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20 JOMSA Only Foreign Head of State to Receive the Award Was the Taisho Emperor of Japan

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20 JOMSA Only Foreign Head of State to Receive the Award Was the Taisho Emperor of Japan (“Grand Merit Order”) instead of Da Bao Zhang (“Grand President Yuan on the anniversary of the Wuchang Precious Order”). Uprising but declined by Sun The sash for the sash badge (Figure 8) was Imperial • Li Yuanhong – awarded October 10, 1912 by President Yuan to Vice President Li on the anniversary of the yellow) and was worn over the left shoulder.21 The Wuchang Uprising insignia was to be worn on formal dress although it could also be worn with informal attire where required • The Taisho Emperor of Japan – awarded November for diplomacy.22 10, 1915 by President Yuan • Feng Guozhang (Figure 9) – awarded July 6, 1917 by President Li Yuanhong to Vice President Feng • Xu Shichang (Figure 10) – awarded October 10, 1918 by President Xu Shichang to himself on the anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising • Duan Qirui – awarded September 15, 1919 by President Xu Shichang to Premier Duan Qirui • Cao Kun (Figure 11)– awarded October 10, 1923 by President Cao Kun to himself on the anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising • Zhang Zuolin – awarded around 1927 by Zhang Zuolin to himself as Grand Marshal of China24 Seven were presidents (or equivalent, in the case of Zhang Zuolin). Notwithstanding the 1912 Decree, the Grand Order was also awarded to vice-presidents and premiers Figure 8: Illustration of the Republican Grand Order sash badge reverse with the name of the Order (Da Xun Zhang, 大勋章) in seal script. Compare the characters to that of the Imperial Grand Order in Figure 5 (www.gmic.co.uk). The regulations provided for the surrender or return of the insignia upon the death of the recipient, or upon conviction of criminal or other offences.23 Given the chaotic times of the early Republic, this did not necessarily occur in practice. At least one recipient, Li Yuanhong, was buried with his insignia. Recipients The Great Merit Order was awarded in one class as a breast star, sash badge and sash ribbon. It was rarely conferred, and according to the Republic’s records referenced in Chinese sources, it was awarded to only nine individuals: Figure 9: Feng Guozhang (1859-1919) was a Beiyang Army stalwart who later served as President. Known • Yuan Shikai – awarded October 10, 1912 by for his moderate views, he had a difficult relationship President Yuan to himself on the anniversary of the with Premier Duan Qirui who sought to reunite the Wuchang Uprising country by force. He is wearing the star and sash of the Grand Order, together with the First Class Striped Tiger, • Sun Yat-Sen – awarded October 10, 1912 by Precious Brilliant Golden Grain and Golden Grain. 20 JOMSA only foreign head of state to receive the award was the Taisho Emperor of Japan. Photographs exist of Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong, Feng Guozhang and Xu Shichang wearing the award and a 1923 silver dollar coin depicts Cao Kun wearing the award. No photographs are known of Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin wearing the Grand Order and assay coins struck by the Tianjin Mint with Zhang’s image also do not depict it. Li Yuanhong’s insignia Only one specimen of the Republican Grand Order is known today - a sash badge (Figure 12) and breast star (Figure 13) held by the Hubei Provincial Museum. The insignia was awarded to Li Yuanhong (Figure 14) who, as Vice-President, received the Order on October 10, 1912 from Yuan Shikai. Figure 10: Xu Shichang (1855-1939) served as President from 1918-22, the longest in the Warlord Period after Yuan Shikai’s death. The only civilian President of the Early Republic, excluding acting Presidents, he sought to balance the different cliques in the Beiyang Army but was eventually forced from office by Cao Kun. Figure 11: Cao Kun 1923 silver dollar coin depicting Cao Kun with the breast star and sash of the Republican Figure 12: Sash of the Republican Grand Order Grand Order. Cao Kun (1862-1938) became leader of the awarded to Li Yuanhong. The dark blue enamel has Zhili Clique on Feng Guozhang’s death. He infamously dulled and the pearls are missing, but the red and bribed Assembly members 5000 silver dollars each to yellow enamels remain richly brilliant. elect him President. His term lasted little more than a year before he and Wu Beifu were betrayed by the Li was a respected general (although not of the Beiyang “Christian General” Feng Yuxiang during the Second Army clique) who in 1910 merely dismissed revolutionar- Zhili-Fengtian War against the Manchurian warlord ies from his brigade instead of executing or imprisoning Zhang Zuolin. Ordered by Wu to engage Zhang’s them. When the Wuchang Uprising broke out, Li was advancing forces, Feng instead turned his army around and marched into Beijing where he imprisoned Cao Kun dragged kicking from under his wife’s bed and pressed (www.coinshome.net). at gunpoint to lead the revolutionaries who needed a fig- urehead. Li grudgingly consented but thereafter proved an of the Republic not just the president. Sun Yatsen was earnest champion of Republicanism. During the Second conferred the award by Yuan Shikai but declined it, no Revolution, his Progressive Party supported Yuan but doubt dismayed by its overt Imperial symbolism. The later condemned the crackdown on the Guomindang and Vol. 65, No. 2 (March-April 2014) 21 dissolution of Parliament. Li was kept a virtual prisoner by Yuan until the latter’s death. A dedicated Republican, Li served two terms as President and worked to entrench constitutional rule but was deposed each time by the machinations of the Beiyang warlords. Li’s Grand Order insignia were looted from his tomb by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution but was later rescued by the Hubei Museum. The pearls on the sash badge are missing, presumably “liberated” by the Red Guards. The center medallion of the breast star is also missing and has been replaced for display purposes with the reverse medallion. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. also Figure 13: Breast star of the Republican Grand holds what purports to be sash badge of the Republican Order awarded to Li Yuanhong, diameter 75 mm Great Order. According to the Institution’s records, it was and 105 mm. The missing obverse medallion (with presented the badge in 1923 by the United States Mint the Twelve Symbols of Imperial Authority) of the with no information or documentation of its origins.25 breast star has been replaced with the reverse The specimen differs from the Li Yuanhong insignia in 大勋章, medallion (with the name of the Order Da some noticeable aspects. The Twelve Symbols appear Xun Zhang, seal script). more crudely rendered and lack the fine detailing of the Li Yuanhong set, while the border surrounding the center medallion appears composed of white enamel dots instead of pearls. The Smithsonian specimen is likely a production sample or perhaps an early collector’s copy rather than one of the rare official awards. It is not known if the Grand Order awarded to the Taisho Emperor in 1915 survives. The Imperial Palace in Tokyo was heavily damaged in the Second World War and the insignia may have been destroyed. Conclusion Often in times of supreme national need, a “Great Man” appears: a Lincoln, Roosevelt or Churchill. We can only imagine a China under the enlightened and reformist Guangxu Emperor or earnest constitutionalists like Sun Yat-sen and Li Yuanhong. Many of the tragedies of the 20th century, the Japanese invasions that killed 20 million Chinese, Pearl Harbor, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, might have been avoided by a strong, unified but traditionally amilitaristic China. Figure 14: President Li Yuanhong (1864-1928), whose Unfortunately, the laws of chance have equal application attempts to entrench constitutional rule were repeatedly frustrated by the Beiyang warlords. Li served twice as and sometimes “Small Men” take center stage. In President but was forced from office each time by military character, vision and ultimately accomplishment, Yuan coups, first by the “Pigtail General” Zhang Xun in 1917 who Shikai was a “Small Man.” His reliance on the gun over restored the Qing Dynasty for five days, and later by Cao Kun constitutional rule and his trampling of China’s Confucian and the “Christian General” Feng Yuxiang in 1924. He is traditions of civil authority made him the “Father of wearing the breast star and red sash of the Republican Grand Warlords,” even the “First Warlord.” Even before his Order. Li’s order and blue dress uniform were recovered by death, the country was fragmenting, conditions chaotic the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan after his tomb was and central authority feeble. looted by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. 22 JOMSA.
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