Almost immediately the new republic was in trouble. Though a parliament was duly elected in 1913, it lacked any real political or military force; in addition, northern China was controlled by the former leader of the Imperial Army, Yuan Shikai (who had forced the abdication of the last emperor, Pu Yi ). Sun Yatsen, faced with a choice between probable civil war and relinquishing his presidency at the head of the newly formed Nationalist People's Party, the Guomindang , stepped down. Yuan promptly dismissed the government, forced Sun into renewed exile, and attempted to centralize power - clearly with a view to establishing a new dynasty. But his plans were stalled by his generals, who wanted private fiefdoms of their own, and Yuan's sudden death in 1916 marked the last time in 34 years that China would be united under a single authority. While bickering between Yuan's generals plunged the north into civil war, Sun Yatsen returned yet again, this time to found a southern Guomindang government.

 

Thus divided, China was unable to stem the increasingly bold territorial incursions made by Japan and other colonial powers as a result of World War I . Siding with the Allies, Japan had claimed the German port of Qingdao and all German shipping and industry in the Shangdong Peninsula on the outbreak of war, and in 1915 presented China with Twenty-One Demands , many of which Yuan Shikai, under threat of a Japanese invasion, was forced to accept. After the war, hopes that the 1919 Treaty of Versailles would end Japanese aggression (as well as the unequal treaties and foreign concessions) were dashed when the Western powers, who had already signed secret pacts with Japan, confirmed Japan's rights in China. This ignited what became known as the May 4 Movement , the first in a series of anti-foreign demonstrations and riots.