Yuan Shikai Obituary

This past week, an influential member of the Chinese government has passed away. To some, this comes as the loss of the first President of the Republic of China. To most though, it comes as a relief. Yuan Shikai was a fine man for the first half of his life. He served as the Chief Military Commander in north China under the rule of Empress Dowager Cixi. He was dismissed from that position when Regent Prince Chun came to power in 1911. Yuan was recalled from retirement near the end of that same year in order to aid in the rebellion that was brewing within the Chinese borders. He was made the Commander-in-Chief of the armies and he was ordered to crush the rebels by all possible means.  Yuan made a deal with the rebels that, in return for their support, he would use his power to persuade Prince Chun and the Emperor to give up the throne and make China a republic. Using his great influence, Yuan kept his side of the deal and soon enough, China was a Democratic Republic and he was named President. It was at this point that his career took a turn for the worst. After a few months, the power got to his head. He didn’t like having to share his power with a Parliament made up of mostly people from Sun Yat-Sen’s party, the political party that was against his own. He decided to simply get rid of the need fro a Parliament altogether and crown himself Emperor. Many Chinese opposed the idea of another Emperor. They had gotten rid of Emperor Piyu in the hope of starting a republican democracy. Now, the president of that democracy had decided to name himself Emperor. The Japanese too were not very pleased with the idea of another Chinese emperor. The Japanese sent Yuan a list of Twenty One Demands that included control of many of China’s factories, railways and ports. The Japanese threatened war on the Chinese if they did not meet the demands in a timely manner. Yuan was such a cowardly man, afraid of a war with Japan that he met the demands of the Japanese government, making him even more unliked within his own people. Shortly after this, Yuan’s own army rose up against him and rebelled. Yuan terminated his plans to officially become emperor shortly after that. He died this past week of a stroke, though some say it was from the sadness of a broken heart. It is still a matter of opinion as to weather he was a good man or not. All that we know is that he did change the course of China’s history.