Communications Clique

1925	Yunnan–Guangxi War; May Thirtieth Movement
1925–1926	Anti-Fengtian War; Canton–Hong Kong strike
1926	Zhongshan Warship Incident
1926–1928	Northern Expedition; Nanjing–Wuhan Split; Nationalist-Communist Civil War
1927	Nanking incident of 1927
1927	Shanghai Commune of 1927
1927	Shanghai massacre
1927	July 15 Incident
1927–1930	Muslim conflict in Gansu
1928	Jinan incident; Huanggutun incident; Looting of the Eastern Mausoleum; Northeast Flag Replacement
1928–1929	Third Red Spears' uprising in Shandong
1929	Chiang-Gui War; Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong (incl. Beijing Revolt); Sino-Soviet conflict
1930	Central Plains War
1930–1932	Sino-Tibetan War / Qinghai–Tibet War
1931–1935	Kumul Rebellion / Soviet invasion of Xinjiang
1932	Han–Liu War
1932	Two-Liu war
1934	War in Ningxia

1911–1914	Bai Lang Rebellion
1913	Second Revolution
1915	Twenty-One Demands
1915–1916	Empire of China (Yuan Shikai); National Protection War
1916	Death of Yuan Shikai
1917	Manchu Restoration
1917–1922	Constitutional Protection Movement
1917–1929	Golok rebellions
1918–1920	Siberian intervention
1919	Paris Peace Conference; Shandong Problem; May Fourth Movement
1919–1921	Occupation of Outer Mongolia
1920	Zhili–Anhui War
1920–1921	Guangdong–Guangxi War
1920–1926	Spirit Soldier rebellions
1921	1st National CPC Congress
1921–1922	Washington Naval Conference
1922	First Zhili–Fengtian War
1923–1927	First United Front
1923	Lincheng Outrage
1924	Second Zhili–Fengtian War; Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising; Beijing Coup

The Communications Clique (Chinese: 交通系; pinyin: Jiāotōngxì) was a powerful interest group of politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats, businessmen, engineers, and labour unionists in China's Beiyang government (1912–1928). It is also known as the Cantonese Clique because many of its leaders hailed from Guangdong. They were named after the Ministry of Posts and Communications which was responsible for railways, postal delivery, shipping, and telephones as well as the Bank of Communications. This ministry earned five times more revenue for the government than all the other ministries combined.

The clique was founded by Tang Shaoyi but it was led by Liang Shiyi throughout most of its existence. They were instrumental in the rise of Yuan Shikai in the late Qing and early republican period. Because they were Yuan's biggest supporters of his attempt to restore the monarchy, their leaders were forced to flee the country when President Li Yuanhong ordered their arrest.

In their absence, the New Communications Clique (1916-1919) was formed by Cao Rulin. President Feng Guozhang vacated these arrest warrants in early 1918, allowing Liang and Zhou Ziqi to return. Within a few months, the old clique became powerful enough to run as a quasi-political party in the National Assembly on a platform of modernization. It was a distant second compared to Duan Qirui's Anfu Club. Together with the Research Clique, they used political maneuvering to deny Cao Kun the vice-presidency, Cao ended up blaming Duan for his loss. Cao Rulin's conduct during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference caused the May Fourth Movement which led to his downfall and the collapse of this rival "new" clique.

Liang became premier in 1921 after Jin Yunpeng was forced to resign by Zhang Zuolin. Wu Peifu removed Liang from his month-long premiership because he suspected Liang gave concessions to the Japanese during the Washington Naval Conference, Liang denied the allegations. Zhang Zuolin opposed the removal and that sparked the First Zhili-Fengtian War. For a very brief period after the war, Zhou Ziqi was acting President of the Republic of China. Zhou left politics after complaining of Zhili Clique domination. The clique was dissolved during the Northern Expedition. What they once controlled was given to powerful Nationalist businessmen like T. V. Soong and H.H. Kung.

The clique supported training programs and better working conditions for its rail workers. They even supported their strikes against local warlords. They were friendly to the Fengtian clique (half of the country's railroads were in Manchuria) and hostile to the Anhui and Zhili cliques. Their control of the railways threatened the logistics of warlords that opposed them. In 1923, Wu Peifu attempted to wrest control of the Hankou-Beijing railway by inviting Communists to defect their workers but it succeeded too well and the Communists began agitating against Wu. He responded violently leading to 35 deaths and many injuries which only served to advertise the little-known and nascent Communist Party.

References

McCormack, Gavan (1977). Chang Tso-lin in northeast China, 1911-1928 : China, Japan, and the Manchurian idea. Stanford University Press. p. 334. ISBN 9780804709453.
Nathan, Andrew (1998). Peking Politics 1918-1923: Factionalism and the Failure of Constitutionalism. Center for Chinese Studies. p. 320. ISBN 9780892641314.

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