The national flag of the Republic of China, the five-color flag, is the first legal national flag of the Republic of China. On June 8, 1912, Yuan Shikai issued the "Provisional Grand Presidential Decree", with the five-color flag as the national flag, which accompanied the Beiyang government for 16 years. This banner, when Yuan Shikai was creating momentum for restoration, there was a bit of a "situation" at the Yunnan Persuasion Conference.
Yuan Shikai and the Five Color Flag
In June 1915, Yuan Shikai bribed politicians Yang Du, Sun Yujun, Yan Fu, Li Xiehe, Hu Ying, Liu Shipei and others to set up a preparatory committee to discuss the issue of changing the state system, and to praise him as emperor under the pretext of public opinion.
At that time, Yuan Shikai promised to make Cai Yi the governor of Hunan, but he did not issue a letter of appointment. Kunming could not stay, and Cai Yi had to transfer to Shanghai to Beijing and serve as the superintendent of the Economic boundary bureau. Yuan Shikai sent people to consult the generals on the imperial system, and Cai Yi immediately wrote the word "in favor". At that time, Cai Yi and Tang Jiyao had frequent power.
When the Beijing Preparatory Committee initiated a change in the state system and supported Yuan Shikai as emperor, the Legislative Affairs Bureau, which was specially set up to prepare for the imperial system, sent a secret telegram to the provincial overseers and inspectors to request the holding of a meeting to persuade the advance. He also pointed out the main points of handling: First, it is necessary to avoid using the name of the government and only to gather the provincial capital as the people's public representatives of the whole province to vote and persuade them; second, there should be more deputies and respectfully engage in them; third, they should be held in public opinion organs; fourth, the provincial treasury should first advance funds and expenditures, and then report to Beijing for reimbursement.
There are many doubts everywhere, and they are all looking east and west; Yunnan is remote and did not hold it immediately. The Legislative Affairs Bureau was in a hurry, and Didian urged Tang Jiyao and the inspector Ren Kecheng to hold a meeting quickly, and on behalf of the people of the province, sincerely demanded that Emperor Yuan ascend to the pole as soon as possible. The telegram also stated that if Emperor Yuan ascended to the pole, he would be rewarded to those who were loyal and persuaded among the overseers and inspectors.
Tang Jiyao had been the Governor of Dian for less than two years. One day, Tang Jiyao said to Sun Yong'an, commander of the artillery regiment of the Dian Army, that if Yuan Shikai became emperor, it would be a serious harm to our people, and we could only resolutely oppose it. When these telegrams reached Dian, Tang Jiyao ignored them. Ren Kecheng was a native of Guizhou, and when he was the inspector of Yunnan, he consulted with Tang on good policies. As a result, Tang Jiyao replied: "The inspectorate deliberates on the four words." Ren Kecheng's decision will be handled separately by the Inspectorate.
Tang Jiyao (1883-1927), also known as 蓂赓, was a Han Chinese from Huize, Yunnan.
Li Zihui, then head of the Internal Affairs Section of the Inspection Bureau, knew the preparations very well.
Ren Kecheng recognized the importance of persuading the general assembly. Immediately, business celebrities and the presidents of the county associations were invited to the office, announcing the reasons for persuasion, asking everyone to make a list, and at once more than three hundred people were listed. Ren Kecheng was very careful, designating the Dali Zhou Jiangong and the old Li Chengbai second elder whom he knew, asking him to serve as the interim chairman at the time of the vote, and delivering a speech and taking the lead in shouting long live. Immediately, yellow paper was used to prepare the persuasion ticket, and a total of 500 tickets were printed.
When it came to the day of the meeting, only 97 people did not expect to come to the meeting, and the lobby of the inspection office was sparse. Ren Kecheng was greatly frustrated, but there was nothing he could do. At the meeting, Zhou Jiangong delivered a speech, a few words, and the staff directed the invoice. The delegates filled in the voting, and Li Chengbai first shouted "Long live Emperor Yuan"! The delegates also shouted, their voices high and low, up and down. As soon as the call fell, the five-colored national flag hanging on the wall of the board unexpectedly landed on the ground, and the participants looked at each other and felt "ominous".
The persuasion meeting was hastily arranged, and Ren Kecheng personally drafted the draft. Just as the news was about to be played, the news of the opposition to the imperial system in Dianzhong was secretly transmitted. Ren Kecheng had no choice but to send a telegram to Yuan Shikai in his personal name, and he used weeping to advise Yuan not to be called emperor. After Yunnan officially announced the solicitation of Yuan, some people accused Ren Kecheng of deliberately leaking yunnan secrets, and Tang Jiyao explained that the objection was stopped.
Ren Kecheng (1878-1945), formerly known as Wen Yi (文爃), was a native of Puding, Guizhou.
There is also such a saying: Tang Jiyao, as the governor of the capital, seems to be very sober about the current situation. At that time, Feng Guozhang, Yan Xishan, and Liu Xianshi had sent a secret telegram to Tang Jiyao, saying that as long as Tang rebelled against Yuan, they would respond immediately. Tang Jiyao would not be deceived, and in order to keep secrets, he used the local gentry Zhou Jiangong and others to hold a meeting and pretend to support Yuan, so that the outside world believed that there was no change in Yunnan. However, when Yunnan sent an anti-Yuan telegram, Liu, Yan and others instead expressed their approval of Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne.
After the death of Yuan and the restoration of the Republic of China, the Beijing government appointed Tang Jiyao as the overseer of Yunnan and Ren Kecheng as the governor of Yunnan. Ren Kecheng was very excited, that is, he issued a notice to take office on a regular basis, but unexpectedly, the provincial generals jointly sent a letter asking Ren Kecheng what merit he had to run the Government of Dian, and the rhetoric was fierce. Ren Kecheng was frightened and issued a notice overnight, suspending his inauguration due to illness. After five days, Ren Kecheng declared that his illness was difficult to recover quickly, and he had resigned from the central government and returned to his hometown for recuperation. The Beijing government replied to the telegram and asked Tang Jiyao to concurrently serve as the governor of the province, and Ren Kecheng hurriedly left Yunnan and returned to Qian with his family members.
At the beginning of Ren Kecheng's departure, Tang Jiyao gave him travel expenses; on the day of departure, he led his subordinates to Jukui Lou, which is said to be to show the "thick way" of the Dian people.
Kunming Jukui Building, also known as Zhuangyuan Building.