Kuomintang

The Kuomintang (Chinese: 國民黨, translated sometimes as the Chinese Nationalist Party, but abbreviated KMT) is a significant Chinese political party famous for the promotion of three basic principles: Nationalism, democracy and socialism. Founded in 1912 by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren as a merger of previously existing organisations formed in exile in the USA and Japan, the KMT played a crucial role during the 1911 Xinhai Revolution and the subsequent fall of the Qing Empire. The uncontested seizure of power by former Beiyang Army generals in the north in the aftermath of the failed Second Revolution of 1913 thwarted the KMT's claim to leadership, however, and forced the party to adopt warlord-like tactics to bring down the corrupt military elites. Sun Yat-sen managed to establish a KMT stronghold in Southern China with the support of local disillusioned warlords in 1917 and managed to hold on despite several attempts to oust him again; his death in 1925, however, triggered a grave leadership struggle, between Chiang Kai-shek, the Commanding Director of Whampoa Military Academy, and Wang Jingwei, the close prodigy of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. 
Due to Soviet Russia's support during Dr. Sun Yat-sen's later years, the KMT remained strong. However, two years after Sun's death, internal unity collapsed, and withdrawal from Soviet backing left the KMT underfunded. This failure to end the warlord era led to significant fractures within the party, exacerbated by the Shanghai Massacre in 1927 and the 1931 retreat to the south.
Despite being a major republican and nationalist force in China, the KMT has suffered from severe factionalism, particularly after the Northern Expedition's failure. The Whampoa clique under the Chen brothers and Chiang Kai-shek maintains marginal control over country. Meanwhile, the left-wing Provisional Action Committee of the Kuomintang holds power in Southern China (Guangdong-Guangxi), and the Reorganization Comrades Association operates in Shanghai. The right-leaning Western Hills faction, pro-Hu Hanmin national conservatives, and the pro-German corporatist China Reconstruction Society are based in Nanjing as well.