Patrick Fuliang Shan. Yuan Shikai

Yuan Shikai is one of the most important and complex figures in China’s twentieth-century history, and Patrick Fuliang Shan’s Yuan Shikai: A Reappraisal is the first full biography of him in English since Jerome Ch’en’s 1961 Yuan Shih-k’ai (written using the former Wade-Giles romanization system, hence the different spelling of his name). Yuan was a high-ranking Qing official who became president of China after the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty. English-speaking historians have tended to see the four years of his rule as a relatively successful period, with the new republican state held together by Yuan’s personal power before his premature death caused the collapse into warlordism. However, in Chinese-language histories, Yuan has often been constructed as a villain who wrecked the revolution, attempted to install himself as emperor, and led China into a disastrous twentieth century. It is against this Chinese-language literature that Shan sets his reappraisal of Yuan Shikai, arguing that Yuan should in fact be admired for his contributions to the creation of modern China.

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