Royalist Party
Royalist Party 宗社黨 | |
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Leader | |
Founded | December 1911 |
Headquarters | Beijing, China (1911–1912) |
Ideology | |
Party flag | |
Elections |
Royalist Party | |
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Hanyu Pinyin | Jūnzhǔ Lìxiàn Wéichí Huì |
Wade–Giles | Chün1-chu3 Li4-hsien4 Wei2-ch'ih2 Hui4 |
Part of a series on |
Conservatism in China |
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The Royalist Party (Chinese: 宗社黨), officially the Society for Monarchical Constitutionalism (Chinese: 君主立憲維持會), was a monarchist political party and militant organization active in China during the early Republican Era. Supported by the Empire of Japan, its members sought to restore the Chinese monarchy under the Qing dynasty by launching insurgencies and advocating the secession of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia from the rest of China. Although it largely lacked a firm structure and consisted of loosely tied factions, the Royalist Party played a major role in Chinese politics during the 1910s.
Names
The Royalist Party was known by a variety of names, such as Manchu Loyalist Party,[1] Restoration Party,[2] Imperial Clan Party,[3][4][5] Royal Clan Party,[6] Reactionary Party,[7] Party of the Ancestral Shrine of the Ruling Household,[8] and Party of the Aisin Gioro Cult.[9]
History
Foundation and early activities
Having ruled China since the
The situation for the Qing imperial government was increasingly undermined by military and political setbacks caused by the opposing republicans, and the Republic of China was proclaimed first in the country's south on 1 January 1912. The Qing court and its leading officials realised that their position was becoming untenable.[16] The matter was discussed among the Qing princes during a conference on 17–20 January, where the Royalist Party's members took a hardline stance against any agreement which included the monarchy's abolition. Other princes believed that they had to yield to the republicans, while a large number remained neutral. The conference came to no real conclusion.[4][17] Meanwhile, Yuan Shikai, a powerful Qing general who effectively controlled much of the army,[18][19] was pushing for a compromise with the republicans.[20][21] While Empress Dowager Longyu was ready to agree to Yuan's proposal and abdicate, the Qing hardliners strongly objected and became determined enemies of Yuan.[21] By 23 January, their political situation had significantly improved: General Tieliang had managed to rally a significant number of Manchu officials to oppose the abdication,[19] while General Feng Guozhang had claimed that he could crush the revolution if the royalists could provide him with sufficient sums of money, providing a morale boost to the hardliners.[21]
The Royalist Party started to undermine Yuan, and managed to greatly weaken him by 25 January.
Buildup after the Republic's foundation
The Royalist Party was not finished, however, and its members continued to plot against the Republic.
The continued activism by the Royalist Party was widely perceived as grave threat to the Republic. It was feared that a civil war and consequent
Militant resistance against the Republic
The party became increasingly militant from March 1912, stirring up unrest in northern China. It tried to undermine President Yuan in any way possible to achieve the restoration of the monarchy.[28] Royalist Party members spread anti-republican propaganda among the rural population, as well as Mongol nomads, and incited dissatisfied soldiers to mutiny.[29][30] By April 1912, the party's Hubei branch had allied with the bandit Bai Lang and a number of secret societies. It launched an open rebellion, calling for the death of "all republican traitors" and the full restoration of the Qing dynasty.[29] One of its most notable actions was to convince the New Army's 6th Henan Division to riot at Luoshan County in July 1912.[31] In the provinces of Manchuria, Royalist Party members began recruiting and arming militants, and even produced cheques marked with "Great Qing Empire". Shanqi called upon Qing loyalists to join the armed resistance.[6]
Yuan Shikai had already considered the Royalist Party a threat before these uprisings, also due to the rumoured membership of several prominent political figures such as
By the time Yuan had declared the creation of his short-lived
The Royalist Party's activities gradually became limited to
Ideology
The Royalist Party's official purpose was to preserve the Qing dynasty's ancestral shrine and other religious institutions,[11] though in truth it tried to protect the monarchy,[12] and later aimed to overthrow the Republic.[16] Qing loyalists generally believed that it was only a matter of time until the republican "experiment" failed.[45] By 1912, the party was divided into two factions. Though both aimed for the restoration of the monarchy and were united in their opposition to Yuan Shikai, the factions differed on certain points. The "extremists" were only ready to accept the Manchu Qing dynasty as rulers of China, whereas the moderates believed that another Manchu or Han Chinese dynasty would also be acceptable.[28]
Elements of the party supported the creation of an
The Qing loyalists also exhibited conservative and revisionist tendencies, as they continued to use the old dynastic calendar, and espoused traditional arts such as Classical Chinese poetry, and calligraphy.[45] One of the most notable intellectuals of the Royalist Party, ex-Qing official and scholar Shen Zengjie, co-founded the Confucian Society of Shanghai.[5]
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d Feng (2017), p. 234.
- ^ a b Seuberlich (2001), p. 87.
- ^ a b c Woodhouse (2004), p. 150.
- ^ a b Kit-ching (1978), pp. 49–50.
- ^ a b c d Bonner (1986), p. 194.
- ^ a b c d Shao (2011), p. 100.
- ^ Kit-ching (1978), p. 51.
- ^ a b c d Geng (2015), p. 191.
- ^ a b Crossley (1990), p. 273 (note 87).
- ^ Rhoads (2000), pp. 214–215.
- ^ a b c d Rhoads (2000), p. 215.
- ^ a b c d Kit-ching (1978), p. 49.
- ^ Lo (1978), p. 118.
- ^ a b c d Kit-ching (1978), p. 52.
- ^ a b c Boyd (2011), p. 74.
- ^ a b c d e f g Rhoads (2000), p. 235.
- ^ Woodhouse (2004), p. 149.
- ^ Woodhouse (2004), pp. 150–151.
- ^ a b c Powell (1955), p. 334.
- ^ a b Lo (1978), p. 118 (note 2).
- ^ a b c Kit-ching (1978), p. 50.
- ^ Kit-ching (1978), pp. 50–52.
- ^ a b Powell (1955), pp. 334–335.
- ^ a b c Chi (1970), p. 63.
- ^ Crossley (1990), p. 203.
- ^ Rhoads (2000), pp. 215–216.
- ^ Rhoads (2000), p. 236.
- ^ a b Billingsley (1988), p. 56.
- ^ a b c d e Billingsley (1988), p. 57.
- ^ a b c Shao (2011), pp. 100–101.
- ^ Billingsley (1988), pp. 56–57.
- ^ Chi (1970), p. 127.
- ^ Feng (2017), pp. 233–234.
- ^ Billingsley (1988), pp. 57, 59.
- ^ Billingsley (1988), p. 242.
- ^ Altman & Schiffrin (1972), p. 394.
- ^ a b c Hattori (2011), p. 68.
- ^ a b c Dickinson (1999), pp. 136, 301–302 (note 92).
- ^ Chi (1970), p. 77.
- ^ a b Seuberlich (2001), p. 235.
- ^ Altman & Schiffrin (1972), pp. 394–395.
- ^ a b Rhoads (2000), p. 243.
- ^ Shao (2011), p. 101.
- ^ Rhoads (2000), pp. 271–272.
- ^ a b Feng (2017), p. 231.
- ^ Dickinson (1999), p. 301 (note 92).
- ^ Shao (2011), pp. 101–102.
Works cited
- Altman, Albert A.; Schiffrin, Harold Z. (1972). "Sun Yat-sen and the Japanese: 1914–16". Modern Asian Studies. 6 (4): 385–400. S2CID 144549205.
- Billingsley, Phil (1988). Bandits in Republican China. ISBN 9780804714068.
- Bonner, Joey (1986). Wang Kuo-wei: An Intellectual Biography. Cambridge, London: ISBN 9780674945944.
- Boyd, James (2011). Japanese-Mongolian Relations, 1873-1945: Faith, Race and Strategy. Folkestone: Global Oriental (Brill). ISBN 978-1-906876-19-7.
- Chi, Madeleine (1970). China Diplomacy, 1914-1918. ISBN 9780674118256.
- Crossley, Pamela Kyle (1990). Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World. ISBN 9780691055831.
- Dickinson, Frederick R. (1999). War and National Reinvention: Japan in the Great War, 1914-1919. ISBN 9780674005075.
- Feng, Jia (2017). "The Dragon Flag in the Republican Nation: The Dowager Empress Longyu's Death Ritual in 1913 and Contested Political Legitimacy in Early Republican China". In Milinda Banerjee; Charlotte Backerra; Cathleen Sarti (eds.). Transnational Histories of the 'Royal Nation'. ISBN 978-3-319-50523-7.
- Hattori, Ryûji (March 2011). "Japan's Continental Expansion Policy and the Chinese National Revolution Movement". JAPAN-CHINA JOINT HISTORY RESEARCH REPORT: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORY. Vol.1 (PDF). Japan-China Joint History Research Committee. pp. 66–94.
- Geng, Yunzhi (2015). An Introductory Study on China's Cultural Transformation in Recent Times. ISBN 9783662445907.
- Kit-ching, Chan Lau (1978). Anglo-Chinese Diplomacy 1906-1920: In the Careers of Sir John Jordan and Yüan Shih-kai (in German). ISBN 962-209-010-9.
- Lo, Hui-Min (1978). The Correspondence of G. E. Morrison 1912-1920. Volume 2. ISBN 9780521215619.
- Rhoads, Edward J. M. (2000). Manchus & Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928. ISBN 9780295997483.
- Powell, Ralph L. (1955). Rise of the Chinese Military Power (in German). ISBN 9781400878840.
- Shao, Dan (2011). Remote Homeland, Recovered Borderland: Manchus, Manchoukuo, and Manchuria, 1907-1985. University of Hawaiʻi Press: Honolulu. ISBN 978-0824834456.
- Seuberlich, Wolfgang (2001). Zur Verwaltungsgeschichte der Mandschurei (1644-1930) (in German). ISBN 3-447-04438-1.
- Woodhouse, Eiko (2004). The Chinese Hsinhai Revolution: G. E. Morrison and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1897–1920. ISBN 9781134352425.
Further reading
- Kuzmin, S. L.; Dmitriev, S. V. (2020). "Movement for the restoration of monarchy after the Xinhai Revolution (data from Russian archives). Early stage of the activity of Zongshedang Party". Oriens (Moscow) (1): 128–136. S2CID 216507612.