Beijing coup
Encyclopedia
The Beijing coup refers to the October 1924 coup d'etat
by Feng Yuxiang
against Chinese President
Cao Kun
, leader of the Zhili warlord faction. Feng called it the Capital Revolution . The coup occurred at a crucial moment in the Second Zhili–Fengtian War and allowed the pro-Japanese Fengtian clique to defeat the previously dominant Zhili clique. Followed by a brief period of liberalization under Huang Fu
, on November 23 this government was replaced by a conservative, pro-Japanese government led by Duan Qirui
. The coup alienated many liberal Chinese from the Beijing government.
became president by bribing the National Assembly
. His Zhili clique, whose military was commanded by Wu Peifu
, had already established itself as the dominant military force in China through a succession of resounding military victories. However, Cao was not satisfied with being just a strongman and wished the prestige of being officially titled head of state
. After ousting President Li Yuanhong
from office, he openly offered five thousand dollars to any member of parliament who would elect him president. There was massive public outrage against his plan but he succeeded despite a counter-bribe by Zhang Zuolin
, Duan Qirui
, and Sun Yat-sen
to not elect him. Inaugurated on Double Ten Day
that year with a newly minted constitution, he subsequently neglected his duties as president to concentrate on defeating the rival warlord factions
.
One of his subordinates, the semi-Zhili affiliated Feng Yuxiang
, became increasingly dissatisfied with Cao and Wu Peifu
. His sympathies lay with Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang
government in Guangzhou
, and Japan had also supplied him with 1.5 million yen (via the warlord Zhang Zuolin) in hopes he would agree to topple the Cao government. The Japanese wanted to remove the Zhili government due to their strong anti-Japanese policy. In the autumn of 1924, the Zhili clique went to war with Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique
in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War
. With Wu at the helm of Zhili
's armies, it was expected to be victorious. If the Fengtian clique was destroyed, the Zhili clique could finish off its few remaining rivals in the south with ease.
Early on 23 October, however, Feng Yuxiang's Beijing defence troops seized control of key government buildings, public utilities, and the roads leading into and out of Beijing. Cao Kun was placed under house arrest and stripped of his presidency. Upon receiving news of the coup, the infamous "Dog-Meat" warlord Zhang Zongchang
of Shandong threw his support behind the Fengtian clique, putting them into a favourable military position. Zhang Zuolin took full advantage of the coup, pursued the Zhili army and won a major victory outside Tianjin
.
Wu and his remaining forces fled to central China where they met up with his ally Sun Chuanfang
. All of north China was divided between the Fengtian clique and Feng Yuxiang, whose forces were renamed as the Guominjun
(Nationalist Army). Zhang Zuolin took the prosperous northeast while Feng was left with the poor northwest.
After the coup, Feng placed Huang Fu
as acting president of the Beijing government. He initiated several reforms on Feng's behalf including the expulsion of Puyi
from the Forbidden City
and abolishing the role of the old bell and drum towers as the official timepiece. However, Huang refused to guarantee foreign privileges and Zhang Zuolin became despondent at his one-time ally. The only major agreement Feng and Zhang made was to dissolve the discredited National Assembly and create a provisional government
with the pro-Japanese but relatively competent Duan Qirui
as its head.
Feng and Zhang came to blows when the Fengtian general Guo Songling
defected to the Guominjun on November 22, and started the Anti-Fengtian War
. Six days after this, Li Dazhao
led a so-called First United Front movement to topple Duan's provisional government, calling it the Capital Revolution. Feng wanted to support this but changed his mind, preferring to concentrate his forces on Zhang's army. As a result, the Capital Revolution movement collapsed.
While the defeat of the powerful Zhili clique paved the long-term success of the Northern Expedition by the Nationalist Party, its greatest impact was to buy time for the Kuomintang to build up its National Revolutionary Army
. Had the coup not happened, the Zhili clique would surely have finished off the Kuomintang after defeating the Fengtian clique. Feng was saved from losing all his power by allying with Chiang Kai-shek
during the Northern Expedition, but later became disillusioned with the Generalissimo's leadership. He rebelled against Chiang and was defeated during the Central Plains War
of 1930.
's film The Last Emperor
though it erroneously claims the president fled the capital instead of being put under house arrest.
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
by Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was a warlord and leader in Republican China. He was also known as the Christian General for his zeal to convert his troops and the Betrayal General for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911, he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined...
against Chinese President
President of the Republic of China
The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
Cao Kun
Cao Kun
|-...
, leader of the Zhili warlord faction. Feng called it the Capital Revolution . The coup occurred at a crucial moment in the Second Zhili–Fengtian War and allowed the pro-Japanese Fengtian clique to defeat the previously dominant Zhili clique. Followed by a brief period of liberalization under Huang Fu
Huang Fu
Huáng Fú was a general and politician in early republican China. He was born in Hangzhou.-Biography:Huang studied at Zhejiang Military College and Qiushi Academy , later went to Japan. Huang came in contact with the Revolutionary Alliance while studying in a military academy in the Empire of Japan...
, on November 23 this government was replaced by a conservative, pro-Japanese government led by Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui was a Chinese warlord and politician, commander in the Beiyang Army, and the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.- Early life :Born in Hefei as Duan Qirui , his...
. The coup alienated many liberal Chinese from the Beijing government.
Events
In 1923, Cao KunCao Kun
|-...
became president by bribing the National Assembly
National Assembly of the Republic of China
The National Assembly of the Republic of China refers to several parliamentary bodies that existed in the Republic of China. The National Assembly was originally founded in 1913 as the first legislature in Chinese history, but was disbanded less than a year later as President Yuan Shikai assumed...
. His Zhili clique, whose military was commanded by Wu Peifu
Wu Peifu
Wu Peifu or Wu P'ei-fu , was a major figure in the struggles between the warlords who dominated Republican China from 1916 to 1927.- Early career :...
, had already established itself as the dominant military force in China through a succession of resounding military victories. However, Cao was not satisfied with being just a strongman and wished the prestige of being officially titled head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
. After ousting President Li Yuanhong
Li Yuanhong
Li Yuanhong was a Chinese general and political figure during the Qing dynasty and the republican era. He was twice president of the Republic of China.- Early history :...
from office, he openly offered five thousand dollars to any member of parliament who would elect him president. There was massive public outrage against his plan but he succeeded despite a counter-bribe by Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin was the warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 . He successfully invaded China proper in October 1924 in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. He gained control of Peking, including China's internationally recognized government, in April 1926...
, Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui was a Chinese warlord and politician, commander in the Beiyang Army, and the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.- Early life :Born in Hefei as Duan Qirui , his...
, and Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
to not elect him. Inaugurated on Double Ten Day
Double Ten Day
Double Ten Day is the national day of the Republic of China and celebrates the start of the Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911, which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in China and establishment of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912...
that year with a newly minted constitution, he subsequently neglected his duties as president to concentrate on defeating the rival warlord factions
Warlord era
The Chinese Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China, from 1916 to 1928, when the country was divided among military cliques, a division that continued until the fall of the Nationalist government in the mainland China regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia,...
.
One of his subordinates, the semi-Zhili affiliated Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was a warlord and leader in Republican China. He was also known as the Christian General for his zeal to convert his troops and the Betrayal General for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911, he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined...
, became increasingly dissatisfied with Cao and Wu Peifu
Wu Peifu
Wu Peifu or Wu P'ei-fu , was a major figure in the struggles between the warlords who dominated Republican China from 1916 to 1927.- Early career :...
. His sympathies lay with Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
government in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, and Japan had also supplied him with 1.5 million yen (via the warlord Zhang Zuolin) in hopes he would agree to topple the Cao government. The Japanese wanted to remove the Zhili government due to their strong anti-Japanese policy. In the autumn of 1924, the Zhili clique went to war with Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique
Fengtian clique
The Fengtian Clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's warlord era. It was named for Fengtian Province and led by Zhang Zuolin...
in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War
Second Zhili-Fengtian War
The Second Zhili–Fengtian War of 1924 was a conflict between the Japanese-backed Fengtian clique based in Manchuria, and the more liberal Zhili clique controlling Beijing and backed by Anglo-American business interests...
. With Wu at the helm of Zhili
Zhili
Zhílì was a northern province in China from the Ming Dynasty until the province was dissolved in 1928 during the Republic of China era.-History:...
's armies, it was expected to be victorious. If the Fengtian clique was destroyed, the Zhili clique could finish off its few remaining rivals in the south with ease.
Early on 23 October, however, Feng Yuxiang's Beijing defence troops seized control of key government buildings, public utilities, and the roads leading into and out of Beijing. Cao Kun was placed under house arrest and stripped of his presidency. Upon receiving news of the coup, the infamous "Dog-Meat" warlord Zhang Zongchang
Zhang Zongchang
Zhang Zongchang , nicknamed the "Dogmeat General" and "72-Cannon Chang" , was a Chinese warlord in Shandong in the early 20th century...
of Shandong threw his support behind the Fengtian clique, putting them into a favourable military position. Zhang Zuolin took full advantage of the coup, pursued the Zhili army and won a major victory outside Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
.
Wu and his remaining forces fled to central China where they met up with his ally Sun Chuanfang
Sun Chuanfang
Sun Chuanfang aka the "Nanking Warlord" or leader of the "League of Five Provinces" was a Zhili clique warlord and protege of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu .- Biography :Sun Chuanfang was born in Lichen, Shandong...
. All of north China was divided between the Fengtian clique and Feng Yuxiang, whose forces were renamed as the Guominjun
Guominjun
The Guominjun , a.k.a Nationalist Army, KMC, or Northwest Army , refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. It was formed when Feng betrayed the Zhili clique during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War with the Fengtian clique in 1924...
(Nationalist Army). Zhang Zuolin took the prosperous northeast while Feng was left with the poor northwest.
After the coup, Feng placed Huang Fu
Huang Fu
Huáng Fú was a general and politician in early republican China. He was born in Hangzhou.-Biography:Huang studied at Zhejiang Military College and Qiushi Academy , later went to Japan. Huang came in contact with the Revolutionary Alliance while studying in a military academy in the Empire of Japan...
as acting president of the Beijing government. He initiated several reforms on Feng's behalf including the expulsion of Puyi
Puyi
Puyi , of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China, and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing Dynasty. He ruled as the Xuantong Emperor from 1908 until his abdication on 12 February 1912. From 1 to 12 July 1917 he was briefly restored to the throne as a nominal emperor by the...
from the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
and abolishing the role of the old bell and drum towers as the official timepiece. However, Huang refused to guarantee foreign privileges and Zhang Zuolin became despondent at his one-time ally. The only major agreement Feng and Zhang made was to dissolve the discredited National Assembly and create a provisional government
Provisional government
A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...
with the pro-Japanese but relatively competent Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui was a Chinese warlord and politician, commander in the Beiyang Army, and the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.- Early life :Born in Hefei as Duan Qirui , his...
as its head.
Significance
Plans were made to hold negotiations for national reunification between Feng, Zhang, Duan, and Sun Yat-sen. These were fruitless and Sun died in Beijing in March 1925.Feng and Zhang came to blows when the Fengtian general Guo Songling
Guo Songling
Guo Songling was a Manchurian general who led a three month rebellion against his commanding warlord - Zhang Zuolin....
defected to the Guominjun on November 22, and started the Anti-Fengtian War
Anti-Fengtian War
The Anti-Fengtian War was the last major civil war within the Republic of China's northern Beiyang government prior to the Northern Expedition. It lasted from November 1925 to April 1926 and was waged by the Guominjun against the Fengtian clique and their Zhili clique allies...
. Six days after this, Li Dazhao
Li Dazhao
Li Dazhao was a Chinese intellectual who co-founded the Communist Party of China with Chen Duxiu in 1921.-Early life:...
led a so-called First United Front movement to topple Duan's provisional government, calling it the Capital Revolution. Feng wanted to support this but changed his mind, preferring to concentrate his forces on Zhang's army. As a result, the Capital Revolution movement collapsed.
While the defeat of the powerful Zhili clique paved the long-term success of the Northern Expedition by the Nationalist Party, its greatest impact was to buy time for the Kuomintang to build up its National Revolutionary Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
. Had the coup not happened, the Zhili clique would surely have finished off the Kuomintang after defeating the Fengtian clique. Feng was saved from losing all his power by allying with Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
during the Northern Expedition, but later became disillusioned with the Generalissimo's leadership. He rebelled against Chiang and was defeated during the Central Plains War
Central Plains War
Central Plains War was a civil war within the factionalised Kuomintang that broke out in 1930. It was fought between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the coalition of three military commanders who had previously allied with Chiang: Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren...
of 1930.
In popular culture
The coup was mentioned in Bernardo BertolucciBernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
's film The Last Emperor
The Last Emperor
The Last Emperor is a 1987 biopic about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, whose autobiography was the basis for the screenplay written by Mark Peploe and Bernardo Bertolucci. Independently produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was directed by Bertolucci and released in 1987 by Columbia Pictures...
though it erroneously claims the president fled the capital instead of being put under house arrest.