Anhui Clique

Anhui Clique
Name	Anhui Clique
Active	1912–1928
Allegiance	Beiyang Government
Headquarters	Anhui
Notable commanders	Duan Qirui, Xu Shuzheng, Zhang Xun

Anhui Clique The Anhui Clique was a powerful Baoding-derived faction of Beiyang-era military and political leaders centered on figures from Anhui who dominated parts of northern China during the early Republican period. Rooted in networks formed during the late Qing New Army reforms and the Xinhai Revolution, the faction exerted influence through alliances with industrialists, railway companies, and foreign missions, shaping events in the Warlord Era that followed the death of Yuan Shikai and the fragmentation of the Beiyang Army.

Origins and Early Development

The origins trace to officers trained at the Baoding Military Academy, the Tientsin military establishments, and veterans of the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, who coalesced around patronage from Duan Qirui and allies in Anhui and Beijing. Early development involved coordination with figures linked to the New Policies, ties to the Imperial Japanese Army for military missions, and engagement with industrial financiers connected to the Beiyang Government and the Ministry of Posts and Communications. The faction built its base by recruiting cadets from the Wuchang Uprising aftermath and collaborating with politicians in Sun Yat-sen’s rival governments and conservative elements in Peking University circles.

Political and Military Leadership

Leadership centered on premier statesmen and field commanders such as Duan Qirui, who served as Premier, and generals like Xu Shuzheng, Zhang Xun (noted for the 1917 restoration attempt), and Zhang Jingyao. Civilian allies included ministers from the Beiyang Cabinet and financiers linked to the Shipping Offices and the Imperial Bank of China. Military organization drew on staff trained under instructors influenced by the German Empire and the Empire of Japan; brigadiers and division commanders had prior service in campaigns such as the 1911 Revolution, linking leadership networks with provincial elites in Hebei, Shandong, and Shaanxi.

Role in the Warlord Era (1916–1928)

During the Warlord Era the clique competed for control over the Beiyang Government and attempted to assert central authority via military campaigns, political appointments, and control of key railways like the Beijing–Hankou Railway. The faction’s participation in crises including the Haiyuan earthquake relief efforts, intervention in the Shandong Problem, and responses to the May Fourth Movement illustrated its entanglement with national and international disputes involving the Triple Intervention legacy and the Treaty of Versailles. The Anhui-aligned forces engaged in the Zhili–Anhui War and skirmishes across the North China Plain, confronting rival commanders drawn from the Zhili Clique and the Fengtian Clique, and interfacing with foreign powers including delegations from Great Britain, France, and the United States.

Policies and Governance in Anhui Province

In provincial administration the faction relied on military governors, civil prefects, and police chiefs appointed from loyalist circles, promoting infrastructure projects tied to rail and postal networks, collaborations with the Imperial Bank of China, and concessions to foreign firms operating in Shanghai and treaty ports. Fiscal measures included requisitioning revenues from customs houses and provincial salt taxes, coordinating with banking houses in Tianjin and investment interests established under the late Qing concessions, and implementing educational initiatives influenced by curricula from Peking University and missionary schools. These policies often provoked resistance from local elites, merchants in Anhui City, and student activists inspired by the New Culture Movement.

Conflicts and Rivalries with Other Cliques

Rivalries peaked in the Zhili–Anhui War of 1920, when leaders such as Cao Kun and Feng Guozhang backed the Zhili faction against Anhui commanders. The faction also clashed with the Fengtian forces under Zhang Zuolin and with southern militarists allied to Sun Yat-sen and later the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition. Diplomatic maneuvers involved negotiations with envoys from Japan and mediation attempts by representatives of Great Britain and the United States, while internal betrayals and defections by officers trained at the Baoding Military Academy undermined cohesion. Battles and sieges in areas like Shandong and Hebei saw contested control of rail junctions and treaty-port access.

Decline and Dissolution

Defeat in key engagements, loss of foreign support, and political isolation after the Zhili–Anhui War precipitated the faction’s rapid decline. The removal of Duan Qirui from central office, fragmentation of command as commanders defected to Fengtian and Zhili alliances, and the success of the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition led to the effective dissolution of the faction by 1928. Prominent officers were exiled, imprisoned, or absorbed into provincial administrations under new regimes, while financial backers redirected investments to centers like Shanghai and Canton.

Legacy and Historical Assessment

Historians assess the faction’s legacy through its impact on the consolidation and fragmentation of northern power structures, influence on military professionalization at institutions like Baoding Military Academy and its entanglement with foreign powers including Japan and Britain. Scholarship contrasts the faction’s attempts at centralized authority with its reliance on patronage networks and foreign finance, situating its decline within the broader trajectory from fragmented warlord rule to reunification under the Kuomintang. Monographs and archival studies in Peking University and provincial repositories in Anhui continue to reassess its role in shaping republican-era state formation and civil-military relations.

Category:Warlord cliques of the Republic of China