Information AboutCao Kun |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CAO KUN | |
| politicians of the republic of china | |
| warlords in republican china | |
| 1862 births | |
| 1938 deaths | |
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Cáo Kūn (曹錕 , 1862 - May 17 , 1938 ). Born in Tianjin , his Courtesy Name was Zhongshan (仲珊). During the First Sino-Japanese War , he fought in the battle for the Yalu River . He was made a general in the Beiyang Army and led the Zhili clique after the death of Feng Guozhang . During the 1918 elections, he was promised the vice-presidency by Duan Qirui but the office remained vacant after most of parliament left, depriving it of a Quorum . He felt betrayed by Duan and defeated him in battle in 1920 . He forced the resignations of both Xu Shichang and Li Yuanhong and was President Of The Republic Of China (on Beijing ) from October 10 , 1923 to November 2 , 1924 . He infamously acquired his office by openly bribing members of parliament with 5000 silver dollars each. Sun Yatsen , Zhang Zuolin , and Duan Qirui jointly raised only 3000 to each member not to elect him. This episode brought disrepute to the Beijing government and parliament (called the "parliament of pigs"), which lacked a quorum to even hold elections. It turned all the rival factions against him and his own clique began suffering from dissension. Relations with his chief protege, Wu Peifu , soured and there was rumours of an impending split within the Zhili clique but they stayed together to fight against the Fengtian clique. One of his first acts as president was to promulgate the 1923 Constitution . Hastily drafted by a guilt-ridden parliament, it was deemed the most democratic and progressive yet, but like previous charters it was ignored completely. He was imprisoned when General Feng Yuxiang betrayed the Zhili clique and sided with Zhang Zuolin. His presidency was declared illegitimate. He was released two years later as a goodwill gesture by Feng to Wu Peifu. |
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