Editing Yuan Shikai (section)

== Evaluation and legacy ==
[[File:The villa of Yuan Shikai in Tianjin.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The residence of Yuan in [[Tianjin]]]]
[[File:1915年讽刺袁世凯和古德诺的漫画.jpg|thumb|Satirical political cartoon of Yuan Shikai from 1915.]]
[[File:047 Yuan Shikai's Flag Used to Proclaim Himself Emperor and Garments Used to Worship Heaven.jpg|thumb|Imperial ''[[mianfu]]'' of Yuan Shikai.]]
Historians in China have considered Yuan's rule mostly negatively. He introduced far-ranging modernizations in law and social areas, and trained and organized one of China's first modern armies; but the loyalty Yuan had fostered in the armed forces dissolved after his death, undermining the authority of the central government. Yuan financed his regime through large foreign loans, and is criticized for weakening Chinese morale and international prestige, and for allowing the Japanese to gain broad concessions over China.<ref>Bonavia 40</ref><ref>Shan, (2018) pp. 3–9</ref>

[[Jonathan Spence]], however, notes in his influential survey that Yuan was "ambitious, both for his country and for himself", and that "even as he subverted the constitution, paradoxically he sought to build on late-Qing attempts at reforms and to develop institutions that would bring strong and stable government to China." To gain foreign confidence and end the hated system of extraterritoriality, Yuan strengthened the court system and invited foreign advisers to reform the penal system.<ref>Spence, Jonathan D. (1999). ''The Search for Modern China'', W. W. Norton and Company. pp. 269–270. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.</ref>

After Yuan's death, there was an effort by [[Li Yuanhong]] to revive the Republic by recalling the legislators who had been ejected in 1913, but this effort was confused and ineffective in asserting central control. Li lacked any support from the military. There was a short-lived effort in 1917 to [[Manchu Restoration|revive the Qing dynasty]] led by the loyalist general [[Zhang Xun (Qing loyalist)|Zhang Xun]], but his forces were defeated by rival warlords later that year.<ref>Spence, pp. 287–288.</ref>

After the collapse of Zhang's movement, all pretence of strength from the central government collapsed, and China descended into a period of warlordism. Over the next several decades, the offices of both the president and parliament became the tools of militarists, and the politicians in Peking became dependent on regional governors for their support and political survival. For this reason, Yuan is sometimes called "the Father of the Warlords". However, it is not accurate to attribute China's subsequent [[Warlord Era|age of warlordism]] as a personal preference, since in his career as a military reformer he had attempted to forge a modern army based on the Japanese model. Throughout his lifetime, he demonstrated an understanding of staffing, military education, and regular transfers of officer personnel, combining these skills to create China's first modern military organisation. After his return to power in 1911, however, he seemed willing to sacrifice his legacy of military reform for imperial ambitions, and instead ruled by a combination of violence and bribery that destroyed the idealism of the early Republican movement.<ref>Spence, pp. 282–283.</ref>

In the CCTV Production ''[[Towards the Republic]]'', Yuan is portrayed through most of his early years as an able administrator, although a very skilled manipulator of political situations. His self-proclamation as Emperor is largely depicted as being influenced by external forces, especially that of his son, prince [[Yuan Keding]].

A ''[[bixi (tortoise)|bixi]]'' stone tortoise with a stelae in honour of Yuan Shikai, which was installed in [[Anyang]]'s Huanyuan Park soon after his death, was (partly) restored in 1993.<ref>[http://www.aynews.net.cn/jray/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=3736 洹园里的破嘴龟] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204042433/http://www.aynews.net.cn/jray/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=3736 |date=4 February 2012 }} (The tortoise with a broken mouth in Huanyuan Park) {{in lang|zh}}</ref>