Xia Chao was the long-time police chief of Zhejiang Province during the Chinese Warlord Era (1916–1928), and also served as the province's civil governor from 1924 to 1926. He was among the most powerful political figures in Zhejiang throughout much of his career. In order to maintain and expand his influence over the province, Xia opportunistically played out different Chinese warlord factions against each other. Plotting to gain Zhejiang's independence from the warlord regime of Sun Chuanfang, Xia launched a rebellion in 1926, but was captured and summarily executed.

Zhejiang or Chekiang is a de jure province in the Republic of China according to the ROC law, as the ROC government formally claims to be the legitimate government of the whole China. Founded after the collapse of the Qing dynasty, it was de facto abolished after the ROC armed forces, ROC government officials and local residents were evacuated from Dachen to Taiwan in 1955 following the military defeat of the ROC by People's Liberation Army forces of the newly-founded People's Republic of China during the Battle of Dachen Archipelago.