Republic of China (1912–1949)

The Republic of China (ROC) was a country that existed between 1912 and 1949. It is now the People's Republic of China. It was created in January 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty. The Republic's first president was Sun Yat-sen. Sun's party, the Kuomintang (KMT) won the parliamentary election in December 1912.

Republic of China 中華民國 Zhonghua Minguo
1912–1949
Anthem:  Flag anthem:  《中華民國國旗歌》 "National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China" (1937–1949)
Location and maximum extent of the territory claimed by the Republic of China (1945).
Capital	Beijing (1912–1928) Nanjing (1927–1949) Chongqing (1937–1946)
Official languages	Standard Chinese
Traditional Chinese Manchu alphabet Mongolian script Tibetan alphabet Uyghur alphabets Formosan pinyin (from 1945)
Religion	see Religion in China
Government	Federal semi-presidential republic under Beiyang rule (1912–1928) One-party state under a military dictatorship (1928–1946) Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic (1946–1949)
President
• 1912	Sun Yat-sen (first, provisional)
• 1949–1950	Li Zongren (last in Chinese mainland, acting)
Premier
• 1912	Tang Shaoyi (first)
• 1949	He Yingqin (last in Chinese mainland)
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	National Assembly
• Lower house	Legislative Yuan
History
• Xinhai Revolution	10 October 1911–12 February 1912
•	1 January 1912
• Beiyang government in Peking	1912–1928
• Northern Expedition	1926–1928
• Nationalist government in Nanking	1927–1949
• Chinese Civil War	1927–1936, 1946–1950
• Second Sino-Japanese War	7 July 1937–2 September 1945
• People's Republic of China proclaimed	1 October 1949
•	7 December 1949
Area
1912
1946
Population
• 1912	432,375,000
• 1920	472,000,000
• 1930	489,000,000
• 1946	535,418,000
• 1949	541,670,000
Currency	Chinese yuan
Time zone	UTC+5:30 to +8:30 (Kunlun to Changpai Standard Times)
Driving side	right
ISO 3166 code	TW
Preceded by Succeeded by Qing dynasty People's Republic of China Mongolian People's Republic
Today part of	Afghanistan Bhutan China India Mongolia Myanmar Pakistan Russia Tajikistan
Populations from http://www.populstat.info/Asia/chinac.htm

But Sun soon gave the position to Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang Army. The Beiyang Army also controlled the Beiyang government (which controlled Mongolia).

Between late 1915 and early 1916, Yuan Shikai called himself the Emperor of China. But people did not like it (National protection war).

After Yuan died in 1916, the Beiyang government was further weakened by a brief restoration of the Qing dynasty. Various groups in the Beiyang Army claimed independence and fought with each other during the Warlord Era.

In 1921, the KMT created a rival government in Canton, supported by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

North China was overtaxed and had too many fighting warlords. So its economy died between 1927 and 1928.

General Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek) became the KMT leader after Sun's death. Jiang started the Northern Expedition in 1926 and overthrew the Beiyang government in 1928. In April 1927, Jiang created a nationalist government in Nanjing and massacred Communists in Shanghai. This forced the CPC into armed rebellion, starting the Chinese Civil War.

China experienced industrialization and modernization but suffered conflicts between the Nationalist government in Nanking, the CPC, warlords, and the Empire of Japan.

Eventually the Chinese unified to fight against their common enemy: the Japanese. In 1937 the Imperial Japanese Army invaded China in 1937. The Second Sino-Japanese War began.

In 1945 Japan surrendered at the end of World War II.

In 1946, the Chinese Civil War between the KMT and CPC restarted.

In 1949, the CPC defeated the KMT and started the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Jiang Jieshi and the KMT fled to Taiwan.

Republic Of China (1912–1949) Media

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  Twelve Symbols national emblem of China

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  National Emblem of the Republic of China

• Piano version of the National Anthem of China from 1912-1913.

• 第一首《卿雲歌》 (1913-1915)

• Piano version of the National Anthem of China from 1915-1921.

• The Modified Anthem of the Beiyang government from 1921-1928.

• The National Anthem of the Republic of China, recorded in 1942. After the Kuomintang took control of Mainland China.

• National Flag Anthem*

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  The Seal of the Republic of China.

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  Yuan Shikai (left) and Sun Yat-sen (right) with flags representing the early republic