Yuan Keding, the eldest son of Yuan Shikai. In terms of personality, Yuan Keding is very similar to his father and has strong political ambitions. For this son, Yuan Shikai is also full of expectations, and has cultivated him as a successor since he was a child.
Yuan Shikai became the president of the Republic of China and soon began to claim the title of emperor, which made Yuan Keding's political ambitions unprecedentedly inflated. As the "crown prince", Yuan Keding actively supported Yuan Shikai's claim to the title of emperor, such as falsifying the report of the "Shuntian Times" to make Yuan Shikai mistakenly believe that the Japanese supported his title of emperor.
Yuan Keding was so active that he had only one purpose, hoping that he would also have the opportunity to live an emperor addiction. Let's look at the end of Yuan Keding, who died in 1955 at the age of 77. Not to mention how Yuan Keding died at the age of 77 in his later years, it can also be regarded as a good ending.
After Yuan Shikai's death, Yuan Ke was able to survive the fierce struggle for power and profit, which was really rare. Maybe even Yuan Keding himself did not know that it was Yuan Shikai who left a decision before his death and finally saved himself. So, what did Yuan Shikai do?
Let's go back in time to the eve of Yuan Shikai's death. On the morning of June 6, 1916, Yuan Shikai came to the last moment of his life, when the people around him asked about the heir, Yuan Shikai said that everything was in the "Golden Stone House", which was considered to be a testament left behind.
The so-called "Golden Stone House" refers to a safe stored in the Zhongnanhai Swastika gallery, which contains a list of presidential candidates. According to the regulations, there are three keys to the "Golden Stone House", which are managed by the President, the President of the Senate, and the Secretary of State.
Yuan Shikai's side was out of breath, and the people there opened the "Golden Stone House" according to the will and got the roster of candidates. Yuan Keding was the most excited, and in his heart, he thought that his father must have chosen himself as the heir. Yuan Keding was disappointed, because the names on the roster did not have him, and it was still three people.
They are: Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang, Duan Qirui, Li Yuanhong ranked first. Why didn't Yuan Shikai choose Yuan Keding as his heir? The most common theory is that Yuan Shikai believed that Yuan Keding was not a brilliant politician.
Yuan Shikai believed that once he died, he could not get the support of his subordinates on his own son. To forcibly appoint a son as the heir in this way is likely to send the son on a path of no return. It turns out that Yuan Shikai's move is very clever and successfully saves his son.
References: "Biography of Yuan Shikai", "History of the Republic of China"