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Reframing Yuan Shikai: The Institutional, Rhetorical, and Religious Foundations of the Monarchical Attempt, 1915-1916

DiMarco, Francesco
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494098076311169

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Studies.
In June 1915, the president of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai ¿¿¿ (1859-1916), attempted to reform China’s state system into a constitutional monarchy, and assume the title of Emperor of the Empire of China. Although Yuan Shikai’s “monarchical attempt” has been often cited in historical scholarship on the early Republican period (1912-1916), it has been oversimplified, and characterized as reactionary and conservative. Often, it is presented as part of a teleological account of the origins of the Warlord Period (1916-1928) in early Republican China. This thesis demonstrates that rather than a historical aberration, Yuan’s monarchical attempt should be viewed as one of several efforts to reform Chinese political culture along constitutional lines during the early Republican period. It was rooted in late Qing and early Republican (1895-1916) reformist discourses and developments in religion and political ethics. An examination of contemporary government proclamations, polemical essays, and periodical articles illuminates the institutional, rhetorical, and religious foundations utilized by Yuan to enact the monarchical attempt. This analysis reveals that the monarchical attempt was influenced by republican-style institutional models, populist rhetoric, and the religious ethics of late-Qing Confucian populism rather than imperial tradition.
Ying Zhang, PhD (Committee Member)
Meow Hui Goh, PhD (Committee Member)
Christopher Reed, PhD (Advisor)
89 p.
Asian Studies; History; Political Science
China, Yuan Shikai, Political Culture, Political Ethics, Confucianism, Populism, Public Opinion, Public Sentiment, Wardlordism, Transformation Period

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • DiMarco, F. (2017). Reframing Yuan Shikai: The Institutional, Rhetorical, and Religious Foundations of the Monarchical Attempt, 1915-1916 [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494098076311169

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • DiMarco, Francesco. Reframing Yuan Shikai: The Institutional, Rhetorical, and Religious Foundations of the Monarchical Attempt, 1915-1916. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494098076311169.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • DiMarco, Francesco. "Reframing Yuan Shikai: The Institutional, Rhetorical, and Religious Foundations of the Monarchical Attempt, 1915-1916." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1494098076311169

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1494098076311169
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© 2017, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Reframing Yuan Shikai: The Institutional, Rhetorical, and Religious Foundations of the Monarchical Attempt, 1915-1916 by Francesco DiMarco is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.