page_title: Yan Xishan
section_title: Retirement in Taiwan
hierarchical_section_title: Yan Xishan / Last Years / Retirement in Taiwan
caption_attribution_description: 中文（繁體）‎: 閻錫山墓下方有中字
context_page_description: Yan Xishan IPA; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960, 閻錫山) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. He effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. As the leader of a relatively small, poor, remote province, he survived the machinations of Yuan Shikai, the Warlord Era, the Nationalist Era, the Japanese invasion of China and the subsequent civil war, being forced from office only when the Nationalist armies with which he was aligned had completely lost control of the Chinese mainland, isolating Shanxi from any source of economic or military supply. He has been viewed by Western biographers as a transitional figure who advocated using Western technology to protect Chinese traditions, while at the same time reforming older political, social and economic conditions in a way that paved the way for the radical changes that would occur after his rule.
context_section_description: Yan's final years were filled with disappointment and sadness. After following Chiang to Taiwan he enjoyed the title of Chiang's "senior advisor", but in reality he was utterly powerless. Chiang may have held a long-term grudge against Yan due to his activities on behalf of Li in Guangdong. On more than one occasion Yan requested permission to go to Japan, but was not allowed to leave Taiwan.
  Yan was deserted by all but a handful of followers, and spent most of his remaining years writing books on philosophy, history and contemporary events, which he frequently had translated into English. His late philosophical perspective has been described as "anti-communist and anti-capitalist Confucian utopianism". Several months before the Korean War Yan published a book, Peace or World War, in which he predicted that North Korea would invade South Korea, that South Korea would be quickly overcome, that the US would intervene on the side of South Korea, and that Communist China would intervene on the side of North Korea. All of these events later occurred over the course of the Korean War.
  Yan died in Taiwan on May 24, 1960. He was buried in the Qixingjun region of Yangmingshan. For decades Yan's residence and grave were cared for by a small number of former aides, who had accompanied him from Shanxi. In 2011, when the last of his aides turned 81 and was unable to care for the residence, the responsibility of maintaining the site was taken over by the Taipei City Government.
caption: Yan Xishan's tomb in Shilin District, Taipei.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S6900", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX S6900V1.1", "Image DateTime": "2016:03:04 13:43:16", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "58386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4771", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "125", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:03:04 13:43:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:03:04 13:43:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "9/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "58356", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "25", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}