Duan Qirui was a Chinese warlord, politician and commander of the Beiyang Army who ruled as the effective dictator of northern China in the late 1910s. He was the Premier of the Republic of China on four occasions between 1913 and 1918, and from 1924 to 1926 he served as acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China in Beijing.

The Empire of China, also known in historiography as the Hongxian Monarchy, was a short-lived attempt by Chinese president Yuan Shikai from late 1915 to early 1916 to reinstate the monarchy in China, with himself as emperor. The attempt ultimately failed, set back the republican cause by several years, and led China into a period of fracture and conflict among various local warlords.