The Battle Over China’s New Capital

In the turbulent months following the 1911 Revolution that toppled China’s last imperial dynasty, a seemingly administrative question – where to locate the new republic’s capital – became a pivotal political struggle between revolutionary forces and the ascendant warlord Yuan Shikai. This was no mere debate about geography, but rather a high-stakes contest over the future direction of the fledgling republic.

Sun Yat-sen, the provisional president of the new Republic of China, staunchly advocated for Nanjing as the capital. His reasoning went beyond symbolism – it was a strategic move to weaken Yuan Shikai’s power base. “Nanjing is where the Republic was founded,” Sun argued, “making it the ideal permanent capital. Unlike Beijing, which carries the dead weight of imperial history that has stifled all vitality. Establishing our capital here will mark a true break with the past.”

Yuan Shikai’s Northern Stronghold

Yuan Shikai, the powerful military leader who had negotiated the Qing emperor’s abdication, had no intention of leaving his northern power base. His Beiyang Army controlled much of northern China, with its headquarters in Beijing. As early as the North-South peace talks, Yuan had made his position clear through negotiator Tang Shaoyi: “The capital absolutely cannot be moved.”

Publicly, Yuan played the statesman, claiming he wished only to serve as a “public servant” for the nation’s welfare. Privately, he worked to undermine the revolutionaries’ attempts to constrain him through democratic institutions. When formally elected provisional president in February 1912, Yuan refused Sun’s request to come to Nanjing for the inauguration, citing concerns about northern instability.

The Beijing Mutiny: A Calculated Chaos

The political standoff reached its climax in late February 1912 when Sun sent a high-level delegation led by educator Cai Yuanpei to escort Yuan to Nanjing. Yuan welcomed them warmly but secretly ordered his troops to stage a mutiny. On February 29, soldiers of Yuan’s elite Third Division rampaged through Beijing, looting businesses and even attacking the delegates’ quarters.

The carefully orchestrated violence served its purpose perfectly. Foreign diplomats expressed alarm at the instability, northern merchants petitioned Yuan to stay, and military commanders warned that Yuan’s departure would lead to greater chaos. Faced with this manufactured crisis, the Nanjing government reluctantly agreed to let Yuan be inaugurated in Beijing.

The Hollow Victory of Republican Institutions

Yuan’s inauguration on March 10, 1912 marked a pivotal compromise. While Sun’s government had succeeded in getting Yuan to swear allegiance to a provisional constitution that established parliamentary democracy, the capital remained in Beijing – Yuan’s power center. This geographical victory allowed Yuan to gradually dismantle republican institutions, culminating in his 1915 declaration of himself as emperor.

The capital controversy revealed fundamental tensions in China’s early republic: between revolutionary ideals and military realities, between democratic aspirations and centralized power. Yuan’s ability to manipulate the situation demonstrated how easily institutional checks could be overcome by raw military power – a pattern that would plague Chinese politics for decades to come.

Legacy of a Fateful Decision

The choice of Beijing over Nanjing had profound consequences. It kept political power in the hands of northern militarists rather than the southern revolutionaries, setting a pattern of warlord dominance. The episode also showed how easily democratic institutions could be subverted when they lacked real social foundations or military backing.

Historians continue to debate whether a Nanjing capital might have put China on a different path. What remains clear is that this early political struggle set the tone for the republic’s troubled first decades – where constitutional forms often masked authoritarian realities, and where military power consistently trumped civilian governance. The capital controversy of 1912 wasn’t just about a city – it was about who would rule China and how.