Beiyang government
The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name.
Republic of China 中華民國 Zhōnghuá Mínguó | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912–1928 | |||||||||||||||||
National Emblem
| |||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: Various
| |||||||||||||||||
Republic of China between 1912 and 1928. | |||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Beijing 39°54′N 116°23′E | ||||||||||||||||
| Largest city | Shanghai | ||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Standard Chinese | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Federal parliamentary republic (1912–14, 1916–23, 1924, 1926–27) Presidential republic (1914–16, 1923–24, 1924–26, 1927–28) under military dictatorship (1927–28) | ||||||||||||||||
| President | |||||||||||||||||
• 1912–1916 | Yuan Shikai (first) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1927–1928 | Zhang Zuolin (last) | ||||||||||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||||||||||
• 1912 | Tang Shaoyi (first) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1927–1928 | Pan Fu (last) | ||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | ||||||||||||||||
• Upper house | Senate | ||||||||||||||||
• Lower house | House of Representative | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Presidential inauguration of Yuan Shikai | 10 March 1912 | ||||||||||||||||
• Legislative Yuan opened meeting | 8 April 1913 | ||||||||||||||||
• May Fourth Movement | 4 May 1919 | ||||||||||||||||
• Northern Expedition started | 9 July 1926 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 June 1928 | |||||||||||||||||
• Chinese reunification | 29 December 1928 | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Chinese yuan | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Beiyang general Yuan Shikai gave Sun Yat-sen the military support he needed to overthrow the Qing dynasty and establish the Republic of China in 1912. Through his control of the army, Yuan was quickly able to dominate the new Republic. Although the government and the state were nominally under civilian control through the Republic's constitution, Yuan and his generals were effectively in charge of it. After Yuan's death in 1916, the army split into various warlord factions competing for power, leading to a period of civil war called the Warlord Era. Nevertheless, the government maintained its legitimacy among the great powers, receiving diplomatic recognition, foreign loans, and access to tax and customs revenue.
Its legitimacy was seriously challenged in 1917, by Sun Yat-sen's Guangzhou-based Kuomintang (KMT) government movement. His successor Chiang Kai-shek defeated the Beiyang warlords during the Northern Expedition between 1926 and 1928, and overthrew the factions and the government, effectively unifying the country in 1928. The Kuomintang proceeded to install its nationalist government in Nanjing; China's political order became a one-party state, and the Kuomintang government subsequently received international recognition as the legitimate government of China.