The Legend of Yuan Shikai (New Edition)

Author: Li Zongyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Yuan Shikai is an extremely important figure in modern Chinese history, a disguised feudal autocrat who pretended to reform. His name has become synonymous with reactionary politics in modern China, and every history book on modern China cannot fail to mention him. Based on the review of government archives, private correspondence, and published monographs and historical materials related to Yuan Shikai, this book further explores his life. The main purpose of this book is to expose the barbarity, ignorance, hypocrisy, and stubbornness of feudal autocracy, to explain the general and specific laws that dominated Chinese social and historical development in the late Qing and early Republican periods, and to demonstrate the inevitability of the failure of those who violated these laws. Yuan Shikai navigated the two eras, serving as a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty and the first president of the Republic of China, and was both a participant and witness to modern China's transformation. Yuan Shikai was an undeniable playboy. Early in his life, he failed the imperial examinations, abandoned literature for martial arts, joined Wu Changqing, attached himself to Li Hongzhang, courted Ronglu, pleased the Empress Dowager, and simultaneously did not forget to bet on the reformists. Calculating and shrewd, he used his wits and skillfully maneuvered, ultimately rising to the pinnacle of power. In the early days of the Republic, he seized the presidency and even declared himself emperor, establishing a new era. This book is well-documented and concisely written. As a strictly historical work, reading it from multiple perspectives will undoubtedly be highly beneficial.