Yuan Shi-kai died suddenly in 1916, and power fell to local military leaders who made themselves regional war lords. China had no effective national government from 1916 to 1927. Sun Yat-sen tried to collaborate with Chen Chiungming, the war lord in Guangzhou, seeking a new base of power there. Sun was ambivalent toward the student-led [[May Fouth Movement]] of 1919. Sun's return to China in 1919 and the re-assumption of revolutionary activities found him somewhat outdated. Youthful radicals no longer flocked to him, and some of his ideas were antiquated. Sun recognized the need for adjustments and a solid basis of support. Therefore he he added his own ideas to those of the May Fourth Movement and borrowed from the movement in return. As a result his attacks on the [[Versailles Treaty]] gained attention, and Sun's denunciation of Western imperialism as the cause of China's malaise was widely accepted and gradually Sun regained stature as spokesman of the new Chinese nationalism that moved students, professionals and cosmopolitan Chinese in the coastal cities. | Yuan Shi-kai died suddenly in 1916, and power fell to local military leaders who made themselves regional war lords. China had no effective national government from 1916 to 1927. Sun Yat-sen tried to collaborate with Chen Chiungming, the war lord in Guangzhou, seeking a new base of power there. Sun was ambivalent toward the student-led [[May Fouth Movement]] of 1919. Sun's return to China in 1919 and the re-assumption of revolutionary activities found him somewhat outdated. Youthful radicals no longer flocked to him, and some of his ideas were antiquated. Sun recognized the need for adjustments and a solid basis of support. Therefore he he added his own ideas to those of the May Fourth Movement and borrowed from the movement in return. As a result his attacks on the [[Versailles Treaty]] gained attention, and Sun's denunciation of Western imperialism as the cause of China's malaise was widely accepted and gradually Sun regained stature as spokesman of the new Chinese nationalism that moved students, professionals and cosmopolitan Chinese in the coastal cities. |