The Fight for the Republic in China

by B.L. Putnam Weale (Pseudonym), Bertram Lenox Simpson

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Genres: China

469 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Bertram Lenox Simpson (1877-1930), who wrote under the pseudonym Putnam Weale was a novelist and a journalist. He was one of the well-known figures who worked for the Customs in China. His works include: Indiscreet Letters from Peking (1906), The Fight for the Republic in China (1917), Wang the Ninth: The Story of a Chinese Boy (1920), The Port of Fragrance (1930), Manchu and Muscovite and The Re-Shaping of the Far East.

Reviews

[Tony Blackmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 1918 at a hopeful time after a failed attempt to establish a new Imperial line, this work by a life-long China hand details the early years of the Republic, especially the presidency of Yuan Shih-kai. It's a clear reminder that Chinese democracy was thottled at birth long before Chiang Kai-shek or the Kuomingtang entered history, let along later developments. The author blames the western powers for the failure of the Republic in China due to their own short-sightedness and self-interest. At the point the book was published as the end of WW I, Putnam Weale suggests that the Great Powers change their tack and welcome the Republic of China as an equal nation and a functioning liberal-democarcy. With a new president sympathetic to the Republican cause and Congress recalled, the author saw it as the moment to act. We know that didn't happen and the rest is, as they say, history.

[Ruben · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thoughtful analysis on China and western interests on it during first decades of XX century.
If you are looking, as I was, for an overview of modern Chinese history this book is not for you.