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 Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Warlord Era The Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1928, when control of the country was divided between rival Warlord, military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions. It began after the de ...

. It was named after

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

province because several of its generals–including its founder, Duan Qirui–were born in

. The clique's main members were Duan Qirui, Duan Zhigui, Jin Yunpeng,

Wang Yitang Wang Yitang (; October 17, 1877 – September 10, 1948) was a politician and military leader in the Qing Dynasty and Republic of China. He belonged to the Anhui clique and formed the Anfu Club (). Later he became an important politician in t ...

, Lu Yongxiang, Zhang Jingyao, Wu Guangxin, Chen Shufan, Zheng Shiqi, Xu Shuzheng, etc. The Anhui Clique was largely a collection of military officers with connections to Duan Qirui, either due to family ties such as Wu Guangxin, being from the same locality such as Duan Zhigui, or having a teacher-student relationship such as Xu Shuzheng or Jin Yunpeng.Andrew J Nathan (1976). Peking politics, 1918-1923: factionalism and the failure of constitutionalism. University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies. ISBN 978-0-89264-131-4. However, the Anhui Clique would grow to be defined by the policy of Unification By Force, which would was the strategy of uniting North and South China through military conquest rather than peaceful negotiation. Their rivals in the Zhili Clique were opposed to Unification By Force, fracturing the Beijing governments of 1916 to 1920. Because the Anhui clique organized itself very early, it was more politically sophisticated than its warlord rivals, with an associated civilian wing being organised as the

Anfu Club The Anfu Club () was a political organisation in China. It controlled the National Assembly of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China after the 1918 Chinese National Assembly election, elections of 1918. On the order of President X ...

. The Anhui clique had an uneasy co-existence with the Zhili clique and Fengtian clique in the politics of the

Beiyang government The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name. B ...

, often finding itself at odds with the two cliques.

History

During the National Protection War (1915–1916) Duan Qirui gave his support to the Kuomintang revolutionaries against

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

. In 1916, after the death of

and the end of the Constitutional Protection War, Premier Duan Qirui would become Premier of the Republic, with

Li Yuanhong Li Yuanhong (; courtesy name ; October 19, 1864 – June 3, 1928) was a prominent Chinese military and political leader during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. He was the Provisional Vice President of the Republic of China from 191 ...

serving as the President of the Republic,

acted as a puppet of Duan Qirui due to him being easily manipulated essentially giving the Anhui Clique almost complete control over the

Beiyang Government The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name. B ...

. With Japanese support and the suppression of the Manchu Restoration in 1917, the Anhui clique became the most powerful faction in China from 1916 to 1920. The Anhui clique advocated for a hardline approach during the Constitutional Protection War, giving the revolutionaries his political support as Duan Qirui sought to become the President of the Republic. After the death of Yuan Shikai and his abdication of the Hongxiang Emperor the Beiyang government was restored to which Duan Qirui served as premier under the presidency of Li Yuanhong; Effectively giving Duan Qirui the leadership of China by controlling the weak President, the Clique would only rise in terms of power until 1920. In 1919 the

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese cultural and anti-imperialist political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak response ...

weakened their influence and eventually led to the Zhili–Anhui War in 1920 which saw the surprise defeat of the Anhui clique. In 1920 Duan Qirui resigned and the clique lacked national leadership for the next four years when all their provinces were eventually annexed by the Zhili clique by the summer of 1924. (

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

was an anomaly, the Zhili clique appointed an Anhui general in 1923 there provided he remain neutral, see Shandong Problem. Zheng Shiqi ruled until 1925 when he transferred it to Fengtian's Zhang Zongchang per agreement with Duan.) After the Beijing Coup,

Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a Chinese warlord and later general in the National Revolutionary Army. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. A ...

and

Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...

picked Duan to lead a provisional government. Lacking any significant military power, he and his few remaining supporters played Feng and Zhang against each other. They eventually removed him from power and his last followers joined the Fengtian clique.

Political wing

The Anhui clique also had a political wing known as the

(literally, ''Peace and Happiness Club'', after a Beijing lane where they met; folk etymology claims it was a pun on Anhui and

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

) which consisted of politicians that threw their fortune in with Duan. Formed on 7 March 1918 by Xu Shuzheng and

, it ran for elections for the northern

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 repr ...

and won three-fourths of the seats primarily because Anhui warlords bought the votes. The Anfu Club was a highly disciplined party created to push Duan Qirui's agenda through legal means such as electing fellow party member Xu Shichang as President of the ROC. Before the Zhili–Anhui War, it was also supported by the Fengtian clique, Xinjiang clique, and Shanxi clique. The Anfu Club was later destroyed after the Zhili-Anhui War when the Assembly was disbanded.

Financial wing

Their financial wing was the New Communications Clique (1916–1919) led by Cao Rulin, it was the rival to Liang Shiyi's Old Communications Clique. Cao's conduct during the Paris Peace Conference led to the

and his dismissal.

Military

The Anhui Clique, as opposed to their civilian partners in the

, was primarily an association of generals and military governors. Duan Qirui commanded an army independent from the Ministry of War, originally named the War Participation Army, which was funded and trained by the Japanese and consisted of around 50,000 troops. Qu Tongfeng commanded the 1st Division, Ma Liang commanded the 2nd Division, and Chen Wenyuan commanded the 3rd Division. There were also five additional mixed brigades, stationed in

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (), also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southwest ...

and the suburbs of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

.印鋳局官書課編『職員録』中華民國八年三期　3,印鋳局発行所,民国8. 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1912146 (参照 2024-05-31) Within the Central Army, the official national army of the Beijing Government, several generals and their divisions were loyal to the Anhui Clique. The 9th and 13th Division stationed near Beijing were led by Anhui Clique generals, Wei Zonghan and Li Jincai respectively, and the 15th Division led by Liu Xun would defect to the Anhui Clique following the death of Zhili Clique leader Feng Guozhang. Additionally, in 1919, the 4th, 5th, 8th and 10th Divisions were led by Anhui Clique officers and were stationed in provinces loyal to the Anhui Clique along with several other mixed brigades. The last significant component of the Anhui Clique was the provincial military governors and local armies. Wu Guangxin commanded the Upper Yangtze Garrison, which controlled several brigades and a division in Western

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. Lu Yongxiang governed

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

through the Zhejiang provincial army and He Fenglin served as the Military Commissioner of

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Chen Shufan, the nominal governor of

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, controlled most of the South of his province with several local armies under his command. The military governors of

were subservient to Duan Qirui, although it was plagued by intra-clique rivalries due to Jin Yunpeng's influence in the province and Jin's rivalry with Xu Shuzheng, who had subordinates such as Ma Liang and Qu Yingguang in the province. Ni Sichong, governor of

, was a major contributor to the Anhui Clique, and he controlled two armies in Anhui and Northern

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. The provinces of

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

and Zhang Jingyao's

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

were reliant on the Anhui Clique and led by Anhui Clique governors. Other provinces such as Xinjiang, Shanxi, and Fengtian were politically associated with the Anhui Clique during 1918-1919 as their provincial delegations in the National Assembly were part of the Anfu Club. The Anhui Clique armies fought during the Constitutional Protection War, Zhili-Anhui War of 1920 and the Occupation of Outer Mongolia. The Anhui Clique has received aid in the form of military equipment, advisors and more mostly from the Japanese, they had also received aid from the French and British, most notably in the form of warplanes and armoured cars. The Anhui Clique purchased weaponry such as bolt-action rifles and ammunition from the United States, France and others. France provided planes used in the

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

of the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...

History

Political wing

Financial wing

Military

Known Members

References

See also