27 Facts About Feng Guozhang

Feng Guozhang was a Chinese general and politician in the late Qing dynasty and early republican China who was Vice President from 1916 to 1917 and then acting President of the Republic of China from 1917 to 1918.

Feng Guozhang emerged as one of the senior commanders of the Beiyang Army and is considered the founder of one of the main warlord factions, the Zhili clique, that vied for control of the internationally recognized government in China during the Warlord Era.

Feng Guozhang served in northeastern China before and during the First Sino-Japanese War and afterward was China's military attache to Japan in 1895.

Feng Guozhang rose through the ranks during the last decade of the Qing dynasty, serving as a division commander, the director of the military school for Manchu princes and nobles, and as the superintendent of the General Staff Council.

Feng Guozhang led Imperial Beiyang Army troops against the Wuchang Uprising in the 1911 Revolution, and under his command they retook the cities of Hankou and Hanyang from the rebels.

Under the early Republic of China, Feng Guozhang became the governor of Zhili from 1912 to 1913 and then governor of Jiangsu from 1913 to 1917.

Feng Guozhang was born to a peasant family in Hejian, Zhili on 7 January 1859.

Feng Guozhang's family had fallen on hard times and was forced to sell its properties to educate its sons; however being the fourth son, Feng was unable to complete his education due to costs.

Feng Guozhang reportedly had to survive part of his early life by playing the violin in theatres, before in 1886 becoming an orderly to one of his great-uncles, a battalion commander in Li Hongzhang's Huai Army.

Feng Guozhang's relative recommended him as a good student to Li's Tianjin Military Academy, and he did well there during his first year.

In 1888 Feng Guozhang took a break from his studies there to take and pass the shengyuan or basic degree exam, but later he failed the juren or provincial exam, at which point he decided to return to the military academy.

Feng Guozhang was briefly an instructor at the military academy in Tianjin until 1891, when he was assigned to Nie Shicheng's unit in Port Arthur, northeast China.

Feng Guozhang spent several months observing the Japanese military modernization program, especially their training methods, and recorded this information in a notebook that he later gave to Nie Shicheng, who sent it to Yuan Shikai.

From 1896 Feng Guozhang was part of the officer corps of this brigade-size force, which became the nucleus of the Beiyang Army and included other prominent future leaders.

Feng Guozhang had a major role in founding the academy as the director of training and instruction at the Zhili provincial military department.

Feng Guozhang served on the Military Training Bureau of the Army Reorganization Commission that was created in December 1903.

Feng Guozhang had good relations with the Manchu imperial court as well as with Yuan, and was an acquaintance of the Manchu nobleman Tieliang, having gone with him on his trip to Japan in 1903.

When Yuan Shikai was removed as Beiyang Army commander in 1907 and then dismissed from all posts in 1908, Feng Guozhang remained in his influential position on the General Staff Council.

Feng Guozhang expressed regret at the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor and made sure that the Manchus' demand for the good treatment of the imperial household was included in the letter of abdication.

Feng Guozhang broke with Yuan Shikai when he later attempted to make himself emperor.

Feng Guozhang then moved to Nanjing, where he joined the National Protection War.

Feng Guozhang's name was prominently missing from the list of proposed successors in Yuan's will.

Feng Guozhang was sworn in as president of the Republic of China on August 1,1917, but his constitutionality was challenged as the National Assembly was not reconvened to recognize it.

Feng Guozhang sent about 135,000 men in labor battalions to the Western Front, Mesopotamia and German East Africa.

Feng Guozhang wanted to peacefully resolve the north-south conflict, which led to Duan resigning in protest.

Feng Guozhang finished the five-year term started by Yuan in 1913 on October 10,1918, and died in Beijing of illness.

Feng Guozhang was given a state funeral and buried in his native Hejian county of Cangzhou, Hebei.