Republic of China (Alternate)

The Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as China, is a country in East Asia. Reaching a population of 538 Million in 1943, it is the most populous country in the world. The Republic was declared on 1 January 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China, ending 5,000 years of monarchy in China. Sun Yat-Sen, founder of the nation only served briefly as president before handing the position over to Yuan Shikai, leader of the Beiyang Army. Sun's party, the Kuomintang, then lead by Song Jiaoren, won the parliamentary election held in December 1912. Song was later assassinated on Yuan's order, and soon, Yuan, with full control of the Republic and the Beiyang Army, declared himself Emperor and founded the Empire of China, before abdicating after not long due to public unrest. After Yuan's death in 1916, a restoration of the Qing weakened the Beiyang Army, and many Cliques declared independence and began to fight each other.

During this time, the Kuomintang was building up military and political strength in the South of the country. By 1921, the Kuomintang, with help by the Communist Party of China, declared the Nationalist Government, while the economy of Northern China, under the Beiyang Government, faced an economic crash. General Chiang Kai-Shek, who became the Chairman of the Kuomintang after Sun's death, launched the Northern Expedition against the Beiyang Government in 1926, which was accomplished in 1928. However, in April 1927, Chiang set up a Nationalist Government in Nanjing and purged communists in Shanghai, forcing the communists to become an armed rebellion, thus beginning the Chinese Civil War. China experienced some industrialization during the 1930s but suffered setbacks from conflicts between the Nationalist government in Nanjing, the CPC, remaining warlords, and the Empire of Japan. Nation-building efforts yielded to fight the Second Sino-Japanese War, when Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937.

In the past year, China has seen a major rise in Qing restorationism, calling for a Constitutional Monarchy to be replacing the Republic, and the Nation has won fighting a civil war against Qing Restorationists from the remnants of Japanese occupied Manchukuo.