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209-682: Intended for the entire territory of the Republic of China as it was then constituted, it was never extensively nor effectively implemented due to the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in mainland China at the time of the constitution's promulgation. The newly elected National Assembly soon ratified the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion on May 10, 1948. The Temporary Provisions symbolises

418-664: A puppet state controlling limited amounts of territory. The United Front between the Kuomintang and the CCP had salutary effects for the beleaguered CCP, despite Japan's steady territorial gains in northern China, the coastal regions and the rich Yangtze River valley in central China. After 1940, conflicts between the Kuomintang and Communists became more frequent in the areas not under Japanese control . The Communists expanded their influence wherever opportunities presented themselves through mass organizations, administrative reforms and

627-438: A rescript was issued in the emperor's name (but most likely written by court officials). It indicated his intent to be involved in government affairs. And indeed he attended cabinet meetings and innumerable other government functions, though rarely speaking, almost until the day of his death. The successful revolutionaries organized themselves into a Council of State, and subsequently into a system where three main ministers led

836-412: A county council and magistrate with each member and magistrate shall be elected by the people within the county. In Article 127 a magistrate are heads of the local county self-government and shall administer matters delegated to the county by the central or provincial government. However, despite the major loss of its territory, even after democratization, the provinces began to be streamlined in 1998 with

1045-450: A highly individualistic and forthright person who was no puppet to any group in his government, and although progressive, not 'liberal' or 'democratic'. Yet another group of historians contend he was never a full dictator, but remain divided on whether his personal power was "far closer to the absolutist end". or he merely played a mediating role in the Genrō's decision making. He composed

1254-599: A lasting legacy on Taiwan's constitutionalism: they inspired constitutional indigenization with their disparate frameworks, serving as a foundation for Taiwan's eventual constitutional identity. Even today, remnants of Japanese colonialism exist within Taiwan's political systems. Up until 2005, Taiwan retained its single non-transferable voting (SNTV) system , a testament to the Meiji Constitution. Originating in Japan,

1463-512: A new constitution in Taiwan. Former President Ma Ying-jeou stated that constitutional reform was not a priority for his government. After that, Taiwan was once again governed by the Democratic Progressive Party, but they promised to maintain Taiwan's status quo , and their proposed constitutional amendments were not passed. Republic of China (1912%E2%80%931949) The Republic of China ( ROC ) began as

1672-473: A new world power. The Emperor, who was born on 3 November 1852, succeeded to the throne on 3 February 1867, on the suppression of the Shogun dynasty, which had for generations wielded the power which the imperial family held only in name. Mutsuhito has proved the most practical of modern monarchs, for in less than forty years he has brought his country from semi-barbarism to the status of a first class power. Near

1881-653: A policy of transitioning towards constitutionalism. However, the first constitutional document was only published in 1908, and the first constitutional document with legal force (the "Nineteen Covenants") was not implemented until 1911, after the eruption of the 1911 Revolution , which led to the end of the Qing dynasty the next year. As a result of the First Sino-Japanese War , the Treaty of Shimonoseki granted Japan full sovereignty of Taiwan. Chinese cession of

2090-715: A program of massive military and financial aid to the hard-pressed Nationalist Government . In January 1943, both the United States and the United Kingdom led the way in revising their unequal treaties with China from the past. Within a few months a new agreement was signed between the United States and the Republic of China for the stationing of American troops in China as part of the common war effort against Japan. The United States sought unsuccessfully to reconcile

2299-410: A protracted war were staggering. The economy deteriorated, sapped by the military demands of foreign war and internal strife, by spiraling inflation, and by Nationalist profiteering, speculation, and hoarding. Starvation came in the wake of the war, and millions were rendered homeless by floods and unsettled conditions in many parts of the country. On 25 October 1945, following the surrender of Japan ,

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2508-748: A provincial council and governor with its members of the provincial council directly elected by the people of the province. Article 118 describes the self-government of municipalities under the direct jurisdiction of the Executive Yuan. Articles 119 and 120 preserved the autonomy of Inner Mongolia (includes Leagues and Banners ) and Kashag -led Tibet. Counties (also spelled as hsien) consists of second-level divisions under provinces with 2,035 counties, 56 province-controlled cities, 34 bureaus and 7 management bureaus with special municipalities and leagues consisting of districts and 127 banners. Articles 124 and 126 describes each county-level governments require

2717-413: A republic was established to replace the monarchy . The Qing dynasty that preceded the republic had experienced instability throughout the 19th century and suffered from both internal rebellion and foreign imperialism. A program of institutional reform proved too little and too late. Only the lack of an alternative regime prolonged the monarchy's existence until 1912. The Chinese Republic grew out of

2926-585: A sovereign state in mainland China on 1 January 1912 following the 1911 Revolution , which overthrew the Manchu -led Qing dynasty and ended China's imperial history . From 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT) reunified the country and ruled it as a one-party state (" Dang Guo ") and made Nanjing the national capital. In 1949, the KMT-led government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War and lost control of

3135-584: A statement that was widely seen as being directed at Chen's constitutional proposals. In response, the Pan-Blue Coalition attempted to argue that a new constitution and constitutional referendums were unnecessary and that the inefficiencies in the ROC Constitution could be approved through the normal legislative process. In his May 20, 2004, inaugural address, Chen called for a "Constitutional Reform Committee" to be formed by "members of

3344-670: A variety of entities for the international community including the League of Nations along with its successor the United Nations and the Olympic Games . It was hoped by the government that participating in the Olympic Games this could give more legitimacy to the country in the eyes of the international community and "sports could also cultivate modern citizens and a strong nation". The Republic of China sent athletes to

3553-672: A written constitution , became influential towards the end of the 19th century, inspired immediately in large parts by the precedent of the Meiji Constitution in Japan . The first attempt towards constitutionalism in China was during the Hundred Days' Reform that took place in 1898 by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters, but a coup by conservative monarchists loyal to Empress Dowager Cixi ended this effort. The same faction, however, eventually adopted

3762-527: Is impossible to deny that [Emperor Kōmei's] disappearance from the political scene, leaving as his successor a boy of fifteen or sixteen [actually fourteen], was most opportune". In a brief ceremony in Kyoto, the crown prince formally ascended to the throne on 13 February 1867. The new emperor continued his classical education, which did not include matters of politics. In the meantime, the shōgun , Yoshinobu, struggled to maintain power. He repeatedly asked for

3971-757: Is the executive branch of the ROC government and is the "highest administrative organ of the State." The President of the Executive Yuan is the Premier , who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and no longer requires consent from the Legislative Yuan . The Premier may be removed by a vote of no-confidence by a majority of the Legislative Yuan, after which the President may either remove

4180-580: The burakumin ended. However, these classes continue to suffer discrimination in Japan to the present time. The 1889 constitution created a new parliament , although it had no real power. Power had passed from the Tokugawa into the hands of those daimyōs and other samurai who had led the Restoration. Japan was thus controlled by the Genrō , an oligarchy which comprised the most powerful men of

4389-626: The 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris , 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles , 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and the 1948 Summer Olympics but no athletes won any medals. For 1928 a single athlete was sent. Although athletes were sent to the 1924 games they did not participate in the games. The Republic of China was a member of the League of Nations and participated until it was dissolved. Those in

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4598-587: The Central Plains War . In 1931, the Japanese invaded Manchuria . They continued a series of smaller territorial encroachments until 1937, when they launched a full-scale invasion 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 Taiwan being placed under Chinese administration. In

4807-673: The Chinese Nationalist Party during the Xinhai Revolution was to create unity between the five traditional ethnic groups in China ( Han , Manchus , Mongols , Hui (Muslims), and Tibetans ) in order to stand up to European and Japanese imperialism as one, strong nation. The constitution has articles to protect the equality of different races and the political rights of racial groups in frontier regions. However, since some provinces similar to China proper have been created on Manchuria and Xinjiang . Only

5016-629: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) joined the Kuomintang (KMT) in amending the constitution, the document was considered illegitimate by pro-independence advocates because it was not drafted in Taiwan; moreover, they deemed Taiwan to be sovereign Japanese territory until ceded in the San Francisco Peace Treaty effective 28 April 1952. Pro-independence advocates have argued that the Constitution

5225-807: The Executive Yuan (行政院), the Legislative Yuan (立法院), the Judicial Yuan (司法院), the Examination Yuan (考試院), and the Control Yuan (監察院). The separation of five powers is predicated on revolutionary Sun Yat-sen's political theory. In 1906, Sun Yat-sen proposed the five-power system for China, adding the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan to improve governmental efficiency and preclude corruption. Under this system,

5434-538: The Governor-General of Taiwan , an appointed military leader. The 1920s saw the rise of indigenous political movements as Taiwanese activists sought local autonomy and greater political freedoms. From 1921 to 1934, political activists attempted to petition the Imperial Japanese government to establish Taiwanese parliamentary assembly, which was met with little success. Conversely, the formation of

5643-533: The Humanity Declaration as support for the imposed changes in Japanese government following World War II. For the first time since early childhood, he left the Imperial precincts in Kyoto in mid-May to take command of the forces pursuing the remnants of the bakufu armies. Traveling in slow stages due to through roads being lined with crowds, he took three days to travel from Kyoto to Osaka. There

5852-682: The Kumul Rebellion , the Sino-Tibetan War , and the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang . Large areas of China proper remained under the semi-autonomous rule of local warlords such as Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan , provincial military leaders, or warlord coalitions. Nationalist rule was strongest in the eastern regions around the capital Nanjing. The Central Plains War in 1930, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and

6061-445: The Kuomintang to rule unchallenged in Taiwan until the 1990s. In the 1970s, supplemental elections began to be held for the Legislative Yuan . Although these were for a limited number of seats, they did allow for the transition to a more open political system. In 1991, these members were ordered to resign by a subsequent Judicial Yuan ruling. In the late 1980s, the Constitution faced the growing democratisation on Taiwan combined with

6270-522: The Nanjing decade . Sun Yat-sen envisioned three phases for the KMT rebuilding of China – military rule and violent reunification; political tutelage  [ zh ] ; and finally a constitutional democracy. In 1930, after seizing power and reunifying China by force, the "tutelage" phase started with the promulgation of a provisional constitution. In an attempt to distant themselves from

6479-511: The Republic of China ( 中華民國 ) and Republic of Korea ( 大韓民國 ) are unique in the choice of the term 民國 ('people's country') as an equivalent to "republic" in other languages. The country was in English known at the time as "the Republic of China" or simply "China". In China today, the period from 1912 to 1949 is often called the "Republican Era" ( simplified Chinese : 民国时期 ; traditional Chinese : 民國時期 ), because from

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6688-480: The Russo-Japanese War , and also starred Tatsuya Nakadai (as General Nogi Maresuke ), and Tetsurō Tamba (as General Kodama Gentarō ). Emperor Meiji also appears in the 2003 film The Last Samurai , played by Nakamura Shichinosuke II . In the film, the emperor is portrayed as a weak, inexperienced leader under the firm control of his councilors, who intend to have him sign a treaty that would give

6897-525: The Sakoku Edict of 1635 . In addition to the substantial Chinese trade, only the Dutch continued trade with Japan, maintaining a post on the island of Dejima by Nagasaki . However, by the early 19th century, European and American vessels appeared in the waters around Japan with increasing frequency. Prince Mutsuhito was born on 3 November 1852 in a small house on his maternal grandfather's property at

7106-646: The Soviet Union , Spain , the United Kingdom , the United States , and the Holy See . The Republic of China was able to maintain most of these diplomatic ties, at least initially following the retreat to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek had vowed to quickly return and "liberate" the mainland, an assurance that became a cornerstone of the ROC's post 1949 foreign policy. The ROC did try to participate in

7315-820: The Supreme Court , Control Yuan , and the General Academy. With the promulgation of the Organic Law of the Nationalist Government in October 1928, the government was reorganized into five different branches, or yuan , namely the Executive Yuan , Legislative Yuan , Judicial Yuan , Examination Yuan as well as the Control Yuan. The Chairman of the National Government was to be the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of

7524-1135: The United Nations (including its Security Council seat) where it maintained until 1971, when the PRC took over its membership in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 . It was also a member of the Universal Postal Union and the International Olympic Committee . With a population of 541 million in 1949, it was the world's most populous country . Covering 11.4 million square kilometres (4.4 million square miles) of claimed territory, it de jure consisted of 35 provinces , 1 special administrative region , 2 regions, 12 special municipalities , 14 leagues, and 4 special banners. The Republic of China's first president, Sun Yat-sen , chose Zhōnghuá Mínguó ( 中華民國 ; 'Chinese People's State') as

7733-545: The Wuchang Uprising against the Qing government, on 10 October 1911, which is now celebrated annually as the ROC's national day , also known as " Double Ten Day ". Sun Yat-sen had been actively promoting revolution from his bases in exile. He then returned and on 29 December, Sun Yat-sen was elected president by the Nanjing assembly, which consisted of representatives from seventeen provinces. On 1 January 1912, he

7942-864: The Yalta Conference in February 1945—dismantled and removed more than half the industrial equipment left there by the Japanese. Although the Chinese had not been present at Yalta, they had been consulted and had agreed to have the Soviets enter the war, in the belief that the Soviet Union would deal only with the Kuomintang government. However, the Soviet presence in northeast China enabled the Communists to arm themselves with equipment surrendered by

8151-517: The Zhili and Fengtian cliques , at times used their control of Beijing to assert claims to govern the entire Republic. Meanwhile, the nationalist KMT under Sun's leadership attempted multiple times to establish a rival national government in Guangzhou . Sun was finally able to take Guangzhou with the help of weapons, funding, and advisors from the Soviet Union . As a condition of Soviet support,

8360-506: The daimyōs . In 1869, several of the daimyōs who had supported the revolution gave their land property to the emperor and were reappointed as governors, with considerable salaries. By the following year, all other daimyōs had followed suit. In 1871, as Japan was organized into 72 prefectures the emperor announced that domains were entirely abolished . The daimyōs were compensated with annual salaries equal to ten percent of their former revenues (from which they now did not have to deduct

8569-422: The nengō had often been changed multiple times in an emperor's reign; from now on, it was announced, there would only be one nengō per reign. Soon after his coronation, the emperor journeyed to Tokyo by road , visiting it for the first time. He arrived in late November and began an extended stay by distributing sake among the population. The population of Tokyo was eager for an Imperial visit. Tokyo had been

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8778-570: The presidential system with a parliamentary system . Furthermore, the current Constitution explicitly states before the amendments implemented on Taiwan, "To meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification...", in direct opposition to the pan-green position that Taiwan must remain separated from China. In response, the pan-blue coalition dropped its opposition to non-constitutional referendums and offered to consider through going constitutional reforms. The proposal to implement an entirely new constitution met with strong opposition from

8987-421: The shishi out of Kyoto, and an attempt by them to return in 1864 was driven back. Nevertheless, unrest continued throughout Japan. The prince's awareness of the political turmoil is uncertain. During this time, he studied waka poetry, first with his father, then with the court poets. In 1866, a new shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu , took office as the prince continued his classical education. Tokugawa Yoshinobu

9196-402: The 1990s and early 2000s, the Constitution's origins in mainland China led to supporters of Taiwan independence to push for a new Taiwanese constitution. However, attempts by the Democratic Progressive Party administration to create a new Constitution during the second term of DPP President Chen Shui-bian failed, because the then opposition Kuomintang controlled the Legislative Yuan . It

9405-531: The Article 4 of 1952 Treaty of Taipei nullifies the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the original transfer of sovereignty of Taiwan from China to Japan. Since control of Taiwan occurred in 1945 before the promulgation of the 1947 constitution, the ROC government is of the view that a resolution by the National Assembly was unnecessary. While both symbolic and legal arguments have been used to discredit

9614-420: The CCP established the People's Republic of China . Remnants of the ROC government would hang on in mainland China until late 1951. The KMT dominated ROC politics for 72 years and ruled the island of Taiwan for around 54 years until they lost the presidential election in 2000 to the Taiwanese nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The ROC was a founding member of the League of Nations and later

9823-440: The Chinese Civil War, revolts by the KMT's warlord allies, and steady territorial encroachments by Japan. Although heavily damaged by the purge, the CCP gradually rebuilt its strength by focusing on organizing peasants in the countryside. Warlords who resented Chiang's attempts to take away their autonomy and incorporate their military units into the National Revolutionary Army repeatedly led devastating uprisings, most significantly

10032-497: The Chinese government's perspective the ROC ceased to exist in 1949. In Taiwan, these years are called the "Mainland period" ( 大陸時期 ; 大陆时期 ), since it was when the ROC was based on the mainland. A republic was formally established on 1 January 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution, which itself began with the Wuchang uprising on 10 October 1911, successfully overthrowing the Qing dynasty and ending over two thousand years of imperial rule in China. From its founding until 1949,

10241-405: The Constitution. This Constitution was promulgated on 25 December 1946 and came into effect on 25 December 1947. Under it, the Central Government was divided into the presidency and the five yuans, each responsible for a part of the government. None was responsible to the other except for certain obligations such as the president appointing the head of the Executive Yuan. Ultimately, the president and

10450-472: The Examination Yuan administers the selection of bureaucratic candidates whereas the Control Yuan monitors governmental integrity. Chapters 5-9 of the Constitution stipulates the authorities of the five Yuan. Should constitutional disputes arise between the Yuan, Article 44 authorizes the President to intervene with mediation sessions. This power, however, can be checked by the Yuan, who retain the ability to reject presidential calls for mediation. The ideology of

10659-401: The Executive Yuan to alter such a policy." Then, the Executive Yuan must respond to this resolution and can request alterations to the bill. The Executive Yuan may also request the Legislative Yuan reconsider its resolution after gaining approval from the President of the Republic. If two-thirds of the Legislative Yuan uphold the original resolution after reconsideration, the Premier shall abide

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10868-564: The Fourth Plenary Session of the 2nd Kuomintang National Congress, held in Nanjing, passed the Reorganization of the Nationalist Government Act. This act stipulated that the Nationalist Government was to be directed and regulated under the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, with the Committee of the Nationalist Government being elected by the KMT Central Committee. Under the Nationalist Government were seven ministries—Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Justice, Agriculture and Mines, and Commerce, in addition to institutions such as

11077-404: The Independence of Outer Mongolia , and the second example would be the reclamation of Taiwan . Both would be examples of territory changes". No such formal annexation of Taiwan islands by the ROC National Assembly conforming with the ROC constitution ever occurred since 1946, even though Article 9 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China says, "The modifications of

11286-480: The Japanese in the Second United Front , an event now known as the Xi'an Incident . Chinese resistance stiffened after 7 July 1937, when a clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese troops outside Beijing near the Marco Polo Bridge . This skirmish led to open, although undeclared, warfare between China and Japan. Shanghai fell after a three-month battle during which Japan suffered extensive casualties in both its army and navy. Nanjing fell in December 1937, which

11495-406: The KMT and the CCP jointly held a convention at which both parties presented views. Amidst heated debate, many of the demands from the Communist Party were met, including the popular election of the Legislative Yuan. Together, these drafts are called the Constitutional Draft of the Political Convention ( 政協憲草 ). Professor John Ching Hsiung Wu , Vice-chairman of the Constitution Drafting Commission,

11704-505: The KMT formed the " First United Front " with the Chinese Communist Party. CCP members joined the KMT and the two parties cooperated to build a revolutionary base in Canton. Sun planned to use this base to launch a military campaign northwards and reunify the rest of China. Sun's death in 1925 precipitated a power struggle that eventually resulted in the rise of General Chiang Kai-shek to KMT chairmanship . Thanks to strategic alliances with warlords and help from Soviet military advisors, Chiang

11913-453: The KMT was already fully embroiled in a civil war with the Chinese Communist Party by the time of its promulgation. On 10 January 1947, Governor Chen Yi announced that the new ROC Constitution would not apply to Taiwan after it went into effect in mainland China on 25 December 1947, as Taiwan was still under military occupation and also that Taiwanese were politically naive and were not capable of self-governing. Later that year, Chen Yi

12122-553: The KMT were offered 1,000 pounds . Yuan maintained power locally by sending generals to be provincial governors or by obtaining the allegiance of those already in power. When Yuan died, the parliament of 1913 was reconvened to give legitimacy to a new government. However, the real power passed to military leaders, leading to the warlord period. The impotent government still had its use; when World War I began, several Western powers and Japan wanted China to declare war on Germany, to liquidate German holdings in China. In February 1928,

12331-481: The KMT. These elections, though praised by at least one US observer, were poorly received by the Communist Party, which would soon start an open, armed insurrection. Before the Nationalist government was ousted from the mainland, the Republic of China had diplomatic relations with 59 countries , including Australia, Canada, Cuba , Czechoslovakia , Estonia , France , Germany , Guatemala , Honduras , Italy , Japan , Latvia , Lithuania , Norway , Panama , Siam ,

12540-429: The League of Nations, China wanted to see the unequal treaties revised. The ROC thought that by being in the League they could improve their international standing. Under the Charter of the United Nations , the Republic of China was entitled to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC). Though multiple objections were raised that the seat belonged to the lawful government of China, which had to many become

12749-423: The Legislative Yuan then presides over Yuan sittings, periodic meetings of the Yuan. According to Chapter IV, the Executive Yuan is accountable to the Legislative Yuan. Article 63 empowers the Legislative Yuan to approve statutory or budgetary bills or bills sent by the Executive Yuan. Under Article 57, should the Legislative Yuan not concur with major policies of the Executive Yuan, "it may, by resolution, request

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12958-472: The Legislative Yuan, the National Assembly abolished itself in 2005. The President of the Republic of China ( Chinese : 總統; pinyin : Zǒngtǒng ) is the head of state and the Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces . Until 1996, the President and Vice President were elected by the National Assembly. After several rounds of constitutional revisions in the 1990s , the President became elected through universal free elections in 1996 . Both

13167-403: The Legislative Yuan. The Cabinet conducts decision-making through a single majority vote, which may be vetoed by the Premier. Additionally, the Cabinet presides over "matters that are of common concern to the various Ministries and Commissions." The Legislative Yuan ( Chinese : 立法院; pinyin : Lìfǎyuàn ) is the unicameral legislature of the ROC government and is the "highest legislative organ of

13376-403: The Meiji Constitution. These legal debates culminated in granting Taiwan special legal status—Taiwan nominally became governed by constitutional rule. However, constitutional rights were continuously violated by the Japanese military and state police. Representative institutions were not constitutionally installed. Likewise, Emperor Meiji granted the majority of executive and legislative powers to

13585-411: The Nanjing government nor the earlier Beiyang government succeeded in consolidating governance in rural China. In 1945, at the end of World War II , the Empire of Japan surrendered control of Taiwan and its island groups to the Allies ; and Taiwan was placed under the Republic of China's administrative control. The communist takeover of mainland China in 1949, after the Chinese Civil War, left

13794-400: The National Assembly ratified the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion , which superseded the Constitution by granting the President enhanced administrative and executive capabilities. Under the Temporary Provisions, the President was no longer obligated to gain the Legislative Yuan's approval when declaring martial law as stipulated in Article 39. Additionally, the President and

14003-405: The National Revolutionary Army. Chiang Kai-shek was appointed as the first chairman, a position he would retain until 1931. The Organic Law also stipulated that the Kuomintang, through its National Congress and Central Executive Committee, would exercise sovereign power during the period of "political tutelage", that the KMT's Political Council would guide and superintend the Nationalist Government in

14212-405: The Northern Expedition ruled the country as a one-party state under the Kuomintang, and subsequently received international recognition as the representative legitimate from China. The Nationalist government can also be referred as the Second Republic of China . While there was relative prosperity during the following ten years under Chiang Kai-shek, the ROC continued to be destabilized by

14421-436: The PRC even arguably prior to the official conclusion of the Chinese Civil War, the ROC retained the permanent seat reserved for China on the UNSC until 1971 when it was supplanted by the PRC. The Republic of China retained hereditary nobility like the Han Chinese nobles Duke Yansheng and Celestial Masters and Tusi chiefdoms like the Chiefdom of Mangshi , Chiefdom of Yongning , who continued possessing their titles in

14630-477: The Pacific and a major player in the world within a generation . Yet, Emperor Meiji's role in the Restoration, as well as the amount of personal authority and influence he wielded during his reign, remains debatable. He kept no diary, wrote almost no letters (unlike his father) and left "no more than three or four" photographs. The accounts of people who had met or were close to him usually contain little substantial information or are mutually contradictory. Due to

14839-406: The People ), which is only appropriate for Communist states ; in addition, they argue that a more "efficient" government is needed to cope with changing realities. Some proponents support replacing the five-branch structure outlined by the Three Principles of the People with a three-branch government. Others cite the current deadlock between the executive and legislative branches and support replacing

15048-509: The People's Republic of China and great unease from the United States , both of which feared the proposal to rewrite the constitution to be a veiled effort to achieve Taiwan independence, as it would sever a historic link to mainland China , and to circumvent Chen's original Four Noes and One Without pledge. In December 2003, the United States announced its opposition to any referendum that would tend to move Taiwan toward formal "independence",

15257-549: The Premier or dissolve the Legislative Yuan and initiate a new election for legislators. Given the semi-presidential mode of constitutional governance , the Premier is the head of government while the President of the Republic is the head of state. Although the Premier is held accountable to the Legislative Yuan—a common feature of parliamentary systems—the presidential expansion of power has altered checks and balances between

15466-500: The President and Vice President serve terms of four years and may be re-elected for an additional term. Originally, the ROC constitution drafted the president as a ceremonial figurehead presiding over a parliamentary republic : the President could grant amnesty and pardons (Article 40), confer honors and decorations (Article 42), issue emergency decrees (Article 43), and issue arbitration during disputes between multiple Yuan (Article 44). Other articles enumerated pertinent powers, permitting

15675-488: The President and the Vice President. Along with the Legislative Yuan and Control Yuan, the National Assembly featured parliamentary functions, sparking confusion around which institution served as the nation's parliament. The Legislative Yuan, National Assembly, and Control Yuan were all citizen-elected bodies; similarly, the National Assembly and Control Yuan exercised constitutional powers similar to powers granted to

15884-545: The President in times of imminent attack. In 2003, President Chen Shui-bian proposed holding a referendum in 2006 for implementing an entirely new constitution on 20 May 2008, to coincide with the inauguration of the 12th-term president of the ROC. Proponents of such a move, namely the Pan-Green Coalition , argue that the current Constitution endorses a specific ideology (i.e., the Three Principles of

16093-424: The President to declare war and make peace (Article 38), declare martial law with the approval of the Legislative Yuan (Article 39), and appoint or remove military officials (Article 41). However, a combination of the Chinese civil war and President Chiang Kai-shek's strong authoritarian impulses led to a dramatic expansion of presidential powers, shifting the ROC to a semi-presidential constitutional regime . In 1948,

16302-473: The President upon the recommendation of the Premier. The Cabinet serves as the primary policy-making body of the executive branch, convening over administrative matters in weekly Cabinet meetings. Article 58 authorizes the Cabinet to assess statutory or budgetary bills concerning martial law or amnesty, declaration of war, conclusion of peace or treaties, and other affairs; the Cabinet subsequently submit bills to

16511-561: The Red Army's Long March in 1934 led to more power for the central government, but there continued to be foot-dragging and even outright defiance, as in the Fujian Rebellion of 1933–1934. Reformers and critics pushed for democracy and human rights, but the task seemed difficult if not impossible. The nation was at war and divided between Communists and Nationalists. Corruption and lack of direction hindered reforms. Chiang told

16720-670: The Republic of China from the previous dynasties. Emperor Meiji Mutsuhito (3 November 1852 – 30 July 1912), posthumously honored as Emperor Meiji , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession , reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ended the Tokugawa shogunate and began rapid changes that transformed Japan from an isolationist , feudal state to an industrialized world power . Emperor Meiji

16929-509: The SNTV system grants voters one vote in multi-member districts. Unlike single transferable voting (STV), votes are non-transferable. Thus, surplus votes from one candidate cannot be transferred to other candidates. This electoral system lasted in Japan until 1994, yet persists in a limited form in Taiwan. The Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China was drawn up in March 1912 and formed

17138-527: The Soviets, the Chinese government sought assistance from Germany . According to Lloyd Eastman, Chiang Kai-shek was influenced by European fascist movements, and he launched the Blue shirts and the New Life Movement in imitation of them, in an effort to counter the growth of Mao's communism as well as resist both Western and Japanese imperialism. According to Stanley Payne , however, Chiang's KMT

17347-538: The State Council: "Our organization becomes worse and worse... many staff members just sit at their desks and gaze into space, others read newspapers and still others sleep." Few Chinese had any illusions about Japanese desires on China. Hungry for raw materials and pressed by a growing population, Japan initiated the seizure of Manchuria in September 1931, and established the former emperor Puyi as head of

17556-517: The State." The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 legislators, who are directly elected by voters through a parallel voting system for 4-year terms. Like parliaments in other countries, the Legislative Yuan passes legislation, which is later sent to the President for signing. The Legislative Yuan is led by a President and Vice President , who are elected by all members of the Yuan. The President of

17765-489: The Taiwan Local Autonomy Alliance ( 臺灣地方自治聯盟 ) in 1930 eventually contributed the limited city and township council elections in 1935. Caving to these political movements, the Japanese colonial government established councils to integrate public opinion with the state. Half of the council members were to be directly elected by voters while the remaining half of council members were to be appointed by

17974-406: The Taiwan area and instead used the geographically neutral term " Free Area of the Republic of China " to refer to all areas under ROC control. All post-1991 amendments have been maintained as a separate part of the Constitution, consolidated into a single text of twelve articles. A number of criticisms have been leveled at the constitution by supporters of Taiwan independence . Until the 1990s when

18183-637: The Taiwanese Prefecture would facilitate the island's introduction to constitutional regimes: Japan had promulgated the Meiji Constitution six years prior. Thereafter, Japanese colonization stoked fierce debates surrounding the applicability of the Meiji Constitution towards colonial governments. Although the Meiji oligarchy declared that their constitution would not be applied to colonial possessions, Taiwanese people asserted that their naturalization as Japanese citizens guaranteed rights enumerated in

18392-608: The United States special trading rights that would enrich them, but also cement foreign domination of Japan. The emperor's determination is only shown at the end of the movie, when he is inspired by a visit from Capt. Nathan Algren (played by Tom Cruise ), who fought alongside the rebel samurai, to reject the treaty and dismiss his advisors, declaring that Japan will modernize, but not at the cost of its traditions and history. Unless otherwise noted (as BC), years are in CE  / AD   Imperial Consort and Regent Empress Jingū

18601-470: The Vice President could disregard the two-term limit for re-election as described in Article 47. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek served five six-year terms (twenty-seven years) as president before his death in 1975. The Temporary Provisions would persist in Taiwan for forty-three years until it was repealed in 1991. Nonetheless, the role of the President remains constitutionally ambiguous even today. The Executive Yuan ( Chinese : 行政院; pinyin : Xíngzhèngyuàn )

18810-588: The West. In 1919, a student protest against the government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles , considered unfair by Chinese intellectuals, led to the May Fourth movement , whose demonstrations were against the danger of spreading Western influence replacing Chinese culture. It was in this intellectual climate that Marxist thought began to spread. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in 1921. After Sun's death in March 1925, Chiang Kai-shek became

19019-405: The administration of Taiwan and Penghu Islands were handed over from Japan to China. After the end of the war, United States Marines were used to hold Beijing and Tianjin against a possible Soviet incursion, and logistic support was given to Kuomintang forces in north and northeast China. To further this end, on 30 September 1945 the 1st Marine Division , charged with maintaining security in

19228-660: The administration, which consequently became known as the " Beiyang government " (or the First Republic of China ). Yuan even attempted to replace the Republic with his own imperial dynasty until popular unrest forced him to back down. When Yuan died in 1916, the country fragmented between the various local commanders of the Beiyang Army. This began the Warlord Era defined by decentralized conflicts between rival cliques. The most powerful of these cliques, notably

19437-562: The aftermath of World War II, civil war resumed between the areas liberated by the KMT and those liberated by the CCP. The CCP's People's Liberation Army began to gain upper hand in 1948 over a larger and better-armed Republic of China Armed Forces due to better military tactics and internal corruption of the ROC leadership. In 1949, the ROC repeatedly moved its capital to avoid the Communist advance—first to Guangzhou, followed by Chongqing , Chengdu , and lastly to Taipei . In October 1949,

19646-416: The age of 40. The Imperial Family suffered very high rates of infant mortality; all five of the emperor's brothers and sisters died as infants, and only five of his own 15 children reached adulthood. Soon after taking control in the early seventeenth century, shogunate officials (known generically as bakufu ) ended almost all Western trade with Japan, and barred Christian missionaries from the islands under

19855-492: The age of seven. He proved an indifferent student, and later in life wrote poems regretting that he had not applied himself more in writing practice. By the early 1860s, the shogunate was under several threats. Representatives of foreign powers sought to increase their influence in Japan. Many daimyōs were increasingly dissatisfied with bakufu handling foreign affairs. Large numbers of young samurai , known as shishi or "men of high purpose", began to meet and speak against

20064-478: The allegiance of sections of the population. The United States aided the Nationalists with massive economic loans and weapons but no combat support. Belatedly, the Republic of China government sought to enlist popular support through internal reforms. However, the effort was in vain, because of rampant government corruption and the accompanying political and economic chaos. By late 1948 the Kuomintang position

20273-408: The application of the Constitution in Taiwan, the document gained more legitimacy among independence supporters throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s due to democratization and it is now accepted as the basic law of the ROC by all major parties, and considered the Constitution representing the sovereignty of Taiwan. However, there are proposals, particularly by supporters of Taiwan independence and

20482-527: The areas of the Shandong Peninsula and the eastern Hebei , arrived in China. In January 1946, through the mediation of the United States, a military truce between the Kuomintang and the Communists was arranged, but battles soon resumed. Public opinion of the administrative incompetence of the Nationalist government was incited by the Communists during the nationwide student protest against

20691-406: The basic government document of the Republic of China until 1928. It provided a Western-style parliamentary system headed by a weak president. However, the system was quickly usurped when Song Jiaoren was assassinated by the orders of President Yuan Shikai . Song was the leader of the KMT who was to become prime minister following the party's victory in the 1912 elections . Yuan regularly flouted

20900-407: The branches of government; functionally, the Premier has become subordinate to the President. The Executive Yuan Council , referred to as "The Cabinet" ( Chinese : 內閣; pinyin : Nèigé), is composed of a Premier, a Vice Premier, a certain number of Ministers and Chairmen of Commissions, and a certain number of Ministers without Portfolio (MWPs). Under Article 56, these cabinet members are appointed by

21109-557: The complicated nation-building process in China during his time, especially given the wide range of both domestic and foreign challenges it faced on many different concurrent fronts. Several major government institutions were founded during this period, including the Academia Sinica and the Central Bank of China . In 1932, China sent its first team to the Olympic Games . Campaigns were mounted and laws passed to promote

21318-541: The constitution provided for regular democratic elections, these were not held in Taiwan until the 1990s. In 1954, the Judicial Yuan ruled that the delegates elected to the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan in 1947 would remain in office until new elections could be held in Mainland China which had come under the control of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949. This judicial ruling allowed

21527-600: The convention, and participated in drafting the constitution, boycotted the National Assembly and declared after the ratification that not only would they not recognize the ROC constitution, but all bills passed by the Nationalist administration would be disregarded as well. However, due to their showing in the election (approx. 800 out of 3045 seats,) their boycott did not prevent the Assembly from reaching quorum and thus electing Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren as president and vice president respectively. Zhou Enlai challenged

21736-416: The cost of governing), but were required to move to the new capital, Tokyo. Most daimyōs retired from politics. The new administration gradually abolished most privileges of the samurai, including their right to a stipend from the government. However, unlike the daimyōs , many samurai suffered financially from this change. Most other class-based distinctions were abolished. Legalized discrimination against

21945-478: The counties and provincial cities governed directly under the Executive Yuan and the Tsai Ing-wen administration de facto suspended all provincial governments by 2018. Implementation of this constitution made China, then with a population of 450 million, the most populous "paper democracy ". Though the Constitution was intended for the whole China , it was neither extensively nor effectively implemented as

22154-528: The country's entering into the state of emergency and granted the Kuomintang -led government of the Republic of China extra-constitutional powers. Following the ROC government's retreat to Taiwan on 7 December 1949, the Temporary Provisions together with martial law made the country an authoritarian one-party state despite the constitution. Democratization began in the 1980s. Martial law

22363-532: The country's foreign relations were among the most stable of those working in the government in terms of composition. The ROC was a non-permanent member of the League Council for the League of Nations being a non-permanent member of the League Council from: 1921–1923, 1926–1928, 1931–1932, 1934, and 1936. Although the ROC lobbied to be a permanent member of the League Council it never became one. At

22572-663: The country's official Chinese name. The name was derived from the language of the Tongmenghui 's 1905 party manifesto, which proclaimed that the four goals of the Chinese revolution were "to expel the Manchu rulers, revive China ( Zhōnghuá ), establish a people's state ( mínguó ), and distribute land equally among the people." On 15 July 1916, in his welcoming speech to the Cantonese delegates in Shanghai, Sun explained why

22781-425: The deal. On 12 February 1912, regent Empress Dowager Longyu signed the abdication decree on behalf of Puyi, ending several millennia of monarchical rule. In 1913, elections were held for provincial assemblies, which would then chose delegates for a new National Assembly. The Kuomintang emerged as the formal political party that replaced the revolutionary organization Tongmenghui , and at the 1913 elections, it won

22990-578: The death of his father Emperor Kōmei in 1867, it triggered the Boshin War , in which samurai (mostly from the Chōshū and Satsuma Domains ) defeated the shogunate and restored power in his name. Documents issued during his reign include the Charter Oath of 1868, Meiji Constitution of 1889, Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors of 1882, and Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890, in which he

23199-626: The direct election of the President of the Republic of China , Governor of Taiwan Province , and municipal mayors. Ten new amendments to replace the eighteen amendments of the First and Second Revisions were passed on 28 July 1994. The amendments that passed in July 1997 streamlined the Taiwan Provincial Government and granted the Legislative Yuan powers of impeachment. The constitution was subsequently revised in 1999 and 2000, with

23408-490: The early 17th century. Under its rule, the shōgun governed Japan. About 180 lords, known as daimyōs , ruled autonomous realms under the shōgun , and occasionally the shōgun called upon the daimyōs for gifts but did not tax them. The shōgun controlled the daimyōs in other ways too; only the shōgun could approve daimyōs marriages, and the shōgun could divest a daimyō of his lands. Tokugawa Ieyasu , who had officially retired from his position by 1605,

23617-418: The eldest daughter of Count Sono Motosachi, lived to adulthood. Although Meiji was the last emperor to have concubines , this function was not officially abolished until 1924. Emperor Meiji had fifteen children (five of them were sons and ten were daughters), five of them (a son and four daughters) reached adulthood. He had eighteen grandchildren (eleven grandsons and seven granddaughters). He received

23826-678: The elected assembly and assumed dictatorial powers. Upon his death in 1916, China disintegrated into warlordism and the Beiyang Government operating under the Constitution remained in the hands of various military leaders. The Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek established control over much of China by 1928. The Nationalist Government promulgated the Provisional Constitution of the Political Tutelage Period on 5 May 1931. Under this document,

24035-464: The emperor ceremoniously read out a document before the court proclaiming the "restoration" of Imperial rule, and the following month, documents were sent to foreign powers: The Emperor of Japan announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries and to their subjects that permission has been granted to the shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return the governing power in accordance with his own request. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all

24244-432: The emperor's confirmation of his actions, which he eventually received, but there is no indication that the young emperor was himself involved in the decisions. The shishi and other rebels continued to shape their vision of the new Japan, and although they revered the emperor, they had no thought of having him play an active part in the political process. The political struggle reached its climax in late 1867. An agreement

24453-599: The emperor's death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration . An iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and the Empress had been known to visit was chosen as the building's location for the Shinto shrine Meiji Jingū . The shrine does not contain the emperor's grave, which is at Fushimi-Momoyama Castle south of Kyoto . Soon after Meiji's ascension,

24662-423: The emperor's officials presented Ichijō Haruko to him as a possible bride. The future Empress was the daughter of an Imperial official, and was three years older than the groom, who would have to wait to wed until after his genpuku (manhood ceremony). The two married on 11 January 1869. Known posthumously as Empress Dowager Shōken , she was the first Imperial Consort to receive the title of kōgō (literally,

24871-461: The emperor's studies include materials on contemporary affairs. On 19 September 1868, the emperor announced the name of the city of Edo was to be changed to Tokyo, meaning "eastern capital". He was formally crowned in Kyoto on 15 October (a ceremony which had been postponed from the previous year due to the civil unrest). Shortly before the coronation, he announced that the new era, or nengō , would be called Meiji or "enlightened rule". Heretofore

25080-488: The emperor's wife, translated as Empress Consort ), in several hundred years. Although she was the first Japanese Empress Consort to play a public role, she bore no children. However, the Meiji Emperor had fifteen children by five official ladies-in-waiting. Only five of his children, a prince born to Lady Naruko (1855–1943), the daughter of Yanagiwara Mitsunaru, and four princesses born to Lady Sachiko (1867–1947),

25289-498: The end of his life several leftists, including Shūsui Kōtoku , were executed (1911) on charges of having conspired to murder the sovereign. This conspiracy was known as the High Treason Incident (1910). Emperor Meiji, suffering from diabetes , nephritis , and gastroenteritis , died of uremia . Although the official announcement said he died at 00:42 on 30 July 1912, the actual death was at 22:40 on 29 July. He

25498-480: The end of the Second Sino-Japanese War . The impending outbreak of the Chinese Civil War pressured Chiang Kai-shek into enacting a democratic Constitution that would end KMT one-party rule. The Communists sought a coalition of one-third Nationalists, one-third Communists, and one-third other parties, to form a government that would draft the new Constitution. However, while rejecting this idea,

25707-674: The execution of important national affairs, and that the Political Council has the power to interpret or amend the Organic Law. Shortly after the Second Sino-Japanese War, a long-delayed constitutional convention was summoned to meet in Nanjing in May 1946. Amidst heated debate, this convention adopted many constitutional amendments demanded by several parties, including the KMT and the Communist Party, into

25916-460: The following orders and decorations: The Meiji era ushered in many far-reaching changes to the ancient feudal society of Japan. A timeline of major events might include: Emperor Meiji is portrayed by Toshirō Mifune in the 1980 Japanese war drama film The Battle of Port Arthur (sometimes referred as 203 Kochi ). Directed by Toshio Masuda , the film depicted the Siege of Port Arthur during

26125-508: The following poem in waka form: This poem was later recited by his grandson, Emperor Shōwa in an Imperial Conference in September 1941 before the attack on Pearl Harbor to tell that he wanted to avoid the war. The Illustrated London News published an article with a cover illustration of Emperor Meiji in the New-York Tribune on 19 March 1905. The description text said: The victorious Emperor of Japan - beloved ruler of

26334-578: The form of a parallelism : an emperor's country is ruled by only one emperor ( 帝國是以皇帝一人為主 ), a people's country is ruled by all four hundred million people ( 民國是以 四萬萬 人為主 ). Both the " Beiyang government " (from 1912 to 1928), and the " Nationalist government " (from 1928 to 1949) used the name "Republic of China" as their official name. In Chinese, the official name was often shortened to Zhōngguó ( 中國 ; 'Middle Country'), Mínguó ( 民國 ; 'People's Country'), or Zhōnghuá ( 中華 ; 'Middle Huaxia '). The choice of

26543-491: The former revision being declared void the same year by the Council of Grand Justices . A further revision of the constitution happened in 2005 which disbanded the National Assembly, reformed the Legislative Yuan, and provided for future constitutional change to be ratified by referendum. Passing an amendment to the ROC constitution now requires an unusually broad political consensus, which includes approval from three-fourths of

26752-606: The functions, operations, and organization of the Taiwan Provincial Government may be specified by law." The Republic of China argues that sovereignty of the Republic of China over Taiwan was established by the Instrument of Surrender of Japan which implemented the Potsdam Declaration and the Cairo Declaration . The Allies have not agreed or disagreed to this rationale. In addition, the ROC argues that

26961-552: The government operated under a one-party system with supreme power held by the National Congress of the Kuomintang and effective power held by the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang . In Leninist fashion, it permitted a system of dual party-state committees to form the basis of government. The KMT intended this Constitution to remain in effect until the country had been pacified and

27170-485: The government. November 22, 1935, marked the landmark day where Taiwan's autonomous regional bodies held elections. Only adult males of higher socio-economic status were eligible to participate. The Meiji Constitution would not be Taiwan's last constitutional imposition: Taiwan would face another constitutional crisis when China's KMT government fled to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War . According to Taiwanese legal scholar Yeh Jiunn-rong , these constitutions would impart

27379-479: The government. This structure would last until the establishment of a prime minister, who would lead a cabinet in a western fashion, in 1885. Initially, not even the retention of the emperor was certain; revolutionary leader Gotō Shōjirō later stated that some officials "were afraid the extremists might go further and abolish the Mikado". Japan's new leaders sought to reform the patchwork system of domains governed by

27588-416: The internal and external affairs of the country. Consequently, the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Tycoon , in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs. It is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement. On 23 October 1868 the era was changed from Keiō to Meiji ('enlightened rule'), which

27797-566: The lack of reliable sources of the period, mysteries surrounding Emperor Meiji's personality and role in the Restoration remain a matter of historical dispute. James C. Baxter argues that the emperor was a figurehead without real power who rarely interfered with what had been agreed upon in advance by the Meiji oligarchy . Conversely, Herbert Bix describes Meiji as a powerful autocrat whom the Genrō struggled to restrain while accommodating his anti-democratic inclinations. R.Starr characterizes Meiji as

28006-697: The land- and tax-reform measures favoring the peasants and, the spread of their organizational network, while the Kuomintang attempted to neutralize the spread of Communist influence. Meanwhile, northern China was infiltrated politically by Japanese politicians in Manchukuo using facilities such as the Manchukuo Imperial Palace . After its entry into the Pacific War during World War II, the United States became increasingly involved in Chinese affairs. As an ally, it embarked in late 1941 on

28215-479: The largest share of seats in both houses of the National Assembly and in some provincial assemblies. Song Jiaoren led the Kuomintang Party to electoral victories by fashioning his party's program to appeal to the gentry, landowners, and merchants. Song was assassinated on 20 March 1913, at the behest of Yuan Shikai. Yuan was elected president of the ROC in 1913. He ruled by military power and ignored

28424-542: The leader of the Kuomintang . In 1926, Chiang led the Northern Expedition with the intention of defeating the Beiyang warlords and unifying the country. Chiang received the help of the Soviet Union and the CCP. However, he soon dismissed his Soviet advisers, being convinced that they wanted to get rid of the KMT and take control. Chiang decided to purge the Communists, massacring thousands in Shanghai . At

28633-509: The legislative branch of Western constitutional governments. In 1957, the Constitutional Court ruled that the National Assembly, Legislative Yuan, and Control Yuan were all "equivalent to the parliaments of democratic nations", creating a tripartite parliamentary system. Constitutional reforms of the 1990s later sought to condense the powers and functions of the three parliaments into one body. After gradually transferring powers to

28842-428: The legitimacy of the National Assembly in 1947 by asserting that the KMT hand-picked its members 10 years earlier, and thus the Assembly could not be the legal representatives of the Chinese people. In Article 1, the Republic of China is founded upon the Three Principles of the People ( Chinese : 三民主義; pinyin : Sān Mín Zhǔyì ), Minzu (民族), Minquan (民權), and Minsheng (民生), roughly defined as nationalism, democracy, and

29051-403: The livelihood of the people. It establishes China as a "democratic republic of the People, by the people, and for the people." Article 2 affirms that national sovereignty is derived from the citizenry. According to Article 3, people of ROC nationality are citizens of the Republic of China. Finally, Article 5 guarantees equality among the nations ethnic groups. The basic civil rights and duties of

29260-467: The long war with Japan and in-fighting among various generals. They were also losing the propaganda war to the Communists, with a population weary of Kuomintang corruption and yearning for peace. In January 1949, Beiping was taken by the Communists without a fight, and its name changed back to Beijing. Following the capture of Nanjing on 23 April, major cities passed from Kuomintang to Communist control with minimal resistance, through November. In most cases

29469-415: The mainland to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP established the People's Republic of China (PRC) while the ROC was forced to retreat to Taiwan and retains control over the " Taiwan Area "; the political status of Taiwan remains in dispute to this day. The Republic of China was officially proclaimed on 1 January 1912 by the revolutionaries and Sun Yat-sen , the first provisional president of

29678-453: The major European powers. On 7 April 1868, the emperor was presented with the Charter Oath , a five-point statement of the nature of the new government. The statement was designed to win over those who had not yet committed themselves to the new regime. This document, which the emperor then formally promoted, abolished feudalism and proclaimed a modern democratic government for Japan. The Charter Oath would later be cited by Emperor Shōwa in

29887-479: The military, political and economic spheres. The emperor showed greater political longevity than his recent predecessors, as he was the first Japanese monarch to remain on the throne past the age of 50 since Emperor Ōgimachi 's abdication from the throne in 1586. The Japanese take pride in the Meiji Restoration, as it and the accompanying industrialization allowed Japan to become the preeminent power in

30096-544: The mishandling of the Shen Chong rape case in early 1947 and during another national protest against monetary reforms later that year. The United States—realizing that no American efforts short of large-scale armed intervention could stop the coming war—withdrew Gen. George Marshall's American mission . Thereafter, the Chinese Civil War became more widespread; battles raged not only for territories but also for

30305-585: The modern cannons that his naval fleet equipped. For the first time in at least 250 years, the shogunate took the highly unusual step of consulting with the Imperial Court because of the crisis brought on by Perry's arrival. Emperor Kōmei's officials advised that they felt they should agree to trade with the Americans and asked that they be informed in advance of any steps to be taken upon Perry's return. The Japanese government decided that their military

30514-414: The mortality of the delegates that were elected in 1947. Faced with these pressures, on 22 April 1991, the first National Assembly voted itself out of office, abolished the Temporary Provisions passed in 1948, and adopted major amendments (known as the "First Revision") permitting free elections. On 27 May 1992, several other amendments were passed (known as the "Second Revision"), most notably that allowing

30723-585: The new republic, following the success of the Xinhai revolution. 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

30932-633: The north end of the Gosho . At the time, birth was culturally believed to be a source of pollution, so the imperial prince was not born in the Palace. Instead, it was common for members of the Imperial Family to be born in a structure, often temporary, near the pregnant woman's father's house. The Prince Mutsuhito's mother, Nakayama Yoshiko , was a concubine ( Japanese : 権の典侍 , romanized :  gon no tenji ) to his father Emperor Kōmei , and she

31141-548: The people (Article 25). Thus, the National Assembly served to check national institutions with governing powers: the Presidency and the Five Yuan. Members of the National Assembly were directly elected by the people for six-year terms in open elections (Article 28). Under Article 27, the National Assembly had the right to amend the Constitution, exercise initiatives and referendums on the behalf of citizens, and elect or recall

31350-481: The people are specified in Chapter 2 of the Constitution. Chapter 12 specifies four political rights of the people: election of public officials, recall of public officials, legislative initiative, and referendum. Unlike the typical division of governmental branches, the ROC constitution establishes a five-power, semi-parliamentary mode of constitutional governance. The five branches of government or Yuan (院) include:

31559-426: The people sufficiently "educated" to participate in democratic government. Nationalism (Mínzú) Democracy (Mínquán) Socialism (Mínshēng) The constitution was first drafted by the Kuomintang (KMT) as part of its third stage of national development (i.e., representative democracy ), it established a centralized republic with five branches of government (五權分立). The constitution traces its origins to

31768-462: The people. Later on 20 October 1923, at a national conference for youths in Guangzhou, to explain the core idea behind mínguó ( 民國 ; 'people's country'), he pithily compared the phrase "Empire of China" ( 中華帝國 ; Zhōnghuá Dìguó ; 'Chinese Emperor's Country') to "Republic of China" ( 中華民國 ; Zhōnghuá Mínguó ; 'Chinese People's Country') in

31977-437: The practices had been blocked by the pan-blue coalition largely out of suspicions that proponents of a referendum law would be used to overturn the ROC Constitution and provide a means to declare Taiwan independence . A referendum law was passed on 27 November 2003 and signed by President Chen Shui-bian on 31 December 2003, but the law sets high standards for referendums such as the requirement that they can only be called by

32186-421: The prince was delicate and often ill. Some biographers state that he fainted when he first heard gunfire, while others deny this account. On 16 August 1860, Sachinomiya was proclaimed prince of the blood and heir to the throne and was formally adopted by his father's consort . Later that year on 11 November, he was proclaimed as the crown prince and given an adult name, Mutsuhito. The prince began his education at

32395-529: The protection of local autonomy in Inner Mongolian Area , and Tibet Area were regulated explicitly. Based on Sun Yat-sen's political theory, the ROC Constitution distinguishes political powers from governing powers, creating another dimension for checks and balances. The Constitution introduced a powerful authoritative legislative body— the National Assembly ( Chinese : 國民大會; pinyin : Guómín Dàhuì ), which exercised political powers derived from

32604-476: The provincial system; however, this move angered the gentry along with the provincial governors, who were usually military men. Yuan's changes to government caused many provinces to declare independence and become warlord states. Increasingly unpopular and deserted by his supporters, Yuan abdicated in 1916 and died of natural causes shortly thereafter. China then declined into a period of warlordism. Sun, having been forced into exile, returned to Guangdong in

32813-470: The puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. The loss of Manchuria, and its potential for industrial development and war industries, was a blow to the Kuomintang economy. The League of Nations , established at the end of World War I, was unable to act in the face of Japanese defiance. The Japanese began to push south of the Great Wall into northern China and the coastal provinces. Chinese fury against Japan

33022-481: The quorum of members of the Legislative Yuan. This quorum requires at least three-fourths of all members of the Legislature. After passing the Legislature, the amendments need ratification by at least fifty percent of all eligible voters of the ROC irrespective of voter turnout. Because the ROC constitution is, at least nominally, the constitution of all China , the amendments avoided any specific reference to

33231-439: The rebels. On March 23 the Dutch Minister-Resident Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek and the French Minister-Resident Léon Roches were the first European envoys ever to receive a personal audience with the new Emperor Meiji in Edo (Tokyo). This audience laid the foundation for (modern) Dutch diplomacy in Japan. Subsequently, De Graeff van Polsbroek assisted the emperor and the government in their negotiations with representatives of

33440-417: The republic was based on mainland China. Central authority waxed and waned in response to warlordism (1915–1928), a Japanese invasion (1937–1945), and a full-scale civil war (1927–1949), with central authority strongest during the Nanjing Decade (1927–1937), when most of China came under the control of the authoritarian, one-party military dictatorship of the nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT). Neither

33649-428: The republican institutions established by his predecessor, threatening to execute Senate members who disagreed with his decisions. He soon dissolved the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party, banned "secret organizations" (which implicitly included the KMT), and ignored the provisional constitution. Ultimately, Yuan declared himself Emperor of China in 1915. The new ruler of China tried to increase centralization by abolishing

33858-479: The resolution or resign from office. In Chapter XI of the Constitution, the country consists of two types of levels of local government: Provinces (first level, Section I) and Counties (second-level, Section II). A province is the first-level divisions of the country. It consists of 35 provinces, 1 special administrative region, 2 regions, 18 special municipalities, 14 leagues, and 4 special banners. According to Article 113, each provincial-level governments shall have

34067-412: The rights of women. In the 1931 Civil Code, women were given equal inheritance rights, banned forced marriage and gave women the right to control their own money and initiate divorce. No nationally unified women's movement could organize until China was unified under the Kuomintang Government in Nanjing in 1928; women's suffrage was finally included in the new Constitution of 1936, although the constitution

34276-419: The rival Kuomintang and Communists, to make for a more effective anti-Japanese war effort. In December 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Acts of the 1880s, and subsequent laws, enacted by the United States Congress to restrict Chinese immigration into the United States were repealed. The wartime policy of the United States was meant to help China become a strong ally and a stabilizing force in postwar East Asia. During

34485-453: The rudiments of Japanese and Chinese history and geography. The shōgun did not seek the consent or advice of the emperor for his actions. Emperors almost never left their palace compound, or Gosho in Kyoto , except after an emperor retired or to take shelter in a temple if the palace caught on fire. Few emperors lived long enough to retire; of the Meiji emperor's five predecessors, only his grandfather and great-grandfather lived beyond

34694-405: The ruling Kuomintang with control over only Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands . With the loss of the mainland, the ROC government retreated to Taiwan and the KMT declared Taipei the provisional capital . Meanwhile, the CCP took over all of mainland China and founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing. In 1912, after over two thousand years of dynastic rule,

34903-448: The ruling party and the opposition parties, as well as legal experts, academic scholars and representatives from all fields and spanning all social classes" to decide on the proper reforms. He promised that the new Constitution would not change the issue of sovereignty and territory. This proposal went nowhere due to lack of cooperation from the opposition Pan-Blue. The Kuomintang government in power from 2008 to 2016 halted efforts to write

35112-401: The same time, other violent conflicts were taking place in China: in the South, where the CCP had superior numbers, Nationalist supporters were being massacred. Chiang Kai-shek pushed the CCP into the interior and established a government, with Nanjing as its capital, in 1927. By 1928, Chiang's army overthrew the Beiyang government and unified the entire nation, at least nominally, beginning

35321-400: The shogunate. The shishi revered Emperor Kōmei and favoured direct violent action to cure societal ills. While they initially desired the death or expulsion of all foreigners, the shishi would later begin to advocate the modernisation of the country. The bakufu enacted several measures to appease the various groups in an effort to drive a wedge between the shishi and daimyōs . Kyoto

35530-449: The site of the shōgun ' s court and the city's population feared that with the abolition of the shogunate, the city might fall into decline. It would not be until 1889 that a final decision was made to move the capital to Tokyo. While in Tokyo, the emperor boarded a Japanese naval vessel for the first time, and the following day gave instructions for studies to see how Japan's navy could be strengthened. Soon after his return to Kyoto,

35739-484: The south in 1917 and 1922, with the help of warlords, and set up successive rival governments to the Beiyang government in Beijing, having re-established the KMT in October 1919. Sun's dream was to unify China by launching an expedition against the north. However, he lacked the military support and funding to turn it into a reality. Meanwhile, the Beiyang government struggled to hold onto power, and an open and wide-ranging debate evolved regarding how China should confront

35948-418: The supporters of Taiwan localization movement , to replace the current Constitution with a document drafted by the Taiwanese constituencies in Taiwan. One recent controversy involving the constitution is the right to referendum which is mentioned in the Constitution. The constitution states that "The exercise of the rights of initiative and referendum shall be prescribed by law", but legislation prescribing

36157-537: The surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Communist influence long before the cities. Finally, on 1 October 1949, Communists led by Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China . Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law in May 1949, whilst a few hundred thousand Nationalist troops and two million refugees, predominantly from the government and business community, fled from mainland China to Taiwan. There remained in China itself only isolated pockets of resistance. On 7 December 1949, Chiang proclaimed Taipei

36366-470: The temporary capital of the Republic of China. During the Chinese Civil War both the Nationalists and Communists carried out mass atrocities, with millions of non-combatants killed by both sides. Benjamin Valentino has estimated atrocities in the civil war resulted in the death of between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people between 1927 and 1949, including deaths from forced conscription and massacres. The first Republic of China national government

36575-467: The term mínguó ( 民國 ; 'people's country') was chosen over the Japanese-derived gònghéguó ( 共和國 ). He associated the label gònghé ( 共和 ) with the limiting and authoritarianism-prone Euro-American models of representative republicanism. What he strived for was a more grass-roots model, which he termed zhíjiē mínquán ( 直接民權 ; ' direct people's rights '), and which he thought would allow more checks and balances by

36784-472: The term mínguó ( 民國 ; 'people's country'; "republic") in 1912, as well as its similar semantic formation to dìguó ( 帝國 ; 'emperor's country'; "empire"), may have influenced the choice of the Korean term minguk ( 민국/民國 ) by the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (founded in 1919 within the Republic of China), which replaced Daehan Jeguk ( 대한제국/大韓帝國 ) with Daehan Minguk ( 대한민국/大韓民國 ). Today,

36993-408: The two term limit for the president and the vice president. Since December 7, 1949, the ROC only controls the " free area of the Republic of China ", which is essentially Taiwan , Penghu , Kinmen , Matsu , Pratas and Taiping Island , the only territories not lost to the Chinese Communists in the Chinese Civil War . From March 1947 until 1987, Taiwan was in a state of martial law . Although

37202-435: The war, China was one of the Big Four Allies, and later one of the Four Policemen , which was a precursor to China having a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council . In August 1945, with American help, Nationalist troops moved to take the Japanese surrender in North China. The Soviet Union—encouraged to invade Manchuria to hasten the end of the war and allowed a Soviet sphere of influence there as agreed to at

37411-399: The withdrawing Japanese army. In 1945, after the end of the war, the Nationalist Government moved back to Nanjing. The Republic of China emerged from the war nominally a great military power but actually a nation economically prostrate and on the verge of all-out civil war. The problems of rehabilitating the formerly Japanese-occupied areas and of reconstructing the nation from the ravages of

37620-403: The world, but it is not clear that the group possessed the full qualities of an intrinsic fascist movement....The Blue Shirts probably had some affinity with and for fascism, a common feature of nationalisms in crisis during the 1930s, but it is doubtful that they represented any clear-cut Asian variant of fascism." Still other historians have noted that Chiang and the KMT's exact ideology itself

37829-405: The yuans reported to the National Assembly, which represented the will of the citizens. Under the new constitution the first elections for the National Assembly occurred in January 1948, and the assembly was summoned to meet in March 1948. It elected the president of the republic on 21 March 1948, formally bringing an end to the KMT party rule started in 1928, although the president was a member of

38038-468: Was "normally classified as a multi-class populist or 'nation-building' party but not a fitting candidate for fascism (except by old-line Communists)." He also stated that, "Lloyd Eastman has called the Blue Shirts, whose members admired European fascism and were influenced by it, a Chinese fascist organization. This is probably an exaggeration. The Blue Shirts certainly exhibited some of the characteristics of fascism, as did many nationalist organizations around

38247-456: Was a major centre for the shishi and the shishi had influence over the Emperor Kōmei. In 1863, the shishi persuaded him to issue an " Order to expel barbarians ". The Order placed the shogunate in a difficult position since they had no intention of enforcing the order because they did not have the power to carry it out. Several attacks were made on foreigners or their ships, and foreign forces retaliated. Bakufu forces were able to drive most of

38456-430: Was a reformer who desired to transform Japan into a Western-style state. Yoshinobu was the final shōgun and met with resistance from among the bakufu , even as unrest and military actions continued. In mid-1866, a bakufu army set forth to punish rebels in southern Japan. The army was defeated. Emperor Kōmei fell seriously ill at the age of 36 and died on 30 January 1867. British diplomat Sir Ernest Satow wrote, "it

38665-417: Was able to lead a successful " Northern Expedition " from 1926 to 1928. By 1927, Chiang felt secure enough to end the alliance with the Soviet Union and purged the Communists from the KMT. In 1928, the last major independent warlord pledged allegiance to the KMT's Nationalist government in Nanjing. China was then nominally reunified in 1928 by the Nanking -based government led by Chiang Kai-shek, who after

38874-491: Was advised by a group of oligarchs known as the genrō . Other major events include the establishment of the Cabinet in 1885, Privy Council in 1888, Imperial Diet in 1890, and military victories over China in the First Sino-Japanese War and over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War . Taiwan and Korea were annexed in 1895 and 1910, respectively. Emperor Meiji died in 1912, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Yoshihito . The Tokugawa shogunate had established itself in

39083-452: Was bleak. The demoralized and undisciplined National Revolutionary Army proved to be no match for the Communists' motivated and disciplined People's Liberation Army . The Communists were well established in the north and northeast. Although the Kuomintang had an advantage in numbers of men and weapons, controlled a much larger territory and population than their adversaries, and enjoyed considerable international support, they were exhausted by

39292-415: Was dismissed and the Taiwan Provincial Government was established. On 18 April 1948, the National Assembly added to the Constitution the " Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion ". The Temporary Provisions came into force on 10 May 1948, ten days before the inauguration of the first President of the Republic of China . These articles greatly enhanced the power of the president and abolished

39501-418: Was established on 1 January 1912, in Nanjing, with a constitution stating Three Principles of the People , which state that "[the ROC] shall be a democratic republic of the people, to be governed by the people and for the people." Sun Yat-sen was the provisional president. Delegates from the provinces sent to confirm the government's authority formed the first parliament in 1913. The power of this government

39710-470: Was followed by mass murders and rapes known as the Nanjing Massacre . The national capital was briefly at Wuhan , then removed in an epic retreat to Chongqing, the seat of government until 1945. In 1940, the Japanese set up the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime , with its capital in Nanjing, which proclaimed itself the legitimate "Republic of China" in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek's government, although its claims were significantly hampered due to its being

39919-399: Was later used for the emperor's posthumous name. This marked the beginning of the custom of posthumously naming the emperor after the era during which he ruled. In a conflict known as the Boshin War , Yoshinobu's followers briefly resisted and bakufu holdouts were finally defeated in late 1869. Despite the ouster of the bakufu , no effective central government had been put in place by

40128-446: Was lifted in 1987, and in 1991 the Temporary Provisions were repealed. The Additional Articles of the Constitution was passed to reflect the government's actual jurisdiction and realization of cross-Strait relations . The Additional Articles also significantly changed the structure of the government to a semi-presidential system with a unicameral parliament , which formed the basis of a multi-party democracy in Taiwan. During

40337-444: Was limited, with generals controlling both the central and northern provinces of China , and short-lived. The number of acts passed by the government was few and included the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty and some economic initiatives. The parliament's authority soon became nominal: violations of the Constitution by Yuan were met with half-hearted motions of censure. Kuomintang members of parliament who gave up their membership in

40546-423: Was never legally applied to Taiwan because Taiwan was not formally incorporated into the ROC's territory through the National Assembly as per the specifications of Article 4. Though the constitution promulgated in 1946 did not define the territory of the Republic of China, while the draft of the constitution of 1925 individually listed the provinces of the Republic of China and Taiwan was not among them, since Taiwan

40755-435: Was no conflict in Osaka; the new leaders wanted the emperor to be more visible to his people and to foreign envoys. At the end of May, after two weeks in Osaka (in a much less formal atmosphere than in Kyoto), the emperor returned to his home. Shortly after his return, it was announced that the emperor would begin to preside over all state business, reserving further literary study for his leisure time. Only from 1871 onward did

40964-436: Was no match for the American military and thus allowed trade and submitted to what it dubbed the " Unequal Treaties ". "Unequal Treaties" meant giving up tariff authority and the right to try foreigners in its own courts. The shogunate's willingness to consult with the Court was short-lived: in 1858, word of a treaty arrived with a letter stating that due to shortness of time, it had not been possible to consult. Emperor Kōmei

41173-413: Was not implemented until 1947. Addressing social problems, especially in remote villages, was aided by improved communications. The Rural Reconstruction Movement was one of many that took advantage of the new freedom to raise social consciousness. The Nationalist government published a draft constitution on 5 May 1936. Continual wars plagued the government. Those in the western border regions included

41382-414: Was officially inaugurated and pledged "to overthrow the despotic government led by the Manchu, consolidate the Republic of China and plan for the welfare of the people". Sun's new government lacked military strength. As a compromise, he negotiated with Yuan Shikai the commander of the Beiyang Army , promising Yuan the presidency of the republic if he were to remove the Qing emperor by force. Yuan agreed to

41591-410: Was only agreed to reform the Constitution of the Republic of China, not to create a new one. It was last amended in 2005, with the consent of both the KMT and the DPP. The most recent revision to the constitution took place in 2004. Dynastic China adopted a constitutional system oscillating between a feudal distribution of power and a centralistic autocracy. The idea of a constitutional monarchy , and

41800-490: Was part of Japan as the result of the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895. The constitution also stipulated in the Article I.4, that "the territory of the ROC is the original territory governed by it, unless authorized by the National Assembly, can not be altered." In 1946, Sun Fo , the minister of the Executive Yuan of ROC reported to the National Assembly that "there are two types of territory changes: 1. renouncing territory and 2. annexing new territory. The first example would be

42009-421: Was predictable, but anger was also directed against Chiang and the Nanjing government, which at the time was more preoccupied with anti-Communist extermination campaigns than with resisting the Japanese invaders. The importance of "internal unity before external danger" was forcefully brought home in December 1936, when Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang and forced to ally with the Communists against

42218-436: Was reached by which Yoshinobu would maintain his title and some of his power, but the lawmaking power would be vested in a bicameral legislature based on the British model. The agreement fell apart and on 9 November 1867, Yoshinobu officially tendered his resignation to the emperor and formally stepped down ten days later. The following month, the rebels marched on Kyoto, taking control of the Imperial Palace. On 4 January 1868,

42427-399: Was so incensed that he threatened to abdicate—though even this action would have required the consent of the shōgun . Much of the emperor's boyhood is known only through later accounts, which his biographer Donald Keene points out are often contradictory. One contemporary described Mutsuhito as healthy and strong, somewhat of a bully, and exceptionally talented at sumo . Another states that

42636-441: Was succeeded by his eldest son, Emperor Taishō . By 1912, Japan had gone through a political, economic, and social revolution and emerged as one of the great powers in the world. The New York Times summed up this transformation at the emperor's funeral in 1912 as: "the contrast between that which preceded the funeral car and that which followed it was striking indeed. Before it went old Japan; after it came new Japan." After

42845-503: Was the daughter of the acting major counselor, Nakayama Tadayasu . The young prince was given the title Sachi-no-miya , or Prince Sachi. The young prince was born into an era of great change in Japan. This change was symbolised dramatically in July 1853 when Commodore Matthew Perry and his American Naval squadron (what the Japanese dubbed "the Black Ships "), sailed into the harbour at Edo (known since 1868 as Tokyo). Perry sought to open Japan up to international trade and showcased

43054-446: Was the first Tokugawa shōgun. Upon retirement, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son Tokugawa Hidetada , the titular shōgun , issued a code of behavior for the nobility in 1605. Under the code, the emperor was required to devote his time to scholarship and the arts. The emperors under the shogunate appear to have adhered closely to this code by studying Confucian classics and devoting time to poetry and calligraphy. Emperors were taught only

43263-430: Was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan , and presided over the Meiji era . At the time of Mutsuhito's birth, Japan was a feudal and pre-industrial country dominated by the isolationist Tokugawa shogunate and the daimyō subject to it, who ruled over Japan's 270 decentralized domains . The opening of Japan to the West from 1854 fueled domestic demands for modernization, and when Mutsuhito became emperor after

43472-478: Was the principal author of the text. The Constitution, with minor revisions from the latest draft, was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing , promulgated by the National Government on 1 January 1947, and the fifth and current Chinese constitution officially went into effect on 25 December 1947. The Constitution was seen as the third and final stage of Kuomintang reconstruction of China. The Communists, though they attended

43681-555: Was very complex and oscillated over time, with different factions of his government cooperating with both the Soviets and Germans as they saw fit, and that Chiang eventually became disillusioned with the Blue Shirts, which officially disbanded by 1938, something Payne also mentions as "possibly because of competition with the KMT itself." Some have also noted that in contrast to older historians from decades ago, Chiang's efforts have been increasingly seen by newer Western and Chinese historians alike as an arguably necessary if austere part of

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