page_title: Li Yuanhong
section_title: National prominence
hierarchical_section_title: Li Yuanhong / National prominence
context_page_description: Li Yuanhong was a Chinese politician during the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China. He was the President of the Republic of China between 1916 and 1917, and between 1922 and 1923.
context_section_description: When the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 broke out, the Wuchang mutineers needed a visible high-ranking officer to be their figurehead.  Li was well respected, had supported the Railway Protection Movement, and knew English, which would be useful in dealing with foreign concerns.  He was reportedly dragged from hiding under his wife's bed and forced at gunpoint to be the provisional military governor of Hubei despite killing several of the rebels.  Though reluctant at first, he embraced the revolution after its growing momentum and was named military governor of China on 30 November.  Qing Premier Yuan Shikai negotiated a truce with him on 4 December.
  While Li commanded the rebel army, Sun Yat-sen of the Revolutionary Alliance became the first provisional president in Nanjing on 1 January 1912.  Li was made vice president as a compromise and he formed People's Society to campaign for the presidency.  Meanwhile, the north was still under the control of the Qing.  A negotiation made Sun step down in favor of Yuan Shikai as president with Li keeping his vice-presidency.  This ended the Qing dynasty and reunified north and south China.  People's Society later merged with the pro-Yuan Republican Party.
  In 1913, he combined the Republicans with Liang Qichao's Democratic Party to form the Progressive Party. The Progressives became the biggest rivals to the opposition Nationalists led by Sun.  He supported Yuan against Sun during the Second Revolution which earned him the enmity of his former comrades.  When Yuan pulled off his presidential coup, Li was viewed as a potential threat and confined in Beijing where he became a passive bystander under Yuan's grip.  Yuan could never fully trust Li because he wasn't a protégé within the Beiyang Army's inner circle and because of his past association with the revolutionaries.  Nevertheless, Yuan married his son to Li's daughter to strengthen their ties. Li kept his office and honors as vice president but had no power.  Some factions called on Li to claim the presidency when Yuan crowned himself emperor in 1916.  He refused for fear of his life but he also declined the aristocratic title of Prince granted by Yuan in the Empire of China (1915–16), a decision which would help his standing later on.  Li remained in self-imposed isolation at his residence during the monarchic period, and until the death of Yuan.
caption: Sun Yat-sen at right and Li Yuanhong at Wuchang, China in April 1912
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