Yüan Shih-kai

The cast teems: look closely and you’ll find Chow Yun-Fat as Yuan Yuan Shih-kai, the delusional early president of the Republic of China, and the director John Woo as the future president Lin Sen. As the firebrand intellectual Chen Duxiu, Feng Yuanzheng is a forceful presence.

Yet the rebellion in South China in nineteen-eleven, which brought about the presidency of Yuan Shih-Kai, must have seemed puny in its first stages.

Our cause was progressing slowly when the revolution against the Manchus came; then Yuan Shih-kai, and the restoration of Tubdan Gyatso.

"Otherwise," he said, "I'd become another Yuan Shih-kai."

With her approval, Yuan Shih-kai's eldest son, Yuan Keh-cheng, took charge of the $2,000,000 fund and announced that he would at once raise and equip two brigades of troops to fight against Feng Yu-hsiang, despoiler of tombs.