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somewhat reluctantly took charge of the rebel forces and quickly rose to national prominence as other uprisings swept the country. A strong believer in constitutional republicanism, he was a natural choice for vice president in the first administration formed by Sun Yat-sen in 1912. In this biography, Edward S. G. Li (1903–1983, Chinese: Li Shaoji) vindicates the leadership of his father, portraying him as selfless and dedicated, in opposition to the self-serving warlords who by 1925 controlled all the levers of power and continually sought to profit from disarray. W. M. Bergin was a veteran engineer on the railways of north China who most likely became friends with Edward Li in Tianjin while the latter was studying at Nankai University. Bergin may well have been among the “foreign friends who wish to know, besides his [Li Yuanhong’s] great services to his country, something about the important facts of his life” (preface). In his presentation inscription in this copy, Li has inadvertently transposed the initials of Bergin’s name. Print-runs at the Tientsin Press were small, and copies are now concentrated in institutional holdings. Octavo. Original burgundy cloth, spine lettered in gilt, burgundy sand- grain texture coated endpapers. With photograph (138 × 92 mm) mounted on tissue-guarded board, housed in the original card folder with vignette to front cover. Frontispiece portrait of Li Yuan-Hung and 5 tipped in half- tone photographic portraits, all with glassine guards. A 1909 map of China and a 1946 issue of the newsletter “British United Aid to China” are loosely inserted. Spine a little sunned and rubbed, small mark to rear board, front inner hinge professionally glued, occasional foxing to contents, illustrations bright. A very good copy together with a very good, lightly foxed photograph with a few nicks and creases to its card folder. £1,000 [151103]
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69 LI, Edward S. G. The Life of Li Yuan-Hung. Tianjin: The Tientsin Press, Limited, 1925 presented by the son of the first vice president of the republic of china First edition, first printing, of this biography of Yuanhong, first vice president of the Republic of China, inscribed by his son, the author, on the first blank, “To Mr and Mrs M. W. Bergin, from Edward S. Li”, along with Li’s personal ink seal on the title page, and a photograph of Li similarly inscribed to Mrs Bergin. Li Yuanhong (1864–1928) was one of the most important political figures in the nascent Republic of China. After enjoying a westernized military education in Tianjin, in the last two decades of the Qing dynasty, he rose through the ranks of the Chinese army, eventually working for Zhang Zhidong (the viceroy of Wuhan) in the early 1900s and then being appointed colonel in 1906. During the 1911 revolt against the Qing in Wuchang, Li
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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