A Study On Hubei Provincial Governor Wang Zhanyuan

Wang Zhanyuan had governed the Hubei Province for seven years, leaving Hubei for the failure of the war between Hubei and Hunan. This article studied on the strategies which Wang Zhanyuan used to maintain his power by analyzing the events during his seven years in Hubei. Additionally, to explore the reasons behind the gains and losses of power of military governors like him. Wang Zhanyuan took advantage of Hubei’s unique location. On one hand, Hubei was the strategic passage for the South and the North.During the Constitution Defending War, Wang Zhanyuan acted as a supporter and a protester of the war at different period of times, gaining the military and political support from Zhixi and Wanxi. At the other hand, Hubei next to the southwest provinces, which Wang Zhanyuan persuaded to reunite with the Beijing Government. The identity as a broker, is the precious political fortune to Wang, which made him important for the Beijing Government, and was invited to the Three Commanding Officers Meeting that aimed at discussing the current events at that time. However, the intense Banishing Wang Zhanyuan Movement, which showed the unsolvable contradiction between Wang Zhanyuan and people in Hubei, made his position unstable. Later the movement developed into using the military power to banish Wang, which leaded to the War between Hubei and Hunan. The military force, the Northern Second Division, which Wang most relied on, was powerless, due to the Wuchang and Yichang mutiny. The failure of the war leaded to the retirement of Wang Zhanyuan.That Wang Zhanyuan appointed as the military governor of Hubei, on one hand is for the support of Yuan Shikai, on the other hand relies on his military power. Later he turned to Feng Guozhang when Yuan Shikai claimed to be the emperor. With the support of Feng Guozhang, together with Li Chun and Chen Guangyuan- known as the Three Governors along the Yangtze River, he was against the WanXi leaded by Duan Qirui.However, after Cao Kun became the leader of Zhixi, Wang Zhanyuan tended to be closer to Zhang Zuolin, since they signed the secret treaty to form union. But the power of Zhang Zuolin can’t stretch to the Yangtze River, who only played a role to reserve Wang’s position during the banishing Wang Movement and Wuchang and Yichang Mutiny. The war between Hubei and Hunan started by Zhao Hengti and Wu Peifu expelled Wang Zhanyuan at last. For military governor like Wang Zhanyuan, military power matters, but the factions can also be significant.