The Guangdong–Guangxi War, or the 1st and 2nd Yue-Gui Wars, occurred between the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

and the

Old Guangxi Clique After the founding of the Republic of China, Guangxi served as the base for one of the most powerful warlord cliques of China: the Old Guangxi Clique. Led by Lu Rongting (陆荣廷), the clique was able to take control of neighbouring Hunan and G ...

First Yue-Gui War

When Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, attempted to re-establish himself in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

in 1917, warlord

Lu Rongting Lu Rongting (; September 9, 1859 – November 6, 1928), also spelled as Lu Yung-ting and Lu Jung-t'ing, was a late Qing/early Republican military and political leader from Wuming, Guangxi. Lu belonged to the Zhuang ethnic group.吴振汉. � ...

reluctantly supported him for a few years. After Sun split from the Old Guangxi Clique over allocation of troops, he attempted to strip

Cen Chunxuan Cen Chunxuan (1861 – 27 April 1933), courtesy name Yunjie, was a Zhuang Chinese politician who lived in the late Qing dynasty and Republic of China. Early career Cen was born in 1861 during the late Qing dynasty in Xilin, Guangxi. Hi ...

(aka Tsen Chun-Hsuan or Sam Sun-Suen), one of Lu's most important allies in Guangdong, of some of his troops, in order to assign them to the more apparently loyal Chen Jiongming, a local Guangdong warlord who had sponsored Sun. Sun Yat-sen then directed Chen Jiongming to attack

and the other Guangxi warlords. In October 1920, Chen captured Guangzhou and drove the Guangxi warlords out of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Second Yue-Gui War

In 1921, Chen hoped to unite the region surrounding Guangdong behind Sun's regime at Guangzhou and pushed into Guangxi itself. Lu sent two armies--one led by his wife's younger brother

Tan Haoming Tan Haoming (1871-1925) was a member of the Old Guangxi Clique and military governor of Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an a ...

, the other under

Shen Hongying Shen Hongying or Shum Hung-ying (; Cantonese: ''Shum Hung-ying'') (Oct 15, 1871 – January 28, 1935) was a Chinese general in the Old Guangxi Clique during the Republic of China (1912–1949). Shum was given the title of General Hip Wai (協� ...

against Chen's forces. These drove Chen back and occupied the areas of

Qinzhou Qinzhou ( postal: Yamchow, , Jyutping: ''Jam1 zau1'' (Canton) /''Ham1 zau1'' ( Local) ) is a prefecture-level city in south-central Guangxi, southern China, lying on the Gulf of Tonkin and having a total population of 3,302,238 as of the 2020 c ...

and

Lianzhou Lianzhou (), formerly Lian County or Lianxian ( postal: Linhsien; ), is a county-level city in northern Guangdong Province, China, and is the northernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Qingyuan. It is known as the host cit ...

. However, Lu's ally Chen Binghun collapsed, losing

Wuzhou Wuzhou (, postal: Wuchow; za, Ngouzcouh / Ŋouƨcouƅ), formerly Ngchow, is a prefecture-level city in the east of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. Geography and climate Wuzhou is located in eastern Guangxi borde ...

and allowing Chen Jiongming to drive up the rivers into Guangxi as allies moved in from the north. Lu Rongting was forced to step down in July 1921. By August, Chen had occupied Nanning and the rest of Guangxi.

Aftermath

Although Chen Jiongming and the Guangdong forces occupied Guangxi until April 1922, their occupation was largely nominal. Armed bands of Guangxi loyalists continued to gather under local commanders, calling themselves the

Self-Government Army {{Unreferenced, date=September 2008 The Self-Government Army was a regional army in Guangxi during the Warlord era of the early 1920s. The soldiers were primarily from the southwest of Guangxi and were largely Zhuang. Their commanders were warlo ...

. Sun Yat-sen and Chen Jiongming soon split over plans for the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

. By May 1922, Sun Yat-sen's Cantonese forces had evacuated Guangxi, leaving it to Chen. Nevertheless, Sun would return later to reform his National government.

Sources

* * * * Conflicts in 1920 Conflicts in 1921 Wars involving the Republic of China Warlord Era 1920 in China 1921 in China {{China-hist-stub

First Yue-Gui War

Second Yue-Gui War

Aftermath

See also

Sources