This page needs to be proofread.
YUAN SHIH-KAI, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE CHINESE REPUBLIC, AND HIS SECRETARY A very able general, who was anxious for reform but feared that it would be forced prematurely on the country by the ardent Republicans led by Sun Yat Sen. He tried to make himself emperor, but this was opposed by the foreign powers, especially Japan, who feared his ability. He died in 1916
