Feng Guozhang (or Feng Kuo-chang) (1859-1919)

Chinese militarist. He served as a provincial military governor before becoming acting president of the Chinese Republic 1917-18. During his one year in office China declared war on Germany.

He trained at the Beiyang Military Acacemy, one of the military schools established during the last decades of the Qing (Ch'ing) Dynasty. On graduating, he entered the service of Yuan Shikai, commander of the Beiyang Army, China's first modern army. After the creation of a republic in 1912, he became one of a number of influential militarists known as the ‘Beiyang Clique’.