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104-621: The corporation was established on 1 May 1946 by the Nationalist government after the handover of Taiwan from Japan to Republican China, by merging all of the sugar companies (Dai-Nihon, Taiwan, Meiji, and Ensuiko Sugar Company) during the Japanese era in Taiwan. In the 1950s and 1960s, sugar was one of the major exports of Taiwan; the corporation remains a major land owner today. Taiwan's sugar trade , which flourished for almost 400 years,

208-539: A calculated political move to obtain or enhance their legitimacy, even if such claims were unfounded. The agnatic relations of the following groups of Chinese dynasties are typically recognized by historians: The Central Plain is a vast area on the lower reaches of the Yellow River which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. "Central Plain dynasties" ( 中原王朝 ; Zhōngyuán wángcháo ) refer to dynasties of China that had their capital cities situated within

312-695: A coalition government. The two parties agreed to open multiparty talks on post-World War II political reforms via a Political Consultative Conference . This was included in the Double Tenth Agreement . This agreement was implemented by the Nationalist Government, who organized the first Political Consultative Assembly from 10 to 31 January 1946. Representatives of the Kuomintang, CCP, Chinese Youth Party , and China Democratic League , as well as independent delegates, attended

416-562: A dual-party state apparatus under the ideology of Dang Guo , effectively making it a one-party state ; however, existing parties continued to operate and new ones formed. After the end of the Second World War, and particularly after the passage of the constitution in 1946, the National Government was reconstituted to include multiple parties, in preparation for a full democratic government to come. In February 1928,

520-645: A form of respect, even if the official dynastic name did not include it. For instance, The Chronicles of Japan referred to the Tang dynasty as " Dai Tō " ( 大唐 ; "Great Tang") despite its dynastic name being simply "Tang". While all dynasties of China sought to associate their respective realm with Zhōngguó ( 中國 ; "Central State"; usually translated as "Middle Kingdom" or "China" in English texts) and various other names of China , none of these regimes officially used such names as their dynastic title. Although

624-654: A legitimate regime. Ergo, historians usually consider the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor on 12 February 1912 as the end of the Chinese dynastic system. Dynastic rule in China lasted almost four millennia. China was politically divided during multiple periods in its history, with different regions ruled by different dynasties. These dynasties effectively functioned as separate states with their own court and political institutions. Political division existed during

728-804: A major factor in the government's failure. The communist land redistribution movement was an important factor in the Nationalists' defeat, particularly because it linked the interests of peasants in the north and northeast to the Communists' success. In 1949, the People's Liberation captured Beijing and later Nanjing as well. The People's Republic of China was proclaimed in Beijing on 1 October 1949. The Republic of China central government relocated to Taipei on 7 December 1949, to Taiwan where Japan had laid an educational groundwork . Almost all of

832-503: A massive decline in Chinese agricultural prices (which were cheaper) and thus the income of rural farmers. In 1932, agricultural prices were 41 percent of 1921 levels. Rural incomes had fallen to 57 percent of 1931 levels by 1934 in some areas. Under this peculiar context for rural China, the Chinese Rural Reconstruction Movement was implemented by some social activists who graduated as professors of

936-409: A month. The war was estimated to have killed between 20 and 25 million Chinese and destroyed all that Chiang had built up in the preceding decade. Development of industries was severely hampered after the war by devastating conflict as well as the inflow of cheap American goods. By 1946, Chinese industries operated at 20 percent capacity and had 25 percent of the output of pre-war China. One effect of

1040-480: A provisional constitution that established the one-party rule of the KMT and promised eventual democratization. In practice, this meant that Chiang Kai-Shek was able to continue authoritarian rule. Even had it been the KMT's intention, historians such as Edmund Fung argue that they may not have been able to establish a democracy under the circumstances of the time.( Fung 2000 , p. 30) Despite nominal reunification,

1144-640: A state of limbo during fragmented periods and was restored after political unification was achieved. From this perspective, the Song dynasty possessed legitimacy by virtue of its ability to end the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period despite not having succeeded the orthodoxy from the Later Zhou . Similarly, Ouyang considered the concept of orthodoxy to be in oblivion during the Three Kingdoms,

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1248-561: Is a concept with geographical, political, and cultural connotations. The adoption of guóhào , as well as the importance assigned to it, had promulgated within the Sinosphere . Notably, rulers of Vietnam and Korea also declared guóhào for their respective realm. In Chinese historiography, historians generally do not refer to dynasties directly by their official name. Instead, historiographical names, which were most commonly derived from their official name, are used. For instance,

1352-451: Is a convenient and conventional method of periodization . Accordingly, a dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, as well as to describe events, trends, personalities, artistic compositions, and artifacts of that period. For example, porcelain made during the Ming dynasty may be referred to as "Ming porcelain". The longest-reigning orthodox dynasty of China was

1456-510: Is a prominent feature of Chinese history. Some scholars have attempted to explain this phenomenon by attributing the success and failure of dynasties to the morality of the rulers, while others have focused on the tangible aspects of monarchical rule. This method of explanation has come to be known as the dynastic cycle . Cases of dynastic transition ( 改朝換代 ; gǎi cháo huàn dài ) in the history of China occurred primarily through two ways: military conquest and usurpation. The supersession of

1560-719: Is disputed and is another aspect of the disputed political status of Taiwan . After World War II, the civil war between the ruling Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) resumed, despite attempts at mediation by the United States. The Nationalist Government began drafting the Constitution of the Republic of China under a National Assembly, but was boycotted by the CCP. With the promulgation of

1664-827: Is now a sunset industry. The Taiwan Sugar Corporation has diversified its business into tourism, floriculture , biotechnology , and retailing. It also operates a chain of gas stations and invests in Taiwan High Speed Rail . They also have a number of significant overseas investments. In 2020 Taiwan Sugar Corporation announced plans to close its largest pig farm in Vietnam and instead invest NT$ 10.7 billion (US$ 369 million) in remodeling and improving their pig farms in Taiwan. Taiwan Sugar Corporation has five types of developments — Open Bid Construction, Joint Construction, Community Development, Sugar Factory Fields Development, and Student's Dormitory Development. It also owns

1768-534: Is now known as the February 28 Incident . Mainstream estimates of casualties range from 18,000 to 30,000, mainly Taiwanese elites. The 28 February Incident has had far-reaching effects on subsequent Taiwanese history . From 1945 to 1947, under United States mediation, especially through the Marshall Mission , the Nationalists and Communists agreed to start a series of peace talks aiming at establishing

1872-682: The Academia Sinica and the Central Bank of China . In 1932, China for the first time sent teams to the Olympic Games . The Nationalists faced a new challenge with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, with hostilities continuing through the Second Sino-Japanese War , part of World War II , from 1937 to 1945. The government of the Republic of China retreated from Nanjing to Chongqing . In 1945, after

1976-754: The Chinese Civil War (1927–49), with central authority strongest during the Nanjing Decade (1927–37), when most of China came under the control of the Kuomintang (KMT) under an authoritarian one-party state . At the end of World War II in 1945, 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 legitimacy of this transfer

2080-639: The Chinese Civil War between the Nationalist Party and the CCP. Chiang Kai-shek pushed the CCP into the interior as he sought to destroy them, and moved the Nationalist Government to Nanjing in 1927. Leftists within the KMT still allied to the CCP, led by Wang Jingwei , had established a rival Nationalist Government in Wuhan two months earlier, but soon joined Chiang in Nanjing in August 1927. By

2184-627: The History of Liao and the History of Jin compiled by the Yuan historian Toqto'a revealed that the official dynastic name of some earlier dynasties such as the Liao and the Jin also contained the character " dà ". It was also common for officials, subjects, or tributary states of a particular dynasty to include the term " dà " (or an equivalent term in other languages) when referring to this dynasty as

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2288-604: The Korean Peninsula , Afghanistan , and Siberia . Territorially, the largest orthodox Chinese dynasty was either the Yuan dynasty or the Qing dynasty , depending on the historical source. This discrepancy can be mainly attributed to the ambiguous northern border of the Yuan realm: whereas some sources describe the Yuan border as located to the immediate north of the northern shore of Lake Baikal , others posit that

2392-647: The Liao dynasty by the Jin dynasty was achieved following a series of successful military campaigns, as was the later unification of China proper under the Yuan dynasty ; on the other hand, the transition from the Eastern Han to the Cao Wei , as well as from the Southern Qi to the Liang dynasty , were cases of usurpation. Oftentimes, usurpers would seek to portray their predecessors as having relinquished

2496-635: The Ming–Qing transition , most notably the Shun and the Xi dynasties proclaimed by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong respectively. This change of ruling houses was a convoluted and prolonged affair, and the Qing took almost two decades to extend their rule over the entirety of China proper. Similarly, during the earlier Sui–Tang transition , numerous regimes established by rebel forces vied for control and legitimacy as

2600-695: The National Government of the Republic of China , refers to the government of the Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party. Following the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution , revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen was elected to be China's provisional president and founded the Provisional Government of the Republic of China . To preserve national unity, Sun ceded

2704-531: The National Protection War , resulting in the premature collapse of the regime 101 days later. The Manchu Restoration (AD 1917) was an unsuccessful attempt at reviving the Qing dynasty, lasting merely 11 days. Similarly, the Manchukuo (AD 1932–1945; monarchy since AD 1934), a puppet state of the Empire of Japan during World War II with limited diplomatic recognition, is not regarded as

2808-483: The National Revolutionary Army . Chiang Kai-shek was appointed as the first Chairman of the National Government , 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, and the KMT's Political Council would guide and superintend

2912-473: The Northern Expedition governed the country as a one-party state under the Kuomintang, and was subsequently given international recognition as the legitimate representative of China. The Nationalist government would then experience many challenges such as the Second Sino-Japanese War , and the Chinese Civil War . The government was in place until it was replaced by the current Government of

3016-592: The Northern Zhou is also sometimes referred to as the "Northern Zhou dynasty". Often, scholars would refer to a specific Chinese dynasty by attaching the word "China" after the dynastic name. For instance, "Tang China" refers to the Chinese state under the rule of the Tang dynasty and the corresponding historical era. While the earliest orthodox Chinese dynasties were established along the Yellow River and

3120-651: The Political Tutelage of the Kuomintang. However, periodic famines continued: in Northern China from 1928 to 1930, in Sichuan from 1936 to 1937, and in Henan from 1942 to 1943. In total, these famines cost at least 11.7 million lives. GDP growth averaged 3.9 per cent a year from 1929 to 1941 and per capita GDP about 1.8 per cent. Among other institutions, the Nationalist Government founded

3224-452: The Qing dynasty explicitly identified their state with and employed " Zhōngguó "—and its Manchu equivalent " Dulimbai Gurun " ( ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ )—in official capacity in numerous international treaties beginning with the Treaty of Nerchinsk dated AD 1689, its dynastic name had remained the "Great Qing". " Zhōngguó ", which has become nearly synonymous with "China" in modern times,

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3328-773: The Qing dynasty succeeded the Ming dynasty in possessing the Mandate of Heaven . However, the Qing dynasty was officially proclaimed in AD 1636 by the Emperor Taizong of Qing through renaming the Later Jin established in AD 1616, while the Ming imperial family would rule the Southern Ming until AD 1662. The Ming loyalist Kingdom of Tungning based in Taiwan continued to oppose the Qing until AD 1683. Meanwhile, other factions also fought for control over China during

3432-511: The Republic of China on Taiwan . Dynastic rule in China collapsed in AD 1912 when the Republic of China superseded the Qing dynasty following the success of the Xinhai Revolution. While there were attempts after the Xinhai Revolution to reinstate dynastic rule in China, they were unsuccessful at consolidating their rule and gaining political legitimacy. During the Xinhai Revolution, there were numerous proposals advocating for

3536-600: The Republic of China was established in Guangzhou . The following year, as Generalissimo of the National Revolutionary Army, Chiang Kai-shek became the de facto leader of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party. He especially headed the right-wing of the Nationalist Party, while the Communists formed part of the Party's left-wing. Chiang led the Northern Expedition through China with

3640-602: The Second Sino-Japanese War against the Imperial Japanese Army , and in the Chinese Civil War against the People's Liberation Army . During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the armed forces of the CCP were nominally incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army (while retaining separate commands), but broke away to form the People's Liberation Army shortly after the end of the war. With

3744-796: The Shang dynasty , before its conquest of the Shang which led to the establishment of the Zhou dynasty , is referred to as the Predynastic Zhou or Proto-Zhou. Similarly, the state of Qin that existed during the Zhou dynasty before its wars of unification and the establishment of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC is also referred to as the Predynastic Qin or Proto-Qin. The rise and fall of dynasties

3848-622: The Sui dynasty is known as such because its formal name was "Sui". Likewise, the Jin dynasty was officially the "Great Jin". When more than one dynasty shared the same Chinese character(s) as their formal name, as was common in Chinese history, prefixes are retroactively applied to dynastic names by historians in order to distinguish between these similarly-named regimes. Frequently used prefixes include: A dynasty could be referred to by more than one retroactive name in Chinese historiography, albeit some are more widely used than others. For instance,

3952-524: The Taiwan Sugar Research Institute . Taisugar owns 550 km (210 sq mi) of land in Taiwan — 370 km (140 sq mi) are for agricultural purpose and 120 km (46 sq mi) are for contract production. This article about a Taiwanese corporation or company is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Nationalist government The Nationalist government , officially

4056-459: The Three Kingdoms , the Sixteen Kingdoms , the Northern and Southern dynasties , and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods, among others. Relations between Chinese dynasties during periods of division often revolved around political legitimacy , which was derived from the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven . Dynasties ruled by ethnic Han would proclaim rival dynasties founded by other ethnicities as illegitimate, usually justified based on

4160-407: The Western Han is also known as the "Former Han", and the Yang Wu is also called the "Southern Wu". Scholars usually make a historiographical distinction for dynasties whose rule were interrupted. For example, the Song dynasty is divided into the Northern Song and the Southern Song , with the Jingkang Incident as the dividing line; the original "Song" founded by the Emperor Taizu of Song

4264-498: The Yangtze in China proper, numerous Chinese dynasties later expanded beyond the region to encompass other territorial domains. At various points in time, Chinese dynasties exercised control over China proper (including Hainan , Macau , and Hong Kong ), Taiwan , Manchuria (both Inner Manchuria and Outer Manchuria ), Sakhalin , Mongolia (both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia ), Vietnam , Tibet , Xinjiang , as well as parts of Central Asia ,

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4368-402: The Zhou dynasty , ruling for a total length of about 790 years, albeit it is divided into the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou in Chinese historiography. The largest orthodox Chinese dynasty in terms of territorial size was either the Yuan dynasty or the Qing dynasty , depending on the historical source. The term " Tiāncháo " ( 天朝 ; "Celestial Dynasty" or "Heavenly Dynasty")

4472-408: The " retrocession " of Taiwan to the Republic of China and established a provincial government on the island. The military administration of the ROC extended over Taiwan, which led to widespread unrest and increasing tensions between local Taiwanese and mainlanders. The shooting of a civilian on 28 February 1947 triggered an island-wide unrest, which was brutally suppressed with military force in what

4576-437: The Central Plain. This term could refer to dynasties of both Han and non-Han ethnic origins. "Unified dynasties" ( 大一統王朝 ; dàyītǒng wángcháo ) refer to dynasties of China, regardless of their ethnic origin, that achieved the unification of China proper. "China proper" is a region generally regarded as the traditional heartland of the Han people, and is not equivalent to the term "China". Imperial dynasties that had attained

4680-458: The Chiang's Nationalist Government relied heavily on the support of warlords such as Ma Hushan , Yan Xishan , and Chang Hsueh-liang to exert control on the provinces. The loyalty of these figures was often highly suspect, and they frequently engaged in acts of open defiance, as in the Xi'an Incident of 1936, or even rebellion . In alliance with local landlords and other power-brokers, they blocked moderate land reforms that might have benefits

4784-554: The Fourth Plenary Session of the 2nd Kuomintang National Congress held in Nanjing passed the Reorganization of the National Government Act. This act stipulated the national government was to be directed and regulated under the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, with the Committee of the National Government being elected by KMT Central Committee. Under the national government was seven ministries – Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Justice, Agriculture and Mines, and Commerce. There were also additional institutions such as

4888-463: The KMT itself was disunified, with the pro-Chiang factions of the CC Clique , Political Study Clique, and fascist-inspired Blue Shirts Society opposed by a left-wing faction under Wang Jingwei and a right-wing faction influenced by Hu Hanmin . To control the opposing KMT factions, Chiang relied increasingly on the National Revolutionary Army . Economic growth and social improvements were mixed. The Kuomintang supported women's rights and education,

4992-401: The KMT. Chiang decided to strike first and purged the Communists , killing thousands of them. At the same time, other violent conflicts took place in the south of China where peasant associations supported by the CCP were attacking landlords and local gentry, who formed a base of political support for the KMT right-wing and recruitment for Nationalist soldiers. These events eventually led to

5096-418: The Kuomintang reunified the country in 1928, China entered a period of relative prosperity despite civil war and Japanese aggression. In 1937, the Japanese invaded and laid China to waste in eight years of war. The era also saw additional boycott of Japanese products . Chinese industries continued to develop in the 1930s with the advent of the Nanjing decade in the 1930s when Chiang Kai-shek unified most of

5200-402: The National Government in the execution of important national affairs and that the council has the power to interpret or amend the organic law. Authority within the Nationalist government ultimately lay with Chiang Kai-shek. All major policy changes on military, diplomatic, or economic issues required his approval. According to historian Odd Arne Westad , "no other leader within the GMD had

5304-810: The People's Republic of China based in Beijing and the Republic of China based in Taipei . Both regimes formally adhere to the One-China principle and claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the whole of China. There were several groups of Chinese dynasties that were ruled by families with patrilineal relations , yet due to various reasons these regimes are considered to be separate dynasties and given distinct retroactive names for historiographical purpose. Such conditions as differences in their official dynastic title and fundamental changes having occurred to their rule would necessitate nomenclatural distinction in academia, despite these ruling clans having shared common ancestral origins. Additionally, numerous other dynasties claimed descent from earlier dynasties as

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5408-550: The Republic of China in the newly promulgated Constitution of the Republic of China of 1948. The oldest surviving republic in East Asia , the Republic of China was formally established on 1   January 1912 in mainland China following the Xinhai Revolution , which itself began with the Wuchang Uprising on 10   October 1911, replacing the Qing dynasty and ending nearly three thousand years of imperial rule in China. Central authority waxed and waned in response to warlordism (1915–28), Japanese invasion (1937–45), and

5512-431: The Sixteen Kingdoms, and the Northern and Southern dynasties periods. Traditionally, as most Chinese historiographical sources uphold the idea of unilineal dynastic succession, only one dynasty could be considered orthodox at any given time. Most historical sources consider the legitimate line of succession to be as follows: These historical legitimacy disputes are similar to the modern competing claims of legitimacy by

5616-405: The Sui launched a decade-long military campaign to reunify China proper. Frequently, remnants and descendants of previous dynasties were either purged or granted noble titles in accordance with the " two crownings, three respects " system. The latter served as a means for the reigning dynasty to claim legitimate succession from earlier dynasties. For example, the Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei

5720-423: The Supreme Court, Control Yuan, and the General Academy. With the promulgation of the Organic Law of the National 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

5824-403: The United States with tangible but limited progress in modernizing the tax, infrastructural, economical, cultural, and educational equipment and mechanisms of rural regions. The social activists actively coordinated with the local governments in towns and villages since the early 1930s. However, this policy was subsequently neglected and canceled by the Nationalist government due to rampant wars and

5928-467: The Yuan dynasty reached as far north as the Arctic coast, with its western boundary with the Golden Horde in Siberia delimited by the Ob and the Irtysh . In contrast, the borders of the Qing dynasty were demarcated and reinforced through a series of international treaties, and thus were more well-defined. Apart from exerting direct control over the Chinese realm, various dynasties of China also maintained hegemony over other states and tribes through

6032-449: The abolition of polygamy, and foot binding. The government of the Republic of China under Chiang's leadership also enacted a women's quota in the parliament with reserved seats for women. During the Nanjing Decade , the spread of education increased the literacy rate across China and promoted the ideals of Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People of democracy, republicanism, science, constitutionalism, and Chinese Nationalism based on

6136-423: The administration itself. As Chiang Kai-Shek told 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." Corruption was endemic at all levels of government. The tension between Chiang's centralizing tendencies and the warlords who supported him led to friction and inconsistent direction. Even

6240-554: The authority to force through even the simplest decisions. The practical power of high-ranking officials like ministers or the head of the Executive Yuan was more closely tied to their relationship with Chiang than with the formal authority of their position. Chiang created multiple layers of power in his administration which he sometimes played off each other to prevent individuals or cliques from gathering power that could oppose his authority. The Nationalist government exercised relatively little control in China's border regions, where

6344-583: The concept of Hua–Yi distinction . On the other hand, many dynasties of non-Han origin saw themselves as the legitimate dynasty of China and often sought to portray themselves as the true inheritor of Chinese culture and history. Traditionally, only regimes deemed as "legitimate" or "orthodox" ( 正統 ; zhèngtǒng ) are termed cháo ( 朝 ; "dynasty"); "illegitimate" or "unorthodox" regimes are referred to as guó ( 國 ; usually translated as either "state" or "kingdom" ), even if these regimes were dynastic in nature. Such legitimacy disputes existed during

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6448-415: The conference in Chongqing. However, shortly afterward, the two parties failed to reach an agreement and the civil war resumed. In the context of political and military animosity, the National Assembly was summoned by the Nationalists without the participation of the CCP and promulgated the Constitution of the Republic of China . The constitution was criticized by the CCP, and led to the final break between

6552-408: The constitution, the Nationalist Government abolished itself and was replaced by the Government of the Republic of China . Following their loss of the Civil War, the Nationalist Government retreated and moved their capital to Taipei while claiming that they were the legitimate government of the mainland. After Sun's death on 12 March 1925, four months later on 1 July 1925, the National Government of

6656-412: The contemporaneous Liao dynasty while the Western Xia exercised partial control over Hetao ; the Northern Song, in this sense, did not truly achieve the unification of China proper. According to the historian and sinologist Karl August Wittfogel , dynasties of China founded by non-Han peoples that ruled parts or all of China proper could be classified into two types, depending on the means by which

6760-399: The country and brought political stability. China's industries developed and grew from 1927 to 1931. Though badly hit by the Great Depression from 1931 to 1935 and Japan's occupation of Manchuria in 1931, industrial output recovered by 1936. By 1936, industrial output had recovered and surpassed its previous peak in 1931 prior to the Great Depression's effects on China. This is best shown by

6864-442: The first two were interrupted by the Later Qin , while the continuity of the latter was broken by the Wu Zhou . In Chinese sources, the term "dynasty" ( 朝 ; cháo ) is usually omitted when referencing dynasties that have prefixes in their historiographical names. Such a practice is sometimes adopted in English usage, even though the inclusion of the word "dynasty" is also widely seen in English scholarly writings. For example,

6968-446: The following dynasties to have unified China proper: the Qin dynasty , the Western Han , the Xin dynasty , the Eastern Han , the Western Jin , the Sui dynasty , the Tang dynasty , the Wu Zhou , the Northern Song , the Yuan dynasty , the Ming dynasty , and the Qing dynasty . The status of the Northern Song as a unified dynasty is disputed among historians as the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun were partially administered by

7072-451: The following periods: Traditionally, periods of disunity often resulted in heated debates among officials and historians over which prior dynasties could and should be considered orthodox, given that it was politically imperative for a dynasty to present itself as being linked in an unbroken lineage of moral and political authority back to ancient times. However, the Northern Song statesman Ouyang Xiu propounded that such orthodoxy existed in

7176-401: The following year, Chiang's army had captured Beijing after overthrowing the Beiyang government and unified the entire nation , at least nominally, marking the beginning the Nanjing decade . According to Sun Yat-sen's "Three Stages of Revolution" theory, the KMT was to rebuild China in three phases: the first stage was military unification, which was carried out with the Northern Expedition;

7280-638: The former sites of the nationalist government are headquartered in the city of Nanjing, the capital at the time, with only one exception. When the city of Nanjing was not captured by the Nationalist Government, they chose the following buildings as their headquarters. [REDACTED] Communist Party / [REDACTED] Soviet Republic ( [REDACTED] Red Army ) → Liberated Area ( [REDACTED] 8th Route Army , New Fourth Army , etc. → [REDACTED] People's Liberation Army ) → [REDACTED]   People's Republic of China Dynasties in Chinese history For most of its history, China

7384-444: The history of the preceding dynasty, culminating in the Twenty-Four Histories . This tradition was maintained even after the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty in favor of the Republic of China . However, the attempt by the Republicans to draft the history of the Qing was disrupted by the Chinese Civil War , which resulted in the political division of China into the People's Republic of China on mainland China and

7488-500: The identities of the ruling ethnicities. For example, the Liao dynasty and the Yuan dynasty , ruled by the Khitan and Mongol peoples respectively, are considered conquest dynasties of China. These terms remain sources of controversy among scholars who believe that Chinese history should be analyzed and understood from a multiethnic and multicultural perspective. It was customary for Chinese monarchs to adopt an official name for

7592-579: The intention of defeating the warlords and unifying the country. The National Revolutionary Army received significant aid from the Soviet Union ; Chiang himself was surrounded by Soviet military advisors. Much of the Nationalist Party, however, became convinced, not without reason, that the Communists, under recent orders from the Comintern, wanted to break from the United Front and get rid of

7696-627: The lack of resources following the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second Chinese Civil War . In 1937, Japan invaded China and the resulting warfare laid waste to China. Most of the prosperous east China coast was occupied by the Japanese, who carried out various atrocities such as the Rape of Nanjing in 1937 and random massacres of whole villages. In one anti-guerrilla sweep in 1942, the Japanese killed up to 200,000 civilians in

7800-480: The political fragmentation along ethnic lines that began after the fall of the Qing dynasty continued. The National Revolutionary Army ( NRA ) ( traditional Chinese : 國民革命軍 ; simplified Chinese : 国民革命军 ; pinyin : Guómín Gémìng Jūn ; Wade–Giles : Kuo-min Ke-ming Chün ), pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928 and 1947 as 國軍 or National Army

7904-609: The power of the ruling Sui dynasty weakened. Autonomous regimes that existed during this period of upheaval included, but not limited to, Wei ( 魏 ; by Li Mi ), Qin ( 秦 ; by Xue Ju ), Qi ( 齊 ; by Gao Tancheng), Xu ( 許 ; by Yuwen Huaji ), Liang ( 梁 ; by Shen Faxing ), Liang ( 梁 ; by Liang Shidu ), Xia ( 夏 ; by Dou Jiande ), Zheng ( 鄭 ; by Wang Shichong ), Chu ( 楚 ; by Zhu Can ), Chu ( 楚 ; by Lin Shihong ), Wu ( 吳 ; by Li Zitong ), Yan ( 燕 ; by Gao Kaidao ), and Song ( 宋 ; by Fu Gongshi ). The Tang dynasty that superseded

8008-515: The presidency to military strongman Yuan Shikai , who established the Beiyang government . After a failed attempt to install himself as Emperor of China , Yuan died in 1916, leaving a power vacuum which resulted in China being divided into several warlord fiefs and rival governments. They were nominally reunified in 1928 under the Nanjing -based government led by Chiang Kai-shek , which after

8112-425: The promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947 and the formal end of the KMT party-state, the National Revolutionary Army was renamed the Republic of China Armed Forces , with the bulk of its forces forming the Republic of China Army , which retreated to Taiwan in 1949 . Forced conscription campaigns were conducted by the military; they are described by Rudolph Rummel as such: Then there

8216-613: The ratification that not only would it not recognize the ROC constitution, but all bills passed by the Nationalist administration would be disregarded as well. Zhou Enlai challenged the legitimacy of the National Assembly in 1947 by accusing the KMT of hand-picking the members of the National Assembly 10 years earlier; claiming they thus could not legitimately represent the Chinese people. The National Government governed under

8320-459: The realm, even though in practice their actual power was dependent on numerous factors. By tradition, the Chinese throne was inherited exclusively by members of the male line, but there were numerous cases whereby the consort kins came to possess de facto power at the expense of the monarchs. This concept, known as jiā tiānxià ( 家天下 ; "All under Heaven belongs to the ruling family"),

8424-403: The realm, known as the guóhào ( 國號 ; "name of the state"), upon the establishment of a dynasty. During the rule of a dynasty, its guóhào functioned as the formal name of the state, both internally and for diplomatic purposes. The formal name of Chinese dynasties was usually derived from one of the following sources: There were instances whereby the official name was changed during

8528-412: The reign of a dynasty. For example, the dynasty known retroactively as Southern Han initially used the name "Yue", only to be renamed to "Han" subsequently. The official title of several dynasties bore the character " dà " ( 大 ; "great"). In Yongzhuang Xiaopin by the Ming historian Zhu Guozhen , it was claimed that the first dynasty to do so was the Yuan dynasty. However, several sources like

8632-735: The replacement of the Manchu -led Qing dynasty by a new dynasty of Han ethnicity. Kong Lingyi ( 孔令貽 ), the Duke of Yansheng and a 76th-generation descendant of Confucius , was identified as a potential candidate for Chinese emperorship by Liang Qichao . Meanwhile, gentry in Anhui and Hebei supported a restoration of the Ming dynasty under Zhu Yuxun ( 朱煜勳 ), the Marquis of Extended Grace . Both suggestions were ultimately rejected. The Empire of China (AD 1915–1916) proclaimed by Yuan Shikai sparked

8736-893: The ruling ethnic groups had entered China proper. "Infiltration dynasties" or "dynasties of infiltration" ( 滲透王朝 ; shèntòu wángcháo ) refer to Chinese dynasties founded by non-Han ethnicities that tended towards accepting Han culture and assimilating into the Han-dominant society. For instance, the Han-Zhao and the Northern Wei , established by the Xiongnu and Xianbei ethnicities respectively, are considered infiltration dynasties of China. "Conquest dynasties" or "dynasties of conquest" ( 征服王朝 ; zhēngfú wángcháo ) refer to dynasties of China established by non-Han peoples that tended towards resisting Han culture and preserving

8840-666: The rural economy was hit hard by the Great Depression of the 1930s, in which an overproduction of agricultural goods lead to massive falling prices for China as well as an increase in foreign imports (as agricultural goods produced in western countries were "dumped" in China). In 1931, imports of rice in China amounted to 21 million bushels compared with 12 million in 1928. Other goods saw even more staggering increases. In 1932, 15 million bushels of grain were imported compared with 900,000 in 1928. This increased competition leads to

8944-491: The rural poor. Instead, the poor peasants remained a consistent source of recruits for the Communist Party. While weakened by frequent massacres and purges—historian Rudolph Rummel estimated that 1,654,000 people were killed by the KMT in anti-Communist purges during this period—the Communists were able to survive and posed a major latent threat to the regime. However, perhaps the biggest challenges came from within

9048-426: The second was " political tutelage  [ zh ] " which was a provisional government led by the KMT to educate people about their political and civil rights, and the third stage would be constitutional government.( Fung 2000 , p. 30) By 1928, the Nationalists claimed that they had succeeded in reunifying China and were beginning the second stage, the period of so-called "tutelage". In 1931, they promulgated

9152-403: The throne willingly—akin to the abdication system of throne succession—as a means to legitimize their rule. One might incorrectly infer from viewing historical timelines that transitions between dynasties occurred abruptly and roughly. Rather, new dynasties were often established before the complete overthrow of an existing regime. For example, AD 1644 is frequently cited as the year in which

9256-599: The trends in Chinese GDP . In 1932, China's GDP peaked at US$ 28.8 billion, before falling to $ 21.3 billion by 1934 and recovering to $ 23.7 billion by 1935. By 1930, foreign investment in China totaled $ 3.5 billion, with Japan leading ($ 1.4 billion) and the United Kingdom at 1 billion. By 1948, however, the capital stock had halted with investment dropping to only $ 3 billion, with the US and Britain leading. However,

9360-470: The two sides. The full-scale civil war resumed from early 1947. After the National Assembly election , the drafted Constitution was adopted by the National Assembly on 25 December 1946, promulgated by the National Government on 1 January 1947, and went into effect on 25 December 1947. The Constitution was seen as the third and final stage of Kuomintang reconstruction of China. Chiang Kai-shek

9464-670: The unification of China proper may be known as the "Chinese Empire" or the "Empire of China" ( 中華帝國 ; Zhōnghuá Dìguó ). The concept of "great unity" or "grand unification" ( 大一統 ; dàyītǒng ) was first mentioned in the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals that was supposedly authored by the Qi scholar Gongyang Gao. Other prominent figures like Confucius and Mencius also elaborated on this concept in their respective works. Historians typically consider

9568-464: The war of eight years, Japan surrendered and the Republic of China, under the name "China", became one of the founding members of the United Nations . The government returned to Nanjing in 1946. Following the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II , Taiwan was surrendered to the Allies , with ROC troops accepting the surrender of the Japanese garrison. The government of the ROC proclaimed

9672-405: The war was a massive increase in government control of industries. In 1936, government-owned industries were only 15% of GDP. However, the ROC government took control of many industries in order to fight the war. In 1938, the ROC established a commission for industries and mines to control and supervise firms, as well as instilling price controls. By 1942, 70 percent of the capital of Chinese industry

9776-870: The way, sometimes less than 50 percent reaching camp alive. Then recruit camp was no better, with hospitals resembling Nazi concentration camps like Buchenwald. Probably 3,081,000 died during the Sino-Japanese War; likely another 1,131,000 during the Civil War – 4,212,000 dead in total. Just during conscription. Because of the Nationalist government's increasing inability to fund the military, especially after Japan's success in Operation Ichigo , Nationalist authorities overlooked military corruption and smuggling. The Nationalist army increasingly turned to raiding villages to press-gang peasants into service and force marching them to assigned units. After

9880-652: Was accorded the title "Prince of Zhongshan" by the Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi following the latter's deposition of the former. Similarly, Chai Yong, a nephew of the Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou , was conferred the title "Duke of Chongyi" by the Emperor Renzong of Song ; other descendants of the Later Zhou ruling house came to inherit the noble title thereafter. According to Chinese historiographical tradition, each new dynasty would compose

9984-484: Was also elected as the 1st President of the Republic of China under the constitution by the National Assembly in 1948, with Li Zongren being elected as vice-president. The Nationalist Government was abolished on 20 May 1948, after the Government of the Republic of China was established with the presidential inauguration of Chiang. The CCP, though invited to the convention that drafted it, boycotted and declared after

10088-509: Was extended to refer to the regime of the incumbent ruler. Terms commonly used when discussing historical Chinese dynasties include: As the founder of China's first orthodox dynasty, the Xia dynasty , Yu the Great is conventionally regarded as the inaugurator of dynastic rule in China. In the Chinese dynastic system, sovereign rulers theoretically possessed absolute power and private ownership of

10192-549: Was frequently employed as a self-reference by Chinese dynasties. As a form of respect and subordination, Chinese tributary states referred to these dynasties as " Tiāncháo Shàngguó " ( 天朝上國 ; "Celestial Dynasty of the Exalted State") or " Tiāncháo Dàguó " ( 天朝大國 ; "Celestial Dynasty of the Great State"). The Chinese character 朝 ( cháo ) originally meant "morning" or "today". Subsequently, its scope

10296-410: Was in contrast to the pre-Xia notion of gōng tiānxià ( 公天下 ; "All under Heaven belongs to the public") whereby leadership succession was non-hereditary and based on the abdication system . There may also be a predynastic period before a regime managed to overthrow the existing dynasty which led to the official establishment of the new dynasty. For example, the state of Zhou that existed during

10400-573: Was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs . Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c.  2070 BC , and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912, Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors, dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples. Dividing Chinese history into dynastic epochs

10504-425: Was owned by the government. Following the war with Japan, Chiang acquired Taiwan from Japan and renewed his struggle with the Communists. However, the corruption of the KMT, as well as hyperinflation as a result of trying to fight the civil war, resulted in mass unrest throughout the Republic and sympathy for the communists. Nearly all studies of the collapse of the Nationalist government identify hyperinflation as

10608-555: Was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule beginning in 1928. Originally organized with Soviet aid as a means for the KMT to unify China against warlordism , the National Revolutionary Army fought major engagements in the Northern Expedition against the Chinese Beiyang Army warlords , in

10712-482: Was the process of conscription. This was a deadly affair in which men were kidnapped for the army, rounded up indiscriminately by press-gangs or army units among those on the roads or in the towns and villages, or otherwise gathered together. Many men, some the very young and old, were killed resisting or trying to escape. Once collected, they would be roped or chained together and marched, with little food or water, long distances to camp. They often died or were killed along

10816-594: Was therefore differentiated from the "Song" restored under the Emperor Gaozong of Song . In such cases, the regime had collapsed, only to be re-established; a nomenclatural distinction between the original regime and the new regime is thus necessary for historiographical purpose. Major exceptions to this historiographical practice include the Western Qin , the Southern Liang , and the Tang dynasty ;

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