阀

powerful individual, family or group / clique / (loanword) valve

to cut down / to fell / to dispatch an expedition against / to attack / to boast / Taiwan pr. [fa1]

gate / door / CL:扇[shan4] / gateway / doorway / CL:個|个[ge4] / opening / valve / switch / way to do something / knack / family / house / (religious) sect / school (of thought) / class / category / phylum or division (taxonomy) / classifier for large guns / classifier for lessons, subjects, branches of technology / (suffix) -gate (i.e. scandal; derived from Watergate)

valve (mechanical)

military clique / junta / warlord

safety valve

a throttle

plutocracy / monopolistic corporation, esp. prewar Japanese zaibatsu / Korean chaebol / plutocrat / tycoon / oligarch / financial magnate

steam valve

Anhui faction of Northern Warlords 1911-c.1929

the Zhili faction of the Northern Warlords

a sleeve valve

incessant fighting between warlords

rich and powerful family

valve stem

top valve / head valve

the Northern Warlords (1912-1927)

suction valve

Fengtian clique (of northern warlords)

bottom valve / foot valve

Guangxi warlord faction, from 1911-1930