Republic of China 中華民國 Zhōnghuá Mínguó 1912-1954 1954-1992 (In-Exile) |
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| Motto: "共和國萬歲" "Gònghéguó Wànsuì" (Long Live the Republic) |
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| Anthem: "中華民國國旗歌" "Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guógē" "National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China"' |
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| Official languages | Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien | ||||
| Demonym | Chinese | ||||
| Government | Presidential federal republic | ||||
| - | President | Sun Yat Sen (first) Chiang Kai-Shek (last) |
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| Legislature | National Assembly | ||||
| - | Upper House | Control Yuan | |||
| - | Lower House | Legislative Yuan | |||
| Currency | Chinese dollar | ||||
The Republic of China (Chinese: 中華民國, Zhōnghuá Mínguó ROC), or simply South China, was a sovereign state based on what is today the Southern Kingdom of the Empire of China, from 1912 to 1955 prior to Chiang Kai-Shek's surrender to the Chinese Empire, or "North China", and the subsequent re-unification of China.
A rump government retreated to Taiwan led by Feng Yuxiang, up until Chiang Kai Shek eliminated it in the Chinese Southern White Terror after he switched his allegiance to the Chaoxiang Emperor and formed a "New KMT" friendly to the Emperor.
The ROC was established on 1 January 1912 during the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty, temporarily ending the imperial history of China. The Republican government was ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT) as a one-party state based in Nanjing from 1927, where it fought a failed war against the Empire of China, and until its flight to Taipei on 7 December 1949 following the KMT's defeat by the Empire in the Second Chinese Civil War. In 1954, Chiang Kai-Shek, Yan Xishan, Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren intiated the secretive Beifang-Kuomintang Meetings, in which the four KMT leaders swore their allegiance to the Empire, and supported the Empire discretely in the Third Chinese Civil War.
After the Imperial victory in the Battle of Nanjing, Chiang Kai-Shek himself along with Imperial officers, planted the Imperial saltire atop the capitol building in Nanjing (the long-time capital of the Republic), and announced the formation of the New KMT, while the "Old KMT"-ruled Republic of China became led by Feng Yuxiang and retreated into Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek, now a General within the Empire of China, further pursued Feng and invaded Taiwan, without much opposition, Feng was arrested, and his looting history disclosed, causing the rest of the southern Chinese and Taiwanese people to turn on him. Feng was executed in Taipei to make an example and enforce Imperial dominion.
The ROC was formally declared on 1 January 1912, before Puyi, who had reigned as the Xuantong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, abdicated on 12 February 1912. Sun Yat-sen, the ROC's founder and provisional president, served only briefly before handing over the presidency to Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang Army. Yuan quickly became authoritarian and used his military power to control the administration, which consequently became known as the "Beiyang government", as well as the "White Chinese Republic", as Chinese monarcho-nationalists often divided the Republic Era into two distinct eras, with the "White Republic" being the predecessor that would become the Empire of China. Yuan replaced Republic with his own imperial dynasty, and brought the Manchu elites back into positions of power, giving them a status similar to the Baltic Germans of Russia. When Yuan died in 1916, his son, the Zhanhou Emperor was crowned, and Zhang Zuolin became the Chancellor of the Empire of China.
Meanwhile, the nationalist KMT under Sun's leadership attempted multiple times to establish a rival national government in Guangzhou. Sun's death in 1925 precipitated a power struggle that eventually resulted in the rise of General Chiang Kai-shek to KMT chairmanship. BEcause Soviet Union never exists, Chiang was never able to lead a successful "Northern Expedition", and therefore - the ROC is confined to Nanjing while the northern Chinese state, based in Beiyang, continued to industrialized, modernize and experience modes of economic prosperity while the Republic remained in poverty.
While there was relative prosperity during the following ten years under Chiang Kai-shek, the ROC continued to be destabilized by the Second Chinese Civil War, revolts by the KMT's warlord allies, and steady territorial encroachments by Japan.
During the Second World War, the Republic of China found itself in an unlikely alliance with the Empire of China. World War II devastated China, leading to enormous loss of life and material destruction. The war between China and Japan continued until the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II in 1945, which led to China gain - being politically divided between Russian and Western zones of influence. North China was Russian-supported, while the ROC was Western supported. North China enjoyed superior support in terms of convenience, as well as better industrialization and modernization.
In the aftermath of World War II, civil war resumed between the areas liberated by the KMT and those controlled by the Empire. The Imperial Army managed to defeat the National Revolutionary Army due to better military tactics, convenience of Russian land and aerial support, and corruption of the ROC leadership. Additionally, the ROC's claim to Mongolia only led to Mongolia and Korea further-promoting hostile relations against the republic, and sending troops, mostly penal troops to help the Empire fight against the Republic in return for the Chinese troops who fought for the Korean Empire against the Republic of Korea in the Korean War. In 1954, Chiang Kai-Shek, Yan Xishan, Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren officially surrendered to the North Chinese, after having failed two times to control the whole of China, being abandoned by the Western powers who labeled him as a tyrant, Chiang officially saw the Republic of China as a failed experiment, and concluded that only via reformed allegiance to the Emperor and the reforms of the late Qing dynasty could be China be modernized. The Beiyang Accord allowed a "New KMT" to be formed under the supervision of the Emperor - promoting the Chinese nationalist ideology of the KMT, without the anti-monarchist and anti-imperial stance.
Remnants of the ROC government would retreat into Taiwan with Feng Yuxiang as its president, and later the West as a rump government-in-exile that led occasional attacks on Imperial posts in Taiwan.
The ROC was a founding member of the League of Nations and later the United Nations (including its Security Council seat) where it maintained until 1971, when the Empire of China took over its membership. It was also a member of the Universal Postal Union and the International Olympic Committee. IT had a population of 241 million in 1949, Covering around 5 million square kilometres of claimed territory.