General Yuan Shikai took office as provisional president of the republic on January 1, 1912, at Nanjing, and he still had control of his armies. It was not unlike Madero embracing Mexico's federal army after the overthrow of Díaz.
With the overthrow of the Manchus, Sun Yat-sen was able to return to China, where he was greeted as the elder statesman of the revolution. In China, Sun began discussing strategies with his "revolutionary alliance." In mid-year (1912), Sun attended the inauguration of a National People's Party, the Guomindang, and he was elected to its nine-man executive committee and elected the head of the party's executive committee. But he withdrew from both positions, satisfied with his status as elder statesman.
In 1912, Sun met with Yuan Shikai several times, Yuan receiving and entertaining Sun with demonstrations of great respect. Sun left these meetings praising Yuan, stating that Yuan wanted the same advancements for China as he. He stated that Yuan was "beyond suspicion," that Yuan deserved sympathy and that he was "a man of ability." He said that in order to govern the republic, one had to have new ideas, experience and old-fashioned methods and that President Yuan was "just the right man."
Expectations among those who had risen to the top of the republican revolution was that Yuan Shikai would share power with a prime minister and a parliament, the parliament consisting of five representatives from each province. This was the government that they designed and which established itself in Beijing. Yuan expressed his support for the government's rules limiting his power. Nominally he remained commander-in-chief of China's army and navy – while the army he controlled consisted of only 80,000 men. The remainder of China's armies were dispersed across China and under the control of various local leaders. And local elites still held power in the provinces.
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