Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Great Qing Emperor after His Abdication
The Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Great Qing Emperor after His Abdication (Chinese: 關於大清皇帝辭位之後優待之條件), also known simply as the Articles of Favourable Treatment (Chinese: 清室優待條件), was an agreement drawn up by the Qing dynasty government and the Provisional Government of the Republic of China on the relevant protection measures after the abdication of the Qing imperial family and the Xinhai Revolution.[1] The document is dated 26 December, 1914.[2][3]
Background
In October 1911, the Wuchang Uprising sparked the 1911 Revolution against the Qing Dynasty.
In November of that same year, the Qing Prime Minister Yuan Shikai led the Beiyang Army to defeat the uprising in Hanyang. In December, following the encouragement of the British envoy John Jordan, Yuan began negotiations with the revolutionaries to negotiate peace between the North and the South. The revolutionaries, represented by Wu Ting-fang and the Yuan's Beiyang Army represented by Tang Shaoyi reached an agreement, establishing the Republic of China, with Yuan as its first president.
The Articles were produced on January 20. During this time, both the Beiyang Army and the Revolutionary Army wanted the Qing Dynasty to abdicate, but were strongly opposed by Prince Gong Pu Wei, Fu Guo Gong Zia Zee, and Jude Luo Liang Bi.
On January 26, 1912, Duan Qirui led more than 40 generals of the Beiyang Army to issue a telegram requesting the clearance to abdicate jointly. On February 2 of the same year, Qirui and eight other generals issued the "Second Telegram Requesting a Republic", claiming that:
I will lead the whole army into Beijing to explain things.
This threatened the lives of the capital and the prince and finally forced Empress Dowager Longyu to accept the terms.
After consultations between the parties, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China sent a letter to the Qing government on February 9, 1912, regarding amendments to the preferential conditions for the abdication of the Qing emperor. It was announced by Empress Dowager Longyu on the 12th. Puyi, the last Qing emperor, soon learned that the real reasons for the Articles of Favorable Settlement was that President Yuan Shikai was planning on restoring the monarchy with himself as the emperor of a new dynasty, and wanted to have Puyi as a sort of custodian of the Forbidden City until he could move in and marry him with his daughter.[4]
Although the conditions outlined in this document were very favorable, the Republic of China government had not complied with the document. For example, it had been in arrears of four million tales of silver since the second year. This preferential treatment was torn up by Feng Yixian in the Beijing coup in the summer of 1924. The Beijing government, controlled by Yuxiang, issued the "Amendment of Preferential Treatment Conditions," after which Puyi was stripped of the title of emperor.
Content
The document sets out several protections for the emperor after his abdication, including:
- Continued use of the imperial title
- An annual subsidy of four million taels ($4,000,000 after currency reform)
- Permission to reside in the Forbidden City temporarily before moving to the Summer Palace
- Maintenance, in perpetuity, of the imperial family's temples and mausoleums
- Continued employment of all servants previously employed
Some privileges extended to the imperial family more generally, such as exemption from military service.
Later amendments
When Feng Yuxiang expelled the imperial family on November 5, 1924, at the will of Emperor Xun he issued the "Amendment to the Special Treatment Conditions for the Qing Dynasty" and preserved the original "Special Treatment Conditions for the Qing Dynasty". The conditions of the "little imperial court" were abolished. Feng, the latest of the warlords to take Beijing, was seeking legitimacy and decided that abolishing the unpopular Articles of Favorable Settlement was an easy way to win the crowd's approval.[4]
The amendments stipulated that going forward, the emperor would enjoy legal rights equal to those of any citizen of the ROC. It also entrusted the private property of the dynasty to the ex-imperial family, but granted ownership of its public property to the government of the ROC. Feng unilaterally revised the "Articles of Favourable Treatment" on November 5, 1924, abolishing Puyi's imperial title and privileges and reducing him to a private citizen of the Republic of China.
References
- ^ "Exploring Chinese History :: Politics :: Government Documents :: The Articles of Favorable Treatment".
- ^ Twilight in the Forbidden City, 1934, Reginald Fleming Johnston, pp 96–98
- ^ "The Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Qing Emperor (1914)". 4 June 2013.
- ^ a b Edward Behr, The Last Emperor (Bantam Books, 1987) pp.84-85, p.129
- v
- t
- e
- Emperor
- List
- Family tree
- Advisory Council
- Amban
- Consultative Bureau
- Cup of Solid Gold
- Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations
- Da-Qing Bank
- Deliberative Council
- Diplomatic missions
- Flag of the Qing dynasty
- Grand Council
- Great Qing Legal Code
- Imperial Clan Court
- Imperial Commissioner
- Imperial Household Department
- Lifan Yuan
- Ministry of Posts and Communications
- Nine Gates Infantry Commander
- Provincial governor
- Provincial military commander
- Principles of the Constitution (1908)
- Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty
- Viceroys
- Zongli Yamen
mausoleums
culture
- Booi Aha
- Changzhou School of Thought
- Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China
- Dibao
- Economy
- Four Wangs
- History of Ming
- Kangxi Dictionary
- Kaozheng
- Literary inquisition
- Manchu Han Imperial Feast
- Peiwen Yunfu
- Pentaglot Dictionary
- Qing official headwear
- Qing poetry
- Complete Tang Poems
- Queue
- Researches on Manchu Origins
- Sacred Edict of the Kangxi Emperor
- Shamanism during the Qing dynasty
- Islam during the Qing dynasty
- Complete Library of the Four Treasuries
- Treaty of Kyakhta (1727)
- Treaty of Nerchinsk
- Unequal treaty
- Boxer Protocol
- Burlingame Treaty
- Chefoo Convention
- Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting Tibet
- Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory
- Convention of Peking
- Convention of Tientsin
- Li–Lobanov Treaty
- Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking
- Treaty of Aigun
- Treaty of the Bogue
- Treaty of Canton
- Treaty of Kulja
- Treaty of Nanking
- Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)
- Treaty of Shimonoseki
- Treaty of Tarbagatai
- Treaty of Tientsin
- Treaty of Wanghia
- Treaty of Whampoa
Coinage | |
---|---|
Paper money |
- Aisin Gioro
- Anti-Qing sentiment
- Canton System
- Chuang Guandong
- Draft History of Qing
- History of Qing (People's Republic)
- Imperial hunt of the Qing dynasty
- Legacy of the Qing dynasty
- Manchu people
- Names of the Qing dynasty
- New Qing History
- Timeline of late anti-Qing rebellions
- Treaty ports
- Willow Palisade