The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

the Qing started to rock the dynasty from below. On
October 10, 1911, the revolutionaries in central China
staged the Wuchang Armed Uprising (武昌起义),
proclaiming the end of Qing and the beginning of the
ROC, setting off a chain defection of the provinces
from the Qing. October 10 is observed in mainland
China as the beginning of the ROC; it is the National
Day in Taiwan because the ROC government is still
there. (Taiwan and cross-Taiwan Strait relations will
be discussed in later sections.)
On January 1, 1912, an ROC interim government
was established in Nanjing (南京). Sun Yat-sen was
elected its provisional president. One month later, the
Qing Emperor abdicated its rule. The Qing Dynasty
was history.
1911-1949: Deadly Contests for the Fate of China.
With the downfall of the Qing Dynasty and China’s
2,000-plus-year-old dynastic order, the Chinese
leaders had an opportunity to start China’s modernization
mission anew. Unfortunately, they consumed
much of their energy through “in-house” fights (窝里
斗)—fighting among the Chinese themselves for the
control of China. 16 The opportunity for China’s modernization
slipped away.
The key stumbling block was the failure to establish
a functioning modern government and consolidate
the nation to work for modernization. Sun
Yat-sen initially wanted to build a new China as a federalist
union like the United States. 17 Yet his interim
government did not have the power to command the
warlord-divided nation to act as directed. And only a
few weeks into his presidency, Sun also had to give up
his presidency and turn it over to Yuan Shikai (袁世
38