Yuan's second film, Street Angel ( 1937 ) ( Malu tianshi ), starred then-unknown Zhou Xuan, who performed He Luting's popular songs written for the film, " Song of the Four Seasons " and " The Wandering Songstress ", and became one of China's most adored divas for the remainder of her life.

She would later lead the denunciation of many of Yuan's leftist colleagues in the Shanghai filmmaking scene, accusing them of being rightists, destroying their careers and lives.

Yuan's filmmaking debut, the innovative musical comedy Scenes of City Life ( 1935 ) ( Dushi fengguang ), was one of the earliest non-silent features made in China, as the Shanghai industry was finally transitioning to sound.

The film's blend of screwball humor and romance reflected Yuan's harsh, documentary style social observations of middle class existence in the failing economy in Great Depression-era Shanghai.

That winter Yuan's men drilled together with the Communists and were further indoctrinated in Marxist political theory, when Mao sent cadres including Xu Yangang ( 徐彦刚 ), You Xuecheng ( 游雪程 ), and Chen Bojun ( 陈伯钧 ) to help Yuan.

Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang, however, desired to maintain an independent force and detained not only Zhang and Yang, but also Yuan Shu's entire orphaned family, including Yuan's son, Yuan Yao.

An experimental blend of comedy and tragedy, Yuan's story followed a group of young friends whose lack of financial means and social status frustrated their dreams of happiness, including a girl singer, her prostitute sister, and her soldier lover, home briefly between fighting the Japanese occupying north China.

However, both the city of Ying and the entire state of Chu itself experienced doom due to the expansion of the state of Qin, which ended up consolidating China at the expense of the other former independent states: including Qu Yuan's home state — hence the " Lament ".

Liu Yuan's successor Liu Cong captured and executed the last two Western Jin emperors.

Yuan's crackdown on the Kuomintang began in 1913, with the suppression and bribery of KMT members in the two legislative chambers.

Xiahou Yuan's daughter was made Zhang's wife, and gave birth to two daughters who were later married to Liu Shan and became the empresses of the state of Shu Han.

Wang and Yuan became sworn brothers and their two groups maintained close ties and cooperated to defend against the county authorities, with Yuan's force was stationed at the foothills at Maoping ( 茅坪 ), while Wang's force was stationed in the mountains at higher elevation at Greater and Lesser Five Wells ( Daxiaowujing 大小五井 ).

The public reason for Yuan's resignation was that he was returning to his home in the village of Huanshang ( 洹上村 ), now the prefecture-level city of Anyang, due to a foot disease.

Yuan's imperial ambitions were fiercely opposed by his subordinates ; faced with the prospect of rebellion, he abdicated in March 1916, and died in June of that year.

Alongside institutionalized ethnic discrimination against Han Chinese that stirred resentment and rebellion, other explanations for the Yuan's demise included overtaxing areas hard-hit by inflation, and massive flooding of the Yellow River as a result of the abandonment of irrigation projects.

Yuan's sons publicly fought over the title of " Crown Prince ", and his former loyal subordinates like Duan Qirui and Xu Shichang left him one by one to create their own factions.

After Yuan's death, there was an effort by Li Yuanhong to revive the Republic by recalling the legislators who had been ejected in 1913, but this effort was confused and ineffective in asserting central control.

Under Liu Yuan's leadership, they were joined by a large number of frontier Chinese and became known as Bei Han.

Many revolutionary members were already alarmed by Yuan's ambitions and the northern based Beiyang government.

Also in Chapter 25, during the battle between the forces of Cao Cao and the warlord Yuan Shao on the banks of the Yellow River, Cao's generals were defeated by Yuan's general Yan Liang.

To prevent civil war and possible foreign intervention from undermining the infant republic, Sun agreed to Yuan's demand for China be united under a Beijing government headed by him.

The leading Kuomintang military force of Jiangxi was defeated by Yuan's forces on August 1 and Nanchang was taken.

After considering the possibility that the new republic might be defeated in a civil war or by foreign invasion, Sun Yat-sen agreed to Yuan's proposal to unify China under Yuan Shikai's Beijing government.

Huang rallied his men, and accompanied by thundering drums, they descended upon Xiahou Yuan's dwindling force.

Furthermore, Emperor Ai was highly controlled by his grandmother Consort Fu ( consort of his grandfather Emperor Yuan ), who improperly demanded the title of Grand Empress Dowager -- even though she had never been an empress previously and therefore did not properly have that title, and this led to the unprecedented and unrepeated situation of four women possessing empress dowager titles at the same time — Empress Wang ( Emperor Cheng's mother and Emperor Yuan's wife ), Empress Zhao Feiyan ( Emperor Cheng's wife ), Consort Fu, and Consort Ding ( Emperor Ai's mother ).

Accompanied by thundering drums, a division of Liu Bei's troops led by Huang Zhong suddenly descended upon Xiahou Yuan's dwindling force.

The Ministry of Audit, headed by an auditor-general who is nominated by the President of the Republic and appointed with consent of Parliament, exercises the Control Yuan's power of audit.

Late in 318, when the Han Zhao emperor Liu Can was overthrown by his official Jin Zhun, Jin Zhun initially indicated that he was submitting to Emperor Yuan's authority, and Emperor Yuan tried to take advantage by sending an army to assist Jin Zhun.

However, Yuan's army had had been joined by volunteer troops around the country, and Bohai Commandery would be far from sufficient to supply his army.

Qianlong tried to express his kindness by searching and rewarding for Yuan's direct descendants, but failed to find any of them.

Observing that Yuan's vanguard was thinly spread, the experienced horseman Gongsun Zan ordered a charge by his cavalry.

After his death the Beiyang Army split into cliques led by Yuan's principal protégés.

For almost a decade after Yuan's death, the agenda of the leading Beiyang warlords was to reunify China by first reuniting the Beiyang Army and then conquering the lesser provincial armies.

Chen Baxian and his commanding general, Wang Sengbian, who controlled the eastern provinces of Liang, refused to recognize the emperor installed by Western Wei, Emperor Xuan of Western Liang, instead initially intending to install Emperor Yuan's son Xiao Fangzhi the Prince of Jin ' an as the new Liang emperor.

Foreign powers came to recognize Yuan's power as well: when Japan came to China with 21 demands, it was Yuan that submitted to them, on 25 May 1915.

Rafe de Crespigny states that Zhang's rhapsody used imagery similar to Qu Yuan's ( 340 – 278 BC ) poem " Li Sao " and focused on whether or not good men should flee the corrupted world or remain virtuous within it.

Yuan's power was greatly diminished after Cao defeated him at the Battle of Guandu in 200 CE.

According to Wei Yuan's work Military history of the Qing Dynasty (), the Later Jin sent 400 troops to Sakhalin in 1616, after a newfound interest because of northern Japanese contacts with the area, but later withdrew as it was considered there was no threat from the island.

Yuan's family was affluent enough to provide Yuan with a traditional Confucian education.

Yuan's first marriage was in 1876 to a woman of the Yu family who bore him a first son, Keding, in 1878.

Li Hongzhang also recommended Yuan's promotion, with Yuan given the rank of sub-prefect.

Yuan's rise to fame began with his nominal participation in the First Sino-Japanese War as commander of the Chinese garrison forces in Korea.

Of the new armies that were part of the Self-Strengthening Movement, Yuan's was the best trained and most effective.

Yuan's involvement in the coup continues to be a large topic of historical debate.

The court requested Yuan's return on 27 October, but he repeatedly declined offers from the Qing Court for his return, first as the Viceroy of Huguang, and then as Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet.

Time was on Yuan's side, and Yuan waited, using his " foot ailment " as a pretext to his continual refusal.

To further reward Yuan's loyalty to the court, the Empress Dowager Longyu offered Yuan the noble title Marquis of the First Rank ( 一等侯 ), an honour only previously given to General Zeng Guofan.

Sun agreed to Yuan's presidency after some internal bickering, but asked that the capital be situated in Nanjing.

During Song's travels through China in 1912, he had openly and vehemently expressed the desire to limit the powers of the President in terms that often appeared openly critical of Yuan's ambitions.

Because he had authorized $ 100 million of " reorganization loans " from a variety of foreign banks, the KMT in particular were highly critical of Yuan's handling of the national budget.

The Kuomintang's " Second Revolution " ended in failure as Yuan's troops achieved complete victory over revolutionary uprisings.

Because those commanders not loyal to Yuan were effectively removed from power, the Second Revolution cemented Yuan's power.

Yuan's eventual decision to agree to nearly all of the demands led to a decline in the popularity of Yuan's government among contemporary Chinese, although many of the requests were mere extensions of Qing treaties.