Beiyang government

The Beiyang government (Chinese: 北洋政府; pinyin: Běiyáng Zhèngfǔ; Wade–Giles: Pei-yang Chêng-fu) was the internationally recognized government of the Republic of China between 1912 and 1928, based in Beijing. It was dominated by Yuan Shikai and the other generals of his Beiyang Army, hence the name.

After the 1911 Revolution, Sun Yat-sen relinquished the presidency of the Republic of China to Yuan, the most powerful Qing general, in order to secure a peaceful abdication of the Qing court. Yuan refused to take office in the constitutional capital in Nanjing, and instead moved the central government to Beijing, where Yuan and his generals held sway. After Yuan died in 1916, the army split into various warlord factions competing for power, ushering in the Warlord Era. Nevertheless, the government maintained its legitimacy among the great powers, receiving diplomatic recognition, foreign loans, and access to tax and customs revenue. Its legitimacy was challenged in 1917 by Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement and was later overthrown by Chiang Kai-shek, who defeated the Beiyang warlords during the that unified China in 1928. The Chiang-led Nationalist government in Nanjing succeeded as the internationally recognized government of China.