因为晚年称帝的缘故,论者大多对早年袁世凯持否定态度。本文通过考察袁世凯少年时代之人生志向,青年从军时期之果敢干练和战功卓著,以及出使朝鲜九年期间之殚精竭虑和独撑危局,说明早年袁世凯已经是具有雄才大略的“天生的实践家”。不管是从袁世凯的个人成长角度而言,还是从近代中国社会进步角度来说,对早年袁世凯都是应该给予充分肯定的。从袁世凯的一生来看,他是继曾国藩、李鸿章之后推进中国近代化的重要人物,且对近代中国社会进步的贡献超过曾国藩、李鸿章。 Because of his later emperor’s sake, most of the creditors held a negative attitude towards the early Yuan Shikai. This article examines Yuan Shikai’s youth life aspirations of his youth, his courageous and outstanding military exploits during his army’s reign, and the excuse of expelling North Korea during the nine-year period. This shows that in the early years Yuan Shikai was already an accomplished practitioner with a great talent. . Whether from Yuan Shikai’s personal growth perspective or from the angle of social progress in modern China, Yuan Shikai’s early years should be fully affirmed. From Yuan Shikai’s life, he is an important figure in promoting China’s modernization after Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, and has made more contributions to social progress in modern China than Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang.