Historical office holders
Provisional Government of the Republic of China (Nanjing, 1912; Beijing, 1912–1913)
Provisional President of the Republic of China (臨時大總統):
The "Republic of China" was formally proclaimed on 1 January 1912 and Sun Yat-sen took office in Nanking (now Nanjing) as the first provisional president. Sun resigned on March 10 and was succeeded by Qing Empire Prime Minister Yuan Shikai. This moved the government to Beijing.
Government of the Republic of China (Beijing, 1913–1928)
Yuan Shikai enacted a new Constitution to greatly expand his powers as president and abolish the National Assembly. Sun Yat-sen and his supporters responded with the failed Second Revolution and were subsequently exiled. The later ROC governments under the KMT (and the current People's Republic of China government) considers the Beiyang Government after this point to be illegitimate.
Yuan Shikai declared himself Emperor on 22 December 1915. Popular opposition led Yuan to retract his declaration on 22 March 1916.
Yuan died in 1916 and was succeeded by Vice President Li Yuan-hung. Warlord Zhang Xun restored Puyi to the throne for twelve days from July 1 to 12 July 1917. The Republican government was soon restored, but local warlords forced Li from office.
The Beiyang Government was extinguished by the Northern Expedition led by the Kuomintang.
Military Government (Guangzhou, 1917–1925)
The Chinese Revolutionary Party established a rival government in Guangzhou and declared legitimacy over the "warlord" government in Beijing (which they renamed Beiping since jing means "capital").
Generalissimo of the Military Government (海陸軍大元帥):
The Military Government was headed collectively by the Governing Committee of the Military Government (5 July 1918 - 21 August 1918), viz.,
In 1918, Sun Yat-sen and his government was forced out of Guangdong by warlords. The Military Government was consolidated by Chairman of the Governing Committee (主席總裁):
Sun Yat-sen and his supporters were restored in Guangzhou with the help of local warlord Chen Jiongming in 1920. On 24 October 1920 to 4 May 1921, figurehead duties were again given collectively to the Governing Committee of the Military Government, viz.,
- Sun Yat-sen
- Tang Shaoyi
- Wu Tingfang
- Tang Jiyao.
Sun Yat-sen was elected "President" by remnants of the 1912 National Assembly, but since this parliament lacked the quorum established by the 1912 Constitution, he took the title of Extraordinary President (非常大總統):
In 1922, Sun was expelled from Guangdong by Chen Jiongming.
Sun Yat-sen was restored in Guangdong in 1923 and established the National Government with the help of the Comintern.
Generalissimo of the Military Government (海陸軍大元帥):
Sun died in 1925 and was succeeded as acting Generalissimo of the National Government by Hu Hanmin.
- Hu Hanmin (12 March 1925 - 1 July 1925) (acting)
National Government (Guangzhou, 1925–1927)
Chairmen of the National Government (國民政府主席):
Wang Ching-wei was forced out of office over the attempted kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek in the Zhongshan Gunboat Incident.
In 1927, the Kuomintang embarked on the Northern Expedition and left its base in Guangzhou for Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai in three separate divisions.
National Government (Wuhan, 1927)
During the Northern Expedition, Wang Ching-wei declared Wuhan to be the capital of the Republic of China after the city's capture by National Revolutionary Army forces loyal to the KMT left-wing.
Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National Government:
National Government (Nanjing, 1927–1937; Chongqing, 1937–1945; Nanjing, 1945–1947)
Chiang Kai-shek declared the capital of the Republic of China to be in Nanjing after the city's capture by National Revolutionary Army forces loyal to the KMT right-wing during the Northern Expedition.
Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National Government:
The leftist government in Wuhan was overwhelmed by local warlords and agreed to join the Nationalist Government in Nanjing in September 1928.
Chairmen of the National Government (國民政府主席):
The National Government relocated to Chongqing from 1937 to 1945 due to the Japanese invasion.
Provisional National Government (Beijing, 1937–1940)
The Provisional National Government was established as a Japanese collaborationist government established under occupation. Acting Chairman of the Provisional National Government:
The Reformed National Government was established as a Japanese collaborationist government established under occupation. Acting Chairman of the Reformed National Government:
National Government (Nanjing, 1940–1945)
A National Government, as a challenge to the legitimacy of Chiang Kai-shek's National Government in Chongqing, was established as a Japanese collaborationist government established under occupation. As evidence of its claims to legitimacy, the government in Nanjing established the same set of institutions as the one in Chongqing and flew an almost-identical flag. This replaced the Provisional and Reformed National Governments. Chairmen of the National Government (國民政府主席):
Constitutional Government (Nanjing, 1947–1949; Guangzhou/Chongqing/Chengdu, 1949; Taipei, 1949–present)
A new constitution was promulgated on 25 December 1947 and Chiang Kai-shek was subsequently elected President by the National Assembly.
President of the Republic of China (中華民國總統):
Chiang Kai-shek resigned amid losses in the Chinese Civil War. The government moved from Nanjing to Guangzhou, then to Chongqing and finally Chengdu before arriving to Taipei on 8 December 1949. Li Zongren had left for the United States in November 1949 and Chiang officially resumed his powers in March 1950. This regime remained the internationally recognized true government of China with sovereignty throughout mainland China, Taiwan, Tibet Area, Sinkiang and Outer Mongolia until recognition shifted to the People's Republic of China by the United Nations in 1971 and the United States in 1979.
Starting from the ninth term the president is elected by popular vote among citizens of the Republic of China in the "Free Area of the Republic of China" (area under de facto Republic of China administration), instead of by the National Assembly.
- Lee Teng-hui (20 May 1996 - 20 May 2000) (ninth term)
- Chen Shui-bian (20 May 2000 - 20 May 2008) (tenth and eleventh terms)
- Ma Ying-Jeou (20 May 2008 – 20 May 2016) (twelfth and thirteenth terms)
- Tsai Ing-wen (20 May 2016 – 20 May 2024) (fourteenth and fifteenth terms)
- Lai Ching-te (20 May 2024 – present) (sixteenth term)
The president of the Republic of China, also referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had authority of ruling over Mainland China before 1949, but its remaining jurisdictions has been limited to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other smaller islands since the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War.
The history of the Republic of China began in 1912 with the end of the Qing dynasty, when the Xinhai Revolution and the formation of the Republic of China put an end to 2,000 years of imperial rule. The Republic experienced many trials and tribulations after its founding which included being dominated by elements as disparate as warlord generals and foreign powers.
Feng Yuxiang, courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a Chinese warlord and a leader of the Republic of China from Chaohu, Anhui. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. He was also known as the "Christian General" for his zeal to convert his troops and the "Traitorous General" for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911 he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined forces with revolutionaries against the Qing dynasty. He rose to high rank within Wu Peifu's Zhili warlord faction but launched the Beijing Coup in 1924 that knocked Zhili out of power and brought Sun Yat-sen to Beijing. He joined the Nationalist Party (KMT), supported the Northern Expedition and became blood brothers with Chiang Kai-shek, but resisted Chiang's consolidation of power in the Central Plains War and broke with him again in resisting Japanese incursions in 1933. He spent his later years supporting the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang.
Sun Fo, courtesy name Zhesheng (哲生), was a Chinese politician and high-ranking official in the government of the Republic of China. He was the son of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, and his first wife Lu Muzhen.
The Warlord Era was a period in the history of the Republic of China when control of the country was divided among former military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions from 1916 to 1928.
The Beiyang government was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by the generals of the Beiyang Army, giving it its name.
The Nationalist government, officially 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.
The National Protection War, also known as the Anti-Monarchy War, was a civil war that took place in China between 1915 and 1916. Following the overthrow of the Qing dynasty three years previously, the Republic of China was established in its place. The war was caused by President Yuan Shikai's proclamation of the Empire of China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor.
The Constitutional Protection Movement was a series of movements led by Sun Yat-sen to resist the Beiyang government between 1917 and 1922, in which Sun established another government in Guangzhou as a result. It was known as the Third Revolution by the Kuomintang. The constitution that it intended to protect was the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. The first movement lasted from 1917 to 1920; the second from 1921 to 1922. An attempted third movement, begun in 1923, ultimately became the genesis for the Northern Expedition in 1926.
The Presidential Palace in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, housed the Office of the President of the Republic of China from 1927 until the capital was relocated to Taipei in 1949. It is now a museum called the China Modern History Museum. It is located at No.292 Changjiang Road, in the Xuanwu District of Nanjing.
The Government of the Republic of China, is the national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other island groups, collectively known as Taiwan Area or Free Area. A unitary state, the ROC government, under the current constitutional amendments, is run by a de facto semi-presidential system, consists of the presidency and five branches (Yuan): the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan, and Control Yuan. The president is the head of state, with the premier as the head of government, currently ruled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2016. Since the 2005 amendments of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the Legislative Yuan has been the de facto unicameral parliamentary body of the country.
The Yunnan–Guangxi War was a war of succession fought for control of the Chinese Nationalist Party after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. It was launched by the Yunnan clique against the party leadership and the New Guangxi clique.
Wang Chonghui was a prominent Chinese jurist, diplomat and politician who served the Republic of China from its foundation in 1912 until his death in 1958. He was a close associate of the republic's founding father, Sun Yat-sen, an active member of the Kuomintang, and a judge on the Permanent Court of International Justice in the Hague.
Li Liejun, was a Chinese revolutionary leader and general in the early Republic of China.
Cheng Qian was a Chinese army officer and politician who held very important military and political positions in both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. Educated at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and Waseda University, he first met Sun Yat-sen in Tokyo, becoming an early supporter. Later, under Chiang Kai-shek, he was one of the most powerful members of the Kuomintang, notably serving as Chief of Staff of the Military Affairs Commission during the Second Sino–Japanese War.
The Provisional Government of the Republic of China was a provisional government established during the Xinhai Revolution by the revolutionaries in 1912. After the success of the Wuchang Uprising, revolutionary provincial assembly representatives held a conference in the district of Wuchang, China, which framed the organizational outline of the Provisional Government.
The Republic of China (ROC), or simply China, is a sovereign state that was based on mainland China from 1912 to 1949 prior to the government's relocation to Taiwan, where it continues to be based today. The ROC was established on 1 January 1912 during the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty, ending the imperial history of China. The Republican government was ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT) as a one-party state based in Nanjing from 1927, until its flight to Taipei on 7 December 1949 following the KMT's de facto defeat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The CCP proclaimed the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, while the ROC retains control over the "Free Area", with the political status of Taiwan remaining in dispute to this day.
Xu Qian or George Hsu was a Chinese politician and jurist. He made important contribution to the judicial system of modern China.
Lü Chao, born in Xuzhou Fu, Yibin County, Sichuan, was a military and political figure in the early Republic of China's Warlord Era, active in his home province of Sichuan. He is known for fighting against Liu Cunhou and the Beijing Government and being one of the strongest supporters of Sun Yat-Sen in Sichuan.
The Second Revolution refers to a 1913 revolt by the governors of several southern Chinese provinces as well as supporters of Sun Yat Sen and the Kuomintang against the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China led by Yuan Shikai. It was quickly defeated by Yuan's armies and led to the continued consolidation of Yuan's powers as President of the Republic of China.
