This is a list of the presidents of the Republic of China.
The Republic of China controlled Mainland China before 1949. In the fall of 1949, the ROC government retreated to Taiwan and surrounding islands as a result of the takeover of the mainland by the Chinese Communist Party and founding of the People's Republic of China. Since 1949, the Republic of China, now commonly known as "Taiwan", has only controlled Taiwan and nearby islands. Martial law ended in Taiwan in the 1980s and direct elections were introduced in 1996.
The official name of the office in Chinese has changed several times.
| Year | Chinese | Mandarin Pinyin | Taiwanese Pe̍h-ōe-jī | Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ | English Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912–1928 | Dàzǒngtǒng | Tōa-chóng-thóng | Thai-chúng-thúng | Great President | ||
| 1928–1947 | Guómín Zhèngfǔ Zhǔxí | Kok-bîn Chèng-hú Chú-se̍k | Koet-mìn Chṳn-fú Chú-si̍t | Chairman of the Nationalist Government | ||
| 1947–present | Zǒngtǒng | Chóng-thóng | Chúng-thúng | President |
Provisional Government:
Beiyang Government:
Nationalist to Constitutional Government:
| No. | Portrait | width=18% | Name | Term of office | Political party | Vice President | Assembly (elected) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sun Yat-sen 孫中山< | --The most common name he is known in Chinese is Sun Zhongshan 孫中山. While Sun-Yat-sen corresponds to 孫逸仙, but that is not the name in Chinese he is most known as. The previous name, Sun Wen 孫文, was his "big name"/school name, but this is not his most common name in Chinese--> (1866–1925) | 1 January 1912 | 10 March 1912 | Tongmenghui | Li Yuanhong (Independent) | Provisional (1911) | ||
| 2 | Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 (1859–1916) | 10 March 1912 | 10 October 1913 | Beiyang clique | Li Yuanhong (Independent) | Provisional (1912) | |||
| No. | Portrait | width=18% | Name | Term of office | Political party | Vice President | Assembly (elected) | ||
| 1 | Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 (1859–1916) | 10 October 1913 | 6 June 1916[1] [2] | Beiyang clique | bgcolor=#008000 | Li Yuanhong (Progressive) | 1st (1913) | ||
| 2 | Li Yuanhong 黎元洪 (1864–1928) | 7 June 1916 | 17 July 1917[3] [4] | Progressive Party | Feng Guozhang (Zhili clique) | ||||
| — | Feng Guozhang 馮國璋 (1859–1919) (acting)[5] | 17 July 1917 | 10 October 1918 | Zhili clique | Vacant | ||||
| 3 | Xu Shichang 徐世昌 (1855–1939) | 10 October 1918 | 2 June 1922 | Anhui clique | Vacant | 2nd (1918) | |||
| — | Zhou Ziqi 周自齊 (1871–1923) (acting)[6] | 2 June 1922 | 11 June 1922 | Communications Clique | Vacant | ||||
| (2) | Li Yuanhong 黎元洪 (1864–1928) | 11 June 1922 | 13 June 1923 | Research Clique | Vacant | ||||
| — | Gao Lingwei 高凌霨 (1868–1939) (acting)[7] | 14 June 1923 | 10 October 1923 | Zhili clique | Vacant | ||||
| 4 | Cao Kun 曹錕 (1862–1938) | 10 October 1923 | 2 November 1924 | Zhili clique | Vacant | (1923) | |||
| — | Huang Fu 黃郛 (1883–1936) (acting) | 2 November 1924 | 24 November 1924 | Nonpartisan | Vacant | ||||
| 5 | Duan Qirui[8] 段祺瑞 (1865–1936) | 24 November 1924 | 20 April 1926 | Anhui clique | Vacant | ||||
| Vacant | |||||||||
| — | Hu Weide[9] 胡惟德 (1863–1933) (acting) | 20 April 1926 | 13 May 1926 | Zhili clique | Vacant | ||||
| — | Yan Huiqing 顏惠慶 (1877–1950) (acting) | 13 May 1926 | 22 June 1926 | Nonpartisan | Vacant | ||||
| — | Du Xigui 杜錫珪 (1875–1933) (acting) | 22 June 1926 | 1 October 1926 | Zhili clique | Vacant | ||||
| — | V.K. Wellington Koo 顧維鈞 (1888–1985) (acting) | 1 October 1926 | 17 June 1927[10] | Nonpartisan | Vacant | ||||
| 6 | Zhang Zuolin[11] 張作霖 (1875–1928) | 18 June 1927 | 4 June 1928[12] | Fengtian clique | Vacant | ||||
| No. | Portrait | width=18% | Name[13] | Term of office | Political party | Assembly (elected) | |||
| 1 | Tan Yankai 譚延闓 (1880–1930) | 7 February 1928 | 10 October 1928 | Kuomintang | 2nd National Congress of Kuomintang (4th plenum) | ||||
| 2 | Chiang Kai-shek 蔣中正 (1887–1975) | 10 October 1928 | 15 December 1931 | Kuomintang | 2nd National Congress of Kuomintang (5th plenum) | ||||
| — | Lin Sen 林森 (1868–1943) | 15 December 1931[14] | 1 August 1943 | Kuomintang | |||||
| 3 | 4th National Congress of Kuomintang (1st plenum) | ||||||||
| — | Chiang Kai-shek 蔣中正 (1887–1975) | 1 August 1943[15] | 20 May 1948 | Kuomintang | |||||
| 4 | 5th National Congress of Kuomintang (11th plenum) | ||||||||
Presidents after the 1947 Constitution | |||||||||
| No. | Portrait | width=18% | Name | Term of office | Political party | Vice President | Term (elected) | ||
| 1 | Chiang Kai-shek | 20 May 1948 | 21 January 1949[16] | Kuomintang | Li Zongren (Kuomintang) | 1 (1948) | |||
| — | Li Zongren | 21 January 1949 | 1 March 1950 | Kuomintang | Vacant | ||||
| (1) | Chiang Kai-shek | 1 March 1950 | 5 April 1975 | Kuomintang | Li Zongren[17] (Kuomintang) | ||||
| Vacant | |||||||||
(Kuomintang) | 2 (1954) | ||||||||
| 3 (1960) | |||||||||
| Vacant | |||||||||
| Yen Chia-kan (Kuomintang) | 4 (1966) | ||||||||
| 5 (1972) | |||||||||
| 2 | Yen Chia-kan | 5 April 1975 | 20 May 1978 | Kuomintang | Vacant | ||||
| 3 | Chiang Ching-kuo | 20 May 1978 | 13 January 1988 | Kuomintang | Hsieh Tung-min (Kuomintang) | 6 (1978) | |||
| Lee Teng-hui (Kuomintang) | 7 (1984) | ||||||||
| 4 | Lee Teng-hui | 13 January 1988 | 20 May 2000 | Kuomintang | Vacant | ||||
| Lee Yuan-tsu (Kuomintang) | 8 (1990) | ||||||||
| Lien Chan (Kuomintang) | 9 (1996) | ||||||||
| 5 | Chen Shui-bian | 20 May 2000 | 20 May 2008 | Democratic Progressive | Annette Lu (DPP) | 10 (2000) | |||
| 11 (2004) | |||||||||
| 6 | Ma Ying-jeou | 20 May 2008 | 20 May 2016 | Kuomintang | Vincent Siew (Kuomintang) | 12 (2008) | |||
| Wu Den-yih (Kuomintang) | 13 (2012) | ||||||||
| Tsai Ing-wen | 20 May 2016 | 20 May 2024 | Democratic Progressive | Chen Chien-jen (Independent) | 14 (2016) | ||||
| Lai Ching-te (DPP) | 15 (2020) | ||||||||
| Lai Ching-te | 20 May 2024 | Incumbent | Democratic Progressive | Hsiao Bi-khim (DPP) | 16 (2024) | ||||
Key:
| # | President | Born | Age at | Age at | timespan | Lifespan | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Died | Age | ||||||||
| 1 | data-sort-value="Chiang Kai-shek" | (died in office) | |||||||
| 2 | data-sort-value="Yen" | ||||||||
| 3 | data-sort-value="Chiang Ching-kuo" | (died in office) | |||||||
| 4 | data-sort-value="Lee" | ||||||||
| 5 | data-sort-value="Chen" | (living) | |||||||
| 6 | data-sort-value="Ma" | (living) | |||||||
| 7 | data-sort-value="Tsai" | (living) | |||||||
| 8 | data-sort-value="Lai" | (incumbent) | (incumbent) | (living) | |||||
Green text and an asterisk mark the inauguration date of a president older than any living ex-president. Other dates are the deaths of the then-oldest president.
| President | Date range | Age at start | Age at end | Time span | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-value="Chiang Kai-shek" | Chiang Kai-shek | April 5, 1975 | nowrap | |||
| data-sort-value="Yen" | Yen Chia-kan | December 24, 1993 | ||||
| data-sort-value="Lee" | Lee Teng-hui | July 30, 2020 | ||||
| data-sort-value="Ma" | Ma Ying-jeou | present | (living) |
This is a graphical lifespan timeline of the presidents of the Republic of China (post-1947 Constitution) and they are listed in order of office.
The following chart shows presidents by their age (living presidents in green), with the years of their presidency in blue.