Xu Shuzheng
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Hsu Seu-Cheng or Xu Shuzheng (; ) (11 November 1880 – 29 December 1925) was a Chinese
warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
in Republican China. A subordinate and right-hand man of
Duan Qirui Duan Qirui (; ) (March 6, 1865 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the R ...
, he was a prominent member of the
Anhui clique The Anhui clique () was a military and political organization, one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang clique in the Republic of China's Warlord Era. It was named after Anhui province because several of its ...
.


Early life

Xu was born in
Xiao County Xiao County or Xiaoxian () is a county in the north of Anhui Province, China, bordering the provinces of Jiangsu to the north and northeast and Henan to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. It was former ...
,
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
(now part of
Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
province), with a scholar family background. He was one of the youngest persons ever to pass the
Imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...
s. In 1905 he was accepted into the Japanese School of Land Army Officials, and returned to China in 1910. From 1911-17 he served in the First Army in various positions on the general staff, such as chief of the Logistics Department, deputy chief of land forces and chief of land forces. In 1914 he founded a middle school called Cheng Da Middle School, which is the predecessor of today’s Affiliated High School of the Capital Normal College. In 1918 Xu founded the Anfu Club, the political arm of the
Anhui clique The Anhui clique () was a military and political organization, one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang clique in the Republic of China's Warlord Era. It was named after Anhui province because several of its ...
, which then won three-fourths of the seats in the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. Later that year Xu executed
Lu Jianzhang Lu Jianzhang (; 1862 – June 14, 1918) was a general of the late Qing dynasty and early Republican period of China. Biography He enlisted in the Huai Army in 1881, before joining the New Army in 1895. He entered the military academy at Tian ...
after discovering that Lu was trying to persuade
Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a warlord and a leader of the Republic of China from Chaohu, Anhui. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. He was ...
, Lu's nephew, to fight against the Anhui clique. This would lead to Xu's own assassination in 1925.


Military career

In 1919 Xu assumed command of the Northwest Frontier Defense Army, which
invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
newly independent
Outer Mongolia Outer Mongolia was the name of a territory in the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China from 1691 to 1911. It corresponds to the modern-day independent state of Mongolia and the Russian republic of Tuva. The historical region gained ''de facto' ...
in October. On November 17 he forced Outer Mongolia to withdraw its declaration of autonomy, thus temporarily bringing Mongolia back under Chinese control. In 1920, after Duan fell from power, Xu lost his position and moved his forces back to confront his enemies. He was replaced in Mongolia by Chen Yi, and Mongolia became independent again in early 1921 when Chinese forces were defeated by the Russian–Mongol army commanded by General Baron
Roman von Ungern-Sternberg Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (russian: link=no, Роман Фёдорович фон Унгерн-Штернберг, translit=Roman Fedorovich fon Ungern-Shternberg; 10 January 1886 – 15 September 1921), often refer ...
. Xu's forces were defeated in the subsequent Zhili–Anhui War and he was forced to take shelter in the Japanese embassy. In the early 1920s, Xu was sent to Italy as part of a Chinese diplomatic mission; a secondary purpose was to get him out of the country. He returned to China in 1924 after Duan's return as chief executive.


Death

In December 1925, while traveling from Beijing to Shanghai by train, Xu was kidnapped by Zhang Zhijiang, a member of
Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a warlord and a leader of the Republic of China from Chaohu, Anhui. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. He was ...
's forces. He was assassinated at dawn the next day by Feng as revenge for the killing of
Lu Jianzhang Lu Jianzhang (; 1862 – June 14, 1918) was a general of the late Qing dynasty and early Republican period of China. Biography He enlisted in the Huai Army in 1881, before joining the New Army in 1895. He entered the military academy at Tian ...
. This also deprived Feng's rival Duan of a powerful supporter. Xu was 45 years old.


Personal life

Xu had one wife and four concubines. His wife Xia Hongjun (, also named Xia Xuan ()), died in Suzhou, Jiangxu Province, in 1955. They had four sons and two daughters. First son Hsu Shen-chiao ( Xu Shenjiao) and third son Hsu Dau-lin (, Xu Daolin) were active in
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
politics. Hsu Dau-lin wrote a biography, published in Chinese in 1962, entitled ''The Life of General Hsu Shu-tseng.''Hsu Dau-lin. 1962. ''The Life of General Hsu Shu-tseng.''
n Chinese N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
Taipei: Commercial Press. 331 pp.
Older daughter Hsu Ying Li ( Xu Ying, also named Xu Yinghuan ()), wrote a biography of her mother and married the linguist
Fang-Kuei Li Li Fang-Kuei (Chinese: 李方桂, Cantonese: Lei5 Fong1 Gwai3 ej˩˨ fɔŋ˦ gʷaj˧, Mandarin: Lǐ Fāngguì i˨ faŋ˦ gʷej˥˩ 20 August 190221 August 1987) was a Chinese linguist known for his studies of the varieties of Chinese, his rec ...
. The other three died in childhood. The four concubines were Shen Dinglan (), Shen Shupei (, younger sister of Shen Dinglan), Wang Huicheng () and Ping Fangchun (). Xu had two daughters (Xu Pei () and Xu Lan ()) with Shen Shupei, and two daughters (Xu Mei () and Xu Hui ()) with Wang Huicheng.


Awards and decorations

*
Order of Rank and Merit Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
(China) *
Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain The Order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain (Order of Chia-Ho ()), more simply the Order of the Golden Grain, was an award of the Republic of China. The award consists of nine classes. Recipients * Francis Aglen * Albert I of Belgium * W ...
(China) *
Order of Wen-Hu The Order of Wen-Hu (English – The Order of the Striped Tiger) was an award for military or naval service awarded by the Republic of China. It was issued in five classes. The badge showed a striped tiger in natural colours on a central meda ...
(China) *
Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...
(Japan)


Sources

* 陈贤庆 (Chen Xianqing)
民国军阀派系谈 (''The Republic of China Warlord Cliques Discussed'')
2007 revised edition * Edward A. McCord
''The Power of the Gun: the Emergence of Modern Chinese Warlordism''
Berkeley, University of California Press, 1993 * Arthur Waldron
''From War to Nationalism''
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995


See also

*
List of warlords and military cliques in the Warlord Era The Warlord Era was a historical period of the Republic of China that began from 1916 and lasted until the mid-1930s, during which the country was divided and ruled by various military cliques following the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916. Commu ...
*
History of the Republic of China The history of the Republic of China begins after the Qing dynasty in 1912, when the Xinhai Revolution and the formation of the Republic of China put an end to 2,000 years of imperial rule. The Republic experienced many trials and tribulations a ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Shuzheng 1880 births 1925 deaths Republic of China warlords from Anhui Politicians from Suzhou, Anhui Members of the Anhui clique