Previous history: revolution against the Manchus -The Wuchang uprising - Sun Yat-sen's provisional government of Nanjing - Rise and fall of Yuan Shikai - The period of the warlords - The rise of the communists - Chiang Kai-shek and the northern expedition - The Nanjing government and the civil war -War against the Japanese aggression - The end of the Republic of China

Previous history: revolution against the Manchus

The Qing Dynasty 清, founded in 1644 by the Non-Chinese Manchu federation, has lead China to glory and prosperity during the 18th century. With the advent of Western merchants, followed by troops supporting their market expansion into China, the high-balance civilization of Qing China was challenged in a way that proved more and more the inability of the Manchu government to cope with the technically superior West and its aggressive colonialist behaviour. Even the self-strengthening movement of the highest bureaucrat nobility could not alter the backwardness of Qing China against the Western imperialists. The lost war of 1895 against Japan - an Asian nation that had been able to reform itself - and the shameful defeat during the Boxer Uprising in 1900 convinced Chinese intellectuals that reform (gaige 改革) was not the way to resolve China's problems. The only way to save China further exploitation was the overthrow of the corrupt and unable Manchu goverment: revolution (geming 革命).

The Wuchang uprising

The military uprising that took place on October 10, 1911 in Wuchang 武昌 (a part of modern Wuhan 武漢/Hubei) was lead by some revolutionary soldiers of the local New Army (xinjun 新軍) as reaction on the nationalization of the Sichuan railway, was immediately answered by many provincial troops among China. One of the leaders of the Wuchang uprising (Wuchang qiyi 武昌起義), Li Yuanhong 黎元洪, was chosen as governor (dudu 都督) of the independent Hubei military government, and this area, the outline for a provisional national government was promoted that sould be administered Nanjing. Sun Yat-sen (Sun Wen 孫文 or Sun Zhongshan 孫中山), the prominent leader of the Chinese revolutionaries, should act as president (dazongtong 大總統) of the republican government. In January 1912 Sun Yat-sen took over presidency over the Republic of China (Zhonghua minguo 中華民國), introduced the solar calendar, fixed 1912 as the first year of the Republic (similar to the traditional reign mottos of the emperors), and fixed a new national flag with five colors.

Sun Yat-sen's provisional government of Nanjing

The adminstration of the provisional republican government in Nanjing followed the separation of powers of modern Western style republics. The ministers of the republic came partially Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui 同盟會, partially the Constitutionalist Party Lixianpai 立憲派, the most famous minister being education minister Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培. The legislation was in the hands of the Legislation Court or Upper House (Canyiyuan 參議院), representants the provinces. In the eyes of communist historians, the year 1912 is interpreted as the end of the feudal age and the begin of the age of bourgeois rulership after a bourgeois revolution (1911 was the year xinhai 辛亥 according to the traditional Chinese calendric system, the revolution is hence called Xinhai geming 辛亥革命). The new republican government acknowledged the unequal treatises (bupingdeng tiaoyue 不平等條約) signed between the Qing government and the foreign powers, and took over the foreign debts of the Qing government. But instead of resuming relationships with the new governme chemistry.
Likewise, medicine became an integral part of Chinese science:
- general description, acupuncture and moxibustion in the book Huangdi Neijing 黃帝内經
- acupuncture and moxibustion in the books Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing 針灸甲乙經 by Huangfu Mi 皇甫謐
- pulse diagnostics in Wang Shuhe's 王叔和 book Maijing 脈經
- general medicine in Long Qingxuan's 龔慶宣 book Liu Juanzi Guiyifang劉涓子鬼遺方 and in Ge Hong's 葛洪 Zhouhou Beijifang 肘后备急方
- pharmakology in Tao Hongjing's Bencaojing 本草經, Cheng Yanzhi's 陳延之 Xiaopinfang 小品方, and the book Leigong Baozhi Lun 雷公炮炙論
Astronomy and mathematics always played an important rolefor Chinese scientists. A couple of old mathematical books is combined tothe "Ten Classics of Mathematics" (Suanshu Shijing 算書十經), among these Liu Hui's劉徽 Haidao Suanjing　海島算經 and Zu Chongzhi's 祖衝之 Zhuishu 綴術 (lost). Chinesemathematicians and astrologers of this historical period developed the methodof parallax (chongcha 重差) to determine the distance of stars. Calculation with segmentsof a circle (geyuan 割圓) was known as well as the calculation of theconstant Pi π (yuanzhoulü 圓周率).