Empire · since 1912 · East Asia

Republic of China

Also known as Chinese Warlords, Chinese warlords, Manchuria, Xinjiang, Taiwan

The Republic of China was founded on 1 January 1912 after the revolution against the Qing, with Sun Yat-sen as provisional president. Power soon passed to the general Yuan Shikai, and after his death in 1916 China fragmented among rival warlords.

Sun's Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang, rebuilt in the south, and in 1926–28 Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition reunited much of the country under a government in Nanjing. Chiang fought both the Communists and, from 1937, a full-scale Japanese invasion that killed millions. After Japan's defeat the civil war resumed, and in 1949 the Communists won the mainland. Chiang's government retreated to Taiwan, which it ruled under martial law until 1987. Under Chiang Ching-kuo and Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan became a prosperous democracy.

See it on the map →

Years

since 1912

Capital

Beijing, then Nanjing (1928), wartime Chongqing, and Taipei from 1949

Greatest extent

1946, about 9.70 million km²

Region

East Asia

Nominal extent (9.67M km², Wikipedia) after recovering Taiwan and recognising Mongolian independence; Tibet was self-governing in practice. The 1912 claim including Mongolia was 11.4M km², while Taagepera (1997) estimates only c. 7.7M km² for 1912