China during the First World War
The Great War divided China and helped bring Duan Qirui to power
The KMT had kept battling Yuan Shikai after the failed Second Revolution in 1913. They had been banned as a political party by Yuan and continued to fight to overthrow him. In 1915, members of the KMT, including Chiang Kai-shek, future President of the Republic of China, attempted to seize the Shanghai Arsenal by land and sea. This was a plan developed by Chen Qimei.
Undaunted by the loss, they tried again in 1916. This time they seized Fort Chiangyin. The garrison surrendered and Chiang and his troops held it for 5 days until the troops that had surrendered changed their minds, overwhelmed the KMT forces who then withdrew. That left Chiang briefly alone in the fort before he himself escaped to Shanghai.
Chen, who had planned these attacks, was then assassinated in Shanghai in 1916, aged 39, by one of Yuan’s generals about a month before Yuan himself died of natural causes.
The KMT was active in opposing Yuan’s monarchy movement in 1916 and it even acquired and used two biplanes in northeast China during the anti-Yuan rebellions that year.
Among the overseas Chinese, the KMT still had a lot of support. There was a worldwide revolutionary movement that was particularly active among the Chinese in southeast Asia and in North America. In 1915, San Francisco hosted the Panama and Pacific World Fair. The American Chapter of the KMT organized a reunion there for July 5. So many Chinese Americans attended that the Board of the Fair officially called that day Kuomintang Day and there was a huge turnout.
KMT supporters in Canada also took part in the anti-Yuan activities. They trained with the KMT Military Society there and some returned to China from Canada to fight against Yuan’s monarchy.
The KMT is still around today in Taiwan. It is one of two leading political parties there. Currently, the President is from the other political party. But with Presidential elections scheduled in Taiwan in January 2024, it is possible that the KMT could assume power again.
In the People’s Republic of China, by law, the Chinese Communist Party is on top and any other political parties must accept the CCP’s leading role. Eight other minor parties do exist in the People’s Republic, but only in an advisory role and they are supervised by the CCP. One of the minor parties on the mainland is called the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.
In the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong, more political parties are allowed and they have a multi party system. However, their freedoms are limited because of the Basic Law. That law sets the limits on autonomy in those regions and the National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing is the final interpreter of what is allowed.
Returning to our story, Yuan Shikai died in 1916 and Li Yuanhong became President. Would China resolve its divisions and come together? Would it become a functioning republic?
With Yuan Shikai dead, Duan Qirui was Premier and Li Yuanhong, President. They had both both served under Yuan Shikai. But Li Yuanhong’s military career had begun before Yuan’s military reforms and he was not part of Yuan’s Beiyang clique. Li had been chosen by the revolutionaries during the Wuchang uprising. And while he was Yuan Shikai’s Vice-President, he had also been Sun Yat-sen’s Vice-President. Yuan didn’t trust him much and sidelined him during the monarchy project and kept him under house arrest. Li declined the title of prince during the monarchy, which kept him as an acceptable choice to the anti-Yuan rebels.
Duan Qirui had also started his military career before Yuan’s reforms and had been sent to Germany for training by Earl Li Hongzhang. But then he fell under Yuan’s leadership and was part of the Beiyang clique. He fought against the revolution in Wuhan in 1911 under Yuan’s overall command. He then joined Yuan’s cabinet once Yuan was President and had served as his Minister of War and Premier. But they did not see eye to eye and Duan had already been dismissed from Cabinet before Yuan tried to become Emperor.
The 1912 provisional constitution was brought back into effect, at least as far as the re-opened Congress was concerned. Sun Yat-sen and the KMT hoped that things would go better this time.
World War 1 was an important issue and Li and Duan did not see eye to eye on it. Li preferred that China stay neutral. Duan argued that China should enter the war against Germany and Austria. Both Li, his Vice-President and Congress, after a vote, opposed China entering the war. Duan did not accept that result and used bullying tactics and negotiation to try to get his way. Congress voted to request his resignation and in May 1917, Li dismissed Duan as Premier.
At that moment, Zhang Xun, the General with the Queue, attempted to seize power and restore Pu Yi as Qing Emperor. Zhang was a follower of Yuan Shikai who had fought against the revolutionaries in Nanjing in 1911. He remained a general when Yuan Shikai became President, but never cut off his queue, which had been a required hairstyle during the Qing Dynasty. Zhang helped defeat the KMT in Nanjing during the Second Revolution. He didn’t support Yuan becoming Emperor because he believed in the Qing but was essentially neutral in 1916. Now in 1917, during the divisions between Duan and Li, Zhang and 500 troops entered Beijing and restored the now teenage Pu Yi to the throne for about 12 days. His small force is sometimes called the Pigtail Army because they also wore Qing style queues of hair behind their head. They forced the residents of Beijing to raise Dragon Flags on every street.
This move was deeply unpopular in the rest of China. No one moved to support him. Duan Qirui led the forces that suppressed the short-lived Qing restoration and assumed power thereafter. Zhang was forced to flee to the Dutch legation where he ceased to be a major player after that. Li Yuanhong resigned as Chinese President. Feng Guozhang became the new President.
Duan had thus become the most powerful person in China. Those around him became known as the Anfu Clique or Anhui Clique. Duan was born in Anhui province, as were many of his supporters. The Anfu name refers to a club in Beijing where they met.
With Duan supreme, in August 1917 China entered the World War on the same side as Japan, Great Britain, France and Russia.
While China did not really contribute soldiers or weapons to the victory in the war, they did contribute labourers. The Chinese Labour Corps in Britain and the Corps de Travailleurs Chinois in France, contributed around 140,000 Chinese workers by the end of the war. That helped with labour shortages in the UK and on the European continent. Most of the workers came from Shandong province. Some came from neighbouring areas. They were generally aged 20 to 35.
To travel to western Europe, they crossed the Pacific to Canada, which was virtually closed to Chinese immigration. They landed secretly in Victoria, British Columbia and quarantined in Metchosin. Then they continued by railway to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they boarded ships to cross the Atlantic. After the war, many returned that way too. Some never made it and are buried in British Columbia and Ontario along their fateful journey.
They mostly did manual labour, like unloading ships, building dugouts, repairing roads, working in factories. After the war, some retrieved bodies, filled in trenches and even cleared landmines. Against the wishes of British unions, some Chinese performed more skilled work like riveting and engine repairs.
Five Chinese men were awarded Britain’s Meritorious Service Medal and all those who entered a theatre of war received a British War Medal in bronze.
The Armistice ended the fighting in November 1918, but most were still working until May 1919. The Chinese generally preferred working for the French than the British. The wages paid by the French were better and those who worked in the countryside or factories of France generally had free time on their days of rest and were able to move freely. Factory workers were paid similar wages to French citizens and those labourers might have had the best experience of any group of overseas Chinese to that time. Between 5000 and 7000 stayed permanently in France and became the nucleus of Chinese communities around Paris. The last surviving member died in 2002 in La Rochelle. He had also served in the French army in World War 2. On the other hand, 4 Chinese labourers were killed and nine more wounded when the British opened fire on a protest in December 1917.
For decades, their contribution to the war effort was under recognized. Beginning in 2002, ceremonies have taken place at the Chinese cemetery in the Somme area of France. It has 842 Chinese gravestones, mostly from a cholera outbreak and because that is where fierce fighting occurred. Overall, there were about 2000 official casualties among the Labour Corps, including from the so-called Spanish flu which became a worldwide pandemic. The memorials feature Chinese characters with sayings like "Faithful unto death”, "A good reputation endures forever” and "A noble duty bravely done”.
Towards the end of the war, Chinese people, especially Chinese students in Japan, came to realize that Duan Qirui had signed a series of secret agreements with Japan to gain power. He negotiated a series of private loans totaling 145 million yen from Japan. In exchange for supporting Duan and his clique, Duan agreed to enter the World War on Japan’s side. More so, and this would not be known until later, Duan had signed off on Japan taking control in Shandong province, following their takeover of German interests there. Most Chinese expected China to regain those former German concessions once the war was over and expected this to be part of the Versailles Treaty since China was on the winning side. It was quite a shock when Chinese diplomats learned that Duan had committed treason for private funds to build up his powerbase. But that would be the reveal. Before then, Duan also made other secret agreements with Japan.
Duan and Japan signed the Sino-Japanese Joint Defence Agreement. It was reached in early 1918 after Russia’s communist October Revolution. China granted Japan privileges along the Chinese border with Russia. Japan declared its intentions innocent and said as allies, there was no reason that their countries shouldn’t cooperate militarily there, just as the Triple Entente coordinated for battles on the western front in Europe. The effect however was placement of Japanese troops throughout northern China and allowed to commandeer resources that they needed. Over 70,000 Japanese soldiers entered China and some Japanese commanded Chinese soldiers on Chinese territory.
Although it was a secret agreement, word got out through reporting by foreign newspapers and Chinese students, especially in Japan became aware and opposed it. Word spread and most Chinese who learned of it strongly objected to it. Japan threatened to stop further loans to Duan if Japan’s demands were not met. Duan honoured his commitments to Japan.
The agreement only ended in 1921 once Duan lost power.
Next time, we’ll see how Duan lost power and what role popular protest and mass mobilization play.
