High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Anhui clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's Warlord era. It was named after Anhui province because several of its generals including its founder, Duan Qirui, was born in Anhui. It could be considered a legacy of Anhui native Li Hongzhang who created and built a network of officers during and after the Taiping Rebellion. Because the Anhui clique organized itself very early, it was more politically sophisticated than its warlord rivals.