<P> After World War II, the civil war between the ruling Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China resumed, despite attempts at mediation by the United States . The Nationalist Government began drafting the Constitution of the Republic of China under a National Assembly, but was boycotted by the communists . With the promulgation of the constitution, the Nationalist Government abolished itself and was replaced by the Government of the Republic of China . Following their loss of the Civil War, the Nationalist Government retreated moved their capital to Taiwan while claiming that they were the legitimate government of the mainland . </P> <P> After Sun's death on 12 March 1925, four months later on 1 July 1925, the National Government of the Republic of China was established in Guangzhou . </P> <P> The following year, Chiang Kai - shek became the de facto leader of the Kuomintang (KMT). Chiang led the Northern Expedition through China with the intention of defeating the warlords and unifying the country . Chiang received the help of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party; however, he soon dismissed his Soviet advisors . He was convinced, not without reason, that they wanted to get rid of the KMT (also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party) and take over . Chiang decided to strike first and purged the Communists, killing thousands of them . At the same time, other violent conflicts took place in the south of China where the Communist Party fielded superior numbers and were massacring Nationalist supporters . These events eventually led to the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party . Chiang Kai - shek pushed the Communist Party into the interior as he sought to destroy them, and moved the Nationalist Government to Nanjing in 1927 . Leftists within the KMT still allied to the communists, lead by Wang Jingwei, had established a rival Nationalist Government in Wuhan two months earlier, but soon joined Chiang in Nanjing in August 1927 . By the following year, Chiang's army had captured Beijing after overthrowing the Beiyang government and unified the entire nation, at least nominally, marking the beginning the Nanjing Decade . </P> <P> According to Sun Yat - sen's "Three Stages of Revolution" theory, the KMT was to rebuild China in three phases: the first stage was military unification, which was carried out with the Northern Expedition; the second was "political tutelage" which was a provisional government led by the KMT to educate people about their political and civil rights, and the third stage was constitutional government . By 1928, the Nationalists, having taken over power militarily and reunified China, started the second phase, promulgating a provisional constitution and beginning the period of so - called "tutelage". The KMT was criticized for instituting authoritarianism, but claimed it was attempting to establish a modern democratic society . Among others, they created at that time the Academia Sinica, the Central Bank of China, and other agencies . In 1932, China sent a team for the first time to the Olympic Games . Historians, such as Edmund Fung, argue that establishing a democracy in China at that time was not possible . The nation was at war and divided between Communists and Nationalists . Corruption within the government and lack of direction also prevented any significant reform from taking place . Chiang realized the lack of real work being done within his administration and told the State Council: "Our organization becomes worse and worse...many staff members just sit at their desks and gaze into space, others read newspapers and still others sleep ." The Nationalist government wrote a draft of the constitution on 5 May 1936 . Mass killing under the nationalists were common with millions of people killed . Notable mass killings include deaths from forced army conscription and the White Terror . </P>

Who led the nationalists in the chinese civil war