Militarism in Modern China: The Career of Wu P'ei-Fu, 1916-39

The Confucian BackgroundShantung, the birthplace of Wu P'ei-fu, is a peninsula that protrudes into the Yellow Sea.The province is so named because it is located east of the famous Tai-hang mountains.The western part of the province is mostly alluvial plain while the eastern part is mountainous.The Yellow River runs through the province into the ocean.It has an area of 55,000 square miles and had a population of approximately 30 millions in the 1920s.Shantung was an early centre of Chinese civilization.Chüfu, a district in Shantung, was the home of Confucius.It is also the native province of Mencius, and the great military theorist, Sun Tzu.Chu-ko Liang, a strategist of the Three Kingdoms, Wang Hsi-chih, the well-known calligrapher and Fang Hsüan-ling, the Prime Minister of the T 'ang dynasty, also came from this province.Shantung was the seedbed of the An Lu-shan Rebellion.With such an historical heritage, it is no wonder that Shantung natives are proud of being Shantungese.In 1874, Wu P'ei-fu (t.Tzu-yii) was born in P'englai, into a poor family which depended entirely upon the income from a small shop owned by W u's father, Wu K'o-cheng.The family financial situation diminished with the death of Wu's father, when Wu was only fourteen.In the same year, his family engaged him to be married, although the girl died before the marriage could take place.After their father's death, Wu and his brother, Wu Wen-fu, were brought up by their mother, who Table 1 Warlords of Humble Origin Name Social Origin Meng En-yüan, tuchiin of Kirin an acrobat Wang Chan-yuan, Inspecting Commissioner a water-carrier in Feng Kuo-chang's of Hupeh and Hunan family Ts'ao K'un, President of the Republic a hawker selling cloths Chang Tsung-ch'ang, tupan of Shantung a mine-labourer in Kirin and later a vagabond Chang Hsün, tuchiin of Anhwei a page boy, later a cook of Su Yuan ch'un, the Kwangsi governor Chang Ching-hui, Commander of 1 st bean-curd seller and later a bandit Division of the Fengtien army Wu Chün-sheng, tuchiin of Heilungkiang illiterate, from a poor family selling horses in Inner Mongolia, later a bandit Chin Yün-p'eng, Premier Tuan C h'i-jui's horse-keeper Chang Huai-chih, Chief-of-Staff from a poor family, once had to seek shelter in a temple Hsiao Yao-nan, tupan of Hupeh from a poor family Feng Yü-hsiang, Northwest Frontier from a poor family Commissioner Chang Tso-lin, Inspecting Commissioner of received no education, later a bandit Manchuria Lu Yung-ting, Inspecting Commissioner of a leader of bandits Kwangsi T 'ang Yü-lin, tut ung of Jehol a bandit Chang Tso-hsiang, tuchiin of Kirin a bandit Chang Ueh-ch'en, tuchiin of Kirin a bandit Chi Chin-shun, tut 'ung of Jehol a bandit Chin Yün-e, Civil Governor of Honan and from a poor family Commander of 14th Division Sun C h'uan-fang, Commander-in-Chief of from a poor family Kiangsu, Chekiang, Anhwei, Kiangsi and Fukien