Wu Tingfang And Republican Political

Wu Ting-fang, an important figure in modern Chinese history, has early studied in England and then held a post in British Hong Kong government before becoming an assistant to Li Hung-chang. He was highly appreciated by Li for dealing with cases of diplomatic affairs by using his knowledge of international law. Li Hung-chang retired after Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.In view of Wu Ting-fang's diplomatic skills, the Qing government has twice appointed him as ambassador to the U.S.. During this period, he was loyal to the Qing government, hoping to accelerate the pace of constitutional and save the national crisis. To his disappointment, the Qing government did not want to do anything to change the situation. Finally, he chose to join the revolutionaries, overthrew the Qing government with them and established a democratic republican system. This dissertation will focus on Wu Ting-fang's contributions to the establishment and maintenance of republican system in his late years.After the outbreak of the 1911 revolution, Wu Ting-fang was invited by the revolutionaries and appointed diplomatic representative. In order to overthrow the autocracy and establish the republican system, Wu Ting-fang made tough negotiations about the form of government with Tang Shao-yi who was on behalf of the Qing government and then established the republican system in china at last. From an old imperial bureaucracy into a revolutionary party member, Wu Ting-fang was not only accused as a traitor, but also faced a threat of death by the Qing government. He explained to them why he turned his first pursuit of constitution monarchy into the establishment of democratic republic. And he also hoped them to join the revolutionary to build a new country as soon as possible.Since the establishment of the Republic of China, Wu Ting-fang chose to leave the early Republic's political arena because of the gap with the revolutionary party as well as the resentment of the Yuan. Wu Ting-fang had never retired and sit still after leaving the political arena. He went into his den and still pursued his ideal. Feeling a lack of knowledge about the Republican, he wrote a lot of books to introduce the Anglo-American political system and he also pointed out how to build a truly democratic republic. Wu Ting-fang's quiet den life was soon destroyed by two things:one was that Yuan Shi-kai proclaimed himself emperor and the other was that Zhang Xun Restoration. In order to maintain the republican system, Wu Ting-fang came out again. He joined the struggle against the Yuan emperor and Zhang Xun Restoration and soon succeeded. To realize his ideal of the Republic of prosperity, Wu Ting-fang accepted the position provided by Li Yuan-hung Government. However, things went contrary to his wishes. Republic of China fell into the endless crossfire between warlords. Together with Sun Yat-sen, Wu Ting-fang fought for the truly Democratic Republic. They fought against the northern warlords as well as the southern ones. Finally, Wu Ting-fang broken down from constant overwork and died in the crusade against the Chen Jiongming.In a word, Wu Ting-fang helped the Qing government constitutional monarchy in his early years, but turned into the democratic republic after the disappointment of this government. During his last ten years, Wu Ting-fang had been running around for the establishment and the maintenance of the Democratic Republic.It could be said that he devoted all his life to this great cause.