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Britain's Men on the Spot in China: John Jordan, Yuan Shikai, and the Reorganization Loan, 1912–1914*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2012

HIRATA KOJI
HIRATA KOJI*
Affiliation:
School of Legal and Political Studies, University of Tokyo Email: hiratakoji83@gmail.com
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Abstract

In this paper I examine British policy towards the Yuan Shikai government in China between 1912 and 1914 through a consideration of the role of Britain's ‘men on the spot’ in China (i.e. British diplomats and bankers resident there). In doing so, I synthesize two bodies of literature that rarely interact: British imperial history and work by China historians. Three main elements shaped British policy in China: first, British policy-makers were determined to support Yuan Shikai's consolidation of power in China; second, in the making of its China policy, the Foreign Office relied heavily on Britain's men on the spot; and, finally, these men were anxious about the vulnerability of the Yuan Shikai government and were therefore manipulated to a certain extent by Chinese politicians. I suggest that British policy-makers were reacting to, rather than controlling, Chinese politics and that in this period collaboration with British imperialism was a rational choice for the Yuan Shikai government.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 895 - 934
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

This project has been completed with the constant advice, help, and encouragement of Professor Robert Bickers. I also would like to thank Professor Kitaoka Shinichi, Professor Hirano Satoshi, Benjamin Charlton, Professor Ho & Hon-wai, Jon Howlett, Koike Motomu, Professor Kubo Toru, Professor Mitsuta Tsuyoshi, Professor Okamoto Takashi, Professor Sakai Tetsuya, Yin Xinhua, Professor Bu Ping, Professor Hattori Ryuji, Hirano Tatsushi, Professor Kim Seung-Young, & Nik Krause, Ma Xiaojuan, Professor Ian Nish, Professor Niu Dayong, & Professor Nojima-Kato Yoko, Professor Sato Shinichi, Professor Shimizu Yuichiro, Yamada Makio, Yoneyama Tadahiro, two anonymous referees, my grandmother, my mother, and Yuan Zhe. My research was supported by a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

References

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35 Quoted in Van de Ven, ‘Robert Hart and Gustav Detring’, p. 76.

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48 Foreign Minister to Finance Minister Kokovtsov, 25 March 1912, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya v epokhu imperializma: dokumenty iz arkhivov tsarskogo i vremennogo pravitelstv 1878–1917 (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoye Sotsialno-Ekonomicheskoye Izdatelstvo, 1931–), 19-II, p. 328.

49 The United States withdrew from the Six-Power Consortium shortly before the conclusion of the loan agreement.

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60 Telegram to Representative Shen in Austria, 10 July 1912; Letter from Representative Wu in Italy, 14 August 1912; Letter from Representative Liu in the Netherlands, no date (received on 3 October 1912), Archives of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Beiyang zhengfu waijiaobu dang'an, 03-20-010-01.

61 Grey to J. Jordan, 23 August 1912, TNA, FO 371/1321.

62 Minute by J. D. Gregory, 26 August 1912, TNA, FO 371/1321.

63 Minute by Grey, 27 August 1912, TNA, FO 371/1321.

64 Grey to Jordan, 30 August 1912, TNA, FO 371/1321.

65 Jordan to Grey, 3 September 1912, TNA, FO 371/1322.

66 Grey to Jordan, 9 September 1912, TNA, FO 371/1322.

67 E. Bruce Hart to Aglen, 15 June 1912, Archives of the Chinese Maritime Customs, the Second Historical Archives, Nanjing, 679(1)/31840.

68 Jordan to Max Muller, 17 June 1912, Private, Jordan Papers, TNA, FO 350/8.

69 Jordan to Grey, 19 September 1912, TNA, FO 371/1322.

70 Extract from letter from Jordan to Alston, 18 September 1912, TNA, FO 371/1322.

71 Grey to Bertie, Granville, Buchanan, Bryce, and MacDonald, 27 September 1912, TNA, FO 371/1322.

72 British Ambassador to Uchida, 24 October 1912, Nihon Gaikou monjo [Papers of Japanese Diplomacy] (Tokyo: Gaimushou, 1954-), Vol. 45–2, pp. 551–52. Note à l'Ambassade d'Angleterre, 26 Octobre 1912, Documents Diplomatiques Français (Paris: Impremerie Nationale, 1929-), 3-IV, pp. 257–58.

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78 Memorandum by Mayers, 4 April 1913, SHGI 0211, HSBC Group Archives.

79 Ijuin to Makino, 10 April 1913, Nihon gaikou monjo [The Second Year of Taisho], Vol. 2, pp. 167–68; Conty to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, telegram, 7 April 1913, Archives Diplomatiques (la Courneuve, France), Correspondance Politique et Commerciale: 1897 à 1918, Nouvelle Série, Chine, NS367.

80 Copy of telegram despatched to Peking, 14 April 1913, in Addis to Foreign Office, 14 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

81 Jordan to Grey, 14 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

82 Hillier to Jordan, 15 April 1913; and Sidney Barton's comment, 15 April 1913, on it, TNA, FO 228/2355; Copy of telegram received from Peking, 15 April 1913, communicated by HSB, 15 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

83 Foreign Office to Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 16 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

84 Addis to Foreign Office, 16 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

85 Telegram from Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Shanghai, to Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Peking, 25 April 1913, TNA, FO 228/2355.

86 Copy of telegram from Stabb to Addis, 25 April 1913, in Jones to Foreign Office, 26 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593; Addis diaries, 26 April 1913, Archives and Special Collections Library, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Papers of Sir Charles Stewart Addis, PPMS 14/Charles Addis/Box 3.

87 Minute by Langley, 26 April 1913, on Jones to Foreign Office, 26 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

88 Jordan to Grey, 27 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593. The Japanese minister in Beijing, however, said the contract was signed at half past three: Ijuin to Makino, 27 April 1913, Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 1-7-1-22.

89 Minute by J. D. G., 28 April 1913, on Jordan to Grey, 27 April 1913, TNA, FO 371/1593.

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92 Jordan to Langley, 4 May 1912, Private, Jordan Papers, TNA, FO 350/8.

93 Telegram from Ziqi, Zhou and Shiyi, Liang in Beijing, 16 April 1912, Xiong Xiling xiansheng yigao [Papers of the Late Mr Xiong Xiling], five volumes (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian chubanshe, 1998), Vol. 1, p. 265Google Scholar.

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96 Telegram to Finance Minister Zhou, 12 September 1912, Xiong Xiling xiansheng yigao, Vol. 5, p. 4321.

97 Minlibao, 19 September 1912.

98 Li, Zhongguo jinbainian zhengzhishi, p. 381.

99 Minlibao, 7 October 1912.

100 Letter to Finance Minister Zhou, 12 September 1912, Xiong Xiling xiansheng yigao, Vol. 5, p. 4321; Letter to Finance Ministry, 22 September 1912, Xiong Xiling xiansheng yigao, Vol. 5, p. 4327.

101 Ijuin to Uchida, 11 September 1912, Nihon Gaikou monjo, Vol. 45-2, pp. 466–67.

102 Notes of Mr Chou Hsueh His's interview with Mr Hillier and Mr Mayers, 14 November 1912, TNA, FO 228/2351.

103 ‘Linshi dazongtong ling [Ordinance by Provisional President]’, 30 November 1912, Zhengfu gongbao, 1 December 1912.

104 Liang Qichao, ‘Yanzheng zazhi xu [Foreword to Yanzheng zazhi]’, Yanzheng zazhi, 1 January 1913. Talk at the Yanzheng taolunhui [Society for the Discussion of Salt Policy], 12 December 1912, in Xiong Xiling ji [Works of Xiong Xiling], three volumes (Changsha: Hunan chubanshe, 1996), Vol. 2, pp. 591–92. Also see Jun, Watanabe, ‘Shingai kakumei ki ni okeru ensei kaikaku undou (II): kaikakuha to hoshuha no tairitsu wo chuushin toshite [Salt Reform Movement During the Period of the 1911 Revolution (II): Rivalry Between the Reformists and the Conservatives]’, Kumamoto daigaku kyoiku gakubu kiyou: jinbun kagaku, 28, 1979, pp. 33–74Google Scholar.

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106 Ijuin to Uchida, 9 October 1912, Nihon gaikou monjo, Vol. 45-2, pp. 526–28.

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110 Wilkinson to Jordan, 26 July 1912, TNA, FO 228/2349.

111 Maze to Aglen, 24 June 1912, Archives of the Chinese Maritime Customs, the Second Historical Archives, Nanjing, 679(1)/32385.

112 Hillier to Addis, 29 June 1912, in Addis to Foreign Office, 13 July 1912, TNA, FO 371/1320.

113 Jordan to Grey, 29 April 1912, TNA, FO 371/1318.

114 Conty to Poincaré, 9 October 1912, Documents Diplomatiques Français, 3-IV, pp. 92–93.

115 Jordan to Langley, 6 April 1913, Alston Papers, TNA, FO 800/246.

116 Conty to Pichon, 22 April 1913, Documents Diplomatiques Français, 3-VI, pp. 408–09.

117 Ariyoshi to Makino, Telegram, 1 April 1913, Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 5-3-2-135-1.

118 Hillier to the representatives of the German, French, Russian, and Japanese groups, 16 April 1913, Confidential, TNA, FO 228/2355.

119 Ijuin to Makino, 18 April 1913, Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 1-7-1-22.

120 Telegram from Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Shanghai, to Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Peking, 25 April 1913, TNA, FO 228/2355.

121 Telegram from Hillier to Stephen, 25 April 1913, TNA, FO 228/2355.

122 Jordan to Hillier, 25 April 1913, HSBC Group Archives, London, SHGI 0302/001; Ijuin to Makino, 25 April 1913, Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 1-7-1-22.

123 Conty to Pichon, 28 April 1913, Archives Diplomatiques (la Courneuve, France), Correspondance Politique et Commerciale: 1897 à 1918, Nouvelle Série, Chine, NS367. Zhang and Wang were educated in France and the United States respectively.

124 Yaxiya ribao, 30 April 1913, cited in yanjiushi, Zhongguo shehui kexue yuan jindaishi yanjiusuo Zhonghua minguo shi (ed.), Minchu zhengzheng yu erci geming [Political Rivalry in the Early Republic and the Second Revolution], two volumes (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1983), Vol. 1, p. 255Google Scholar.

125 Conty to Pichon, 28 April 1913, Archives Diplomatiques (la Courneuve, France), Correspondance Politique et Commerciale: 1897 à 1918, Nouvelle Série, Chine, NS367.

126 Telegram for Paris, 27 April 1913, TNA, FO 228/2355.

127 Fraser to Jordan, 25 April 1913, Private, TNA, FO 228/2355.

128 ‘The Loan Once More’, 22 April 1913, NCH, 26 April 1913, pp. 234–35. Also see Edw. F. Mackay to T. Raaschou, 5 June 1914, in Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce to W. E. Leveson, Records of Shanghai Municipal Council, Shanghai Municipal Archives, Shanghai, U1-1-734; Maze to Bowra, 24 July 1913, Archives of the Chinese Maritime Customs, the Second Historical Archives, Nanjing, 679(1)/32385.

129 Chan, Anglo-Chinese Diplomacy, pp. 72–74.

130 Maze to Aglen, 24 April 1913, the Second Historical Archives, Nanjing, Archives of the Chinese Maritime Customs, 679(1)/32386. Also, upon the request of the foreign consuls-general in Shanghai, the Shanghai Municipal Council notified a Guomindang leader that ‘. . . you are not permitted to remain in or enter the Foreign Settlement of Shanghai. If found within the limits of the Settlement after receipt of this notice you will render yourself liable to arrest [sic] by the Police.’ D. Siffert to E. C. Pearce, 11 August 1913; Shanghai Municipal Council to Chen Chi Mei [Chen Qimei], Shanghai Municipal Archives, Shanghai, Records of Shanghai Municipal Council, U1-1-734.

131 French Consul General in Shanghai to Pichon, 27 Juily 1913, Archives Diplomatiques (la Courneuve, France), Correspondance Politique et Commerciale: 1897 à 1918, Nouvelle Série, Chine, NS52.

132 Ijuin to Makino, 29 April 1913, Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 1-7-1-22.

133 The Chinese chief inspector's function was rather nominal.

134 Alston to Grey, 2 November 1913, TNA, FO 371/1595; Note by R. M. Dane, 25 October 1913, Copy, HSBC Group Archives, London, SHGI 0302/001.

135 Dianqing, Zhang, ‘Beijing guomin zhengfu zhongyang caizheng zhong de yanshui [The Role of Salt Tax in the Central Revenue of the Beijing and Nationalist Government]’, Lishi jiaoxue, 2, 2006, pp. 22–26Google Scholar (especially p. 23).

136 For Dane's salt reform, see Adshead, S. A. M., The Modernization of the Chinese Salt Administration, 1900–1920 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1970)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Changshan, Liu, Qingdai houqi zhi minguo chunian yanwu de biange, 1830–1918 [Transformation of Salt Policy from late Qing to early Republic, 1830–1918] (Taibei: Wenshizhe chubanshe, 2006), pp. 19–120Google Scholar.

137 Yanzheng zazhi, 18 May 1915.

138 Jordan to Langley, 24 November 1914, Private, Jordan Papers, TNA, FO 350/12.

139 See Takashi, Okamoto, ‘Shinmatsu minkoku to enzei [Late Qing and Early Republican China and Salt Tax]’, Touyoshi kenkyuu, 58 (1) 1999, pp. 84–117Google Scholar.

140 The Chief Inspectorate of the Central Salt Administration, Report by Sir Richard Dane, K.C.I.E., on the Reorganisation of the Salt Revenue Administration in China, 1913–1917 (Peking: Chief Inspectorate of the Central Salt Administration, 1918), pp. 6–7, 38–39.

141 Van de Ven, ‘Military and Financial Reform’, pp. 75, 79–90.

142 Conty to Pichon, 7 Octobre 1913, Archives Diplomatiques (la Courneuve, France), Correspondance Politique et Commerciale: 1897 à 1918, Nouvelle Série, Chine, NS53.

143 Gallagher, John and Robinson, Ronald, ‘The Imperialism of Free Trade’, The Economic History Review, Second Series, 6 (1) 1953, pp. 1–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Osterhammel, Jürgen, ‘Britain and China, 1842–1914’, in Porter, Andrew (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)Google Scholar, Vol. III, pp. 146–69; Turnball, C. M., ‘Formal and Informal Empire in East Asia’, in Winks, Robin W. (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), Vol. V, pp. 379–402Google Scholar.

144 Cain and Hopkins, British Imperialism, Chapter 13. Also see Akita, ‘Introduction: From Imperial History to Global History,’ in Akita, Shigeru (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism and Global History (London: Palgrave, 2002), pp. 1–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

145 Niels Petersson, ‘Gentlemanly and Not-So-Gentlemanly Imperialism in China before the First World War’, in Akita (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism, Imperialism and Global History, pp. 103–22; Phimister, Ian, ‘Foreign Devils, Finance and Informal Empire: Britain and China c. 1900–1912,’ Modern Asian Studies, 40 (3) 2006, pp. 737–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

146 Kirby, William C., ‘The Internationalization of China: Foreign Relations at Home and Abroad in the Republican Era’, The China Quarterly, 150, 1997, pp. 433–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar (citation from p. 442).

147 ‘Sir John Jordan: Yuan's Services to China’, NCH, 22 November 1913, pp. 568–69.

148 Nish, Ian, The Anglo-Japanese Alliance: the Diplomacy of Two Island Empires, 1894–1907 (London: Athlone Press, 1966)Google Scholar; Nish, Ian, Alliance in Decline: A Study in Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1908–23 (London: Athlone Press, 1972)Google Scholar.

149 Fogel, Joshua A., The Literature of Travel in the Japanese Rediscovery of China, 1862–1945 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), especially p. 44Google Scholar; Hikotarou, Andou, Chuugokugo to kindai Nihon [The Chinese Language and Modern Japan] (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1988)Google Scholar.

150 Proposal dated April 1883, Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 6-1-7-1.

151 An-sok, Son, ‘Senzen no gaimushou no chuugoku he no ryugakusei haken ni tsuite: meiji taishou ki wo chuushin ni [On the Pre-war Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Policy of Sending Students to China: Meiji and Taisho Eras]’, Chugoku kenkyuu geppou, 61 (9) 2007, pp. 1–16Google Scholar.

152 See Kitaoka, Shin'ichi, ‘China Experts in the Army,’ in Duus, Peter, Myers, Ramon H. and Peattie, Mark R. (eds), The Japanese Informal Empire in China, 1895–1937 (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1989), pp. 330–68Google Scholar; Ryoichi, Tobe, Nihon rikugun to chuugoku: ‘Shinatsuu’ ni miru yume to zasetsu [Japanese Army and China: Dreams and Setbacks of the ‘Chinahands’]’ (Tokyo: Koudansha, 1999)Google Scholar.

153 For example, see shireibu, Shinkoku chuutongun (ed.), Pekin shi [Description of Beijing] (Tokyo: Hakubun kan, 1908)Google Scholar.

154 For the massive use of the sources by the Japanese Army, see Köll, Elisabeth, ‘Chinese Railroads, Local Society, and Foreign Presence: The Tianjin-Pukou Line in pre-1949 Shandong’, in Elleman, Bruce A. and Kotkin, Stephen (eds), Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China: An International History (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2009), pp. 123–48Google Scholar.

155 French Consul General in Shanghai to Pichon, 27 Juily 1913, Archives Diplomatiques (la Courneuve, France), Correspondance Politique et Commerciale: 1897 à 1918, Nouvelle Série, Chine, NS52. Also see Bickers, The Scramble for China, Chapter 11.

156 Yoshizawa to Makino, 2 August 1913; Ijuin to Makino, telegram, 30 June 1913; Ministry of War to General Yokura in China, 10 July; Makino to consuls in China, draft telegram (no date), Diplomatic Record Office, Tokyo, 5-3-2-137.

157 Yamagata Hatsuo to Fukuda Masatarou, 19 January 1916, in Toshiaki, Yamaguchi (ed.), ‘Hama Omote Yasuke Bunsho [Papers of Hamaomote Matasuke]’, kenkyuukai, Kindainihon (ed.), Nenpou kindai Nihon kenkyuu [Annals of Modern Japanese Studies No. 2] (Tokyo: Yamakawa shuppansha, 1980), pp. 205–70Google Scholar (citation from pp. 223–24).

158 Cabinet resolution, 7 March 1916, Nihon gaikou monjo, the 5 year of Taisho, Vol. 2, pp. 45–46.

159 Kitaoka, Nihon rikugun to tairiku seisaku, pp. 181–95.

160 Jordan to Langley, 29 February 1916, Private, Jordan Papers, TNA, FO 350/15.

161 Jordan to Langley, 13 June 1916, Private, Jordan Papers, TNA, FO 350/15.