For over 2,000 years, China lived under imperial rule.

A series of dynasties and emperors were the defining feature of Chinese governance.

However, in the early 20th century, China threw off its imperial rulers

and became, for the first time in its history a republic.

Much of the reason why China became a republic was due to one man.

Learn more about Sunyat-sen and the downfall of Imperial China on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The first Emperor of the Unified China is usually recognized to be Chin-shi Huang, the first

emperor of the Chin dynasty. He took power in the year 221 BC.

Before that, China wasn't unified, but there were still centuries of kings and other rulers

dating back at least 5,000 years.

There were other shorter periods between some dynasties where kings or warlords ruled parts of China.

The point is that for all of Chinese history it had some sort of one person rule.

China was never a republic and there was no republican tradition to be found in China or in Chinese political philosophy.

By the end of the 19th century, however, things had started to change.

The ruling dynasty in China at this time was the Qing Dynasty.

They had done a poorer job of ruling China over the last 100 years

as European powers managed to force China

into signing a series of treaties that

humiliated and impoverished the country. There had also been a series of

rebellions against the Qing in the 19th century which killed over 30 million people collectively, the largest of which was the

Taiping rebellion from December 1850 to July 1864, which will be the subjects of its own

future episode.

A group of Chinese intellectuals began to realize that maybe there was a better way.

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