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LEFT CHINA 473 CHINA iedict that within 9 years the first Im- perial Parliament would be convened. Commissions were sent to Europe to study commercial and educational mat- ters. In 1908 the Central Government obtained increased power in consequence of a reform pro-am arranged by com- mon consent of the Empress mother, the Emperor and the Vice-roy Yuan Shih-kai. On Nov. 14, 1908, the Emperor Kwang- hsii died and was succeeded by his three- year-old nephew Puyi. One day later the Empress Dowager, whose influence in the Central Government was great, died. The ruler of China became the Regent Tchun, the father of the infant Emperor, China became a republic on Feb. 12, 1912. The Manchu dynasty had its last representative in the infant emperor Pu- yi who abdicated on that date when he was six years old. The first full Presi- dent of the new republic was Yuan Shih- kai, who was elected Oct. 6, 1913, for a period of five years. The Government adopted resembled in its main lines that of the United States. There were two houses, the Senate hav- ing 264 members and the House of Rep- resentatives 596 members. The cabinet contained nine members, the Premier be- ing appointed by the President and the eight other members being chosen by the Premier with the President's approval. The capital was Peking, as it had been under the Empire. Yuan Shih-kai died June 6, 1916, and was succeeded by the Vice-President Li Yuan-hung. Shortly after the beginning of his administration, he became in- volved in difficulties with the legislative branch. In June, 1917, the President sent to Parliament a bill demanding war against the Central Powers. German propaganda was busy, and the Parlia- ment voted down the measure. There- upon the President dissolved Parliament. This action was declared to be arbitrary and unconstitutional, and six provinces seceded and set up a rival government at Canton. Dr. Sun-Yat-sen, assisted by Wu Ting-Fang, former Ambassador to the United States, headed the forces of the secessionists. In the meantime the Pre- mier, Tuan Chi-jui, believing the Presi- dent too weak to subdue the rebels, or- ganized a party of his own and induced General Chang Hsun to make an attempt to restore the Manchu dynasty. The boy Emperor was in fact reinstated and reigned for the brief period of ten days, when Tuan, who seems to have played a double part, drove out the forces that he had himself urged to enter Peking and posed as the savior of the Republic. The President was so thoroughly cowed by the attempted royalist coup that he re- fused to resume his office. Tuan, there- fore, requested the Vice-President, Feng Kup-chang to assume the office and is- sued a call for a new Parliament. Both of these acts were denounced as illegal by the Canton secessionists, and as the latter had been strengthened by the adhe- sion of part of the Chinese fleet they in- augurated hostilities against the Peking government. At first they were success- ful, but in March, 1918, they lost Yockow and were forced to evacuate Changsha, the capital of Hunan. After that there were alternate victories and defeats for both sides. Each had about 300,000 men under arms, but the Peking Government was better supplied with artillery and ammunition. The field of operations cov- ered half the area of China. Commerce was paralyzed, agriculture was almost at a standstill and flood and famine added to the horrors of civil war. This internecine strife was strongly disapproved by the Allies, not only on humane and commercial grounds, but be- cause it diminished the usefulness of China as an ally in the war against the Central Powers. Strong efforts were made to compose the differences between the Canton and Peking governments. These were brought nearer realization by the resignation of Sun-Yat-sen as the leader of the Canton secessionists and the election as President of Hsu-shih- chang, an astute and sagacious states- man. He was elected Aug. 10, 1918, and inaugurated Oct. 10 of the same year. He was moderate and conciliatory and through his efforts the factions were brought to the verge of settlement of the questions at issue between them. Negotiations had been opened at Shanghai between representatives of the Northern Government and representa- tives of the Canton Government, the latter having become dissatisfied with the militaristic aims of the Kwang-si and Kwang-tung leaders. This it was ex- pected would have led to a speedy reunion of the main factions whose antagonism had for years kept the Republic in tur- moil. New problems developed, however, through the dismissal of General Hsu Chi-Cheng, Resident Commissioner of Inner Mongolia and commander on the north-west frontier. This action had been taken early in July, 1920, and was due to hostile feeling between the Reform party at whose head was General Chang Tso-ling and the Angy party, to which Hsu Chi-Cheng belonged. His colleagues General Wu Pei-fu and Tsao-Kun took up arms in his behalf and threatened an advance on Peking. This created a panic in the capital. Efforts were made to