History You Might Not Know: The Republic of China

What kind of person was Yuan Shikai, really? Opinions have always differed. Yuan Shikai was a man full of contradictions: he had the face of a farmer but the heart of a man capable of serving his country; he stood less than five feet tall, yet was China's first modern "professional soldier"; he advocated reform, yet had one wife and nine concubines and believed in feng shui and fate. He handled countless affairs of state throughout his life, once hailed by the masses as a "savior," only to end up remembered for all eternity as a "thief who stole the nation."