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 emperor was to be referred to simply as "Huángdì Bìxià" (皇帝陛下, "Majesty|His/Her Majesty the Emperor") or "Dāngjīn Huángshàng" (當今皇上/当今皇上, "The Present Emperor Above") when spoken about in the third person. Under the Qing, the emperor was usually styled "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, Son of Heaven, Lord of Ten Thousand Years" although this varied considerably. Generally, emperors also ruled with an era name (年號/年号). Since the adoption of era name by Emperor Wu of Han and up until the Ming dynasty, the sovereign conventionally changed the era name semi-regularly during his or her reign. During