Empire of China (1915–1916)

The Empire of China was a short-lived attempt by statesman, general and president Yuan Shikai from late 1915 to early 1916 to reinstate monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor. The attempt was unsuccessful; it set back the Chinese republican cause by many years and fractured China into a period of conflict between various local warlords. After Yuan Shikai was installed as the second Provisional Great President of the Republic of China established by Sun Yat-sen, he took various steps to consolidate his power and remove opposition leaders from office. Both Sun and Yuan were "modernizers", Sun was a "radical revolutionary", while Yuan was a "conservative reformer". To secure his own power he collaborated with various European powers as well as Japan. Around August 1915, he instructed Yang Du (楊度) et al. to canvass support for a return of the monarchy. On 11 December 1915, an assembly unanimously elected him as Emperor. Yuan ceremonially declined, but "relented" and immediately agreed when the National Assembly petitioned again that day. On 12 December, Yuan, supported by his son Yuan Keding, declared the Empire of China with himself as the "Great Emperor of the Chinese Empire" (), taking the era name Hongxian (, "Promote the Constitution"). However, Yuan, now known as the Hongxian Emperor, delayed the accession rites until 1 January 1916. He had Manchu clothes removed from culture and had Han clothes revived but had put some changes to it. He wore new Han clothes to attend a dress rehearsal, but it was sabotaged by his Korean concubine. Soon after, the Hongxian Emperor started handing out titles of peerage to his closest relatives and friends, as well as those whom he thought he could buy with titles. The Aisin Gioro family of the Qing dynasty, then living in the Forbidden City, "approved" of Yuan's accession as emperor, and even proposed a "royal marriage" of Yuan's daughter to Puyi, the last Qing monarch.