Modern Chinese opinions on chun-fa (Warlords)?

Hello,

I have started to read about Chinese military leaders from the 1920s and 1930s. Contemporary accounts by English, French, and American writers often describe these men as "warlords," and portray them in a negative way.

My focus has been on Chang Tso-lin, Chang Tsung-ch'ang, Wu P'ei-fu, Feng Yu-hsiang, and Yen Hsi-shan. I recently performed a World Cat search for publications in Chinese, and discovered a great many authors have produced books on Wu and Chang Tso-lin, and there is even a biography of Chang Tsung-ch'ang!

As my elder brothers can already guess from the use of Wade-Giles romanization, my knowledge of Chinese history is rusty, and I can not read Chinese. Still, I would be interested to know what modern Chinese people learn about such men in their elementary, high-school, or college history classes. Are these men simply "chun-fa," or are there new views of their role in China's past? All opinions and criticisms are welcome. Thank you.

John Dunn

Now,we reevaluate Wu P'ei-fu.There is an article written in Chinese on him. And, Feng Yu-hsiang has been honored all the time.

Thanks very much for your answer.

John

"军阀"(chun fa) has a long history in china.when the last han,cao cao,liu bei and sun quan are the earliest chun fa in china.they are the kings of three kingdom.i think you can read the <<三国志>>(if it translation in english).it is a history book write by chen shou(about 280AD).

They are warlord.But most of them loyalty to China.Japanese want to buy off some of them,but no one want to stay with Japan.
I think maybe they are not good person but they are chinese.

They are heroes.Maybe they did evil things,I forgive them,because they defend their country.