Under Yuan
After the Xinhai Revolution, the rebels established a republican Provisional Government in Nanjing under President Sun Yatsen and Vice President Li Yuanhong. Since they only controlled southern China, they had to negotiate with the commander of the Beiyang Army, Yuan Shikai, to put an end to the Qing dynasty. Yuan became provisional president in Beijing where his power base was located. He refused to move to Nanjing fearing further assassination attempts. It was also more economical to keep the existing Qing bureaucracy in Beijing so the provisional senate moved north.
The 1912-1913 National Assembly elections gave over half the seats and control of both houses to Sun's Nationalist Party (KMT). The second largest party were the Progressives led by Liang Qichao and were generally favorable to Yuan. Song Jiaoren was expected to be the next premier but he riled Yuan by promising to pick a cabinet with only KMT ministers. He was assassinated less than two weeks before the assembly convened. An investigation pinned the blame on Premier Zhao Bingjun which suggested Yuan had played a part. Yuan had denied that either he or Zhao killed Song but the Nationalists were not convinced. Yuan then took out a huge foreign loan without parliament's consent. Sun led a faction of Nationalists against Yuan in a Second Revolution during the summer of 1913 but were completely defeated within two months.
Read more about this topic: Beiyang Government