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'Duàn Qíruì' (段祺瑞) (Wade-Giles Tuan Ch'i-jui) (1864 – November 2, 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, commander in the Beiyang Army, and the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China (in Beijing) from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.
Born in Hefei as ''Duan Qirui'' (段啟瑞), his courtesy name was ''Zhiquan'' (芝泉). His grandfather was Quan Pei (段佩), an officer in Li Hongzhang's privately raised amry called Huai Army (Huai Jun, 淮军). Duan Qirui's father died early and Duan Qirui was raised by his maternal grandmother. In 1885, Duan Qirui entered Tianjin military academy (天津武备学堂) specializing in artillery, and graduated in 1889. After graduation, he was sent to Lushun to oversee the construction of artillery fortifications, and soon, Li Hongzhang sent him to study military science in Germany, and ater returning to China, he was first named as a commissioner of Beiyang Armory (北洋军械局) and then as an instructor of Weihai military academy. In early 1896, Yuan Shikai named Duan Qirui as the artillery commander of his new army and inspector general of training, so Duan had became one of Yuan Shikai's top lieutenants. However, Duan later opposed Yuan's bid for monarchy - he expected to succeed Yuan in the presidency, but the imperial gambit was seen as a betrayal. Duan tried to play the intermediary between the rebels and Yuan, just as Yuan had done during the Xinhai Revolution. Their friendship never repaired even after he was given the premiership, because Yuan shrewdly stripped that office of its powers. He served as premier intermittently from 1912 to 1918 under several governments as part of shaky coalitions that often collapsed. Duan formed the Anhui clique when the Beiyang army fractured after Yuan's death, and was the strongest supporter of China's entry into World War I, but was unwilling to send any of his own troops abroad since it would weaken him against his rivals.
After being fired by President Li Yuanhong for obtaining secret Japanese loans in 1917, he regained his office by toppling Zhang Xun's Qing restoration attempt of Puyi. He was also engaged in a power struggle against his archrival, President Feng Guozhang, over the war with Sun Yat-sen's rival government. Duan wanted a military solution while the president advocated negotiating. He is most noticeable for his frequent collaboration with the Japanese in return for military and financial aid. His promise of giving Japan German concessions in Shandong was one of the reasons for the May Fourth Movement in Beijing. He was held responsible for granting Japan its 21 demands in 1915, one of which was the Shandong issue. On May 4 1919, demonstrators stormed his house and burned it down. With his popularity gone, other warlords led by Cao Kun sided against him and on July 14, 1920, Duan's troop clashed with troops of Zhili clique. After a merely four days, Duan suffered a decisive defeat and he was forced to retire. Duan fled to Japanese settlement in Tianjin and became an apartment landlord. While out of power, his Anhui clique allies were rapidly losing ground. In 1923, he joined the chorus against Cao Kun's assumption of the presidency. Zhejiang, the last Anhui held province, fell in the summer of 1924.
He was called out of retirement in November 1924 and put in charge of a provisional government after an agreement with Zhang Zuolin and Feng Yuxiang. Duan, Zhang, and Feng were negotiating with Sun Yat-sen on national reunification until the latter succumbed to cancer in 1925. With his clique's military power in shambles, his government was hopelessly dependent on Feng and Zhang. Knowing that those two had poor relations, he tried to play sides secretly. On March 18, 1926 he ordered his troops to gun down protesters, killing dozens. The next month, Feng deposed Duan who then fled into Zhang's hands. Zhang, tired of his double-dealings, refused to restore Duan after capturing Beijing. Most of the Anhui clique had already sided with Zhang. He fled to Tianjin and later moved to Shanghai where he died.
Duan was also well known as a player and patron of weiqi (Go). He usually won because his opponents feared defeating him, with an exception of his own son, who was also a patron of weiqi and was not afraid of defeating the father. After Duan's complete defeat, he became a devoted Buddist and built a worship hall within his own home, and prayed every morning. Many of his former subordinates frequently came to pray with him. On the first and the fifteenth days of each month (lunar calendar), Duan would go to temples to participate in various Buddist events. Duan became a vegetarian and douchi was his favorit food and must be served every meal. Duan also kept a hen farm at home to provide him with eggs, but there was no roosters because so that eggs would remain vegetarian, as Duan claimed, because they were not fertilized.