History of the Republic of China elected Sun Yat-sen as the first Provisional President of the Republic of China. Yuan Shikai agreed to accept the Republic and forced the last emperor of China, Puyi, to abdicate on February 12. Empress Dowager Longyu signed the abdication papers. Puyi was allowed to continue living in the Forbidden City, however. The Republic of China officially succeeded the Qing Dynasty. Some advocated that a Han be installed as Emperor, either the descendant of Confucius, who was the Duke Yansheng, or the Ming dynasty Imperial family descendant, the Marquis of Extended Grace. On 1 January 1912, Sun officially declared the establishment
Emperor of China also went through the rituals of formally declaring a new dynasty and taking on the Chinese title of "Huangdi", in addition to the titles of their respective people. Thus, Kublai Khan was simultaneously Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of China. On one count, from the Qin dynasty to the Qing dynasty, there were 557 emperors including the rulers of minor states. Some, such as Li Zicheng, Huang Chao, and Yuan Shu, declared themselves the Emperors, Son of Heaven and founded their own empires as a rival government to challenge the legitimacy of and overthrow the existing Emperor. Among the