THESIS STATEMENT AND BIBLOGRAPHY

Warlordism in China: The Power Dynamics Between Central Government and Local Government Student's Name Course Name & Number Due Date China experienced power struggles, political intrigues, and regional competitions in the early twentieth century. Warlordism became significant in the efforts to ensure stability and centralize government. Fengtian province and Zhang Zuolin are significant cases that demonstrate such a phenomenon. These two depict the sophisticated political, financial, and military factors that enhanced warlordism and the tension between regional and central governments. Regional leaders like Zhang Zuolin utilized this internal instability and external pressures to develop a unified government system. This paper analyzes China's experience with warlordism within political, financial, and military constraints, concentrating on Fengtian Province and Zhang Zuolin. It seeks to explain warlordism and its lasting impact on Chinese history by evaluating political, fiscal, and military issues. This analysis helps to understand the central authority's struggles with regional autonomy and governance and stability's inconsistencies. Factors Contributing to Warlordism Political Restriction The political restriction is the presence of powerful military or political competitors of the central authority that appear obedient yet hold significant power in their regions. Such increases authority fragmentation and warlordism. Early to mid-20th-century Chinese regional leaders challenged the central government for control over their domains. Zhang Zuolin became a powerful warlord in Fengtian Province. Zhang Zuolin essentially ruled Fengtian Province as his fiefdom, albeit officially accepting the central government. Beyond military considerations, he controlled economic, administrative, and political matters. Warlords often pursued their agendas and retained forces loyal to them, although respecting the central government's apparent authority. Due to political fragmentation, the central government struggled to exercise its power and enforce its programs nationwide. Due to their complex relationships and conflicts, the central government's attempts to limit provincial warlords generally failed. Zhang Zuolin, a warlord, sometimes worked with the central government against common enemies but maintained autonomy and sovereignty in his regions. This delicate balance of power between the central government and regional warlords helped warlordism survive in China.[Luming Xu, “‘Suppressing Bandits’: Social Policing of Warlord Government in Manchuria, 1918-1928” (MA Thesis, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2022), https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/125404/bitstreams/411663/object.] [Margherita Elli, “The Developmental Chronicles of China’s Northeast” (MA Thesis, Universita Ca’Foscari Venezia, 2020), http://dspace.unive.it/bitstream/handle/10579/17914/866204-1224779.pdf?sequence=2.] [Totally History, “Zhang Zuolin (1875 - 1928) Biography - Last Qing Warlord,” 2020, https://totallyhistory.com/zhang-zuolin/.] Fiscal Restriction Fiscal restrictions helped warlordism grow in China in the early to mid-20th century. Limitations in the central government's ability to collect taxes and distribute fiscal funds nationwide caused this. Regional differences in economic development, natural conditions, and transportation infrastructure weakened the central government's control and reduced fiscal resources. In Fengtian Province, the economy was very different. The warlord ruler of Fengtian Province, Zhang Zuolin, used its earnings as an industrial hub with copious natural resources to consolidate his control. Ineffective tax collection in Fengtian Province hampered the central government's budgetary resources and warlord power. The central government's fiscal restrictions were aggravated by a lack of a modernized tax-collecting mechanism and local and national corruption. Tax evasion and embezzlement cost the central government revenue, making it harder to control provincial warlords. Transportation infrastructure constraints hampered fiscal management and revenue collection. Logistics made it hard for the central government to create and sustain a presence in remote and inaccessible regions.[Nicola Di Cosmo, Didier Fassin, and Clémence Pinaud, Rebel Economies: Warlords, Insurgents, Humanitarians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).] [Ibid.] [Ibid.] Military Restriction Military restriction limited the central government's power over regional warlords...