Yan Xishan (w=Yen2 Hsi1-shan1; 8 October 1883 – 23 May 1960; also romanized as Yen Hsi-shan) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China from June 1949 to March 1950 as its last premier in mainland China and first premier in Taiwan. He effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. He maintained an ambivalent attitude towards the Communists until 1939, and participated in the Second United Front against the Japanese from 1937. He subsequently negotiated with the Japanese from 1940 to 1943, and allied himself with the Japanese against the Communists from 1944 until fleeing Shanxi in 1949. The resistance of his well-armed forces in Taiyuan posed a major obstacle to Communist victory in the Civil War.
As the leader of a relatively small, poor, remote province, he survived Yuan Shikai, the Warlord Era, the Kuomintang, the Japanese invasion of China and the subsequent civil war, being forced from office only when the Nationalist armies with which he was aligned had completely lost control of the Chinese mainland, isolating Shanxi from any source of economic or military supply.
Early life
Childhood
Experience in Japan
Yan also joined an even more militant organization of Chinese revolutionaries, the "Dare-to-Die Corps."
[Wang 399]
Return to China
When Yan returned to China in 1909, he was assigned as a division commander of the
New Army in Shanxi but secretly worked to overthrow the Qing.
Career in early republic
Conflict with Yuan Shikai
In 1911 Yan hoped to join forces with another prominent Shanxi revolutionary,
Wu Luzhen, to undermine
Yuan Shikai's control of north China, but the plans were aborted after Wu was assassinated.
In 1917, shortly after Yuan Shikai's death, Yan solidified his control over
Shanxi, ruling there uncontested.
[Spence 406] After Yuan's death in 1916, China descended into a period of warlordism.
Efforts to reform Shanxi
Yan attempted to modernize the state of medicine in China by funding the Research Society for the Advancement of Chinese Medicine, based in Taiyuan, in 1921. One of less than twenty schools in China at the time
, the school had a four-year curriculum and included courses in both Chinese and western medicine. Its courses were taught in English, German, and Japanese. Yan hoped that his support of the school would eventually lead to increased revenues in the domestic and international trade of Chinese drugs, improved public health, and improved public education.
Yan sent students from Shanxi to complete science and engineering degrees at Japanese, American and English universities. In 1936, he provided a scholarship for the future nuclear physicist He Zehui, the daughter of He Cheng, another early member of the Tongmenghui, to embark on a PhD in experimental ballistics at the Technische Universität Berlin.
Involvement in Northern Expedition
Yan's assistance to Chiang was rewarded shortly afterwards by his being named minister of the interior
[ Time, 24 December 1928, p. 293.] and deputy commander-in chief of all Kuomintang armies.
Yan's support for Chiang's military campaigns and his suppression of Communists influenced Chiang to recognize Yan as the governor of Shanxi and to allow him to expand his influence into Hebei.
Involvement in Central Plains War
During the Central Plains War, the
Kuomintang encouraged Muslims and Mongols to overthrow both
Feng Yuxiang and Yan.
[Lin 22] Chiang's defeat of Yan and Feng in 1930 is considered the end of China's
Warlord Era.
Yan was unable to match the quality of leadership in Chiang's officer corps and the prestige that Chiang and the Nationalist Army had at the time. Before Chiang's armies defeated Feng and Yan, Yan Xishan was billed on the cover of the Time magazine as "China's Next President."[ Time, 19 May 1930.]
Return to Shanxi
Subsequent relationship with Nationalist government
Yan sent representatives to negotiate for unity against the Japanese invasion and prevent Chiang's execution.
Public policies
Military policies
Attempts at social reform
He engaged in a sustained campaign against foot binding, with foot inspectors and fines for those who continued the practice.
Attempts to eradicate opium use
Limitations of economic reforms
Ideology
Influence of Confucianism
Influence of Christianity
Influence of Chinese Nationalism
Influence of socialism and communism
Extent of success
Threats to rule
Early conflict with Japan
Early conflict with Communists
Invasion by Mengguguo
Second Sino-Japanese War
Alliance with Communists
He allowed Communist agents working under [[Zhou Enlai]] to establish a secret headquarters in Taiyuan and released Communists that he had been holding in prison, including at least one general, Wang Ruofei.[Wortzel 33]
Early campaigns
Fall of Taiyuan
Re-establishment of Yan's authority
Negotiations with Japanese
In 1940 Yan's friend, Ryūkichi Tanaka, became chief of staff of the Japanese First Army, which was stationed in Shanxi. After Yan's animosity with the Communists became apparent, Tanaka began negotiations with Yan in an effort to enter an anti-Communist alliance with Japan.
Relationship with Japanese after 1945
Chinese Civil War
Shangdang Campaign
Taiyuan Campaign
Later life
Premier of Republic of China
Retirement in Taiwan
His late philosophical perspective has been described as "anti-communist and anti-capitalist Confucian utopianism." Several months before the
Korean War Yan published a book,
Peace or World War, in which he predicted that
North Korea would invade
South Korea, South Korea would be quickly overcome, the United States would intervene on the side of South Korea, and Communist China would intervene on the side of North Korea. All of those events later occurred over the course of the
Korean War.
Yan died in Taiwan on 24 May 1960. He was buried in the Qixingjun region of Yangmingshan. For decades, Yan's residence and grave were cared for by a small number of former aides, who had accompanied him from Shanxi. In 2011, when the last of his aides turned 81 and was unable to care for the residence, the responsibility of maintaining the site was taken over by the Taipei City Government.[Zhou]
Legacy
See also
Notes
[Gillin and Etter 500][Gillin and Etter 506-508][Spence 488][Andrews 171-172][Bonavia 138-139][Goodman 840][Lew 22-23][Lew 23][Yang 454][Lew 24][Lew 50-52][ Time, 29 September 1930.]
Citations
Sources
-
Andrews, Bridie. The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine: 1850-1960. Vancouver: UBC Press. 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
-
-
-
Gillin, Donald G. and Etter, Charles. "Staying On: Japanese Soldiers and Civilians in China, 1945-1949." The Journal of Asian Studies. Vol. 42, No. 3, May 1983. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
-
Goodman, David S. G. "Structuring Local Identity: Nation, Province and County in Shanxi During the 1990s". The China Quarterly. Vol.172, December 2002. pp. 837–862. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
-
Lawson, K. M. "A Chinese Warlord's Predictions for the Korean War". Frog in a Well. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
-
-
Lin Hsiao-ting. Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Journey to the West. New York, NY: Routledge. 2011. . Retrieved 21 May 2012.
-
-
"CHINA: President Resigns." Time. Monday, 29 September 1930. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
-
"Foreign News: Yen to Nanking." Time. Monday, 24 December 1928. p. 293. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
-
"Marshal Yen Hsi-shan". Time. 19 May 1930. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
-
Wang Ke-wen, ed. Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. United States of America: Wang Ke-wen. 1998. . Retrieved 4 June 2012.
-
Larry Wortzel Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese Military History. Westport, CT: Greenwood. 1999. . Retrieved 29 May 2012.
-
http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/bjorge_huai.pdf
