中研院民族所圖書館 D3//只2 023 cu8 3 052002023067 9 191> Jerome Ch'en 袁世凯傳 Yuan Shih-k'ai SECOND EDITION 第二版 安中 「齿 雪开客 橋書店 ainbaf血-8 ringe Baok立
Preface to the Second Edition IN THE years since the first edition of this book appeared,a large body of primary source materials on Yuan Shih-k'ai has been pub- lished,chiefly in Taiwan.At the same time,scholars in China and the West have made considerable progress toward an understand- ing of the disintegration of the Ch'ing Empire and the rise of the Chinese republic.In spite of occasional excursions into Maoist studies,I have not lost interest in this earlier period and have been reshaping my views as frequently as time and energy allow.My re- visit to Yuan Shih-k'ai is thus an attempt to take cognizance of new scholarly developments. In the intervening years,Dr.Victor Purcell,whose comments on the manuscripts of this book were invaluable to me,Sir Percival David,to whom the first edition was dedicated,and Sir Stanley Unwin,who handled the publication of the first edition,have died. My revisit to Yuan Shih-k'ai is therefore a nostalgic one that evokes losses but many pleasant memories as well. I also remember the days when I did my research traveling on the London underground between home and office and wrote in the office,which I shared with six others,mostly Cantonese.Lon- don seemed to me then too boisterous,and research and writing were the most effective insulation.Since I changed jobs and came to northern England,I have found a quiet room,a happy home, and again insulation through my work.It is probably time to make another move. A steady factor in these years has been the affection between my daughter and myself,which has given me,and still does,a great deal of strength.Now to her this edition is dedicated. J.C. Leeds
Contents One Youth,18591882 Two Korea,1882-18g5 8 Three The Army,1895-1899 29 Four The Governor,1899-1901 44 Five The Viceroy,1901-1907 55 Six Eclipse,1908-1911 77 Seven The Revolution,1911 90 Eight The President,1912-1918 109 Nine The Strong Man,1913-1915 134 Ten The Emperor,1915-1916 159 Eleven Downfall,1916 179 , Twelve An Appraisal 195 Appendix:The Hsiaochan Officers 217 Notes 221 Bibliography 235 。ndex 249
Yuan Shih-k'ai
ONE MONGOLIA Youth,1859-1882 URIA CHIHLI 公g HIANGCHENG is a small,undistinguished town in central Honan, an area impoverished by floods and droughts.It is far from the seats of traditional learning and the modern civilization that began SHANTUNG to take root in China after 1860.A little to the north of Hiang- cheng,a farmer named Yuan Shou-ch'en made his home and brought up four sons.One of these,born on September 16,1859, HONAN was named Shih-k'ai. It was a time of foreign invasion and armed rebellion.Anglo- HWAI R. SZECHWAN HUPEI French expeditionary troops occupied Peking,the imperial capi- tal,and the Manchu emperor was in exile in Jehol.Meanwhile the rebels,the Taiping(1850-64)and the Nien (1853-68),devas- Chungking tated the lower reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers,as well CHEKIANG as the Hwai region.In the spring of 1860,as the Nien drove into HUNAN central Honan and threatened the security of Hiangcheng,Yuan Shou-ch'en took his family to the Yuan clan fortress east of town. KWEICHOW FUKIEN (At that time,it was quite common for a large clan to build a fortress for protection against rebels roaming the loess plain.)This YUNNAN refuge belonged to General Yuan Chia-san,a prominent military leader who was then fighting the rebels.The general,a classical scholar,had not been touched by modern ideas;indeed,all the HONG KONG members of his clan could be called traditionalists.At the fortress, the general's adopted son,Tu-ch'en,who was'childless,became TONKIN very fond of the sturdy infant Shih-k'ai and later adopted him. HAINAN This arrangement brought the boy into an influential military family and had an important effect on his career.2 Yuan Tu-ch'en took Shih-k'ai to Shantung in 1866 and secured MILES a classical scholar of some fame to prepare him for a career in the imperial civil service.But the boy found studying less attractive than boxing or riding.According to one story,he once scared his China in r9oo
YOUTH YOUTH teacher by catching fireflies,crushing them,and painting his face with the paste so that it glowed in the dark.As a youth,Yuan (now Hopei)and the imperial commissioner of trade for northerh became interested in geomancy and physiognomy.He ate and China,he addressed Chang,then a great scholar and industrialist, drank excessively,although he did not smoke opium.Despite his as“my brother..”Chang wrote in reply,“"Now that your rank is overindulgence,few of his fellow students could match him physi- more exalted,my address is consequently less deferential. cally.4 Chang,impressed by the young man's ability and astuteness, Yuan Tu-ch'en,who held the lucrative office of salt gabelle in- recommended Yuan to the general for a more important post.At spector for the Kiangnan district,died when Yuan was fourteen. the same time,he exhorted Yuan to give up any lingering hopes His real father died two years later,but Yuan did not have to ob- for a civil career.Through Chang's influence,Yuan was made an serve the usual three years of mourning because he had been aide-de-camp in charge of training and discipline in the brigade. adopted.He was therefore eligible to take the autumn examina- The leisurely,peaceful years from 188o-to 1882 ended abruptly tion for the first degree in 1876.5 Since he had devoted so much of when a mutiny broke out in Seoul,the capital of Korea.Since the his time to riding,boxing,and debauchery,Yuan's failure in the country was then under China's suzerainty,the acting viceroy of examination was not unexpected.Soon after,at the age.of seven- Chihli,Chang Shu-sheng,dispatched General Wu's brigade to teen,he found consolation in an early marriage.He and his bride, quell the riot.Yuan Shih-k'ai was a member of this force. whose family name was Yi,took up residence in Chenchow, The king of Korea,the son of Prince Heung Sung of the house Honan,where two years later their first son,K'e-ting,was born. of Yi,was gentle and kind but unable to rule.Upon his accession While in Chenchow,Yuan met a poor scholar named Hsui Shih- to the throne in 1864 at the age of twelve,his father had taken ch'ang,who was working as a private tutor.Before long,they the title of Tai Won Kun and assumed the authority of a'regent. were close friends and sworn-brothers.A year older than Yuan, Described by his contemporaries as having"bowels of iron and a Hsui already held the second degree when they met.Financed by heart of stone,"Tai Won Kun was rapacious and unscrupulous Yuan,Hsui went to Peking in 1879 to take the metropolitan exam- but nonetheless able.He remained in control of the government ination for the third and highest degree,which he finally obtained even after his son came of age.In foreign affairs,despite contacts in 1886.Shortly after Hsti's departure,Yuan again took the autumn already established with the United States,Great Britain,Ger- examination and again he failed.?Convinced that it was beyond many,and France,he stubbornly pursued a policy of isolationism. him to obtain the three degrees necessary for a civil service career, The turbulent experiences of China and Japan since being opened he now decided on a career in the army.At the age of twenty-one, to the West convinced him that tranquility could be achieved only he went to Tengchow,near Chefoo in Shantung,to seek a post in by seclusion.Korea's unimportance in world trade made this xeno- the Ch'ing Brigade,which was commanded by a friend of his phobic policy possible.The regent was.inflexible in enforcing the adopted father's,General Wu Ch'ang-ch'ing.s policy;.and he could be violent too,as in 1866,when he ordered At General Wu's headquarters,he met yet another scholar, the slaughter of some 2,00o Korean Catholics. Chang Chien,who gave him lessons in poetry and prose.Yuan Forces within the area were a more dangerous threat to Tai Won addressed Chang as "Sir,"for he was six years younger and pos- Kun's plan than was the West,for Korea's commercial insignifi- sessed only a "purchased title"as a secretary-to-be of the Grand cance did not diminish her strategic importance for China,Japan, Secretariat of the Imperial Court.In 19o2,as the viceroy of Chihli and Russia.Korean isolationism was viable only so long as China .Shen Tsu-hsien and Wu K'ai-sheng,1:2b-8b.The January 17,1919,issue of acquiesced in it,Japan was too weak to challenge China,and Rus- Hua-tzu jih-pao (The Chinese Mail of Hong Kong)reported that Yuan's first sia remained minimally interested in the Far East.But as Japan wife died in Tientsin on January 14,1919.It is not known how many concu- rapidly gained strength in eastern Asia after 1870,her interest in bines he had,but according to one of his sons (Yuan K'e-wen,pp.i6-18),he had 16 sons and 14 daughters. Korea grew.In 1868,1869,and 1872,she tried to establish diplo- matic relations with Tai Won Kun's government,but he refused
4 YOUTH YOUTH 5 These failures provoked considerable frustration and political dis- sension in Japan.Only the size and prestige of the old Manchu with Korea's own affairs."If Japan has a mind to restore friendly Empire restrained her from setting out to conquer Korea. relations with Korea,she should deal with her directly. In 1873,Iwakura Tomomi's government sent Soyijima Taneomi Tai Won Kun and his followers naturally opposed the treaty. to China to ratify a Sino-Japanese trade treaty and also to sound But another political party had grown up in Korea,centered out China's attitude toward Korea.The Tsungli Yamen,China's around the queen,whose family,the Mins,were the country's larg- Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade,reaffirmed its de- est noble landholders.Convinced that Korea's weakness made in- termination to maintain suzerainty over Korea at any cost.At the tercourse with foreigners inevitable,the queen and her party sup- same time,the Yainen made it clear that Korea was responsible ported the treaty.(Although this support suggested pro-Japanese for her own internal administration,and that she had the right to sympathies,an implication that the regent later exploited,it was choose between war and peace.1s motivated primarily by practical anti-isolationist considerations. .In fact,Korea could not possibly have waged a war without In fact,the Mins were of Chinese origin.)China's complacency and China's consent.In this sense,the Yamen's reply was ill-advised the refusal of Viceroy Li Hung-chang to take military action dur- and rashly encouraged Japan's aspirations.It served to intensify ing the Kanghwa episode strengthened the queen's hand.The the debate on Korea among the various samurai factions.The treaty was signed on February 27,1876. Defeated but undaunted,Tai Won Kun eventually had an op- situation became so heated that the Iwakura mission had to return hastily from the United States to stop a military expedition against portunity for revenge.On July s,1882,some Korean troops in Korea.Although Iwakura and the other moderates won the day, Seoul found that their rice ration was rotten and had been mixed Korea remained a volatile issue in Japanese politics,as shown with sand.Considering that this was the first ration they had re- by the assassination attempt against Iwakura,the rebellions led ceived for a whole year,it is not surprising that about 10,o00 sol- by Eto and Saigo,and the Formosan expedition. diers mutinied.Their leaders went to see Tai Won Kun,who prom- On October 18,1875,a small Japanese man-of-war approach- ised to deal with the matter himself.At the same time,he denied ing Kanghwa Island(off the western coast of Korea)to obtain fresh any responsibility for the incident,instead blaming it on the cor- water was fired on by Korean shore batteries.When the Japanese ruption of the queen's party and the export of rice by Japanese mer- commander sent a boat under a fag of truce to investigate the chants residing in Korea.The regent's explanation had the de- attack,it was also fired on.Later a Japanese war vessel bombarded sired effect.On the same day,the soldiers killed several of their the shore in retaliation.Japanese marines were landed and sacked Japanese military instructors and besieged and burned the Japa- the town on the island.Still not satisfied,the Japanese govern- nese legation.The Japanese minister,Hanabusa Yoshitada,es- ment sent more warships to Pusan,threatening further destruction caped in a British ship,but some of his staff were savagely beaten unless a treaty was concluded.Japan and Korea subsequently held to death.The next day,the rioters looted a number of famous negotiations in Seoul in early 1876 and reached an agreement to houses in the capiial,including the royal palace and Tai Won be submitted to China for ratification.According to the treaty, Kun's own residence.It was rumored that the queen had been Japan recognized Korea as a sovereign state with full power to poisoned.The chief minister,Min Thae Ho,was seen fatally conduct her own affairs under China's overlordship.The two na- wounded in a ditch.His son,Min'Yong Ik,who was the queen's tions were to exchange diplomatic missions,and the Korean ports nephew,shaved his head,disguised himself as a Buddhist monk, of Inchon and Wonsan were to be opened to Japanese trade. and escaped to Japan.Although the mutiny had begun as an ex- The Tsungli Yamen's attitude was conciliatory so long as Japan pression of grievances,it now became a movement against Japan was willing to respect China's suzerainty.In its reply to Japan, and the queen.Tai Won Kun,having settled his grudge,rein- stated himself as the civil and military dictator of the country. the Yamen once again stated that China did not wish to interfere Japan reacted swiftly.On July 1 and August 1,700 marines and
YOUTH 6 7 YOUTH another 7oo infantrymen landed in Korea,while the Japanese for- With the chief troublemaker thus eliminated,the crisis of 1882 eign minister,Count Inouye Kaoru,hurried to the scene of the was peacefully settled.On August 30,Japan and Korea signed the riot. Chemulpo Treaty,which gave Japan the right to garrison troops As it turned out,the queen had escaped,her maid having taken in Seoul to protect the legation.These forces were to be withdrawn the poison meant for her.Before leaving the palace,she had ap- after a year if no further incidents had occurred and the Japanese pealed to China for help.Although Li Hung-chang was in mourn- minister deemed their presence no longer necessary.Korea,for her ing for his mother,Chang Shu-sheng,acting on his instructions, part,realized that since China lacked the strength to protect her, sent the Ch'ing Brigade and three warships to Korea.The naval she must develop the power to defend herself.The king therefore vessels reached Inchon on August 10,and the infantry landed at proposed to train a corps of 500 soldiers in modern warfare and Masampo ten days later.The dispatch of troops did not mean that appointed Yuan Shih-k'ai,a young man of twenty-three,to under- Li was resolved to use force to obtain a Korean settlement.Rather take the task.17 Also,since China promised to purchase the ma- he intended to move in before the Japanese could act and to make chinery necessary to equip modern arsenals in Korea,a group of a gesture of appeasement to his political opponents at home.He Korean students were sent to Tientsin to study engineering. knew that his Hwai Army,China's best fighting force,was not In a memorial to the throne on October 10,Li Hung-chang rec- strong enough to defeat the.Japanese:The gunboats,too,were ommended that Yuan Shih-k'ai be promoted for his part in settling ill-equipped.Li's German adviser,C.von Hanneken,had sug- the crisis.1 The emperor approved Yuan's Korean appointment gested that they be supplied with modern ammunition from two days later,also awarding him the rank of sub-prefect and the Krupp,but this was financially impossible. privilege of wearing peacock feathers in his hat,a much-coveted The Ch'ing Brigade,consisting of 3,o00 soldiers in six corps, decoration.His friend Chang Chien was given the rank of magis- landed in Korea as a force sent by the Celestial Empire(t'ien-ch'ao) trate,along with the privilege of wearing peacock feathers of the to help an unfortunate vassal state.But its discipline was appall- fifth rank.Both were to remain in.Korea. ing,and Yuan Shih-k'ai had to order several executions to stop the soldiers from plundering the Koreans.After the Chinese set up their headquarters on the outskirts of Seoul,General Wu Ch'ang-ch'ing and the commanding officers of the gunboats,Ting Ju-ch'ang and Ma Chien-chung,met to decide how to carry out Li Hung-chang's orders.The next day,Wu,Ting,and Ma paid a courtesy call on Tai Won Kun,who,along with his sons and grandsons,received them politely.His residence was exquisitely furnished,and the commanders were impressed by the regent's refined taste.As Ma Chien-chung noted in his journal,"This old man is very deep."Later that day,Tai Won Kun went to Gen- eral Wu's headquarters,where the guest and his hosts,including Yuan Shih-k'ai,exchanged lengthy written communications.Pres- ently the Chinese sent away the 500 guards escorting the regent and forcibly seized him.Marching through the rain,Ting and a company of soldiers took Tai Won Kun to Masampo,a port on the southern coast.There the Chinese warship Tengyin-chou was waiting to take the regent to Tientsin,where he was held prisoner for the next three years.1
KOREA 9 TWO Tai Won Kun's ruthless dictatorship.When the crisis subsided in 1882,he returned home with the Japanese minister,Hanabusa. At that time,the Korean court was selecting an envoy to negotiate Korea,1882-1895 a loan of 120,000 francs from Japan,and Kim was suggested for the post.He declined the position,instead recommending the king's brother-in-law,Pak Yong Hio.But Kim did go with the delegation as an adviser.After the mission,he stayed in Japan, widening his contacts with Japanese political leaders.He made a deep impression on his European and Japanese friends;in turn, he became thoroughly convinced of the merits of European civi- THERE wAs a noticeable change in the political situation in Korea after the removal of Tai Won Kun.The government was still weak lization as reflected in Japan's social and economic progress.He learned of Japan's ambitions toward his own country in an inter- and corrupt,the currency debased by inflation,and the country view with Count Inouye,who confided to him:"Our armament threatened with starvation.But the queen and her party now faced programs are not solely for our own defense,but also aim at assist- no serious opposition.In foreign affairs,the new leaders were basi- ing your country to achieve full independence."Kim's other Japa- cally pro-Chinese.China respected Korea's right to govern her- nese friends further intimated that if he could gain power in self,whereas Japan urged her to adopt progressive measures that Korea,the two countries might accomplish a great deal together. many Koreans considered loathsome.The enmity between Korea So induced,Kim decided to return home. and Japan was quite strong,as the British diplomat G.N.Curzon There he found the pro-Chinese Min party firmly in control. remarked: Although the Chinese troops stationed in Seoul had been reduced The race hatred between Koreans and Japanese is the most striking phe- from 3,o00 to 1,500,the modern Korean army had grown to four nomenon in contemporary Chosan [Korea].Civil and obliging in their battalions under Yuan Shih-k'ai and four Korean commanders.* own country,the Japanese developed in Korea a faculty for bullying and Yuan was on excellent terms with the king and queen,and early bluster that is the result partly of national vanity,partly of memories of the past.The lower orders ill-treat the Koreans on every possible oppor- in 188g the king had even requested that he be made a marshal of tunity,and are cordially detested by them in return.1 the new army.Although General Wu Ch'ang-ch'ing did not agree, Yuan remained in charge of training. Still,there was ambivalence in the Koreans'attitude toward their About 5,500 men strong and equipped with some 3,oo0 Peabody- contending neighbors.They liked the Chinese but scorned their Martini rifles,the army was one pillar in the Min party's power weakness,hated the Japanese but admired their strength. structure.The other,strangely enough,was a German sent to Japan continued to approach Korea cautiously.She encouraged Korea in 188g by Sir Robert Hart,the British inspector-general her citizens to settle there,and by 1884 there were about 12 times of the Imperial Maritime Customs of China.Although he was a as many Japanese as Chinese in Korean trading centers.Further, European acting on behalf of the Chinese government,P.G.von Japan took every opportunity to foster political opposition to the Mollendorf dressed and behaved like a Korean.Headstrong and queen.Koreans also visited Japan,and many of them,including opinionated but undoubtedly able,he controlled the finances of Kim Ok Kiun,Hong Yong Sik,and Pak Yong Hio,were willing the Korean government. to listen to her suggestions on Korean modernization.Kim,a charming young nobleman,was by far the ablest of these and came The Korean commanders were Min Yong Ik,Yi Jo Yun,Han Kiu Chik,and to be regarded as the leader of an expanding pro-Japanese party. Yun Thae Jun,in charge of the Right,Left,Front,and Rear Palace Guard On the king command,he had gone to Japan in 1881 to escape battalions,respectively.L.H.Foote to the Secretary of State,December 17. 1884:
10 KOREA KOREA 11 Kim began at once to try to undermine the power of the Min party,his efforts encouraged by international developments.China time.Even though the Japanese minister and his American col- was embroiled in a military conflict with France in Annam that league,Lucius H.Foote,believed Han Kiu Chik of the Front Bat- threatened to break into a full-scale war.With China's attention talion to be sympathetic to the pro-Japanese cause,Han's assistance and energy thus diverted from Korea,the.queen's position became would not be enough in an open confict against the pro-Chinese. more vulnerable.Soon after Kim's return,the king received him Kim's party therefore had to resort to covert tactics. in an audience.At this critical meeting,Kim explained the advan- On November 8,1884,Kim and his comrades met in secret.One tages of a pro-Japanese policy,emphasizing that if Japan joined of them reported that a few days earlier Yuan had alerted his France to defeat China,she might decide to annex Korea.(Ironi- troops to sleep in their tunics and boots.The Japanese minister, cally,a few months later Sir Harry Parkes,the British minister Takezoye Shinichiro,responded by ordering his garrison soldiers to China,warned the Tsungli Yamen of the growing militarism in to practice shooting during the night of November 11.Although Japan and the danger of a Franco-Japanese coalition.)Claiming Takezoye was acting on his own initiative,the king and the inhabi- that China could no longer protect Korea adequately in the mod- tants of Seoul were shocked and frightened.Rumors ran wild. ern world,Kim maintained that to preserve her own integrity, Yuan imposed a curfew in the neighborhood of his camp as a pre- Korea must make an alliance with Japan and reach a detente with caution,and so did the Korean commanders.7 Russia.The king found Kim's argument cogent and well informed, The activities in Seoul,too feverish to remain completely clan- and promised to seek his advice on every important matter.In destine,could not fail to arouse anxiety among all concerned. fact,he gave Kim control over colonization and later over for- Throughout the night of November 17,Yuan Shih-k'ai held eign affairs. lengthy talks with Min Yong Ik of the Right Battalion and the The rise of the pro-Japanese party alarmed the Chinese repre- Chinese commander-in-chief,Wu Chao-yu,finally returning to sentatives in Seoul.But the military leaders,General Wu Chao-yu his own camp at dawn.A week later,the British consul-general, and his deputy,were indecisive,and Kim described the Chinese W.G.Aston,warned Kim Ok Kiun,"Something is bound to hap- consul-general,Ch'en Shu-t'ang,as a"boneless slug."It was left pen very soon,and people like Your Excellency ought to be more to Yuan,a relatively junior official,to inform Li Hung-chang of careful."s Kim was unperturbed.On the next day,he and Take- the danger.In a confidential message to Li on November 12,1884, zoye discussed a detailed plan for a coup d'etat.Takezoye rejected Yuan summarized the political situation in Seoul: a proposal to kidnap the king and take him to Kanghwa Island; Because of the conflict with France,China cannot deal with an emergency but he agreed to supply three million yen as initial financial back- in Korea with armed forces.The king and many of his ministers are now ing for the new government when it was constituted.He also con- planning to seize this opportunity to shake off our control in order to sented to send his troops to the palace as soon as the coup took achieve full independence.Their policy may be carried out through place.Before Kim left,the Japanese minister asked,"How am making alliances with other neighboring powers.Kim Yun Sik,Yun Thae Jun,Min Yong Ik,and others are.opposed to this plan,but the king is I to send troops to the king's aid?"Kim smiled and replied,"Your rather displeased with them. Excellency will get a message from His Majesty."Kim added I fear that in three years'time the result of this policy will become evi that the message would be delivered.by the king's brother-in-law, dent.e Pak Yong Hio.Pariing on this note,the two agreed to have no Yuan did not have to wait three years,although his firm control. further contact until the day of action. of the Korean army,and Mollendorf's of the treasury,made it ex- On November go,Kim and his followers met to complete their tremely difficult for the pro-Japanese to.challenge the Min party plans.They decided to stage the coup on December 4,when Hong directly.Their hope of success lay either in winning the soldiers Yong Sik,the newly appointed postmaster-general and a pro-Japa- over or in assassination.The former would inevitably take a long nese leader,was giving a banquet to mark the completion of the general post office building.All the important members of the gov-