Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the first leader of the Chinese republic in 1912, is considered a hero both in mainland China and Taiwan today. What about his successor, Yuan Shikai?

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"Yuan has not been well treated by either foreign or Chinese historians, although foreign historians were not as vituperative as the Chinese. He is usually portrayed as an unscrupulous political operator, whose ethics were governed by personal ambition and political expediency. Nevertheless, he was a capable administrator and in the early 20th century his leadership was seen as the only alternative to chaos. In fact, this judgment was vindicated after his death as China slipped into twelve years of civil war and revolution." http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/bio/xyz/yuansh.html Nov 08 07, 7:28 AM