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The vast majority of the population were peasants. Their life was hard, working the land, and most were extremely poor.
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The political weakness of the Manchu dynasty intensified with the death of the emperor. The former Emperor`s brother, Prince Chun, ruled as regent, but was not capable of conducing the essential programme reform.
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In October 1911, the ruling dynasty was overthrown in a revolution know as the Double Tenth that began when the government lost control of the military; soldiers in Wuchang revolted and rebellion spread quickly
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In November 1911, in an attempt to seize the political initiative, delegates from the independent provinces gathered in Nanjing to declare the creation of a Chinese Republic.
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Sun agreed for Yuan Shikai to be President of the new republic in February 1912, in exchange for the end of Manchu rule in China
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On february 1912, Pu Yi abdicated.
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Sun´s party r formed as the Guomindang and declared itself a parliamentary party
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A second revolution failed and Sun had to flee to japan.
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Yuan´s final miscalculation was to proclaim himself Emperor. At this point he lost the support of the military and stood down. He died three months later
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Students led a mass demonstration in Beijing against warlords, traditional Chinese culture and the Japanese. The May Fourth Movement was dedicated to change and the rebirth of China as a proud and independent nation
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The Chinese Communist Party was conformed by intellectuals and it had no real military strength
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These two groups- communists and nationalists were to come together in an alliance.
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Both the GMD and the CCP wanted a unified China. They agreed that the first step this was to get rid of the warlords
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By the time Sun died, the GMD had made little progress towards fulfilling their "Three Principles".
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The GMD set out in the northern expedition to crush the warlords of central and northern China.
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The GMD and the communists had captured Hangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing
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Despite attempts to resist (Mao´s Autumn Harvest Rising failed), the CCP was very nearly crushed by the end of 1927
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Jiang now expelled all communists from the GMD and his attacks on the communists reached a peak in Shanghai
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Within two years, the United Front of the GMD and the Cup had destroyed the power of warlords, and the GMD announced that it was the legitimate government of China and the new capital and seat of government would be Nanjing
