Zhao Erxun

Who was Zhao Erxun?

Zhao Erxun, or Chao Erh-sun, was the brother of Zhao Erfeng. He was the governor of Hubei and Sichuan and viceroy and governor of Fengtian.

Zhao Erfeng and Zhao Erxun extended Chinese rule into Eastern Tibet, and sent an army to Lhasa in 1908. This initially worked with the restored Dalai Lama but later drove him out, after strong disagreements about a conflict between Lamas in Eastern Tibet and the government of Sichuan. It has been suggested that this, along with tax rises caused the rebellion of September 1911 in Sichuan. A different view is taken by Han Suyin, who says that the main issue was control of a planned railway that would have linked Sichuan to the rest of China.