page_title: Beiyang government
hierarchical_section_title: Beiyang government
context_page_description: The Beiyang government, officially the Republic of China, also sometimes spelled Peiyang Government or the First Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally recognized as the legitimate Chinese government.
  The name derives from the Beiyang Army, which dominated its politics with the rise of Yuan Shikai, who was a general of the Qing dynasty. After his death, the army split into various warlord factions competing for power, in a period called the Warlord Era. Although the government and the state were nominally under civilian control under a constitution, the Beiyang generals were effectively in charge of it. Nevertheless, the government enjoyed legitimacy abroad along with diplomatic recognition, had access to tax and customs revenue, and could apply for foreign financial loans.
  Its legitimacy was seriously challenged in 1917, by Sun Yat-sen's Canton-based Kuomintang government movement.
context_section_description: The Beiyang government (Chinese: 北洋政府; pinyin: Běiyáng Zhèngfǔ; Wade–Giles: Pei-yang Chêng-fu), officially the Republic of China (Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá mínguó; Wade–Giles: Chunghwa Minkuo), also sometimes spelled Peiyang Government or the First Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China which sat in its capital Peking between 1912 and 1928. It was internationally recognized as the legitimate Chinese government. 
  The name derives from the Beiyang Army, which dominated its politics with the rise of Yuan Shikai, who was a general of the Qing dynasty. After his death, the army split into various warlord factions competing for power, in a period called the Warlord Era. Although the government and the state were nominally under civilian control under a constitution, the Beiyang generals were effectively in charge of it. Nevertheless, the government enjoyed legitimacy abroad along with diplomatic recognition, had access to tax and customs revenue, and could apply for foreign financial loans.
  Its legitimacy was seriously challenged in 1917, by Sun Yat-sen's Canton-based Kuomintang (KMT) government movement. His successor Chiang Kai-shek defeated the Beiyang warlords during the Northern Expedition between 1926 and 1928, and overthrew the factions and the government, effectively unifying the country in 1928. The Kuomintang proceeded to install its nationalist government in Nanking; China's political order became a one-party state until today, and the Kuomintang government subsequently received international recognition as the legitimate government of China.
caption: Republic of China between 1912 and 1928.
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