SHIFTING SCENES ON THE STAGE OF NEW CHINA 



42' 



navy (Closh'u) have combined as the 

 Satcho element to control the Japanese 

 cabinets through those branches of the 

 government administration. 



In China the army is by far the more 

 important of the two, and over a thou- 

 sand of the younger Chinese army offi- 

 cers obtained their education and train- 

 ing in the Japanese army schools. 



Until 19 14 the issue had been clearly 

 drawn between the mandarinate as a 

 whole and the more modern, radical ele- 

 ment. The undivided mandarinate, direct 

 heir to the Manchus, had successfully 

 defended its right to control the admin- 

 istration of the country in 1913 against 

 the attacks of the radicals, led by Sun 

 Yat-sen and others. Loans obtained 

 from Western lending nations assisted 

 them in their control, furnishing them 

 with the financial aid needed in reorgan- 

 izing the revenues and currency of the 

 country. 



During this period Japan, having no 

 money to lend, was thought by the man- 

 darinate to be furnishing refuge and en- 

 couragement to the radical element, which 

 was continuously plotting revolt against 

 the party in power ; but with the begin- 

 ning of the World War a new situation 

 was brought about. Europe needed its 

 money, and as a result the mandarinate 

 began to suffer through lack of funds. 

 The radicals began to regain hope. 



THE MONARCHICAL FIASCO 



In 1916 came the great monarchical 

 fiasco of Yuan Shih-K'ai and the latter's 

 death, some say from a broken heart. 

 He left the government treasury impov- 

 erished and the people of the country 

 thoroughly suspicious of the intentions 

 of the mandarinate. 



In 191 7 America entered the war on 

 the side of the Allies and invited the 

 hitherto neutral nations to join her 

 against the Germans. The mandarinate, 

 now led by Tuan-Ch'i-jui, and the so- 

 called Anfu Club saw in this invitation 

 an opportunity to obtain the financial as- 

 sistance necessary in putting down revolt 

 and making secure its control of the 

 country. The radical element realized 

 the danger and tried to prevent a declara- 

 tion of war. The latter had the majority 

 of the people with it, for there was much 

 suspicion of a plan for a return of the 



Manchu House and there was also a 

 genuine fear that joining the Allies 

 meant throwing China upon the mercy of 

 Japan, already unpopular because of the 

 famous "21 demands" of 191 5. 



Tuan-Ch'i-jui, who had had his Anfu 

 Club in excellent working trim for some 

 time, by clever tactics obtained his dec- 

 laration of war, and through the control 

 which the Anfu Club had over the minis- 

 tries of communications and finance, he 

 was able, on scant security, to get money 

 for his plans from Japanese bankers. 

 He made an attempt to force the radical 

 element in the south to come to terms, 

 but without success. 



The close relationship which appeared 

 to exist between his party, the Anfu Club, 

 and Japanese money-lenders gave his 

 enemies in the Pei Yang Party their op- 

 portunity. They refused to help him in 

 his efforts to coerce the radicals by mili- 

 tary force, bringing about a stalemate 

 and an attempt at a peace conference. 



The World War ended with the defeat 

 of Germany, and Japan, faced with a 

 more serious situation in Siberia, cut off 

 the ready supply of funds which was 

 helping the Anfu Party in China. Gen- 

 eral Wu-Pei-fu, commander of the forces 

 of Chihli Province under Military Gov- 

 ernor Ts'ao-K'un — the leader of the 

 Chihli faction of the Pei Yang Party, 

 which was opposed to the Anfu faction — 

 withdrew his troops from between the 

 forces supporting the radicals and those 

 of the Anfu faction, thus precipitating 

 open strife between the tw r o, in which the 

 Anfu faction was defeated. 



Tuan-Ch'i-jui, with those loyal to the 

 Anfu Party, attempted to suppress the 

 Chihli faction, but he found that the ac- 

 cumulation of distrust of the mandarin- 

 ate. himself, and the Anfu Club, the last 

 because of its intrigues with the Japanese, 

 turned the country against him, and he 

 lost. 



The alignment in this last struggle was 

 interesting. Dividing the mandarinate 

 of the country as a whole into two fac- 

 tions, we had in the south the Kuang- 

 tung Party, while in the extreme north 

 was the Pei Yang Party, with the neutral 

 league in Central China benevolently neu- 

 tral toward the extreme north. * 



In the beginning the new generation 

 of scholars, led by Sun Yat-sen, Tang 



