Feng Guozhang, (;

courtesy Courtesy (from the word ''courteis'', from the 12th century) is Gentleness, gentle politeness and Royal court, courtly Etiquette, manners. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the behaviour expected of the nobility was compiled in courtesy books. Hist ...

: Huafu 華甫 or 華符) (January 7, 1859 – December 12, 1919) was a Chinese general and politician in early republican China. He held the office of Vice-President and then President of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

. He is considered the founder of the Zhili Clique of Warlords that vied for control of northern China during the chaotic Warlord era.

Early life

Feng Guozhang was born to a real estate family in Hejian,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

(

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th-century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and rena ...

). His family had fallen on hard times and was forced to sell its properties to educate its sons; however being the fourth son, Feng was unable to complete his education due to costs. He reputedly had to survive part of his early life by playing the violin in theatres.Gray, p. 169.

Early career

Feng Guozhang, War Scenes of the Chinese Revolution

Without much recourse, Feng enlisted in the army, then undergoing reforms that would eventually create the

Beiyang Army The Beiyang Army (), named after the Beiyang region,Hong Zhang (2019)"Yuan Shikai and the Significance of his Troop Training at Xiaozhan, Tianjin, 1895–1899" ''The Chinese Historical Review'' 26(1) was a large, Western-style Imperial Chinese Ar ...

under the command of

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

. Feng performed admirably and came to the notice of a battalion commander, who referred him to the Baoding Military Academy.Gray, p. 169. It was at Baoding where he would make key friends and allies who would serve him well later on. In 1895 Feng was sent to Tokyo to serve as a military attaché and came to the attention of Yuan Shikai, who began to groom him to be one of his supporters within the Beiyang Army. However, when Yuan was forced to retire in 1908 by Manchu nobles fearful of his growing power, Feng managed to maintain a good relationship with both sides.Gray, p. 169. In October 1911, after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, he was ordered by the Qing Court to suppress the revolution in Wuhan. He held back the Beiyang Army until Yuan Shikai was restored to power and then proceeded to capture Hankou and Hanyang from the revolutionaries in the

Battle of Yangxia The Battle of Yangxia (), also known as the Defense of Yangxia (), was the largest military engagement of the Xinhai Revolution and was fought from October 18 to December 1, 1911, between the revolutionaries of the Wuchang Uprising and the loyalis ...

. On October 14 he was appointed to command the Second Army (consisting of two divisions) by the imperial court. In the battle he ordered the razing of Hankou. Then, following orders from Yuan Shikai, he halted the Qing military's advance on Wuchang. Yuan then negotiated the abdication of the Last Emperor and became the provisional president of the newly founded

in 1912. Feng followed Yuan into the new government and was honored for his contribution to the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of ...

, even though he actually took an active part in suppressing it.

Politics

Feng broke with

when he later attempted to make himself emperor. Yuan Shikai made Feng a duke, but Feng declined. Yuan then sent an admiral to assassinate Feng but the admiral was himself murdered. Feng then moved to

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

, where he joined the

National Protection War The National Protection War (), also known as the Anti-Monarchy War, was a civil war that took place in China between 1915 and 1916. Only three years earlier, the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing dynasty, had been overthrown and the Republic o ...

. His name was prominently missing from the list of proposed successors in Yuan's will. Feng then served as vice president under

Li Yuanhong Li Yuanhong (; courtesy name Songqing 宋卿) (October 19, 1864 – June 3, 1928) was a Chinese politician during the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. He was the president of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1917, and between 1922 ...

. During the occupation of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

Zhang Xun Zhang Xun (; September 16, 1854 – September 11, 1923), courtesy name Shaoxuan (), art name Songshoulaoren (), nickname Bianshuai (, ), was a Chinese general and Qing loyalist who attempted to restore the abdicated emperor Puyi in the Manchu Re ...

, Feng served as acting president, a position he kept when Li formally resigned. He was sworn in as

president of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had ...

on August 1, 1917, but his constitutionality was challenged as the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

was not reconvened to recognize it. On August 14 China entered

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

on the side of the Allies after growing evidence of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

's support for Zhang's coup was uncovered, as well as intense lobbying by Premier

Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (; ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the R ...

. He sent about 135,000 men in labor battalions to the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

and

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...

. Troops were sent into Russia to assist the Allied intervention in Russia's civil war.

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

set up a rival government in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

during September 1917 and also declared war later that month in a failed attempt to get international recognition. Feng wanted to peacefully resolve the north-south conflict, which led to Duan resigning in protest. Due to pressure from the

Anhui clique The Anhui clique () was a military and political organization, one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang clique in the Republic of China's Warlord Era. It was named after Anhui province because several of its ...

, he brought Duan back into the premiership. Feng finished the five-year term started by Yuan in 1913 on October 10, 1918, and died in

of illness. He was given a state funeral and buried in his native Hejian county of

Cangzhou Cangzhou () is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hebei province, People's Republic of China. At the 2020 census, Cangzhou's built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yunhe, Xinhua districts and Cang County largely being conurbated had a populatio ...

. Half a century later his tomb was desecrated during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

Descendants

*馮高鳴; Edward Feng: Traditional Chinese Medicine Licensure Trainer; Feng Chi-Shan's first son, and Feng Guozhang's grandson. *馮道復; Peter Feng: politics professor; Edward Feng's son, Feng Chi-Shan's first grandson; and Feng Guozhang's great grandson. *馮道行; Dao-Shing Feng: IT engineer; Edward Feng's son, Feng Chi-Shan's grandson; and Feng Guozhang's great grandson. *馮道芬; Karena Apple Feng: political consultant; Edward Feng's daughter, Feng Chi-Shan's first granddaughter; and Feng Guozhang's great granddaughter.

Relatives

*馮起山; Chi-Shan Feng: Shanghai-British commissioner of police, chief inspector, Feng Guozhang's son-in-law.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feng, Guozhang Presidents of the Republic of China 1859 births 1919 deaths Politicians from Cangzhou Vice presidents of the Republic of China Republic of China warlords from Hebei People of the 1911 Revolution Progressive Party (China) politicians Members of the Zhili clique 20th-century Chinese heads of government Empire of China (1915–1916)