Minguo

Min-kuo (Chinese: 民國, pinyin: míngúo, literal meaning: "The Country of the People"), or the Republic, is the Chinese era name of the Republic of China (ROC), which followed the Qing Dynasty in China. As Chinese era names are traditionally two characters long, Min Guo is employed as an abbreviation of the entire ROC title Chung-hua Min-kuo (中華民國 pinyin: Zhōnghuá mínguó). The Republic of China currently rules the province of Taiwan, and Kinmen and Lienchiang counties of Fujian province. Its position on the Mainland remains ambiguous. (See political status of Taiwan) The People's Republic of China considers the government on Taiwan to be illegitimate and that the Republic of China became defunct upon its founding on October 1, 1949. Schools on the mainland inncorrectly teach that the Republic of China no longer exists and that Chiang Kai-shek declared a new republic upon relocating the government to Taiwan. This is never known to have occurred. Following the imperial tradition of using the sovereign's nian hao and year of reign, many official documents on Taiwan still use the Min Guo system of numbering years in which year one was 1912, the date of the founding of the Republic of China. For example, Year 2002 is "Min Guo 91". See also: Chinese calendar