Section 12: China and Korea (1910–1950)

The question asks which event shows that 1911 destroyed the old order but failed to build a stable replacement.

Sun Yat-sen lacked military strength, so he ceded the presidency to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing general, to secure the abdication.

Yuan governed autocratically and died in 1916, leaving no successor able to hold the country together, producing the Warlord Era.

This exact chain demonstrates instability replacing empire, matching option A precisely.

No unified national army loyal to a republican constitution existed; military power was fragmented among regional leaders.

The Three Principles were an ideological framework, not implemented uniformly as policy across provinces by 1913.

Former Qing officials and republican reformers did not cooperate smoothly; rivalry and fragmentation defined the period instead.

Only the Yuan Shikai succession crisis directly explains the collapse into warlordism after 1911.

Sun Yat-sen's doctrine consisted of nationalism (minzu), democracy (minquan), and people's livelihood (minsheng).

Nationalism meant freeing China from Manchu rule and later from foreign imperialism and unequal treaties.

People's livelihood addressed economic inequality and land reform between landlords and peasants.

Option A correctly pairs both principles with their intended meanings as described in the doctrine.

Democracy meant phased constitutional government, not immediate multi-party elections, and nationalism was not defined as Soviet alliance.

Livelihood never called for abolishing all private industry, and democracy rejected monarchy rather than restoring it.

Nationalism sought freedom from domination, not territorial expansion, and democracy was not defined as permanent one-party rule.

Only option A accurately reflects the documented meanings of nationalism and livelihood.