From “Relational System” to “Cultural Mechanism”: Chinese Warlord Politics (1916-1928)

Hsi-sheng Chi’s 1976 English monograph *Warlord Politics in China, 1916-1928* was the first to systematically construct an analytical paradigm of “relation-culture” in the study of Beiyang warlord politics. This research broke away from the traditional class-based historical view and regarded the warlord group as a dynamically operating power balance system. Its core innovations lie in: 1) employing political science and sociological theories to deconstruct warlord factions, proposing three sustaining bonds of the system (personal relations, interest considerations, and ideological connections), and further specifying twelve models of interpersonal relations to reveal their correlation with military efficiency; 2) initiating a cultural-historical perspective to establish a “cultural sedimentation-cognitive framework-behavioral pattern” mechanism, explaining how Confucian ethics, folk beliefs, and non-mainstream cultural channels shaped the logic of warlord rule, and introducing the concept of “cultural cognitive difference” to explain their behavioral features. This interdisciplinary approach filled a gap in the systematic study of warlord politics. However, in its final chapter, by applying the international relations framework of “balance of power” to analyze internal interactions among warlords, the study neglected the essential differences between China’s pre-modern political ecology and the modern international system (e.g., conflicts between the residual “tianxia” worldview and the Westphalian system). This has been questioned by scholars such as Chen Zhirang for theoretical inadaptability, becoming an important starting point for subsequent reflections.