Qing was to pay Japan 200 million taels (8,000,000 kg/17,600,000 lb) of silver as war reparations and ceded LiaoDong Peninsula, Taiwan and its affiliated islands and PengHu islands (Rowe, 2012). Due to his loss, Li was demoted as the viceroy of Liang Guang. In the 1900s, when army of eight foreign countries marched Beijing, the Han viceroys of southeast China remain neutral and still protest against the Empress Dowager (New York Times, 1900). To negotiate with these foreigners, Li Hongzhang was arranged to be the principal Chinese negotiator to sign the Xin Chou Treaty (Boxer Protocol). During the First Sino-Japanese War, the Empress Dowager Cixi found general Yuan Shikai faithful to the Royal family. In the Wuxu Reform, yuan was the first one to protect Empress Dowager Cixi and arrest reform’s chief Tan Sitong, Liang Qichao and others and finally executed six of them. After all this events, Yuan finally replaced Li Hongzhang as the viceroy of ZhiLi after Li died in 1901. In the early 1900s, as Fairbank & Jokn King (1978) cited, Yuan was asked to form a new army Beiyang army to protect Qing dynasty, which was regarded as the largest and best trained army in China (Schillinger, Nicolas 2016). According to Busky (2002), Yuan was relieved of all his posts and retired to his homeland in 1908, before his retirement he was recognised as the most powerful man in China (Douglas Story, 1907). In 1904, the viceroy of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, planned to build the yellow river conservancy by himself and cast aside the central government (New York Times, 1904). The decadent of the central government power became more obvious in the late Qing Dynasty, when the Wuchang uprising took place on October 11th 1911, Beiyang army refused to follow Qing government’s order but asking Yuan’s return. Yuan believed time was on his side, so he rejected court’s order many times until he was satisfied. When he finally agreed to suppress rebellion, almost half of China was out of control of Qing’s rule, realizing this situation, Yuan arranged for the abdication of the child emperor Puyi in return for being granted the position of President of the Republic of China. References Further reading Mayers, William Frederick. The Chinese Government: A Manual of Chinese Titles, Categorically Arranged and Explained, with an Appendix. 3rd edition revised by G.M.H. Playfair ed. Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, 1897; reprint, Taipei: Ch'eng-Wen