government also did not outright abandon its autocratic ruling system, in many ways it was providing band aid solutions in the form of reform measures. In a rather dramatic fashion, in 1902 during the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi a poem was read y Gu Hongming, the aide to Zhang Zhidong “Everywhere people sing about loving the state, but nobody sings about loving the people.The emperor enjoys longevity, and the people pay the bill; the emperor lives forever, and the people suffer.”Everyone gasped in shock. Moments like this highlight the reality of the situation. While the Qing government was tossing reforms left and right, they were not far reaching enough. There were also countless provincial and local officials who refused to adopt the reforms. One example was the governor of Guangdong, Shanxi, Henan and governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, yes the age old classic of too many titles on a single person, Zhang Renjun. Zhang was a hardcore conservative and thought the reforms would increase government expenditures and thus further aggravate the populace, in his words “The people are already exhausted and catastrophe will come if we keep exploiting them.” He also believed the dynasty would not benefit from the reforms. He was against the organization and training of a modern army, establishing chambers of commerce and sending intellectuals abroad to study. To the last point he believed the Chinese students going abroad would have their minds poisoned and come back ushering in revolution, he would not be too wrong there. Above all else, he had been a Qing official a long time and knew fundamentally most Qing officials were greedy morons. He was basically the Ron Swanson of the Qing Dynasty haha. He was stuck in some ways, but brought up pretty good glaring problems with the reforms.  After 1905 further reforms were established and there was talk of preparing for constitutionalism, perhaps setting up provincial assemblies with a national assembly, introducing local self-government and such. Yet dramatic change required dramatic change, ca-ching, it would be a heavy financial burden. The Qing government assigned the expense for the reforms upon the provinces, whom in turn apportioned costs upon prefectures and counties. Ultimately the money was being extracted from the common people, whom were already paying enormous indemnities for the Boxer Protocol. Alongside this government stipends for their officials were spearing, as the greedy morons, in Zhang's words of course, lived lavishly. As you can imagine, the age old practice of fleecing the populace ran rampant. Qing officials were exploiting the populace for self gain. A German missionary working in China at the time, Richard Wilhelm had this to say “The Manchu aristocracy made use of the new chaotic conditions in order to feather their [sic] own nest. One reform crowded out another. A great deal of money was spent and nothing substantial was achieved. This state of affairs led to far-reaching dissatisfaction throughout the Empire. The officials, who were not given a clear and uniform lead by the authorities, were placed in the most awkward positions as a result of having to find money locally in accordance with the various edicts of reform which followed rapidly one upon another”. There were numerous flaws in the implementation of the reforms. A large reason for this was a lack of comprehensive planning. In terms of public financing, the reforms simply cost too much. For example, the cost for policing of a small province was something like 2 million taels, for larger provinces it was 3 million. A Qing official named Daungfang said of the situation ‘“As China is vast, if there were only two policemen per square kilometer, the annual expenditure for police nationwide would approach half a billion. The annual state revenue is insufficient to afford this expense, not to mention other reforms.” French diplomats aiding Beijing's Police and military reform programs at the time had this to say “At least we can say that the Qing empire lacks wisdom and foresight, as it decided to establish 36 divisions and to regroup the navy in a great hurry, but failed to consider how to finance these large annual expenses.” Alongside the enormous costs of the reforms, there were those trying to profit from them as well. In 1911, the American sociologist Edward Alsworth Ross had this to say “In an educational center far up the Yangtse the authorities kept bringing out American teachers at great expense under a year contract and then at the end of the year replaced them with others no better qualified. Inasmuch as every shift calls for an allowance of $300 for travel money, the knowing ones suspect that some official gets “squeeze” on the travel money and that is the reason for the incessant changing of teachers”.  As reformed institutions were created, many officials seized the opportunities to get their friends and family positions forming cliques. One account had Tang Shaoyi, one of the Chinese who got to go abroad to study, received the appointment of General director over the Shanghai-Nanjing railway, the Beijing-Wuhan Railway and Vice Minister of Communications, it was said of his tenure “Into every vacant place in the Customs or the railways or in the ministry that came to his bestowal he stowed one of his own relatives by blood or marriage or one of his own Cantonese clan. Out of 400 appointments in the Ministry of Communications made during his tenure of office 350 were jobs for which he could be called to account'.  A lot of new taxes were introduced in the name of the “New Policies”, some added by the Qing government directly, some by local officials, hell even local gentry got involved in the fleecing. An imperial edict acknowledged it “In recent years, the people have been exhausted. In addition, provinces have extracted reparations from the people, robbing Peter to pay Paul, so that the people's livelihood is ever more precarious. … Provincial governors have used all means to collect funds to finance local administration and pushed the people to desperation” A lot of schools sprang up all over China, nearly all of them offering studies in the natural sciences. Colleges of liberal arts and law offered Western social sciences, and this in particular opened new avenues to the Chinese. As the students embraced all kinds of new knowledge, they also took a critical eye to their society and current affairs. Many who were sent to study abroad came back and taught at universities, bringing with them revolutionary ideology.  On September 24th of 1905, Empress Dowager Cixi dispatched 5 ministers abroad; Zhen Prince Zaize, Minister of Finance Dai Hongci, Minister of the Military Xu Shichang, Governor of Hunan Duanfang and Prime Minister of the Business Department Shaoying. On November 25th, the Qing government set up a special institution to study constitutional governments of foreign nations, to provide guidance on their own constitutional reform. It was quite similar to what the Japanese did during the Meiji restoration, albeit quite late. Dai Gonci and Duanfang were the first to depart, traveling to the US to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt. Then Zaize led the rest to depart. At the end of 1906 they all submitted a report stating “the only way for the state to be powerful is constitutionalism”. This prompted Cixi to promulgate a decree on September 1st of 1906 announcing the “preparatory imitation of constitution”. By 1907 the preparatory office of the “Zizhengyuan Institute” Ie: parliament was created. Ming Lun and Sun Jiaxuan were appointed presidents of it. After this, constitutional guilds were established in all major cities within China. By 1908 a constitutional outline was published, showcasing civil rights and obligations; essentials of parliament and election law essentials.  Now for the military, in 1905 the Beiyang Army was reorganized into the New Army. Initially the Qing government planned to establish it as 500,000 regular troops over the course of 10 years, but they would only managed to train roughly 190,000 by 1911. By 1909 a Ministry of War was established to control the new army. Now back in 1904 a study was done, looking into what needed to be done for the New Army. The report indicated China should dispatch government officials to the provinces to make sure imperial decrees were being followed, this might seem like an obvious thing to do, but it had not really been enforced previously. There was a lot of huff and puff over who controls New Army units and a concession was made to allow provinces to raise them, but ultimately they took orders from the Qing court. The 8 banners were excluded from the reform. The report argued the need for specialized and educated officers for both the front lines and staff. Officer pay was increased in an attempt to thwart corruption. Officers were given detailed regulations and were expected to lead their men, not their drill instructors, who due to a lack of qualified officers were often employed to instruct the men. Officers therefore were pretty useless in battle and the soldiers had very little faith in their officers. The report called for standardization of weaponry and for the army to be divided into 3 categories as per the norms of western armies: the standing army was to be 1st class reserves; second class reserves for the regulars would serve 3 years, then they would return home and enroll in the first reserve for another 3-4 years. The army would organize into corps with 2 divisions each consisting of 2 brigades of infantry, 1 regiment of cavalry and artillery, 1 battalion of engineers and transport units. It was estimated each corp would cost nearly 3 million taels and divisions about 1.3 million. With an expected 36 divisions this would amount to 50,000,000 taels annually to grow the new army.  Taking a look at the political reforms, on July 28th the governor-general of Zhili province, Yuan Shikai submitted a 10 point memorial. He suggested creating a national assembly, Zizhengyuan, at the central level, while provincial assemblies would be set in provincial capitals and other assembles would be set up in prefectures and counties. For legislatures, he suggested finding qualified members of the provincial assemblies to be promoted to the national assembly. Now he was one of many to make suggests, others like Cen Chunxuan also made proposals. By October of 1907 an imperial decree was made “Provincial governors should promptly set up provincial assemblies in provincial capitals; fair-minded and enlightened officials and gentry should be prudently selected to take charge; and qualified gentry and citizens should select capable persons as members of provincial assemblies. … Local governments should carry out reforms, and the decisions made by assemblymen should be implemented by provincial governors. Provincial governors should report significant events to the provincial assemblies before they take initiatives. In the future, provincial assemblies shall promote some of their members to the National Assembly. If the National Assembly conducts inquiries, it shall send official documents to provincial governors to ask them to pass on the information, and also directly ask the provincial assemblies for response. If provincial assemblies have some issues, they shall inform the provincial governors and report directly to the national assembly for investigation”. In the end the Qing court favored Yuan Shikai's ideas. Though they endorsed the ideas, the Qing court also had no plan to implement them. Because of this the provincial governors had no idea what to do. Lackluster and inconsistency resulted, prompting the Qing court to issue a Charter for the Provincial assemblies and election of provincial assemblymen on July 22nd of 1908. The Qing court basically gave the provinces a year to set up the assemblies. Now elections had never before occurred in China, officials and peoples had no experience with them. The process of preparing provincial assemblies, verifying the qualifications of voters, first, second round elections, organizing the sessions all required a lot of people and a lot of money. There was no way they were going to pull it off in a year. The Qing court began harassing the provincial officials and the first session of the provincial assemblies would convene on October 14th of 1909. There would be two regular sessions held prior to 1911. After pulling off the first session, provincial governors were under a lot of pressure to produce action. Ultimately most were too afraid to act on specific issues, corrupt or incompetent and this led to a large dissatisfaction. When the second annual session of provincial assemblies occurred there was a large amount of conflict. Issues like finally banning opium were hotly debated, many argued its poisoning effect on their society, while others argued the government would lose too much revenue from opium taxes. We haven't talked about opium in quite some time eh? It honestly was a large problem until Mao Zedong's reign. The provincial assembly system had a lot of problems. The governor of Zhejiang province, Zengyun described much of them in a report he made in 1910 “One year after it was established, the provincial assembly has still accomplished little. … Assemblymen can point out problems, but few can articulate the reasons for them. … As China did not have this system before, legislators are confused. They do not know what issues should be discussed. A few persons with exposure to the law and politics of other countries have only a partial understanding and cannot cite appropriate precedents or articulate them clearly. Moreover, they cannot communicate well with others as most people are rather ignorant. Therefore, although decisions are made by majority vote, the assemblymen rarely support or reject proposals appropriately. During the thirty to forty days of the session, more than half of the assemblymen have not spoken at all. Constitutionalism was introduced with the aim of fostering communication between the government and people. I fear that if such problems persist, the government and people will be further estranged. It is particularly worrisome that the outcome would deviate so much from our initial aim”. There were countless reasons for conflicts between the provincial assemblies and governors. First the provincial officials tended to have a weak idea of constitutionalism and tended to not allow the provincial assemblies participate in public administration. Secondly, the new restrictions upon governors within the constitutional order hindered action. Thirdly the transition to constitutional rule was messy, for example the respective powers of provincial officials and assemblies were very vague. Fourth provincial assemblies tended to be insensitive to the real problems faced by governors. Fifth governors and assemblies had very different positions, responsibilities and thus priorities, conflict was inevitable. Lastly, the provincial assemblies often focused too much on trivial issues such as etiquette. Simultaneously while all of these reforms and debates were going on, something else was brewing, revolutionary fever. In September of 1905, a revolutionary named Wu Yue set off a bomb trying to assassinate the 5 ministers who were about to be sent abroad to study constitutionalism. On July 6th of 1907 Xu Xilian led a failed revolt in Anqing, but was successful in killing its governor. This incident sparked a lot of attention from the Qing court and provincial officials. The Qing government was in a tough spot, to them it seemed there were revolutionaries pushing for constitutionalism and those pushing against it. There were countless revolutionaries and revolutionary groups that had formed throughout the Qing Dynasty's history. Many sought to re-establish a Han-led government, you know all those pesky Ming types. I obviously cant talk about them all, but there is one in particularly thats worth mentioning. In 1891 one man studying to become a doctor, met some friends in Hong Kong, many of whom were revolutionaries. One was named Yeung Ku-wan, and he was the leader of the Furen Literary Society calling to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The man went on to become a doctor and wrote a 8000 character petition to our old friend Li Hongzhang in 1894. His petition presented ideas for modernizing China. He traveled to Tianjin to try and personally meet Li Hongzhang and give him the petition, but was not granted an audience. It seems from the experience, Sun Yat-Sen's heart turned to revolution. He departed China and traveled to Hawaii, a place that was basically a second home to him, he was educated there and had family living in Honolulu. In 1894 in Hawaii he founded the Xīngzhōnghuì “Revive China Society”. This would be the first Chinese nationalist revolutionary society and each person admitted to it would swear the following oath “Expel Tatar barbarians, revive Zhonghua, and establish a unified government”. Sun Yat-Sen returned to Hong Kong in 1895 and met up again with Yueng Ku-wan. Both men viewed the First Sino-Japanese war situation as a huge opportunity and resolved to merge their societies. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen became the secretary of the newly merged group while Yeung Ku-wan was the president. They had Lu Haodong design a flag for their society, the Blue sky with a white Sun flag. If you pull up a picture of the flag, the 12 rays of the white sun represent 12 months and 12 traditional chinese hours, it symbolizes the spirit of progress. Soon their society began to brush shoulders with some old friends of ours, the Tiandihui “heaven and earth society” and even the triads. Dr Sun Yat-Sen was associating with such groups to gain funds and aid in his global travel to support a revolution.  In 1895, the Xīngzhōnghuì unleashed their planned uprising in Guangzhou, thus earning the name the “first Guangzhou uprising”. On October 26th , Yeung Ku-wan and Dr Sun Yat-sen led Zheng Shiliang and Lu Haodong to Guangzhou intending to capture the city in a single strike. However their plans were leaked to Qing authorities. The Qing arrested many of the revolutionaries, including Lu Haodong who would later be executed. The uprising was a complete failure. Yeung Ku-Wan and Dr Sun Yat-sen were both sent into an exile for 5 years. Dr Sun Yet-sen spent his exile promoting revolution within China abroad. He went to Japan, the US, Canada and Britain. While in Britain Dr Sun Yat-sen was seized by the Chinese secret service and nearly smuggled back to CHina in an effort to be executed. James Cantlie working with the globe, the times and foreign office managed to get Dr Sun Yat-sen released. James was a former teacher of Sun at Hong Kong college for medicine and a lifelong friend. When Sun made his way to Japan in 1897 he befriended the Japanese politician Tōten Miyazaki who motived him towards Pan-Asianism. Sun would also befriend Mariano Ponce, a diplomat of the first Philippine Republic. During the Philippine Revolution and Philippine-American War, Sun helped Ponce procure weapons from the IJA. Sun hoped to help the Filipinos win back their independence so the Philippines could be used as a staging point for another Chinese revolution. Ultimately the Americans won and thus Sun's dreams of allying with the Philippines vanished. On October 8th of 1900 Sun ordered the launch of another uprising, this time in Huizhou. A revolutionary army led by Zheng Shiliang, around 20,000 men strong, began a coup. This led his force to fight against the local Qing forces, with Sun working out of Taiwan promised to supply his men with ammunition from the Japanese. However, the Japanese got cold feet and the Japanese Prime Minister prohibited Sun Yat-sen from carrying out revolutionary activities on Taiwan. Sun tried to turn to the triads for help, but it simply did not pan out, thus after a month of fighting, Zheng Shiliang had no choice but to order the army to disperse.  After this Sun traveled to Bangkok in 1903 trying to secure funds. On Yaowarat Road in Bangkok's Chinatown Sun issued a famous speech claiming “overseas Chinese were the mother of the revolution”. Yaowarat road would later be commemorated as Sun Yat Sen Street. In 1905 Sun Yat-sen went to Singapore and merged his Xinzhongwei with the Guangfuhui “restoration society” and a few other smaller groups to form the Tongmenghui. Sun then created the three principles of the people: Minzu “nationalism”, minquan “democracy” and minsheng “welfare”. With Minzu, Sun sought national independence, as during his time China was under threat from imperialist powers. China needed to break the unequal treaties and harmonize the differing peoples of the nation. This led to the development of the Five races under one Union: Han, Mongol, Tibetan, Manchu and Muslim. For Minquan, he sought for the people to have real say in governance, and for Minsheng he sought for the government to take care of its peoples needs.  The Tongmenghui rapidly grew, finding support all over the world. With this rapid growth came more and more uprisings. On December 1st of 1907, Sun led an uprising in Zhennanguan against the Qing forces at the Friendship Pass. If you remember all the way back to when we were covering the Franco wars in indochina, the Friendship Pass is the border of China-Vietnam In Guangxi-Lang Son provinces. The uprising failed after 7 days of fighting, but Sun never gave up. In 1907 he launched more failed uprisings such as the Huanggang uprising, the Huizhou seven women lake uprising and Qinzhou uprising. In 1908 even more came, the Qin-lian uprising and Hekou uprising. And these were those backed by Sun Yat-Sen, there was a hell of a lot more going on such as the Great Ming Uprising in 1903, the Ping-liu-li uprising, the Anqing uprising. Then in 1910 Sun unleashed the second Guangzhou uprising, seeing a few hundred revolutionaries break into the residence of the Qing viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. This one was initially pretty successful,but the Qing gathered forces and turned the tide of battle. 72 revolutionaries out of 86 dead bodies were identified and revered as the 72 martyrs. To say revolutionary fever was at an all time high is an understatement. China was about to change forever, in the year 1911. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Qing government was in full panic mode. Too much damage had been dealt to the empire, China had lost face. To quell the outside world she signed humiliating treaties, but to quell her own people, now that was more challenging. The old ways gradually fell to new policies, but can an old dog learn new tricks?