The "Christian General" who staged the Beijing Coup, joined the Northern Expedition and abandoned Wuhan in 1927
From Zhili, he became an officer in Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army and, baptised a Methodist in 1914, was known as the "Christian General". A power in the Zhili clique, he toppled Wu Peifu and Cao Kun in the Beijing Coup of 1924, renamed his troops the Guominjun and invited Sun Yat-sen to Beijing. Close to Borodin, he received Soviet aid, and in September 1926 he joined the Kuomintang cause and the Northern Expedition. After meeting Chiang at Xuzhou in June 1927 he sided with Nanjing and demanded the expulsion of the Communists. He was vice premier from 1928 to 1930, raised an anti-Japanese army in Chahar in 1933, and died in 1948 in a shipboard fire on the Black Sea on the way to the Soviet Union.
Also known as: Feng Yu-hsiang
Activities and affiliations
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1912–1926
Beiyang government and warlordsCommander-in-chief of the GuominjunMain
Military command -
1926–1948
Military command
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1928–1930
Republic of China state institutionsVice Premier
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1902Enters Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army
- 1914Baptised a Methodist; the "Christian General"
- 1924Beijing Coup; forms the Guominjun
- 1926Wuyuan oath; joins the Northern Expedition
- 1927Sides with Nanjing after the Xuzhou meeting; demands the Communists' expulsion
- 1928–1930Vice premier of the Nationalist Government
- 1933Raises the anti-Japanese allied army in Chahar
- 1948Dies in a shipboard fire on the Black Sea
Related historical events
- 1911–1916The 1911 Revolution and the birth of the RepublicWarlord who expelled Puyi from the Forbidden CityBetrayed Wu Peifu and seized Beijing in 1924, abolishing the Articles of Favourable Treatment and expelling Puyi.
- 1924–1927The first united front, the Northern Expedition and the catastrophe of 1927Guominjun commander who abandoned Wuhan for Nanjing in 1927Joined the expedition at Wuyuan in 1926 and demanded the Communists' expulsion after the Xuzhou meeting of June 1927.