The Republic of China was a state in East Asia from 1912 to 1949. It included the present-day territories of China, Taiwan and, for some of its history, Mongolia. As an era of Chinese history, the Republic of China was preceded by the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty and its end was marked by the end of the Chinese Civil War, in which the losing Kuomintang retreated to the Island of Taiwan to found the modern Republic of China, while the victorious Communist Party of China founded the People's Republic of China on the Mainland.