February 12, 1912, is a day that will be remembered forever by history. On this day, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the last emperor in the true sense of China, the six-year-old Qing Xuantong Emperor Ai Xin jueluo Puyi, issued an abdication edict.
This means that China's more than two thousand years of feudal history have completely ended, and Puyi has become the last emperor in Chinese history after becoming the 422nd emperor in Chinese history.
However, the uprooting of the foundation of the feudal imperial system in people's hearts that lasted for 2132 must not be an overnight thing, not the people of Teplo, even Yuan Shikai, who became the president of the Republic of China, could not stand the temptation of being called emperor.
Yuan Shikai's most criticized in his life was mainly his act of claiming the title of emperor, and as for other places, in the social and historical environment at that time, there were not many people who could be blamed. So what is the reason for Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne?
In December 1915, under the so-called "Ten Thousand People's Push", Yuan Shikai planned to become emperor the following year, and prepared to change the Yuan "HongXian". In fact, Yuan Shikai never officially ascended the throne and sat on the imperial throne that he dreamed of, so the Hongxian imperial system was not really implemented.
In recent years, the evaluation of Yuan Shikai has become more and more objective, so we will first look at the matter of Yuan Shikai's claim to the emperor from the perspective of being as objective as possible.
The first thing we must admit is that in Chinese history, after the Xinhai Revolution, no matter what the reason, as long as it is called emperor, it will inevitably become an act of pulling back the wheel of history, and Yuan Shikai's preparation to be called emperor is no exception.
However, we need to pay attention to the fact that Yuan Shikai's act of claiming the emperor may not be dominated by its own factors, and the role played by external factors is also very large.
So who do these "external" people refer to? Among them are Yan Fu and Kang Youwei, who are incomparably familiar to us, Yang Du, Sun Yujun, Li Xiehe, Hu Ying, Liu Shipei, who are not so familiar, and one of them has a great influence on Yuan Shikai, that is, Yuan Keding, the eldest son of Yuan Shikai.
Although it is true that the Hongxian imperial system is indeed an act of restoration, Yan Fuhe, Kang Youwei and others still have a bit of a constitutional monarchy, but Yuan Keding is afraid that his father Yuan Shikai is not familiar, and yes, he did dream of being a crown prince.
Under the "support" of this cadre and the people organized by this cadre, Yuan Shikai is getting closer and closer to the emperor's throne, and he is getting closer and closer to being discredited. But let's look at it again, yuan shikai called the emperor to be a completely feudal emperor like the Manchu Qing Dynasty? Or do you really want to do a royal-like decoration?
I don't think so. Combined with the research in recent years, Yuan Shikai cannot be an emperor without real power, nor will he be stupid enough to be the emperor of the pre-Qing Dynasty, and he is very likely to choose the German-style constitutional monarchy.
So why did you choose that? In fact, the reason is very simple. As a politician, Yuan Shikai, no matter how strong the dream of the emperor in his heart, could not fail to realize that the emperor like before China would never appear in China again.
And Yuan Shikai cannot be willing to be a symbolic figure without real power. Under the balance of the two phases, the German-style constitutional monarchy, where the emperor has considerable power, is the best choice.
We can't know what China would be like if Yuan Shikai could succeed in claiming the title of emperor, but history did not give him this opportunity, and Yuan Shikai, who had a dream, died in the midst of national condemnation.
And Yuan Keding, the person who wanted to be the crown prince, in fact, Yuan Shikai never considered him as an heir. Open the list of heirs left by Yuan Shikai before his death, on which are written the names of "Li Yuanhong, Duan Qirui, and Xu Shichang".