In just 16 years, the Beiyang government has changed politically and the Prime Minister has changed frequently. 31 people have served as Prime Ministers. 1. I have been stationed in the United States for many years and founded Tsinghua Academy.

Beiyang Government (1912-1928) In just 16 years, the political situation has changed and the Prime Minister has changed frequently. 31 people have served as Prime Ministers. Among them: the well-known Tang Shaoyi , Xu Shichang , Duan Qirui , etc.; there are also the rare Gong Xinzhan , Jia Deyao , Hu Weide , etc. Their term of office varies. The elderly are only more than a year, the shortest are several months, and even worse, just a few days, just a flash in the pan (the shortest one, Zhu Qiqin, only worked for two days, and the most was Duan Qirui, who served as prime ministers for four times).

week: Qi (1869-1923), with the name Zixiao, was born in a family of officials in Shan County, Heze, Shandong Province, with a scholarly family. His ancestral home is Xiushui, Zhejiang Province. In the late Qing Dynasty, he founded Tsinghua School , and served as consul of the embassy in the United States, governor of Shandong, president of Bank of China , director of the General Secretary of Transportation, chief of finance, and acting prime minister of the State. His life was contradictory and complex, that was, he was in love with China and cultivated talents, and he was also an accomplice of Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system.

Time of employment: 1922.4.8—1922.6.11 (Agent)

I have been stationed in the United States for many years and founded Tsinghua Academy

Zhou Ziqi was born into a family of officials and gentry. His grandfather and great-grandfather were both Jinshi. His father Zhou Haoxiu was an alternate inspection in Guangdong. His father named him "Ziqi" in order to "strictly demand himself, learn from the good, and become a great man."

Zhou Ziqi grew up in Guangdong since childhood. His father died at the age of 4. Uncle Zhou Shaotang, who was also in Guangdong, felt sorry for his mother and son, and he was raised at home. Zhou Ziqi has been talented since childhood, diligent and studious. At the age of 20, he was admitted to the Guangzhou Tongwenguan and majored in English.

Zhou Ziqi was excellent in school and very outstanding. Zhang Zhidong , who was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at the time, valued him very much. He sent him to , the Tongwenguan , the translation student, and after graduation, he went to Columbia University in the United States to study.

1894, after returning to China, Zhou Ziqi passed the Guangxu Jiawu Shuntian Provincial Examination. In 1896, he followed the US minister Wu Tingfang to four countries in the Americas (US, Mexico , Cuba , Peru ). During his time in the United States, he served as secretary and counselor of the embassy in the United States and consul in New York and San Francisco .

In 1898, the Qing court signed the " Guangdong-Hankou Railway Loan Contract " with the United States, and subsequently ordered a loan to redeem 26 items. This move caused the Chinese people to vigorously protect the road . After Zhou Ziqi learned the news, he took back the memorial of the sovereignty of Guangdong-Hankou Railway on behalf of Liang Cheng, and strongly supported the redemption behavior of the domestic people. Under the strong pressure from the people, the Qing court had to redeem the right to build the Guangdong-Hankou Railway.

From 1901 to 1902, Zhou Ziqi served as the agency of the Chinese Embassy in Havana, Cuba. During this period, he came forward to negotiate and formulated the Middle Ages tax rules.

During his tenure as consul in the United States, Zhou Ziqi also called on domestic and overseas Chinese to jointly oppose the renewal of the treaty of abuse of Chinese workers and actively work hard to abolish the US treaty of abuse of Chinese workers. When a severe earthquake occurred in San Francisco, Zhou Ziqi took the lead in raising funds to help the dangerous overseas Chinese, and was unanimously praised by overseas Chinese stationed in the United States.

1907, after negotiations by Zhou Ziqi and other embassy staff, the US Congress officially passed a proposal to refund the Boxer Indemnity as the fee for sending students to the United States in China. After obtaining the approval of the Qing court, the funds were used to establish the Youmei Academy Affairs Office.

in the middle was Zhou Ziqi

In 1908, Zhou Ziqi was summoned to the country and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a senator, and was immediately promoted to the Left Chief. After the Boxer Indemnity was received, Zhou Ziqi was appointed as the General Office of the U.S. Academic Affairs Office for the reimbursement, and the Prime Minister set up a school and students studying in the United States.

Zhou Ziqi personally presided over the selection work during his tenure as the General Office of You Aesthetics Affairs Office. He took the principle of "better to have nothing than to be too bad", and after examinations and careful selection, a total of three batches and 180 students successfully attended the United States. These students include Mei Yiqi , Zhu Kezhen , Zhao Yuanren , Hu Shi , etc. They later became pillars of the country.

second batch of students studying in the United States

He presided over the construction of the Youmei Academy (later renamed Tsinghua Academy), and selected Tsinghua Park, which has more than 30 hectares, as the campus site, and hired teachers. Tsinghua Academy officially opened on April 29, 1911, and the first batch of students was recruited 460 students. Zhou Ziqi served as the supervisor (principal) of Tsinghua Academy.

In 1928, Tsinghua Academy was officially renamed National Tsinghua University. Therefore, Zhou Ziqi is also considered to be the first president of Tsinghua University .

Beiyang important officials, financial management experts

In October 1911, Wuchang Uprising broke out. On February 12, 1912, the Qing emperor announced his abdication in tragic tragedy.

In March 1912, after Yuan Shikai succeeded to the interim president, he appointed Zhou Ziqi as the governor of Shandong and the chief of civil affairs. During his tenure in Shandong, html, 5 weeks, he did have some "actions", which are mainly reflected in: (1) Establishing the Juxun Bureau, using "rewarding merits and advocating from merits" as a means of winning, and trying his best to prevent Shandong revolutionaries. (2) Forcibly dismissed the old army and bandits, and replaced them with the Beiyang Army. (III) Actively implement Yuan Shikai's deployment and suppress the anti-Yuan forces in the "Second Revolution".

At the same time, he also used his privilege to start a private enterprise and intercepted the benefits for himself. "Fat water will not flow to outsiders' fields"! He has accumulated a huge fortune in more than a year of office.

In August 1913, Xiong Xiling organized the "First-Class Talent Cabinet", and Zhou Ziqi was appointed as the General Director of Transportation. Zhou Ziqi, Liang Shiyi and Zhu Qiqiun were the three old giants of transportation.

In February 1914, Zhou Ziqi served as the Chief Finance Minister and President of Bank of China. Yuan Shikai trusted and valued Zhou Ziqi very much, and had long intended to let Zhou Ziqi be the Chief Financial Officer. He just went around for a few times because he balanced the forces of all parties and finally took office as Chief Financial Officer.

On May 1, 1914, Yuan Shikai promulgated the "Constitution of the Republic of China". On the same day, according to this agreement, the government and parliament were ordered to be dissolved, and the government and parliament were changed to the government and secretary of state. Xu Shichang was appointed as the first secretary of state, while Zhou Ziqi was still the Chief Finance Minister and the Supervisor of the Salt Services Department for the Suspension.

Zhou Ziqi is good at managing finances. Faced with the huge financial needs of the Beiyang government, he is free to deal with it and is called a "financial management expert".

It is said that one of his tricks to manage finances is to borrow money from the UK, exchange it for US dollars, and then convert it to the UK to pound, buy cheap Japanese goods and sell them at high prices, and make high profits.

Also, issuing public bonds , which obtained a lot of money for Yuan Shikai and made sufficient preparations for him to become emperor.

It seems that Zhou Ziqi is absolutely powerful and cannot be turned around by ordinary people! Regardless of both public and private sides, they are extraordinary financial experts!

Refusal to sign " Twenty-One " Accomplice in restoring the imperial system

1914, after the outbreak of World War I , Japan declared war on Germany on the pretext of declaring war on Shandong, and forcibly occupied Jiaoji Railway and Qingdao . In order to restore the imperial system, Yuan Shikai sought support from Japan. In early 1915, Japan proposed to Yuan Shikai the "Twenty-One" that was to lose power and humiliate the country as a condition for exchange.

Yuan Shikai became emperor eager to accept it privately and agreed to appoint Zhou Ziqi as the presidential envoy to secretly go to Japan to sign the "Twenty-One Articles". Zhou Ziqi was sitting on pins and needles and had no choice but to do anything, so he said he was sick and closed at Zhou Mansion on the Bund in Shanghai.

When American journalist Duan Na visited him, he cleverly revealed the news of signing the "Twenty-One" through hinting methods. Although it aroused strong opposition from patriots, Yuan Shikai still forced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to violate public opinion and signed the regulations, causing China to lose several sovereignty in Shandong.

Zhou Ziqi actively supported Yuan Shikai during the restoration of the imperial system, which played a role in fueling the fire. In the issuance of the "Civil Official Order" on July 28, 1914, Yuan Shikai granted Zhou Ziqi as the Central Minister, which was listed as Xiong Xiling, Zhang Jian, Zhu Qiqi, Liang Shiyi, etc., and the only one who awarded the Supreme Minister was Xu Shichang.

He also asked Yuan Shikai's constitutional adviser to Goodno to draft a memorandum to provide a "theoretical basis" for China's implementation of the imperial system.

In October 1915, Yuan Shikai appointed Zhou Ziqi, Zhu Qiqi, Liang Shiyi and ten others to be the person in charge of the decision and election affairs of the state-owned system and to conduct a political scam of the state-owned system and to promote Yuan as the emperor of the Chinese Empire.

Yuan Shikai

In December 1915, Zhou Ziqi was appointed as a member of the Preparatory Office of the Grand Ceremony. On December 13, Yuan Shikai announced the abolition of the republic system, the implementation of the imperial system, and the establishment of the so-called "Chinese Empire", with the year name Hongxian .

Amid unanimous opposition across the country, Yuan Shikai was forced to abolish the imperial system only 83 days later. However, Yuan Shikai is still unwilling to withdraw from the presidency. He appointed Duan Qirui as Secretary of State to organize the "Wartime Cabinet", and Zhou Ziqi once again appointed as the Chief of Finance.

On June 6, 1916, Yuan Shikai died amidst angrily scolding, and Vice President Li Yuanhong succeeded. On July 14, Li Yuanhong ordered the arrest and punishment of the culprits of the imperial system in the name of the President Yang Du , Sun Yuyun , Gu Ao , Liang Shiyi, Xia Shoutian , Zhu Qiqi, Zhou Ziqi and Xue Dake. After Zhou Ziqi received the news, he hurriedly fled to Japan.

Acting Prime Minister died of illness in Shanghai

In February 1918, the Beiyang government canceled the wanted order for Zhou Ziqi and others. Zhou Ziqi ended his exile career and returned from Japan.

In August of the same year, Zhou Ziqi was elected as a member of new parliament ( Anfu Congress ). In October, after Xu Shichang was elected as president by Anfu Congress, he established a Foreign Affairs Committee in order to get rid of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the control of the Anfu system, with Wang Daxie as the president. Zhou Ziqi is an important member of this institution.

In September 1919, Zhou Ziqi became the chief financial officer of the currency bureau after failing to succeed. In August 1920, Jin Yunpeng formed a cabinet for the second time, and Zhou Ziqi was nominated as Chief Finance Minister again. After the cabinet was reorganized in May 1921, Zhou Ziqi was resigned.

In November 1921, the Washington Conference was held in the United States, and China sent representatives to attend. Zhou Ziqi was appointed as a senior adviser to the Chinese delegation.

On April 8, 1922, after Yan Huiqing resigned as acting Prime Minister of the State, Xu Shichang appointed Zhou Ziqi, who had just returned to China, as acting Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

Because Zhou Ziqi was not a member of the original cabinet, he was opposed by former Prime Minister Liang Shiyi, who had not resigned, and believed that he was illegal. Xu Shichang felt that he was in a loss, so he appointed Zhou Ziqi as the president of education and acting Premier of the State.

With the outbreak of the First Zhifeng War of on April 29, 1922, the Fengtian faction was defeated, and Xu Shichang was unable to protect himself. He announced his resignation on June 2 and delivered the President's seal to the State Council. On the same day, Zhou Ziqi took over the power of the president.

Ten days later, the direct warlords elected Li Yuanhong to be president. On June 11, Yan Huiqing was appointed as Prime Minister, and Zhou Ziqi was dismissed immediately.

After Zhou Ziqi stepped down, President Li Yuanhong was commissioned to inspect Europe and the United States in the name of "specialized inspection of industry envoy". During the inspection, Zhou Ziqi became interested in the American film industry. After returning to China, he planned to set up Peacock Film Production Company to distribute foreign films.

He invited Shuren, the chief editor of China's first film yearbook, to work as the translation work and translated the first film "Lotus Girl", which is the beginning of a foreign film with Chinese subtitles, and has epoch-making historical significance for the development of the Chinese film industry.

In October 1923, Zhou Ziqi died of illness in Shanghai at the age of 54. After his death, he was buried in Jiulong Mountain, Mentougou, Beijing.

As an old bureaucrat educated in the West, he had a patriotic side and did some things that were beneficial to the people; at the same time, he supported Yuan Shikai's restoration of the imperial system and opposed revolutionary forces. It is this contradictory dual personality that has created his contradictory and complex legendary life.

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