1. Lary, Region and Nation , 12. [BACK]

2. One of the most detailed expositions of this view can be found in this passage by Lucian Pye:

With the Revolution of 1911, the destruction of the formal monolithic structure of government was complete . . .. Few formally organized groups closely related to the interests of the total society, or even of particular segments of the society, were directed to, and capable of, seeking political power to carry out specific policies. The only organizations that were in any sense able to seek political power were those in the military field . . .. military commanders had control of the means of violence to achieve political and economic objectives. Political power therefore gravitated to these men because society was devoid of other groups that could effectively contend for governmental control. (Pye, Warlord Politics , 8.) break

Donald Sutton gives a similar description of the conditions that led to the military's political dominance in China:

Clearly military intervention took place because of the changing relationship between military and civil institutions. While modern and semimodern [military] forces drew their strength from their affluence and their effectiveness as formal organizations, the collapse of the imperial bureaucracy in the revolution permanently weakened civil power, because no new forms of legitimation or mass parties or articulated interest groups could recreate comparable solidarity. (Sutton, Provincial Militarism , 6.)

3. Pye, "Armies," 84-85. [BACK]

4. Lary, "Warlord Studies," 442-43. [BACK]

5. James Sheridan, for example, sees Yuan Shikai's "military dictatorship" as having temporarily delayed the start of the warlord era until his death, when "the reality of provincial militarism that had been growing behind the facade of unity for several decades now emerged unobscured." James E. Sheridan, China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912 - 1949 (New York: Free Press, 1975), 51-54, 58. [BACK]

6. Sutton, Provincial Militarism , 5. [BACK]

7. A particularly useful provincial case study of the relationship between late Qing reforms and the rise of provincialism, though presented in terms of "regionalism," is provided by Charlton Lewis in Prologue to the Chinese Revolution . [BACK]

8. Young, Presidency , 20.

9. Ibid., 32. [BACK]

8. Young, Presidency , 20.

9. Ibid., 32. [BACK]

10. The original rationale for the formation of military governments, and the nomenclature used for them, originated in Tongmenghui policies that stressed the initial military struggle needed to overthrow the Qing dynasty. See "Junzhengfu xuanyan" [The inaugural manifesto of the military government] and "Junzhengfu yu ge guominjun zhi tiaojian" [Articles of the military government and citizens' armies] adopted by the Tongmenghui in 1906, cited in Zou Lu, "Zhongguo Tongmenghui" [China's Tongmenghui], in Xinhai geming , ed. Zhongguo shixuehui, 2: 13-21. [BACK]

11. In Sichuan, civilian elites opposed a military-sponsored proposal for the separation of military and civil administration, seeking a stronger government capable of dealing with secret society disturbances. Ch'en, Military-Gentry Coalition , 21. [BACK]

12. Finer, 75-80. [BACK]

13. Cao Yabo, 2: 49-50; Li Jiannong, "Wuhan geming shimo ji" [A complete record of the Wuhan revolution], in Xinhai geming , ed. Zhongguo shixuehui, 5: 176-77; Xinhai geming , ed. Zhongguo shixuehui, 6: 170; Zixuzi, 93. Stress on the anti-Manchu goals of the revolution was also useful in allaying foreign fears of revolutionary dis- soft

order, as seen in an interview given by Li Yuanhong in November 1911. Dingle, 44-45. [BACK]

14. For details on the course of the revolution in different Hubei and Hunan localities, see Esherick, 192-98, 210-12; HJDJ, 296-98, 308-9; He and Feng, 339-75. [BACK]

15. Esherick, 198. [BACK]

16. Cao Yabo, 2: 50-51. [BACK]

17. Fu Juejin and Liu Zilan, Hunan zhi tuanfang [Hunan's militia] (Hunan sheng zheng fu, 1933), 13-14, 17. [BACK]

18. Li Shiyue, 106-10. [BACK]

19. Esherick, 212-13. [BACK]

20. "Guanyu Tang Xiangming zai Xiang baoxing de huiyi—zuotan fangwen jilu" [Memoirs concerning Tang Xiangming's atrocities in Hunan—a symposium and interview record], HWZ, 8: 70. [BACK]

21. Zixuzi, 71-72; Shibao , Apr. 9, 1912. [BACK]

22. Pao Chao Hsieh, The Government of China (1644 - 1911 ) (1925; New York: Octagon Press, 1978), 307-8. [BACK]

23. He and Feng, 251; Shibao , Aug. 4, 1912, Mar. 11, 1913. [BACK]

24. Zhu Zhisan, 157-60. The same pattern can be seen in magistrate lists in Hunan local histories. See, e.g., Jiahe xiantuzhi [Jiahe County illustrated gazetteer] (1931), 22: 22; Liling xianzhi [Liling County gazetteer] (1948), 3, zhengzhizhi : 26; Shimen xianzhi gao [Shimen County draft gazetteer] (1942), lizhizhi , 10. [BACK]

25. He and Feng, 230-32; Yang Yuru, 80-81. [BACK]

26. Su Kanshi, "Hunan," 18-19. [BACK]

27. He and Feng, 233-35; Yang Yuru, 81-83. [BACK]

28. Zixuzi, 65. [BACK]

29. Hubei's three military ministries were eventually reduced to a single Ministry of Military Affairs. In early 1912, the Ministry of Government Organization was downgraded to a bureau ( ju ), and new ministries were established for education and industry. Finally, in February 1912 Hubei's eight "ministries" ( bu ) were redesignated "departments" ( si ). WQDZX, 394, 408. For brief histories of Hubei's ministries/departments, see He and Feng, 248-70. Hunan added a Department of Industry in January 1912 to bring its departments up to eight. For a list of Hunan department heads, see Zixuzi, 97-98, and Esherick, 240-41. [BACK]

30. Provincial salt and grain intendants were also directly appointed by the court. In the reforms of the last years of the Qing era, a centrally appointed provincial commissioner of foreign affairs was also added. New intendants of police and industrial affairs were likewise centrally appointed, but they were made jointly responsible to the governor and central ministries. Pao, 292, 299-302, 310, 317. [BACK]

31. Shibao , Feb. 5, 1914. [BACK]

32. Yang Yuru, 80, specifically notes the importance of public continue

meetings in political decision-making in this period. References to such meetings are frequent in contemporary accounts of the 1911 Revolution. [BACK]

33. John Fincher, "Political Provincialism and the National Revolution," in Wright, 189-98. [BACK]

34. WQDZX, 428-29; Hu Zushun, 94a-95b. [BACK]

35. Zixuzi, 95; United Kingdom, Parliament, Parliamentary Papers , 1912-1913, vol. 62, China , no. 3 (1912), "Further Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of China (December 1911-March 1912)," Cd. 6447, p. 146. [BACK]

36. USDS 893.00/1541 (Jameson, Jan. 17, 1913); Shibao , Feb. 24, Mar. 11, Apr. 6, and Apr. 7, 1913; Zhang Pengyuan, 155-63. [BACK]

37. For a discussion of early Republican political parties, see Ernest Young, "Politics in the Aftermath of Revolution: The Era of Yuan Shih-k'ai, 1912-1916," in The Cambridge History of China , vol. 12, Republican China, 1912 - 1949 , part 1, ed. Denis Twitchett and John King Fairbank (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 217-25. [BACK]

38. Shibao, Apr. 13, 1913; USDS 893.00/1621 (Jameson, Mar. 26, 1913). [BACK]

39. Esherick, 217, suggests that the provincial regimes were unviable precisely because of their elite nature. [BACK]

40. The actual size of the early Republican electorate is a matter of some debate. Young, Presidency , 114, prefers a low figure of 4 to 6 percent, while a higher figure of 10 percent is given by John H. Fincher, Chinese Democracy: The Self-Government Movement in Local, Provincial and National Politics, 1905 - 1914 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981), 223. [BACK]

41. Liu Pengfo, "Tan Yankai yu minguo zhengju" [Tan Yankai and the political scene under the Republic] (Ph.D. diss., Zhongguo wenhua xueyuan, 1978), 7-8, 185-86; Yan Youfu, "Tan Yankai de shengping" [A brief account of the life of Tan Yankai], HWZ, 10: 139-41. [BACK]

42. Liu Pengfo, 14-47. [BACK]

43. Zhou Zhenlin, 3. [BACK]

44. Tan's detractors also claim that Mei received financial payments from Tan in reward for his role in the coup. Tan Renfeng, 114; Yan Youfu, "Xinhai," 118; Lu Ying, 124-25; Zhong Boyi, unpublished oral history, Modern History Institute, Academica Sinica, section 5. [BACK]

45. Zixuzi, 69; Tao Juyin, "Changsha xinhai guangfu houde pianduan jianwen" [Fragments of information on Changsha after the 1911 recovery], HWZ, 2: 94; Tong Meicen, "Xinhai geming," 63. [BACK]

46. HJDJ, 307-8; Guo Xiaocheng, 140; Yan Youfu, "Tan Yankai," 143. [BACK]

47. Su Kanshi, "Hunan," 20. Also see Zou Yongcheng, 114. break [BACK]

48. Young, "Reformer," 239-40. [BACK]

49. Esherick, 213-15. [BACK]

50. Liu Pengfo, 14-16, 45-46. [BACK]

51. Zhou Zhenlin, 3-4. [BACK]

52. Zixuzi, 82; Tong Meicen, "Canzan Tan Yankai caibing zhi jingguo" [My experience counseling Tan Yankai's troop disbandment], Hunan wenxian 6, no. 4 (Oct. 1978): 78. [BACK]

53. Shibao , Mar. 10, 11, and 31, 1913; Zou Yongcheng, 120. [BACK]

54. Li Shiyue, 117-18. [BACK]

55. For example, Huang Xing wired his support to Tan after the March 1913 coup. Shibao , Mar. 26, 1913. Zou Yongcheng, a prominent revolutionary activist who led secret-society forces to establish a branch military government at Baoqing during the revolution, was also unsuccessful in attempts to convince Huang and Hubei revolutionaries to approve a military campaign against Tan. Zou Yongcheng, 117. [BACK]

56. Zou Yongcheng, 120; Shibao , Apr. 14, 1913. [BACK]

57. Tao Juyin, "Changsha," 95. [BACK]

58. Tao Juyin, "Ji Tan Yankai" [Remembering Tan Yankai], WZX, 5: 90; Cheng Qian, "Xinhai geming qianhou huiyi pianduan" [A partial memoir of the period surrounding the 1911 Revolution], XGHL, 1: 84. [BACK]

59. Tao Juyin, "Changsha," 95-96. [BACK]

60. Esherick, 240-41. [BACK]

61. A good example would be the head of the Department of Civil Government, Long Zhang. Long was a juren from a prominent family who was involved in a wide range of late Qing reform activities, from modern education and industrial promotion to constitutionalist and railroad-protection movements. He was also head of the Hunan Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Provincial Assembly. As principal of the Mingde School in 1904, Long was especially sympathetic to revolutionary teachers like Huang Xing. Long hid Huang in his own home to aid his escape after the exposure of a revolutionary plot. Cao Yabo, 1: 1-2; Esherick, 43, 51, 74-75, 92, 166. [BACK]

62. Su Kanshi, "Hunan," 19. [BACK]

63. Qiu Ao, "1912 nian chouzu Guomindang Xiangzhibu banli xuanju de jingguo" [My experience organizing the Hunan branch of the Nationalist Party and handling elections in 1912], HWZ, 2: 11. [BACK]

64. Esherick, 239. One contemporary political attack on Zhou Zhenlin suggested that Tan was forced to defer to him in all orders and appointments. Although clearly an exaggeration, this charge reveals that Zhou held sufficient power to attract this kind of attack. WQDZX, 3: 259. [BACK]

65. Tao Juyin, "Ji Tan Yankai," 92; Yan Youfu, "Tan Yankai," 143. break [BACK]

66. Li Chien-nung, 277. [BACK]

67. Zixuzi, 106. [BACK]

68. The best English biography of Song Jiaoren is K. S. Lieu's Struggle for Democracy: Sung Chiao-jen and the 1911 Chinese Revolution (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971). [BACK]

69. Qiu Ao, "1912 nian," 10-15. [BACK]

70. Young, "Politics," 217-19; Li Chien-nung, 278-79. [BACK]

71. Tao Juyin, "Ji Tan Yankai," 93. [BACK]

72. Cheng Qian, "Xinhai geming," 86. [BACK]

73. Li Chunxuan, "Xinhai shouyi jishi benmo" [A complete record of the events of the 1911 uprising], XSHL, 2: 175. [BACK]

74. Lu Zhiquan and Wen Chuheng, "Ji Zhan Dabei ban 'Dajiangbao' he Hankou junzheng fenfu" [Remembering Zhan Dabei's management of the Yangzi News and the Hankou branch military government], XGHL, 2: 50-53. Also see Esherick, 218-21. [BACK]

75. Li Chunxuan, 205-6. Hu Egong, "Wuchang shouyi sanshiwuri ji" [A thirty-day diary of the Wuchang uprising], Hubei wenxian 21 (Oct. 10, 1971): 70-71; 22 (Jan. 1, 1972): 26-29. Also see Esherick, 225-28. [BACK]

76. Because of his position, Liu had been promised the military governorship in the event of an uprising. Since he was absent at the time of the Wuchang uprising, he was passed over. The Office of General Supervision was therefore partially created as a consolation prize. The office was finally abolished in April 1912. He Juefei, 1: 159; Shibao , Apr. 22, July 5, and Sept. 24, 1912. [BACK]

77. Li Chunxuan, 223; Xie Shijin, 497. [BACK]

78. Cao Yabo, 2: 368. [BACK]

79. Li Lianfang, 116a-117a; Wan Yaohuang, oral history, section 1, part 13. [BACK]

80. The lack of respect shown to Li by his subordinates was commonly noted in the early months of his rule. Wan Yaohuang, oral history, section 1, part 16; USDS 893.00/1477 (Jameson, Sept. 29, 1912). [BACK]

81. Cai Ji-ou, Ezhou xueshi [The bloody history of Hubei] (Shanghai: Longmen lianhe shuju, 1958), 174-75; Zhang Zhiben, unpublished oral history, Modern History Institute, Academica Sinica, section 4, part 1; Wan Yaohuang, oral history, section 1, part 13. [BACK]

82. Five Hubei natives were appointed to vice-ministerial positions, but none were Wuchang uprising participants. He and Feng, 461. [BACK]

83. Yang Yuru, 229-32; WQDZX, 1: 429. [BACK]

84. Wan Hongjie, "Minshe chengli yu Li-Yuan goujie" [The founding of the People's Society and the collusion between Li and Yuan], XGHL, 2: 106-7; Yong Shu, "Li Yuanhong yu xinhai geming" [Li Yuanhong and the 1911 Revolution], Hubei wenxian 61 (Oct. 10, 1981): 7-8; Cai Ji-ou, 174. break [BACK]

85. Wan Hongjie, "Minshe," 107; Li Liuru, "Wenxueshe yu Wuchang qiyi jilue" [A brief account of the Literature Society and the Wuchang uprising], XGHL, 1: 305-14; Zhu Zongzhen, "Zhang Zhenwu an ji qi zhengzhi fengchao" [The Zhang Zhenwu case and its political controversy], Xinhai geming shi congkan [Collected Articles on the History of the 1911 Revolution], 1982, no. 4 (Oct. 1982): 23-24. [BACK]

86. For example, Sun used his position to prevent Jiang Yiwu from succeeding to the post of commander-in-chief after Huang Xing's departure. Tan Renfeng, 122; He and Feng, 438-39. [BACK]

87. Shibao , Mar. 5, 1912; Cai Ji-ou, 174-75; He and Feng, 473-76. [BACK]

88. He and Feng, 477-78; Shibao , Mar. 5 and 13, July 19, 1912, Apr. 19, 1913; He Juefei, 1: 103-5; Li Baizhen, 511; Pan Kangshi, "Pan Yiru zizhuan" [Autobiography of Pan Yiru], XSHL, 3: 39. [BACK]

89. Shibao , Mar. 6, 1912. [BACK]

90. The best example is the Ministry (later Department) of Justice whose first head was Zhang Zhiben, a Tongmenghui activist. In January 1913 Zhang was replaced by Zhao Yanwei, vice head of the Hubei branch of the Nationalist Party. Zhang Zhiben, oral history, section 2, part 2-3; Shibao , Jan. 30, 1913. [BACK]

91. For example, Cai Jimin, who succeeded Zeng Guangda as head of the Department of Military Affairs, was a former member of both the Literature and Forward Together societies. He was nonetheless one of Li's most loyal supporters. Shibao , Mar. 21, 1912; He Juefei, 1: 271-73. [BACK]

92. Shibao , Mar. 13, 1912. [BACK]

93. USDS 893.00/1249 (Greene, Feb. 21, 1912). [BACK]

94. USDS 893.00/1477 (Jameson, Sept. 29, 1912). [BACK]

95. Esherick, 234, follows the conventional view of Chinese historians in this regard. One common problem with this view is an unwarranted assumption that Li's position as head of the People's Society shows that he played an important role in its founding or was its guiding force. [BACK]

96. Cai Ji-ou, 210-212; Hu Zongduo, section 1B; Zhang Zhiben, "Liu Gong," 9. [BACK]

97. Shibao , May 17, 1912. [BACK]

98. Li Xiping, "Wuchang shouyi jishi" [A record of the Wuchang uprising], XSHL, 4: 83-84. [BACK]

99. Shibao , July 19, 22, and 30, 1912. [BACK]

100. Shibao , July 8 and 29, 1912. [BACK]

101. Shibao , July 25, 28, and 29, 1912; USDS 893.00/1426 (Greene, July 22, 1912); He and Feng, 479-80. [BACK]

102. For a detailed examination of the Zhang Zhenwu case and its continue

political ramifications, see Zhu Zongzhen, 23-37. Also see XGHSX, 629-54. [BACK]

103. Li Yuanhong, Li fuzongtong zhengshu [The official correspondence of Vice President Li] (Shanghai: Gujin tushuju, 1915), 13: 8a-9a, 11b-12a, 14a-17a. [BACK]

104. The enmity between Li and Zhang dated back to the Wuchang uprising, when Zhang had called for Li Yuanhong's execution. Yang Yuru, 78; Cao Yabo, 2: 41. [BACK]

105. XGHSX, 646; Hu Zongduo, section 1B. [BACK]

106. USDS 893.00/1621 (Jameson, Mar. 26, 1913). [BACK]

107. Shibao , Sept. 27 and 30, Oct. 3, 1912. [BACK]

108. XGHSX, 609-10, 627-28, 636-37, 665; Shibao , July 23, Sept. 30, Oct. 6, and Oct. 22, 1912; Li Shiyue, 111-12. [BACK]

109. Shibao , Sept. 30, 1912, Apr. 13, 1913. [BACK]

110.  Newspapers  reported that the South Lake uprising participants interpreted this appeal as a promise of personal advancement and profit, and that many joined simply for the opportunity to plunder. Shibao , Sept. 14, 27, and 30, 1912. [BACK]

111. According to the U.S. consul, Li's passage from nominal to real power was most apparent during the period from the execution of Zhang to the suppression of the South Lake uprising. One manifestation of this change was the greater respect Li received from subordinates who had been openly rude to him in the past. USDS 893.00/1477 (Jameson, Sept. 29, 1912), 893.00/1574 (Greene, Feb. 4, 1913). [BACK]

112. Li Yuanhong, Li fuzongtong , 9: 10b-14a.

113. Ibid., 13: 1b.

114. Ibid., 13: 4a. [BACK]

112. Li Yuanhong, Li fuzongtong , 9: 10b-14a.

113. Ibid., 13: 1b.

114. Ibid., 13: 4a. [BACK]

112. Li Yuanhong, Li fuzongtong , 9: 10b-14a.

113. Ibid., 13: 1b.

114. Ibid., 13: 4a. [BACK]

115. See, e.g., Li Shiyue, 112-13; and Tao Juyin, Beiyang junfa tongzhi shiqi shihua [A historical narrative of the period of Beiyang warlord rule] (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 1957-61), 3: 21. [BACK]

116. Xiao Zhizhi and Ren Zequan, "Li Yuanhong zai xinhai geminghou de zhuanbian chutan" [A preliminary exploration of Li Yuanhong's transformation after the 1911 Revolution], in Jinian xinhai geming qishi zhounian xueshu taolunhui lunwenji [Collected articles of the seventieth-year commemorative conference on the 1911 Revolution], ed. Zhonghua shuju bianjibu [China Books editorial committee] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 3: 1620-21, 1623. [BACK]

117. Li Yuanhong, Li fuzongtong , 9: 22b; Shibao , Apr. 19, 20, and 22, 1912. [BACK]

118. Shibao , May 5, 1912. For the Tongmenghui argument against the establishment of civil governors, see the wire by Li Liejun, the Tongmenghui military governor of Jiangxi, in Shibao , Apr. 22, 1912. [BACK]

120. Shibao , May 16, June 6 and 19, and July 2 and 19, 1912. break [BACK]

121. Hubei gongbao (Hubei Gazette), July 6, 1912. [BACK]

122. Shibao , Aug. 4, 1914. [BACK]

123. Shibao , July 25, 1912. [BACK]

124. Shibao , July 3 and 25, 1912. [BACK]

125. Shibao , July 19 and Aug. 18, 1912. [BACK]

126. USDS 893.00/1408 (Greene, July 9, 1912). [BACK]

127. Shibao , Oct. 3, 1912. [BACK]

128. Shibao , Sept. 28 and Oct. 7, 1912. [BACK]

129. In one case, Li and Liu simultaneously appointed different men to head a new National Assembly Election Preparation Office. Though the office clearly lay in the realm of civil administration, Liu's man was forced to resign. Li was commonly known to have made some department head appointments, and Li's influence was often formally noted by his co-signature on appointments. Shibao , Oct. 3, 1912. [BACK]

130. Shibao , Oct. 18 and 24, 1912. [BACK]

131. Shibao , Oct. 31 and Nov. 12, 1912. [BACK]

132. He Juefei, 2: 616; Shibao , June 24 and Nov. 12, 1912. [BACK]

133. Shibao , Nov. 17, 1912. [BACK]

134. USDS 893.00/1574 (Greene, Feb. 4, 1913). [BACK]

135. Shibao , Jan. 25, 1913. In the case cited here, Li canceled a currency redemption plan approved by Xia. Li also continued to have the final word in important appointments. For example, in the appointment of Wuchang's police chief, Xia presented Li with a list of candidates for his decision. Shibao , Feb. 10, 1913. [BACK]

136. For example, in early 1913 the head of the personnel section of the Department of Internal Affairs filed a complaint against Rao for violating regulations requiring the appointment of magistrates from approved candidate lists. For fear of offending Li, Xia removed the section head rather than initiate an investigation against Rao. Shibao , Mar. 11, 1913. [BACK]

137. Shibao , Jan. 24, 1913. [BACK]

138. Shibao , Feb. 20, 1913. [BACK]

139. Shibao , Oct. 1, 1913. [BACK]

140. Ch'en, Military-Gentry Coalition , 26. [BACK]

141. Sutton, Provincial Militarism , 96-100. [BACK]