The Fractured Republic: China’s Post-Imperial Dilemma When Xu Shichang assumed China’s presidency in October 1918, he inherited a nation torn […]
The Warlord Landscape of Early Republican China The turbulent years following China’s 1911 Revolution created a fractured political landscape where […]
The Rise of Duan Qirui and the Question of War Against Germany Following his reappointment as Premier of the State […]
The Rise of a Reactionary Warlord In the turbulent years following the 1911 Revolution that toppled China’s last imperial dynasty, […]
The Prelude to Empire: Yuan’s Path to Absolute Power The revelation of Yuan Shikai’s secret negotiations over Japan’s Twenty-One Demands […]
The Erosion of Republican Democracy in Early Republican China The 1911 Revolution had briefly ushered in a new era of […]
The Precarious Foundations of a New Republic When the Qing dynasty collapsed in 1912, China found itself in a perilous […]
The Fragile Foundations of Republican China When Yuan Shikai consolidated control over China’s central government in 1912, the revolutionary forces […]
The Battle Over China’s New Capital In the turbulent months following the 1911 Revolution that toppled China’s last imperial dynasty, […]
The Last Gasp of Qing Military Reform In the waning years of the Qing dynasty, as imperial authority crumbled under […]
The Historical Context of Late Qing Military Reforms In the aftermath of China’s humiliating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War […]
The Seeds of Reform: Intellectual Ferment in Late 19th Century China The 1860s marked the beginning of reformist thought in […]
The Origins of “Beiyang” and “Nanyang” The terms “Beiyang” (Northern Seas) and “Nanyang” (Southern Seas) initially emerged as geographical distinctions […]
The Rise of a Political Opportunist Born in 1859 into a powerful bureaucratic-landlord family in Xiangcheng, Henan, Yuan Shikai grew […]
The Seeds of Military Reform in 19th Century China The late Qing dynasty witnessed growing recognition among reform-minded officials that […]
The Crumbling Foundations of Imperial China The mid-19th century marked a period of unprecedented crisis for the Qing Dynasty. Following […]
The Rise of the Beiyang Warlords The Beiyang军阀集团 emerged in the late Qing Dynasty as a powerful military faction, initially […]
The Beiyang Warlords: A Contradictory Hybrid Regime The Beiyang warlord period (1912-1928) represents one of modern China’s most complex political […]
The Origins of the Beiyang Military Faction The Beiyang warlords emerged as a formidable political-military force during China’s tumultuous transition […]
The Emperor’s Stone: A Monumental Obsession In the year 1122, during the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong’s reign, workers discovered […]
The Twilight of Imperial Splendor In the spring of 1127, as Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of the Northern Song […]
A Kingdom in Crisis: The Fall of Northern Song The year 1127 marked one of China’s most humiliating historical moments—the […]
