Tang Jiyao

Tang Jiyao
General Tang Jiyao
Military Governor of Guizhou
In office 1912–1913
Succeeded by	Liu Xianshi
Military Governor of Yunnan
In office 1913–1927
Preceded by	Cai E
Succeeded by	Long Yun
Personal details
Born	14 August 1883 Qujing, Yunnan, China
Died	November 1927 (aged 1921–1922) Kunming, Yunnan, China
Nationality	Han chinese
Political party	Kuomintang
Other political affiliations	Progressive Party
Alma mater	Imperial Japanese Army Academy
Military service
Allegiance	Republic of China
Years of service	1911-1927
Rank	general
Battles/wars	National Protection War, Northern Expedition

Tang Jiyao (simplified Chinese: 唐继尧; traditional Chinese: 唐繼堯; pinyin: Táng Jìyáo; Wade–Giles: T'ang Chi-yao) (August 14, 1883 – May 23, 1927) was a Chinese general and warlord of Yunnan during the Warlord Era of early Republican China. He was military governor of Yunnan from 1913-1927.

Life

Tang was born in Huize county in 1883 in what is Qujing, Yunnan province. ^[1] He passed the Imperial examination in 1903, and was selected by the Qing government to study military theory at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko in Japan the following year. While in Japan, he met Sun Yat-sen, and became a member of the Tongmenghui revolutionary society dedicated to overthrowing the monarchy. In 1907, he continued on to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. Returning to Yunnan in 1909, he served in a number of military posts in the New Army. In 1911, under the command of General Cai E, he participated in the Wuchang Uprising, which marked the start of the Xinhai Revolution which eventually toppled the Qing dynasty.

During early 1912, Tang’s forces invaded neighboring Guizhou Province, which he conquered. He was recognized as military governor of Guizhou by the Beiyang government in May of the same year.^[2] Liu Xianshi succeeded Tang as Guizhou Governor when Tang returned to Yunnan to succeed Cai E as military governor of Yunnan.^[3] Tang Jiyao replaced Cai E as military Governor of Yunnan in 1913.^[4] Tang agreed with Cai E that the military was the most important institution in China and should play a major role in government, leading to the Yunnan army persisting as a major force.^[5]

When Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself as the emperor of China in the December of 1915, Tang announced the independence of Yunnan with the support of Cai E, Li Liejun and others. He was a prominent leader of the army against Yuan Shikai during the National Protection War, and with Yuan’s death, Tang emerged as one of the most powerful military leaders in southern China, and extended his power base into Guangxi and Sichuan provinces. .^[6]

After Cai E died in 1916, Tang helped Sun set up the Constitutional Protection Movement in 1917 and started his own party, the People's Party (民治党) while remaining a member of Sun's Kuomintang.

Tang Jiyao had a cousin, Tang Jiyu, who was also a general. Tang Jiyao sought to use propaganda to gain publicity for himself on the national stage in China.^[7] He smuggled confiscated opium to Shanghai, but the local Green Gang ratted them out to the British authorities, and much of the opium ended up on the black market.^[8] Tang Jiyu avoided Shanghai during the trial against officials involved in the opium deal in 1916.^[9]

Tang Jiyao set up an opium trafficking scheme in Yunnan, with monopolies, taxes, and licenses, and succeeded in producing large amounts of opium from poppy plants, which were suited to Yunnan's climate.^[10] He transported opium via Indochina to Haiphong, which was a port, and then it was sent to China via the coast.^[11]

Tang Jiyao was described in colourful ways in two books by the French journalist and novelist Lucien Bodard, i.e. "Monsieur le consul" (The French Consul, 1973) and "Le fils du consul" (The Consul's Son, 1975), based on his recollections when he was a child with his father, Albert Bodard, who was Consul of France, successively in Chengdu, and in Yunnanfu, later called Kunming. In these two books, there are chapters with extensive descriptions of Tang Jiyao dealings with colonial French authorities in China and Hanoi, French Indochina, as part of his efforts to develop his drug trade to finance weapons purchase for his army, while France was trying to build a railroad from Hanoi to Kunming and further to Chengdu] to expand their economic and political interests in southern China, from French Indochina.

When Sun Yat-sen was appointed as Grand Marshal of the military government in Guangzhou, Tang Jiyao was promoted to the rank of Marshal.^[12] He assisted Sun in defeating the Old Guangxi Clique, when the Old Guangxi clique tried to seize the Yunnan Army and remove Tang as its leader in 1920.^[13]

Downfall

Six days after Sun's death in 1925, Tang claimed to be Sun's successor and head of the Kuomintang; however the party rejected his claims. Tang then invaded Guangdong and Guangxi but was defeated by Li Zongren in the Yunnan-Guangxi War.^[14][15] Tang later became vice premier of Chen Jiongming's China Public Interest Party. He died of illness in May 1927 in Kunming, one month after he was ousted by Hu Ruoyu and Long Yun in a military coup, which made him lose all of his power in Yunnan. Long Yun then supported Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing government, dissolved the People's Party, and expelled Chen's party.

References

1. Kathryn Meyer, Terry M. Parssinen (2002). Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 55. ISBN 0-7425-2003-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
2. Joseph W Esherick, Mary B Rankin (1990). Studies on China, Volume 11. University of California Press. p. 183. ISBN 0-520-06763-0. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
3. Joseph W Esherick, Mary B Rankin (1990). Studies on China, Volume 11. University of California Press. p. 184. ISBN 0-520-06763-0. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
4. Сергей Леонидович Тихвинский (1983). Модерн хисторий оф Чина. Progress Publishers. p. 624. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
5. Marie-Claire Bergère, Janet Lloyd (2000). Sun Yat-sen. Stanford University Press. p. 267. ISBN 0-8047-4011-9. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
6. Ke-wen Wang (1998). Modern China: an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism. Taylor & Francis. p. 230. ISBN 0-8153-0720-9. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
7. Kathryn Meyer, Terry M. Parssinen (2002). Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 56. ISBN 0-7425-2003-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
8. Kathryn Meyer, Terry M. Parssinen (2002). Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 57. ISBN 0-7425-2003-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
9. Kathryn Meyer, Terry M. Parssinen (2002). Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 58. ISBN 0-7425-2003-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
10. Kathryn Meyer, Terry M. Parssinen (2002). Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 144. ISBN 0-7425-2003-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
11. Kathryn Meyer, Terry M. Parssinen (2002). Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 82. ISBN 0-7425-2003-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
12. Linda Pomerantz-Zhang (1992). Wu Tingfang (1842-1922): reform and modernization in modern Chinese history. Hong Kong University Press. p. 255. ISBN 962-209-287-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
13. Linda Pomerantz-Zhang (1992). Wu Tingfang (1842-1922): reform and modernization in modern Chinese history. Hong Kong University Press. p. 271. ISBN 962-209-287-X. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
14. Lucien Bianco (2001). Webs Peasants without the party: grass-roots movements in twentieth-century China. M.E. Sharpe. p. 103. ISBN 1-56324-839-5. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
15. Alan Baumler (2001). Modern China and opium: a reader. University of Michigan Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-472-06768-0. Retrieved 2010-10-31.