1.
Beiyang government
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The Beiyang government, also sometimes spelled Peiyang Government, refers to the government of the Republic of China, which was in place in the capital city Beijing from 1912 to 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 previous imperial Qing government. After his death the army fractured into competing factions, although the government and the state were nominally under civilian control under a constitution, the Beiyang generals were effectively in charge of it, with various factions vying for power. The government however enjoyed legitimacy abroad along with recognition, had access to the tax and customs revenue. Domestically, its legitimacy however was challenged by Sun Yat-sens Guangzhou-based Kuomintang government movement in 1917 and his successor Chiang Kai-shek defeated the Beiyang warlords during the Northern Expedition in 1926–28 and overthrew the government. The Kuomintang installed their Nationalist government in Nanjing and Chinas political order became a one-party regime, the relevant ministers had to countersign executive decrees for them to be binding. The most important ministries were army, finance, communications, the navy ministrys importance declined significantly after most of its ships defected to the Souths Constitutional Protection Movement in 1917. The communications ministry was responsible for transportation, mail. The interior ministry was responsible for policing and security while the weaker ministry of justice handled judicial affairs, the ministry of foreign affairs had a renowned diplomatic corps with figures such as Wellington Koo. Because the generals required their skills, the foreign ministry was given substantial independence. The ministrys greatest accomplishment was the 1922 return of German concessions in Shandong that were seized by Japan during World War I which greatly boosted the governments reputation, the foreign affairs ministry successfully denied the Souths government of any international recognition all the way until the Beiyang government collapsed. China was a member of the League of Nations. The assembly was bicameral with a senate that had six-year terms divided into two classes and a house of representatives with three year terms, the senators were chosen by the provincial assemblies and the representatives were chosen by an electoral college picked by a limited public franchise. The task of the assembly was to write a permanent constitution, draft legislation, approve the budget and treaties, ratify the cabinet, an independent judiciary with a supreme court was also provided. Early law codes were based on reforming the Great Qing Legal Code into something akin to German civil law, in reality, these institutions were undermined by strong personal and factional ties. Overall, the government was corrupt, incompetent, and tyrannical. Most of the revenue was spent on the forces of whichever faction that was currently in power. The short lived legislatures did have civilian cliques and debates but were subject to bribery, forced resignations and it was near bankruptcy several times where a mere million dollars could decide the fate of the bureaucracy
2.
Kuomintang
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The Kuomintang of China is a major political party in the Republic of China. It is currently the second-largest in the country, the predecessor of the KMT, the Revolutionary Alliance, was one of the major advocates of the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The KMT was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Sun was the provisional president but he did not have military power and ceded the first presidency to the military leader Yuan Shikai. After Yuans death, China was divided by warlords, while the KMT was able to only part of the south. Later led by Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT formed the National Revolutionary Army and it was the ruling party in mainland China from 1928 until its retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War. In Taiwan, the KMT continued as the ruling party until the reforms in the late 1970s through the 1990s loosened its grip on power. Since 1987, the Republic of China is no longer a single-party state, however, the KMT is currently the main opposition party in the Legislative Yuan. The guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, advocated by Sun Yat-sen and its party headquarters are located in Taipei. The KMT is a member of the International Democrat Union, the previous president, Ma Ying-jeou, elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, was the seventh KMT member to hold the office of the presidency. Together with the People First Party and New Party, the KMT forms what is known as the Taiwanese Pan-Blue Coalition, however, the KMT has been forced to moderate its stance by advocating the political and legal status quo of modern Taiwan. However, since 2008, in order to ease tensions with the PRC, the group planned and supported the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and the founding of the Republic of China on 1 January 1912. However, Sun did not have power and ceded the provisional presidency of the republic to Yuan Shikai. On 25 August 1912, the Nationalist Party was established at the Huguang Guild Hall in Peking, Sun, the then-President of the ROC, was chosen as the party chairman with Huang Xing as his deputy. The party opposed constitutional monarchists and sought to check the power of Yuan, the Nationalists won an overwhelming majority of the first National Assembly election in December 1912. But Yuan soon began to ignore the parliament in making presidential decisions, Song Jiaoren was assassinated in Shanghai in 1913. Yuan, claiming subversiveness and betrayal, expelled adherents of the KMT from the parliament, Yuan dissolved the Nationalists in November and dismissed the parliament early in 1914. Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor in December 1915, in order tonary Party, members must take an oath of personal loyalty to Sun, which many old revolutionaries regarded as undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of the revolution. Thus, many old revolutionaries did not join Suns new organisation, Sun returned to China in 1917 to establish a military junta at Canton, in order to against the Beiyang government, but was soon forced out of office and exiled to Shanghai
3.
Central Plains War
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The Central Plains War was a civil war within the factionalised Kuomintang that broke out in 1930. It was fought between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the coalition of three military commanders who were allied with Chiang, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang. The war was fought across the Central Plains, a region of China on the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It almost bankrupted Chiangs Nationalist government and cost over 300,000 total casualties, compared to other senior party officials like Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek was a rather junior official in the Kuomintang. He began his rise to prominence in 1917 in the Guangzhou government with his military talent, in 1923 he reached the turning point of his life when Chen Jiongming launched a rebellion against Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou. Chiang helped Sun retreat from Guangzhou, which gained Suns ultimate trust, after Suns death in 1925, cliques in the Kuomintang began to surface. A power struggle between Chiang and Wang Jingwei split the KMT, Chiang was able to use his influence as the commandant of Whampoa Academy to achieve eventual victory, and Wang was forced to leave the country for a few years. In 1926 Chiang was chosen as the commander of the National Revolutionary Army, the legitimacy of Chiangs government was thus seemingly decided. In October 1928 Chiang was elected President of the National Government by the KMT central executive committee, the objective of the Northern Expedition--unifying China--was proclaimed to be a full success. This nominal unification was soon challenged, however, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and Huang Shaohong of the Guangxi clique broke off relations with Chiang in March 1929, which effectively started the confrontation. In May Feng Yuxiang of the northwest clashed with Chiang, in November Li Zongren issued an anti-Chiang declaration, along with Wang Jingwei, who headed the leftist faction of the Kuomintang and was a rival of the right-wing Chiang. In December Tang Shengzhi and Zhang Fakui announced their support of the anti-Chiang coalition, the Nationalist government in Nanjing expelled Wang Jingwei from the party in March as a response to the anti-Chiang coalition. The anti-Chiang opposition moved to Beijing to set up a rival KMT government, in February 1930 Yan Xishan of the Shanxi clique demanded Chiangs resignation, which Chiang refused to give. Later that month Yan was chosen to be commander-in-chief of the coalition, while Feng, Li, in April all of them were sworn into their positions except Zhang, who was not committed to either side at the time. In 1928 a revolt led by Ma Tingxiang broke out among the Hui people in Gansu province against the Guominjun of Feng Yuxiang, Ma Tingxiang was attacked by Muslim Gen. Ma Hongbin, who was serving in Fengs administration in Ningxia. The Kuomintang incited anti-Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang sentiments among Chinese Muslims and Mongols, the revolt ended with all the Muslim generals and warlords, like Ma Qi, Ma Lin and Ma Bufang, reaffirming their allegiance to the Kuomintang government after defeating the Guominjun. The anti-Chiang coalition divided its offensive into various routes, Li Zongren led the Guangxi Army and deployed his forces from Guangxi into Hunan province and struck Wuhan. Feng Yuxiang led the Northwest Army, deploying it from Henan into Shandong province to assault Xuzhou, Yan Xishan led the Shanxi Army and cooperated with the Northwest Army from Shandong to strike Xuzhou and planned to march to Nanjing via railway
4.
Northern Expedition
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The Northern Expedition was a Kuomintang military campaign, led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, from 1926–28. Its main objective was to unify China under its own control by ending the rule of the Beiyang government as well as the local warlords and it led to the end of the Warlord Era, the reunification of China in 1928 and the establishment of the Nanjing government. The Northern Expedition, also known as the Northern March, began from the KMTs power base in Guangdong province, in 1925 the May 30 Movement announced plans for a strike and protest against western imperialism and its warlord agents in China. At the same time the First United Front between the KMT and the Communist Party of China was questioned after the Zhongshan Warship Incident in March 1926, subsequent events made Chiang Kai-shek the paramount military leader of the KMT. Although Chiang doubted Sun Yat-sens policy of alliance with the Soviet Union, notable military leaders and well-trained soldiers came from the Whampoa Military Academy, which was set up by Sun Yat-sen in 1924. The Academy accepted all persons regardless of party alignment, the success of the Northern Expedition can largely be attributed to both the KMT and CPC working together militarily. This unison, at the time, was encouraged by the Soviet Union. The main targets of this expedition were three notorious and powerful warlords, Zhang Zuolin, who governed Manchuria, Wu Peifu in the Central Plain region, and Sun Chuanfang on the east coast. On July 9,1926, Chiang gave a lecture to 100,000 soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army in a ceremony that was the commencement of the Northern Expedition. Following the defeat of the Zhili clique, Chiang decided to purge all Communists from the Kuomintang, in the Shanghai massacre of April 12, thousands of Communists were executed or went missing, while others were arrested and imprisoned. The purge caused a split between the KMTs left and right wings, the leftists, led by Wang Jingwei in the KMT capital at Wuhan, condemned Chiangs purge. Chiang, however, subsequently established his own capital in Nanjing, as a result, the Nationalist party and its military forces were in a state of disarray during the summer of 1927. The purge gave the warlords an opportunity to rebuild their armies, Sun Chuanfang began to marshal his forces with his ally Xu Kun, one of Chinas best generals. At the same time Sun was communicating with Zhang Zuolin of Manchuria, requesting assistance of any kind in the hopes of regaining his lost territory and he brought up an army of 100,000 men and arranged them around the Lower Yangtze River. The Nationalists were able to muster the same amount of manpower but were riven by political tensions, in addition, Sun and Xu Kun had the element of surprise on their side, for their attack was not fully expected by Chiang or his commanders. Finally, the Nationalists had stationed many of their troops north of the Yangtze in order to hold Xuzhou, leaving them exposed to the warlord armies, thus, many of Chiangs troops were in exposed and isolated positions that they could not defend properly, or with purpose. The stage was set for the last great struggle of the Warlord Era, on July 24 Sun Chuanfang ordered the counterattack to begin. His army, including Xu Kuns forces, tore through the surprised Nationalist troops, the Second Route Army, stationed in the area, was forced to withdraw south, using the Long-Hai railway as an escape route
5.
Zhang Zuolin
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Zhang Zuolin was the warlord of Manchuria from 1916-28, during the Warlord Era in China. He successfully invaded China proper in October 1924 in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War and he gained control of Peking, including Chinas internationally recognized government, in April 1926. The economy of Manchuria, the basis of Zhangs power, was overtaxed by his adventurism and he was defeated by the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek in May 1928. He was killed by a bomb planted by a Japanese Kwantung Army officer on 4 June 1928, although Zhang had been Japans proxy in China, Japanese militarists were infuriated by his failure to stop the advance of the Nationalists. Zhang was fiercely anti-Republican and supported the restoration of the Qing dynasty and his nicknames include the Old Marshal, Rain Marshal and Mukden Tiger. The American press referred to him as Marshal Chang Tso-lin, Tuchun of Manchuria, Zhang was born in 1875 in Haicheng, a county in southern Fengtian province in northeastern China, to poor parents. He received little education, and the only non-military trade that he learned in his lifetime was a small amount of veterinary science. His grandfather had come to the northeast after fleeing a famine in Zhili in 1821, as a child, Zhang was known by the nickname pimple. He spent his youth hunting, fishing and brawling. He hunted hares in the Manchurian countryside to feed his family. In appearance, he was thin, and rather short and it was asserted that he was a Han Chinese Bannerman by Zhang. When he became old enough to work, he worked at a stable in an inn, as early as 1896, Zhang himself was a member of a well-known bandit gang. In one version of his beginnings as a warlord, during a trip he spotted a wounded bandit on horseback, killed him, took his horse. By his late 20s he had formed a personal army. His bandit career was euphemistically referred to as his experience in the University of the Green Forest, in 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out, and Zhangs gang joined the imperial army. In peacetime, he hired his men out as escorts for travelling merchants, in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05 the Japanese Army employed Zhang and his men as mercenaries. At the end of the Qing dynasty, Zhang managed to have his men recognised as a regiment of the regular Chinese army, patrolling the borders of Manchuria and suppressing other bandit gangs. Dr. Louis Livingston Seaman met Zhang during the Russo-Japanese War, for his efforts in preventing civil disturbance and revolution, Zhang was named the Vice Minister of Military Affairs
6.
Zhang Xueliang
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As a result, he spent over fifty years under house arrest, first in mainland China and then in Taiwan. He is regarded by the Chinese Communist Party as a patriotic hero, born in Haicheng in 1901, Zhang was educated by private tutors and, unlike his father, felt at ease in the company of westerners. Zhang Xueliang graduated from Fengtian Military Academy, was made a Colonel in the Fengtian Army, in 1921, he was sent to Japan to observe military maneuvers, where he developed a special interest in aircraft. Later, he developed an air corps for the Fengtian Army, in 1922, he was advanced to Major General and commanded an army-sized force, two years later he was also made commander of the air units. Upon the death of his father in 1928, he succeeded him as the leader of the Northeast Peace Preservation Forces, which controlled Chinas northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Fengtian, in December of the same year he proclaimed his allegiance to the Kuomintang. The Japanese believed that Zhang Xueliang, who was known as a womanizer, an officer of the Japanese Kwantung Army therefore killed his father Zhang Zuolin by exploding a bomb above his train while it crossed under a railroad bridge. Surprisingly, the younger Zhang proved to be more independent than anyone had expected, with the assistance of William Henry Donald, he overcame his opium addiction and declared his support for Chiang Kai-shek. In order to rid his command of Japanese influence he had two prominent pro-Tokyo officials executed in front of the guests at a dinner party in January 1929. It was a decision for him to make. The two had powers over the heads of others, Zhang was a fierce critic of many of the Soviet Unions policies which served to undermine Chinese sovereignty, including its interference in Outer Mongolia. When he attempted to wrest control over a part of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Heilongjiang from the Soviets, at the same time, he developed closer relations with the United States. In accordance with this strategy, Zhangs armies withdrew from the front lines without significant engagements, there has been speculation that Chiang Kai-Shek wrote a letter to Zhang asking him to pull his forces back, but later Zhang stated that he himself issued the orders. Apparently Zhang was aware of how weak his forces were compared to the Japanese, nonetheless this would still be in line with Chiangs overall strategic standings. Zhang later traveled in Europe before returning to China to take command of the Communist Suppression Campaigns first in Hebei-Henan-Anhui, on 6 April 1936, Zhang met with Zhou Enlai to plan the end of the Chinese Civil War. He believed that communism was a cancer while the Japanese represented a superficial wound, however, growing nationalist anger against Japan made this position very unpopular, leading to Zhangs action against Chiang known as Xian incident. After the negotiations, Chiang agreed to unite with the communists, when Chiang was released, Zhang chose to return to the capital with him. However, once they were away from Zhangs loyal troops, Chiang had him put under house arrest, from there he was always watched and lived near the Nationalist capital wherever it moved to. In 1949 Zhang was transferred to Taiwan where he remained under a house arrest for the next 40 years in a villa in Taipeis northern suburbs
7.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
