Nationalist government
Republic of China 中華民國 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–1948 | |||||||||||
Emblem
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| Anthem: "National Anthem of the Republic of China" (1930–1948) Flag anthem: "National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China" (1937–1948) | |||||||||||
| National seal (1929–1949) | |||||||||||
Land controlled by the Republic of China in 1945 shown in dark green; uncontrolled claims shown in light green. | |||||||||||
| Capital | |||||||||||
| Largest city | Shanghai | ||||||||||
| Official languages | Standard Chinese | ||||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Chinese | ||||||||||
| Government |
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| De-facto leader[2] | |||||||||||
• 1926–1948 | Chiang Kai-shek[2] | ||||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||||
• 1928–1930 (first) | Tan Yankai | ||||||||||
• 1947–1948 (last) | Zhang Qun | ||||||||||
| President[a] | |||||||||||
• 1928 (first) | Tan Yankai | ||||||||||
• 1943–1948 (last) | Chiang Kai-shek | ||||||||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | ||||||||||
| Control Yuan | |||||||||||
| Legislative Yuan | |||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established in Guangzhou | 1 July 1925 | ||||||||||
• Northern Expedition | 1926–1928 | ||||||||||
• Reset in Nanjing | 18 April 1927 | ||||||||||
| 1927–1936, 1946–1950 | |||||||||||
• Second Sino-Japanese War | 7 July 1937 – 2 September 1945 | ||||||||||
• Admitted to the United Nations | 24 October 1945 | ||||||||||
• Retrocession of Taiwan and the Pescadores | 25 October 1945 | ||||||||||
• February 28 incident | 28 February 1947 | ||||||||||
• Constitution adopted | 25 December 1947 | ||||||||||
• Government of the Republic of China established | 20 May 1948 | ||||||||||
| Currency |
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| ISO 3166 code | CN | ||||||||||
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The Nationalist government, Nationalist regime[3][4][5] and Nationalist China,[6][7] officially the National Government of the Republic of China,[b], refer to the government of the Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party.
Following the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen was elected to be China's provisional president and founded the Provisional Government of the Republic of China. To preserve national unity, Sun ceded the presidency to military strongman Yuan Shikai, who established the Beiyang government. After a failed attempt to install himself as Emperor of China, Yuan died in 1916, leaving a power vacuum which resulted in China being divided into several warlord fiefs and rival governments. They were nominally reunified in 1928 under the Nanjing-based government led by Chiang Kai-shek, which after the Northern Expedition initially governed the country as a one-party state under the Kuomintang, and was subsequently given international recognition as the legitimate representative of China. The Nationalist government would then experience many further challenges such as the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The government was in place until it was replaced by the current Government of the Republic of China in the newly promulgated Constitution of the Republic of China of 1947.
- ^ Lloyd E. Eastman (1991). The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3, 50. ISBN 9780521392730.
Under Chiang's aegis, the Nationalist government in Nanking transformed into a military dictatorship"; "The military continued to hold ultimate power... The regime was a dictatorship built on and maintained by military power.
- ^ a b Lloyd E. Eastman (1991). The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949. Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 9780521392730.
It would be a mistake, however, to devote exclusive attention to the structure of the Nationalist government or to the formal relationship between, say, the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan. For, regardless of the formal positions that Chiang Kai-shek held in the party, government or army, he wielded ultimate authority over the regime as a whole.
- ^ Lloyd E. Eastman (1991). The Nationalist Era in China, 1927-1949. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780521392730.
...in this chapter to employ the term Nationalist regime rather than Nationalist government. No pejorative connotation is intended by use of the term regime.
- ^ https://academic.oup.com/book/47875/chapter-abstract/422377311. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Affairs, United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific (18 September 1972). The New China Policy: Its Impact on the United States and Asia: Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 18 September 2025 – via Google Books.
- ^ Coble, Parks M. (30 March 2023). The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-29760-8. Retrieved 18 September 2025 – via Google Books.
- ^ Botjer, George F. (18 September 1979). A Short History of Nationalist China, 1919-1949. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-399-12382-5. Retrieved 18 September 2025 – via Google Books.
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