Yuan Shikai (traditional Chinese: 袁世凱; simplified Chinese: 袁世凯; pinyin: Yuán Shìkǎi; Wade–Giles: Yüan2 Shih4-k'ai3; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman. As leader of the Beiyang Army, he played a decisive role in securing the abdication of the Qing court. He served as the second provisional president and the first formal president of the Republic of China, with his administration known as the Beiyang government. He declared himself Emperor of the Chinese Empire in December 1915 but was forced to abdicate in March 1916.
Born to an affluent Han family in Xiangcheng county, Yuan failed the imperial examinations in his early years and instead joined the Huai Army, with which he was stationed in Joseon (Korea) in 1882. He was appointed imperial resident and supreme adviser to the Korean government after thwarting the Kapsin Coup in 1885. He was recalled to China in 1894 and tasked with training of the New Army the next year, which laid the foundation for his Beiyang Army. Yuan joined a reformist society and played an active role in both the Self-Strengthening Movement and the late Qing reforms, including the abolition of the imperial examination system in favor of modern education. However, the Hundred Days' Reformists accused him of betrayal for tipping Ronglu off to their coup plan, which brought Yuan into Empress Dowager Cixi's favor. Promoted to Viceroy of Zhili in 1902, Yuan expanded the Beiyang Army into the best trained and most effective military force in China. Upon Cixi's death, he was dismissed by Prince Regent Zaifeng.
Following the Wuchang Uprising in October 1911, the Qing court recalled Yuan from retirement and appointed him Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet. Yuan's Beiyang Army engaged in brief fighting with Sun Yat-sen's revolutionaries before opening negotiations, brokering a deal whereby Sun would step aside in Yuan's favor if Yuan secured the abdication of the Qing court. As a result, Yuan was elected provisional president of the Republic of China, before he became the president.
In 1913, Yuan's alleged involvement in the assassination of Song Jiaoren and the reorganisation loan affair provoked Sun Yat-sen's Second Revolution, which was decisively crushed. He then outlawed the Kuomintang, dissolved the National Assembly, and replaced the provisional constitution. In December 1915, Yuan proclaimed himself Hongxian Emperor (洪憲), provoking the National Protection War. In March 1916, faced with widespread opposition to his monarchy, Yuan abdicated and restored the Republic, having been emperor for only 83 days. He died of kidney failure in June at the age of 56, leaving behind a significantly weakened Beiyang government and a fragmented political landscape, which soon plunged China into a period of warlordism.
On 16 September 1859, Yuan was born in the village of Zhangying (張營村) to the Yuan Clan which later moved 16 kilometres southeast of Xiangcheng to a hilly area that was easier to defend against bandits. There, the Yuan family had built the fortified village of Yuanzhaicun (袁寨村). He was the fourth of six sons, and in 1866 was adopted by his father's younger brother, until he died in 1873. From that point Yuan was raised by several other uncles, before returning to Xiangcheng in 1878. During those years he had lived in the province of Shandong, and then in Nanjing and Beijing. Yuan's family was affluent enough to provide Yuan with a traditional Confucian education. As a young man he enjoyed riding, hunting with dogs, boxing, and entertainment with friends. Though hoping to pursue a career in the civil service, he failed the imperial examinations twice, in 1876 and 1879, leading him to decide on an entry into politics through the Huai Army, where many of his relatives served. His career began with the purchase of a minor official title in 1880, which was a common method of official promotion in the late Qing.
Between 1877 and 1878, Yuan accompanied one of his uncles who was sent to assist relief efforts after a drought in the province of Henan, and Yuan was praised by officials there for his role in helping manage the response, including in punishing those who embezzled relief funds. It was during that time that he began learning about leadership and politics, and made connections with senior government officials. After seeing the conditions in Henan as a result of the natural disaster there, Yuan wrote that he wanted to dedicate himself to "serving the country". Using his father's connections, Yuan traveled to Tengzhou, Shandong, and received a post on the military staff of the commander of the province's coastal defenses, Wu Changching, in 1881. Wu had owed a debt to Yuan's foster father, and also provided Yuan with tutors to help him study for another attempt at the imperial examination. Yuan planned to retake it, but this never happened because his deployment to Korea in 1882. Around this time he expressed his willingness to fight to defend China from foreign powers. Yuan's interest in military history and martials arts made him want to join the army, though he was disillusioned when he saw how poorly the soldiers were paid. Yuan's first marriage was in 1876 to a woman of the Yu family who bore him a first son, Keding, in 1878. Yuan married nine more concubines throughout the course of his life.
In the early 1870s, Korea under the Joseon dynasty was in the midst of a struggle between isolationists under King Gojong's father Heungseon Daewongun, and progressives, led by Empress Myeongseong, who wanted to open trade. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan had adopted an aggressive foreign policy, contesting Chinese domination of the peninsula. Under the Treaty of Ganghwa, which the Koreans signed with reluctance in 1876, Japan was allowed to send diplomatic missions to Hanseong, and opened trading posts in Incheon and Wonsan. Amidst an internal power struggle in 1882 which resulted in the queen's exile, the Viceroy of Zhili, Li Hongzhang, sent 3,000 men of the Huai Army under Wu Changqing into Korea to restore stability, which became Yuan's first military deployment. Yuan distinguished himself during his service on Wu's staff in Korea, including both in battle and in his administrative ability, and was recommended for promotion to the rank of subprefect by Wu. Yuan also became known for enforcing strict discipline among the Chinese troops in Korea. In the spring of 1884, after Wu returned to China, Yuan became the commander of the Chinese forces in his place. The Korean king proposed that some of his troops be trained by the Chinese, and Yuan was put in charge of training the Korean royal guard, as the head of a new Capital Guard Command.
China's reassertion of suzerainty over Korea aggravated the split between pro-Japanese Korean progressives and pro-Chinese conservatives. In December 1884 the progressives attempted to form a new government with Japanese backing during the Kapsin Coup, and the conservatives led by Queen Min turned to the Chinese garrison for help. Yuan led his troops to defeat the outnumbered Japanese and recover King Gojong. The 26-year-old Yuan established himself as a resourceful leader, and from that point Viceroy Li Hongzhang gave him a critical role in regaining Chinese control of Korea. In October 1885, Yuan was appointed Chinese imperial resident in Korea by Li, restoring a custom that dated back to the Mongol Yuan dynasty. Yuan spent the next nine years in that position and operated as if he were above the law. He ended any attempts at reform, changed the composition of the Korean government, and worked to minimize any other foreign influence, especially Japanese. Yuan was allied to the corrupt Min oligarchy, and historians have characterized his reign in Korea as a "dark age". His behavior and rule created a lot of antagonism against him and China among Koreans. However, during those years China was able to maintain its control over Korea and contain Japanese and Russian influence. He wanted to remove Gojong from the throne on several occasions, but was prevented from doing so by Li Hongzhang.