Republic of China (1912–1949)
1912–1949 country in Asia
The Republic of China established its governance over mainland China on 1 January 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and ended China's imperial history. The Beiyang government in Beijing was the internationally recognized government of the ROC from 1912 to 1928, with regional warlords occupying parts of the country after the death of Beiyang leader Yuan Shikai in 1916. In 1926, the Kuomintang (KMT) launched the Northern Expedition, which eventually reunified the country in 1928. The KMT established the Nationalist government and governed the ROC as a one-party state with Nanjing as the capital. In 1949, the KMT was defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the ROC government retreated to Taiwan, where it remains to this date. The ROC is recorded as a founding member of both the League of Nations and the United Nations. It claimed 11.4 million km2 (4.4 million sq mi) of territory, and its population of 541 million in 1949 made it the most populous country in the world.
The Republic of China was officially proclaimed on 1 January 1912 by revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen, who became provisional president of the new republic. Puyi, the final Qing emperor, abdicated on 12 February 1912. Sun served briefly before handing the presidency to Yuan Shikai, the leader of the Beiyang Army.
The public source identifies “Republic of China (1912–1949)” as 1912–1949 country in Asia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Republic, China and country.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13426199. Authority coordinates are 40.000, 110.000. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1912, 1928, 1916 and 1926.
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This entry incorporates text from “Republic of China (1912–1949)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.