1927. In reality the three original principles were left unrealized. Republican China was marked by warlordism, foreign invasion, and civil war. Although there were elected legislators from its inception, it was actually a largely one-party dictatorship apart from some minor parties, including the Chinese Youth Party, the National Socialist Party and the Rural Construction Party, with suppression of dissent of communists within the KMT. As the central government was quite weak, little could be done in terms of land reform or redistribution of wealth. Politics of this era consisted primarily of the political and military struggle between the KMT and the CCP in between bouts of active resistance against Japanese invasion. Political structure The first national government of the Chinese Republic was established on 1 January 1912, in Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen as the provisional president. Provincial delegates were sent to confirm the authority of the national government, and they later also formed the first parliament. The power of this national government was both limited and short-lived, with generals controlling all of central and northern China. The limited acts passed by this government included the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty and some economic initiatives. Shortly after the rise of Yuan Shikai, the parliament's authority became nominal; violations of the Constitution by Yuan were met with half-hearted motions of censure, and KMT members of the parliament that gave up their membership to the KMT were offered 1,000 pounds. Yuan maintained power locally by sending military generals to be provincial governors or by obtaining the allegiance of those already in power. Foreign powers came to recognize Yuan's power as well: when Japan came to China with Twenty-One Demands, it was Yuan that submitted to them, on 25 May 1915. After the death of Yuan in 1916, the parliament of 1913 was reconvened to give legitimacy to a new government. However, the real power of the time passed to military leaders, forming the warlord period. Still, the powerless government had its use—when World War I began, several Western powers and Japan wanted China to declare war on Germany, in order to liquidate the latter's holdings there. From the beginning to the end of Republican China, political power was generally exercised through both legal and non-legal means. Yuan ruled as a dictator, remolding the constitution as he saw fit; warlords withdrew from the Republic, ruling through military control; and Chiang based his political