Yuan Shikai was born in the village of Zhangying (張營村), Xiangcheng County, Chenzhou Prefecture, Henan. The village of Zhangying is located immediately north of the center of Xiangcheng.

The Yuan family later moved to a hilly area that was easier to defend, 16 kilometers southeast of Xiangcheng. There the Yuans had built a fortified village, Yuanzhaicun (Chinese: 袁寨村; literally "the fortified village of the Yuan family"). Yuanzhai is now located inside Wangmingkou township, on the territory of the county level city of Xiangcheng. The large country estate of the Yuan family there was recently opened to tourism.

Yuan's family was affluent enough to provide Yuan with a traditional Confucian education. As a young man he enjoyed riding, boxing, and entertainment with friends. Yuan had wanted to pursue a career in the civil service, but failed the Imperial examinations twice. He decided that his entry into politics would have to be done through the Huai Army, where many of his relatives of grand parental and parental generations served. Instead of passing the civil service examinations, Yuan began his career by purchasing a minor official title in 1880, which was a common method of official promotion in the late Qing. Using his father's connections, Yuan traveled to Tengzhou, Shandong, and sought a post in the Qing Brigade. Yuan's first marriage was in 1876 to a woman of the Yu family who bore him a first son, Keding, in 1878. In addition to his wife, Yuan Shikai married nine different concubines throughout the course of his life.

Joseon Dynasty Korea in the early 1870s was in the midst of a struggle between isolationists under the King Gojong's father (Heungseon Daewongun), and progressives, led by the queen (Empress Myeongseong), who had wanted to open trade with continued Qing external influences in Korea. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan had adopted a new aggressive foreign policy, and, as an emerging power, wished to contest Chinese domination of the peninsula. Under the unequal Treaty of Ganghwa, which the Koreans signed only with reluctance in 1876, Japan was allowed to send diplomatic missions to Hanseong, and opened trading posts in Incheon and Wonsan. Amidst an internal power struggle, which resulted in the queen's exile, Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of Zhili, sent the Qing Brigade, 3,000 strong, into Korea. The regent, Heungseon Daewongun, was escorted to Tianjin, where he was effectively kept prisoner. Korea's weakness was apparent, and the Treaty of Jemulpo in 1882 gave the Japanese the right to station troops in Seoul to protect their legation. China's protection alone could not shield Korea against the rapidly industrializing Japanese military, and it was obvious that Korea's army could not even deal with an internal crisis. The king issued a proposal to train 500 troops in the art of modern warfare, and Yuan Shikai was appointed to lead this task and was to remain in Korea. To the emperor, Li Hongzhang also recommended Yuan's promotion, and was approved shortly with Yuan's new rank as sub-prefect.

In 1885, Yuan was appointed Imperial Resident of Seoul with orders from the Imperial Throne of China. The position had seemed on the surface to be similar to that of a Minister or ambassador. In practice, Yuan, as the head official from the suzerain, had become the supreme adviser on all Korean government policies. Dissatisfied with its position in Korea, Japan sought more influence through co-suzerainty with China. A series of forged documents aimed at angering the Chinese was sent to Yuan Shikai, attempting to make it appear as if the Korean government had changed its stance towards Chinese protection, and turned more towards Russia. Yuan was outraged yet skeptical, and asked Li Hongzhang for advice.

In a treaty signed between Japan and Qing, the two parties agreed only to send troops into Korea after notifying the other. Although the Korean government was stable, it was still a protectorate of Qing, and forces emerged advocating modernization. Another more radicalized group, the Donghak Society, promoting an early nationalist doctrine based partly upon Confucian principles, rose in rebellion against the government, which Yuan aimed to protect. Li Hongzhang sent troops into Korea to protect Seoul and Qing's interests, and Japan did the same under the pretext of protecting Japanese trading posts. Tensions boiled over between Japan and China when Japan refused to withdraw its forces and placed a blockade of sorts at the 38th Parallel. Li Hongzhang wanted at all costs to avoid a war with Japan, and attempted this by asking for international pressure for a Japanese withdrawal. Japan refused, and war began. Yuan, now in an ineffective position, was recalled to Tianjin in July 1894, at the beginning of the First Sino - Japanese War (甲午戰爭).

Yuan Shikai rose to fame by participating in the First Sino - Japanese War as the commander of the Chinese stationary forces in Korea. He avoided the humiliation of Chinese armies in the war when he was recalled to Beijing several days before the Chinese forces were attacked.

As an ally of Li Hongzhang, Yuan was appointed the commander of the first New army in 1895. As the officer most directly responsible for training China's first modernized army, Yuan gained significant political influence and the loyalty of a nucleus of young officers: by 1901, five of China's seven divisional commanders and all other senior military officers in China were his proteges. The Qing court relied heavily on his army due to the proximity of its garrison to the capital and its effectiveness. Of the new armies that were part of the Self - Strengthening Movement, Yuan's was the best trained and most effective.

The Qing Court at the time was divided between progressives under the leadership of the Guangxu Emperor, and conservatives under the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had temporarily retreated to the Summer Palace as a place of "retirement". After the Guangxu Emperor's Hundred Days' Reform in 1898, however, Cixi decided that the reforms were too drastic, and plotted to restore her own regency through a coup d'état. Plans of the coup spread early, and the Emperor was very aware of the plot. He asked reform advocates Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong and others to develop a plan to save him. Yuan's involvement in the coup continues to be a large topic of historical debate. Tan Sitong reportedly had a talk with Yuan several days before the coup, asking Yuan to assist the Emperor against Cixi. Yuan refused a direct answer, but insisted he was loyal to the Emperor. Meanwhile Manchu General Ronglu was planning maneuvers for his army to stage the coup.

According to many sources, including the diary of Liang Qichao and contemporary Chinese news sources, Yuan Shikai arrived in Tianjin on 20 September 1898, by train. It was certain that by the evening, Yuan had talked to Ronglu, but what was revealed to him remains ambiguous. Most historians suggest that Yuan had told Ronglu of all details of the Reformers' plans, and asked him to take immediate action. The plot being exposed, Ronglu's troops entered the Forbidden City at dawn on 21 September, forcing the Emperor into seclusion in a lake palace.

Making a political alliance with the Empress Dowager, and becoming a lasting enemy of the Guangxu Emperor, Yuan left the capital in 1899 for his new appointment as Governor of Shandong. During his three year tenure, he ensured the suppression of Boxers in the province. He also left the foundation for a provincial junior college (Shandong College, the forerunner of Shandong University) in Jinan, adopting some western ideas of education.

He was granted the position of Viceroy of Zhili, the lucrative Commissioner for North China Trade, and Minister of Beiyang (北洋通商大臣), where the modern regions of Liaoning, Hebei, and Shandong provinces now are, on 25 June 1902. Gaining the regard of foreigners when he helped to crush the Boxer Rebellion, he successfully obtained numerous loans to expand his Beiyang Army into the most powerful army in China. He created a 1,000 strong police force to keep order in Tianjin, the first of its kind in Chinese history, after the Boxer Protocol had forbidden troops to be staged within a close proximity of Tianjin. Yuan was also involved in the transfer of Railway control from Sheng Xuanhuai. Railways became a large part of his revenue. Yuan played an active role in late Qing political reforms, including the creation of the Ministry of Education (學部) and Ministry of Police (巡警部). He further advocated for ethnic equality between Manchus and Han Chinese.

The Empress Dowager and the Guangxu Emperor died within a day of each other in November 1908. Some sources indicate that the will of the Emperor had specifically ordered that Yuan be executed. Avoiding execution, in January 1909, Yuan Shikai was relieved of all his posts by the regent, the 2nd Prince Chun. The official reason for Yuan's resignation was that he was returning to his home in the village of Huanshang (洹上村), located in the suburbs of Zhangde prefecture (Chinese: 彰德府), now called the prefecture level city of Anyang, in order to treat a foot disease.

During his three years of retreat, Yuan kept contact with his close allies, including Duan Qirui, who reported to him regularly about army proceedings. The loyalty of the Beiyang Army was still undoubtedly behind him. Having this strategic military situation, Yuan actually held the balance of power between the revolutionaries and the Qing Court. Both wanted Yuan on their side. Initially deciding against the possibility of becoming President of a newly proclaimed Republic, Yuan also repeatedly declined offers from the Qing Court for his return, first as the Viceroy of Huguang, and then as Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet. Time was on Yuan's side, and Yuan waited, using his "foot ailment" as a pretext to his continual refusal. After further pleas by the Qing Court, Yuan agreed to accept, becoming Prime Minister on 1 November 1911. Immediately subsequent he asked that Zaifeng, the Regent, abstain from politics. Zaifeng, being forced to resign from his regency, made way for Yuan to compose a newly created, predominantly Han Chinese Cabinet of his confidants, consisting of only one Manchu, who held the position of Minister of Suzerainty.

The Wuchang Uprising succeeded on 10 October 1911 in Hubei province, before Yuan's official appointment to the post of Prime Minister. The southern provinces had subsequently declared their independence from the Qing Court, but neither the northern provinces nor the Beiyang Army had a clear stance for or against the rebellion. Both the Qing court and Yuan were fully aware that the Beiyang Army was the only Qing force powerful enough to quell the revolutionaries. The court renewed offers for Yuan's return on October 27, and Yuan eventually left his village for Beijing on 30 October. To further reward Yuan's loyalty to the court, the Empress Dowager Longyu offered Yuan the noble title Marquis of the First Rank (一等侯), an honor only previously given to General Zeng Guofan. While continuing his demands, ensuring temporary political stability in Beijing, his forces captured Hankou and Hanyang in November 1911 in preparation for attacking Wuchang, thus forcing the republican revolutionaries to negotiate.

The revolutionaries had elected Sun Yat-Sen as the first Provisional President of the Republic of China, but they were in a weak position, militarily, so they reluctantly compromised with Yuan. Yuan arranged for the abdication of the child emperor Puyi (or Xuantong Emperor), in return for being granted the position of President, replacing Sun. Yuan would not be present when the Abdication edict was issued by Empress Dowager Longyu, on February 12, 1912.

Sun agreed to Yuan's presidency after internal bickering, but asked that the capital be situated in Nanjing. Yuan, however, wanted the geographic advantage of having the nation's capital close to his base of military power. Cao Kun, one of his entrusted subordinate Beiyang military commanders, fabricated a coup d'état in Beijing and Tianjin, apparently under Yuan's orders, to provide an excuse for Yuan not to leave his sphere of influence in Zhili (present day Hebei province). The revolutionaries compromised again, and the capital of the new republic was established in Beijing. Yuan Shikai was elected Provisional President of the Republic of China, by the Nanjing Provisional Senate, on 14 February 1912, and sworn in on 10 March of that year.

In February 1913, democratic elections were held for the National Assembly in which the Chinese Nationalist Party or the Kuomintang (KMT) scored a significant victory. Song Jiaoren, deputy in the KMT to Sun Yat-sen, zealously supported a cabinet system and was widely regarded as a candidate for Prime Minister.

One of Song's main political goals was to ensure that the powers and independence of China's Parliament be properly protected from the influence of the office of the President. Song's goals in curtailing the office of the President conflicted with the interests of Yuan, who, by mid 1912, clearly dominated over the provisional cabinet that he had named and was showing signs of a desire to hold overweening executive power. During Song's travels through China in 1912, he had openly and vehemently expressed the desire to limit the powers of the President in terms that often appeared openly critical of Yuan's ambitions. When the results of the 1913 elections indicated a clear victory for the KMT, it appeared that Song would be in a position to exercise a dominant role in selecting the premier and cabinet, and the party could have proceeded to push for the election of a future president in a proper parliamentary setting.

While traveling with a group of friends to the Parliament in Peking, Song Jiaoren was shot twice at close range by a lone gunman, Ying Kuicheng, at a Shanghai railway station on March 20, 1913, and died two days later in hospital. The trail of evidence led to the secretary of the cabinet and the provisional premier of Yuan Shikai's government. Although Yuan was considered by contemporary Chinese media sources as the man most likely behind the assassination, the main conspirators investigated by authorities were either themselves assassinated or disappeared mysteriously. Because of the lack of evidence, Yuan was never officially implicated.

Tensions between the Kuomintang and Yuan continued to intensify. After arriving in Peking, the elected Parliament attempted to gain control over Yuan, to develop a permanent constitution, and to hold a legitimate, open presidential election. Because he had authorized $100 million of "reorganization loans" from a variety of foreign banks, the KMT in particular were highly critical of Yuan's handling of the national budget.

Yuan's crackdown on the Kuomintang began in 1913, beginning with the suppression and bribery of the KMT members in the two legislative chambers, followed by an orchestrated collapse of the KMT from local organizations and the dismissal and/or military invasion of governors interpreted as being pro - Kuomintang. Finally, Yuan had himself elected president to a five year term, publicly labelled the Kuomintang a seditious organization, ordered the Kuomintang's dissolution, and evicted the party's members from Parliament.

Seeing the situation worsen, Sun Yat-sen fled to Japan in November, 1913, and called for a Second Revolution, this time against Yuan Shikai. Subsequently, Yuan gradually took over the government, using the military as the base of his power. He dissolved the national and provincial assemblies, and the House of Representatives and Senate were replaced by the newly formed "Council of State", with Duan Qirui, his trusted Beiyang lieutenant, as Prime Minister.

The Kuomintang's "Second Revolution" appeared to end in failure, as Yuan's military might achieved complete victory over the remaining KMT forces. Provincial governors with KMT loyalties who remained were bribed, and/or willingly submitted to Yuan. Because those commanders not loyal to Yuan were effectively removed from power, the Second Revolution effectively strengthened Yuan's power.

In January, 1914, China's Parliament was formally dissolved. To give his government a semblance of legitimacy, Yuan convened a body of 66 men from his cabinet who, on May 1, 1914, produced a "constitutional compact" that effectively replaced China's provisional constitution. The new legal status quo gave Yuan, as president, practically unlimited powers over China's military, finances, foreign policy, and the rights of China's citizens. Yuan justified these reforms by stating that representative democracy was inefficient.

After his victory, Yuan reorganized the provincial governments. Headed now by Military Governors (都督) instead of civil governorships, each governor now effectively had control of their own army. Although it meant that Yuan had a seemingly loyal group of administrators working for him at the time, this laid the foundations for the warlordism that crippled China over the next two decades.

In January, 1915, Japan sent a secret ultimatum, known as the Twenty - one Demands, to Beijing. In these demands, Japan demanded a wide range of economic and political concessions for its government and citizens in Fujian, Mongolia, and central and northern China. When these demands were made public, the public hostility to these demands within China was expressed in nationwide anti - Japanese demonstrations and an effective national boycott of Japanese goods. Yuan's eventual decision to agree to nearly all of the demands led to a decline in the popularity of Yuan's government among contemporary Chinese. Western pressure later forced Japan to back down on some of its demands.

To build up his own authority, Yuan began to re-institute elements of state Confucianism. As the main proponent of reviving Qing state religious observances, Yuan effectively participated as emperor in rituals held at the Qing Temple of Heaven. In late 1915, Yuan floated rumors of a popular consensus that the monarchy should be revived. With his power secure, many of Yuan's supporters, notably monarchist Yang Du, advocated for a revival of the monarchy, asking Yuan to take on the title of Emperor. Yang reasoned that the Chinese masses had long been used to autocratic rule, and that the Republic had only been effective as a transitional phase to end Manchu rule. He reasoned that China's political situation demanded the stability that only a monarchy could ensure. The American political scientist Frank Johnson Goodnow suggested a similar idea. Negotiators representing the government of Japan had also offered to support Yuan's ambitions as one of the rewards for Yuan's support of the Twenty - One Demands.

In November 20, 1915, Yuan held a specially convened "Representative Assembly" which voted 1,993 votes in favor of having Yuan become emperor, with zero votes opposed. On December 12, 1915, Yuan "agreed" to become the next emperor. Yuan proclaimed his reign as Emperor of the Chinese Empire (中華帝國大皇帝) under the era name of Hongxian (洪憲; i.e. Constitutional Abundance) beginning on January 1, 1916. Soon after becoming emperor, Yuan placed an order with the former imperial potters for a 40,000 piece porcelain set costing 1.4 million yuan, and a large jade seal and two imperial robes costing 400,000 yuan each.

By expecting widespread domestic and international support for his reign, Yuan Shikai and his supporters had miscalculated. Many of Yuan's closest supporters abandoned him, and the solidarity of Yuan's Beiyang clique of military proteges dissolved. There were open protests throughout China denouncing Yuan. International governments, including Japan, were indifferent or hostile to him, and did not give him the recognition that he anticipated. Sun Yat-sen, who had fled to Tokyo and set up a base there, actively organized efforts to overthrow Yuan. Yuan's sons publicly fought over the title of "Crown Prince", and his former loyal subordinates like Duan Qirui and Xu Shichang left him one by one to create their own factions.
Faced with widespread opposition, Yuan repeatedly delayed the accession rites to appease his foes, but his prestige was irreparably damaged, and province after province continued to declare their autonomy from Beijing. On December 25, 1915, Yunnan's military governor, Cai E, rebelled, launching the National Protection War. The governor of Guizhou followed in January 1916, and Guangxi declared independence in March. Funding for Yuan's accession ceremony was cut on March 1, and he formally abandoned monarchism on March 22. This was not enough for his enemies, who called for his resignation as president. More provinces rebelled until Yuan died, humiliated, from uremia, on June 5, 1916, at the age of fifty - six. His death was announced the following day. His remains were moved to his home province and placed in a large mausoleum. In 1928, the tomb was looted by Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun soldiers during the Northern Expedition. He had three sons: Prince Yuan Keding, who was handicapped; Prince Yuan Kewen, who was said by his father to be a 'fake scholar', and Prince Yuan Keliang, whom Yuan Shikai called a "bandit".

The major effects of Yuan's rule on China were mostly negative. Although he trained and organized one of China's first modern armies, the loyalty of Yuan's armed forces were split among warlords after his death, undermining the authority of the central government. Yuan did little to improve civilian economic or technological development, and financed his regime through large foreign loans. He is criticized for weakening Chinese morale and international prestige, and for allowing the Japanese to gain broad concessions over his government.

After Yuan's death, there was an effort by Li Yuanhong to revive the Republic by recalling the legislators who had been ejected in 1913, but this effort was confused and ineffective in asserting central control, and Li lacked any support from the military. There was a short lived effort in 1917 to revive the Qing dynasty led by the loyalist general Zhang Xun, but his forces were defeated by rival warlords later that year. After the collapse of Zhang's movement, all pretense of strength from the central government collapsed, and China descended into a period of warlordism. Over the next several decades, the offices of both the president and Parliament became the tools of militarists, and the politicians in Peking became dependent on regional governors for their support and political survival.

After Yuan's death, China was left without any generally recognized central authority, and the nation's army quickly fragmented into forces of competing warlords. For this reason he is sometimes called "the Father of the Warlords". However, it is not accurate to attribute China's subsequent age of warlordism to his preference, since, in his career as a military reformer, he had attempted to create a modern army based on the Japanese model. Throughout his lifetime, he demonstrated an understanding of staffing, military education, and regular transfers of officer personnel, combining these skills to create China's first modern military organization. After his return to power in 1911, however, he seemed willing to sacrifice his legacy of military reform for his imperial ambitions, and instead ruled by a combination of violence and bribery that destroyed the idealism of the early Republican movement.

In the CCTV Production Towards the Republic, Yuan is portrayed through most of his early years as an able administrator, although a very skilled manipulator of political situations. His self - proclamation as Emperor is largely depicted as being influenced by external forces, especially that of his son, prince Yuan Keding.

A bixi (stone tortoise) with a stele in honor of Yuan Shikai, which was installed in Anyang's Huanyuan Park soon after his death, was (partly) restored in 1993.