Republic of China

[YingZheng]

Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, the 1911 Revolution broke out. On
January 1, 1912, Sun Yat-sen took the oath of office in Nanjing City
and declared the establishment of the Republic of China -- a
provisional government of the republic. The period from the formation
of the Provisional Government until 1949 was called the Republic of
China period when the country experienced three shifts in government:
Sun Yat-sen's Provisional Government (January-March, 1912) in Nanjing,
the Northern Warlords ruling government (1912-1928) in Beijing and the
Kuomintang Government in Nanjing (1928-1949). Shifts in power were
frequent during the rule of the Northern Warlords -- from Yuan Shikai
to Duan Qirui, and later to Cao Kun and Zhang Zuolin.
The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 and later twice
cooperated with the Kuomintang. The first cooperation, from 1924 to
1927, was when the two parties launched the joint Northern
Expeditionary War. The second cooperation, from 1937 to 1945, involved
the main task of driving out Japanese invaders. During the two times of
cooperation, the parties broke up on two occasions, declaring war on
each other: one was the First National Revolutionary War from 1927 to
1937, and the other, the Liberation War from 1946 to 1949.

During the period of the Republic of China, continuous political
conflicts and wars resulted in a slow economic and cultural
development, including an incomplete legal system. At the same time,
many revolutionary leaders and patriotic idealists emerged, such as Mao
Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Lu Xun.

In 1949, the Kuomintang Government was defeated and moved to Taiwan,
marking the end of the Republic of China period. On October 1, 1949,
the founding of the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, with
Beijing as the capital.