The Communications Clique () was a powerful

interest group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

of politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, businessmen, engineers, and labour unionists in China's

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 ...

(1912–1928). It is also known as the Cantonese Clique because many of its leaders hailed from

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. They were named after the Ministry of Posts and Communications which was responsible for railways, postal delivery, shipping, and telephones as well as the Bank of Communications. This ministry earned five times more revenue for the government than all the other ministries combined. The clique was founded by Tang Shaoyi but it was led by Liang Shiyi throughout most of its existence. They were instrumental in the rise of

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 the late

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

and early republican period. Because they were Yuan's biggest supporters of his attempt to restore the monarchy, their leaders were forced to flee the country when President

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 ...

ordered their arrest. In their absence, the New Communications Clique (1916-1919) was formed by Cao Rulin. President Feng Guozhang vacated these arrest warrants in early 1918, allowing Liang and Zhou Ziqi to return. Within a few months, the old clique became powerful enough to run as a quasi-political party in 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 repr ...

on a platform of modernization. It was a distant second compared to Duan Qirui's

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 ...

. Together with the Research Clique, they used political maneuvering to deny Cao Kun the vice-presidency, Cao ended up blaming Duan for his loss. Cao Rulin's conduct during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference caused 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 ...

which led to his downfall and the collapse of this rival "new" clique. Liang became

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

in 1921 after Jin Yunpeng was forced to resign by

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 ...

. Wu Peifu removed Liang from his month-long premiership because he suspected Liang gave concessions to the Japanese during the

Washington Naval Conference The Washington Naval Conference (or the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armament) was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, D.C., from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. It was conducted out ...

, Liang denied the allegations. Zhang Zuolin opposed the removal and that sparked the First Zhili-Fengtian War. For a very brief period after the war, Zhou Ziqi was acting

President of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Republic of China (1912– ...

. Zhou left politics after complaining of Zhili Clique domination. The clique was dissolved during the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT) against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China prop ...

. What they once controlled was given to powerful

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

businessmen like T. V. Soong and H.H. Kung. The clique supported training programs and better working conditions for its rail workers. They even supported their strikes against local warlords. They were friendly to the Fengtian clique (half of the country's railroads were in

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

) and hostile to the Anhui and Zhili cliques. Their control of the railways threatened the logistics of warlords that opposed them. In 1923, Wu Peifu attempted to wrest control of the Hankou-Beijing railway by inviting

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

to defect their workers but it succeeded too well and the Communists began agitating against Wu. He responded violently leading to 35 deaths and many injuries which only served to advertise the little-known and nascent Communist Party.

References

* * {{Warlord era Defunct political parties in China Politics of the Republic of China (1912–1949) Political parties in the Republic of China Republic of China politicians from Guangdong