Constitution of the Republic of China in the context of "Free area of the Republic of China"

The Nationalist government, Nationalist regime and Nationalist China, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refer to the government of the Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) under Chiang Kai-shek.

Following the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen was elected to be China's provisional president and founded the Provisional Government of the Republic of China. To preserve national unity, Sun ceded the presidency to military strongman Yuan Shikai, who established the Beiyang government. After a failed attempt to install himself as Emperor of China, Yuan died in 1916, leaving a power vacuum which resulted in China being divided into several warlord fiefs and rival governments. They were nominally reunified in 1928 under the Nanjing-based government led by Chiang Kai-shek, which after the Northern Expedition initially governed the country as a one-party state under the Kuomintang, and was subsequently given international recognition as the legitimate representative of China, with Chiang as a de facto leader of the country under a military dictatorship. The Nationalist government would then experience many further challenges such as the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War. The government was in place until it was replaced by the current Government of the Republic of China in the newly promulgated Constitution of the Republic of China of 1947.

Fuchien (Mandarin pronunciation: [fǔ.tɕjɛ̂n] ), formerly romanized as Fukien, is a de jure administrative division of Taiwan (ROC), whose constitution retains provinces as a titular division with no practical administrative function.

It includes three small archipelagos off the coast of Fujian Province of the People's Republic of China, namely the Matsu Islands, which make up Lienchiang County, and the Wuqiu Islands and Kinmen Islands, which make up Kinmen County. Its administrative center is the Kinmen-Matsu Joint Services Center in Jincheng, Kinmen, serving as its de facto capital. The province is also known as the Golden Horse (Chinese: 金馬; pinyin: jīnmǎ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kim-bé), after the literal reading of the Chinese character abbreviation for "Kinmen-Matsu".

Taiwan Province (Chinese: 臺灣省; pinyin: Táiwān Shěng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân-séng; PFS: Thòi-vàn-sén or Thòi-vân-sén) is a de jure administrative division of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Provinces remain a titular division as a part of the Constitution of the Republic of China, but are no longer considered to have any administrative function practically.

Taiwan Province covers approximately 69% of the island of Taiwan, and comprises around 31% of the total population. The province initially covered the entire island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu (the Pescadores), Orchid Island, Green Island, Xiaoliuqiu Island, and their surrounding islands. Between 1967 and 2014, six special municipalities (Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei and Taoyuan) were split off from the province, all in the most populous regions.

The Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China are the revisions and amendments to the original constitution of the Republic of China to "meet the requisites of the nation prior to national unification", taking into account the democratic reforms and current political status of Taiwan. The Additional Articles are usually attached after the original constitution as a separate document. It also has its own preamble and article ordering different from the original constitution.

The Additional Articles has been part of the fundamental law of the present government of the Republic of China on Taiwan since 1991, and were last amended in 2005. The Additional Articles will sunset in the event the Republic of China regains control of the Mainland Area.

The Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of China were effective from 1948 to 1991 and amended four times by the Central Government of China. They effectively nullified the constitution and established martial law in Taiwan, where civil and political freedoms were curtailed. The official rationale for the provisions was the ongoing Chinese Civil War. However, with the demise of the Kuomintang single-party system, the provisions were repealed.

The Republic of China Armed Forces (Chinese: 中華民國國軍; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guójūn; lit. 'Republic of China National Military') are the national military forces of the Republic of China (ROC), which is now based primarily in the Taiwan Area but formerly governed Mainland China prior to 1949. The armed forces comprise the Army, Navy (including the Marine Corps), Air Force, and Military Police Force. The military operates under the civilian control of the Ministry of National Defense, a cabinet-level body overseen by the Legislative Yuan.

Formerly known as the National Revolutionary Army (NRA), it was renamed the Republic of China Armed Forces in 1947 due to the implementation of the newly promulgated Constitution of the Republic of China. It was also historically referred to as the Chinese National Armed Forces (CNAF) prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China on the Chinese mainland and the gradual loss of international recognition in the 1970s by the United Nations and many countries, including the ROC's close ally, the United States.

The Legislative Yuan (Chinese: 立法院; pinyin: Lìfǎyuàn; lit. 'Law-establishing court') is the unicameral legislature of Republic of China (Taiwan), which ruled Mainland China prior to its retreat in 1949, located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan area through a parallel voting system.

Originally located in Nanjing, the Legislative Yuan, along with the National Assembly (electoral college) and the Control Yuan (upper house), formed the tricameral parliament under the original 1947 Constitution. The Legislative Yuan previously had 760 members representing constituencies in all of China (includes provinces, municipalities, Tibet Area, and various professions in Mainland China).