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 commanders, after conquering a number of Southern provinces, placed the latter under Northern generals.

There were several attempts to reinstate the 1913 Parliament, which had been introduced by Yuan Shih-kai, or to convene bogus Parliaments, two attempts to establish monarchical rule, many changes of Presidents and Cabinets, continuous shifting of allegiance among military leaders, and many declarations of temporary independence of one or more provinces. In Canton, the Kuomintang Government, headed by Dr. Sun, succeeded in maintaining itself from 1917 onwards, with occasional intervals during which it ceased to function. During these years China was ravaged by warring factions; and the ever-present bandits grew into veritable armies by the enlistment of ruined farmers, desperate inhabitants of famine-stricken districts, or unpaid soldiers. Even the constitutionalists, who were fighting in the South, were repeatedly exposed to the danger of militarist feuds arising in their midst.

In 1923, convinced by Russian revolutionists that a definite programme, strict party discipline, and systematic propaganda were necessary to ensure the victory of his cause, Dr. Sun Yat-sen re-organised the Kuomintang with a programme which he outlined in his "Manifesto" and "Three Principles of the People ". Systematic organisation ensured party discipline and unity of action through the intermediary of a Central Executive Committee. A political training institute instructed propagandists and organisers of local branches, while a military training institute at Whampoo, with the help of Russian officers, was instrumental in providing the party with an efficient army, the leaders of which were permeated with the idea of the party. Thus equipped, the Kuomintang was soon ready to establish contacts with the people at large. Sympathisers were organised in local branches or in peasant and labour unions affiliated to the party. This preliminary conquest of the people's mind was, after the death of Dr. Sun in 1925, followed up by the successful Northern Expedition of the Kuomintang Army, which, by the end of 1928, succeeded in producing a nominal unity for the first time in many years, and a measure of actual unity which lasted for a time.

The first, or military, phase of Dr. Sun's programme had thus been brought to a successful end.

The second period of political tutelage under party dictatorship could begin. It was to be devoted to the education of the people in the art of self-government and to the reconstruction of the country.

In 1927, a Central Government was established at Nanking. It was controlled by the party ─ it was, in fact, merely one important organ of the party. It consisted of five Yuans or Boards (the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial, the Control, and the Examination Boards). The Government had been modelled as closely as possible on the lines of Dr.Sun's "Five-Power Constitution"─the Trias Politica of Montesquieu with the addition of two old Chinese institutions, the Censorate and the Public Services Examination Board─in order to facilitate the transition to the final or constitutional stage, when the people, partly directly and partly through its elected representatives, would itself take charge of the direction of its government.

In the provinces, similarly, a committee system was adopted for the organisation of provincial governments, while in villages, towns and districts, the people were to be trained in the handling of local self-government. The party was now ready to put into operation its schemes of political and economic reconstruction, but was prevented from doing so by internal dissensions, the periodical revolt of various Generals with personal armies,