Editing Nanjing (section)

=== Capital of the Republic and Nanjing Massacre ===
{{see also|Battle of Nanking|Nanjing Massacre}}
[[File:National Government of the R.O.C.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Presidential Building (Nanjing)|Presidential Palace]] of the National Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing, 1927]]
The [[Xinhai Revolution]] led to the founding of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] in January 1912 with [[Sun Yat-sen]] as the first provisional president and Nanjing was selected as its new capital.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} However, the Qing Empire controlled large regions to the north, so the revolutionaries asked [[Yuan Shikai]] to replace Sun as president in exchange for the abdication of [[Puyi]], the last emperor. Yuan demanded the capital be moved to Beijing (closer to his power base).{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In 1927, the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT; Nationalist Party) under Generalissimo [[Chiang Kai-shek]] again established Nanjing as the capital of the Republic of China, and this became internationally recognized once KMT forces took Beijing in 1928. The following decade is known as the [[Nanjing decade]]. During this decade, Nanjing was of symbolic and strategic importance. The Ming dynasty had made Nanjing a capital, the republic had been established there in 1912, and [[Sun Yat-sen]]'s provisional government had been there.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} Sun's body was brought and placed in a [[Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum|grand mausoleum]] to cement Chiang's legitimacy. Chiang was born in the neighboring province of [[Zhejiang]] and the general area had strong popular support for him.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
[[File:Crossing river by Gate of China01.jpg|thumb|left|Japanese soldiers entering the walled city of Nanjing through the [[Gate of China, Nanjing|Gate of China]]]]
In 1927, the Nationalist government proposed a comprehensive planning proposal, the Capital Plan ({{lang|zh-Hant|首都計劃}}), to reconstruct the war-torn city of Nanjing into a modern capital.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} It was a decade of extraordinary growth with an enormous amount of construction. A lot of government buildings, residential houses, and modern public infrastructures were built. During this boom, Nanjing reputedly became one of the most modern cities in China.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In 1937, the [[Empire of Japan]] started a full-scale invasion of China after invading Manchuria in 1931, beginning the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (often considered a theater of [[World War II]]).<ref>Fu Jing-hui, An Introduction of Chinese and Foreign History of War, 2003, p.109–111</ref> Their troops occupied Nanjing in December and carried out the systematic and brutal [[Nanjing Massacre]] (the "Rape of Nanjing").<ref name="ReferenceA">[[John E. Woods (translator)|John E. Woods]], ''[[The Good Man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe]]'', 1998 P. 275-278</ref> The total death toll, including estimates made by the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] and the [[Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal]] after the atomic bombings, was between 300,000 and 350,000.<ref>Document sent by former Japanese foreign minister [[Kōki Hirota]] to the Japanese Embassy in Washington on January 17, 1938, (Ref. National Archives, Washington, D.C., Released in Sept. 1994.)</ref> The city itself was also severely damaged during the massacre.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The [[Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall]] was built in 1985 to commemorate this event.

A few days before the fall of the city, the National Government of China was relocated to the southwestern city [[Chongqing]] and resumed Chinese resistance. In 1940, a Japanese-collaborationist government known as the "[[Wang Jingwei Government|Nanjing Regime]]" or "Reorganized National Government of China" led by [[Wang Jingwei]] was established in Nanjing as a rival to [[Chiang Kai-shek]]'s government in Chongqing.<ref>{{cite book |title=Imperial Japan and national identities in Asia, 1895–1945 |year=2003 |first1=Li |first2=R.B. |last1=Narangoa |last2=Cribb |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-7007-1482-0 |page=13}}</ref> In 1946, after the [[Surrender of Japan]], the KMT relocated its central government back to Nanjing.
[[File:Hall of Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum]] is the tomb of [[Sun Yat-sen]], the first president of the [[Republic of China]]]]