ABSTRACT
The emergence of “warlords” in the period following the 1911 Revolution that overthrew China’s last imperial dynasty marked a significant new concentration of political, social, and even economic power in the hands of military men, or more precisely in the hands of top military commanders. As such, the rise of warlordism also marked a significant opportunity for social mobility for military men. One prime example of such mobility can be found in the case of Wang Zhanyuan, who rose from humble origins to become a military governor with a significant degree of autonomous control over the military and civil administration of Hubei province from 1915 to 1921. Equally important, through the corrupt use of his office Wang also accumulated enormous personal wealth to become one of the richest men of his era. As such, Wang’s career not only provides a prime example of the emergence of warlordism but also of a particular type of “predatory warlordism.”
