Republic to 1949

In 1912 the Republic of China was founded and the last emperor stepped down: the age of emperors was over. Warlords fought, the Northern Expedition marched, then came the War of Resistance against Japan and the civil war, as China searched, wave upon wave, for a new road.

It was also an age of awakening: the New Culture movement called for democracy and science, the May Fourth movement stirred the young, and schools, newspapers, and factories changed how people lived.

In 1949 the People's Republic was founded and the story of the Republican years closed. For this nearest stretch of history, textbooks, photographs, and grandparents' telling help us see it clearly.