Yuan shikai biography summary

Yuan Shikai (Yuan Shih-kai) was one to the most significant Chinese political figures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was a high military official of the Qing (Ching) Dynasty who turned against it, succeeded Sun Yat-sen as the first president of the Chinese Republic and attempted to found a new imperial dynasty.

He was born in to a locally prominent family in Honan. His father and uncles were active in suppressing rebellion in North China in the s and s. The fourth of six sons, he was adopted by his father's younger brother in After his adopted father died in , he moved to Beijing (Peking) and lived under the supervision of his uncles until Although educated in the traditional manner, studying and memorizing the Confucian Classics, from an early age, he showed neither talent in nor interest for traditional scholarship and learning. Instead he devoted his time to horseback riding, hunting, other martial pursuits and general hell raisi

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