Supported by the Empire of Japan, its members sought to restore the Chinese monarchy under the Qing dynasty by launching insurgencies and advocating the secession of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia from the rest of China.

Although it largely lacked a firm structure and consisted of loosely tied factions, the Royalist Party played a major role in Chinese politics during the 1910s.

Diehard Qing supporters refused to accept this,[10] and "blind to the inevitable trend" toward the formation of a republic,[8] founded the "Society for Monarchical Constitutionalism" (later known as the "Royalist Party") in December 1911.

[15] The situation for the Qing imperial government was increasingly undermined by military and political setbacks caused by the opposing republicans, and the Republic of China was proclaimed first in the country's south on 1 January 1912.

[16] The matter was discussed among the Qing princes during a conference on 17–20 January, where the Royalist Party's members took a hardline stance against any agreement which included the monarchy's abolition.

[16][14] The court subsequently tried to cooperate fully with the new authorities in order to be left in peace,[16] while Yuan Shikai became China's first president and de facto military dictator.

[28] Royalist Party members spread anti-republican propaganda among the rural population, as well as Mongol nomads, and incited dissatisfied soldiers to mutiny.

[31] In the provinces of Manchuria, Royalist Party members began recruiting and arming militants, and even produced cheques marked with "Great Qing Empire".

[29] The president again offered reconciliation, and invited various Manchu princes to the funeral of Empress Dowager Longyu in Beijing on 27 February 1913 "to dispel the clouds of suspicion" on part of the Royalist Party.

[35] By the time Yuan had declared the creation of his short-lived Empire of China, Shanqi had become the leader of the Royalist Party[36] and was working with the Japanese to establish separatist movements in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria.

[37] In 1916, the Japanese and the Royalist Party were planning a rebellion in Manchuria, using Shanqi's private army which consisted partially of Mongolian bandits and had raided northern China up to this point.

[41] The Royalist Party's activities gradually became limited to Northeast China, and very few of its members (among them Puwei[42] and Shen Zengjie[5]) were involved in Zhang Xun's attempt to forcibly restore the Qing dynasty in 1917.

[5] In the following years, Royalist Party members increasingly focused on issues relating to Manchuria, arguing that an independent monarchy located there could provide the local people with better living conditions.

[44] The Royalist Party's official purpose was to preserve the Qing dynasty's ancestral shrine and other religious institutions,[11] though in truth it tried to protect the monarchy,[12] and later aimed to overthrow the Republic.

[30] In the 1910s, appeals for separatism were still largely tied to the concept of "loyalty to the emperor", a cause which found more support among the multiethnic population of northeastern China than nationalist ideas.

[47] The Qing loyalists also exhibited conservative and revisionist tendencies, as they continued to use the old dynastic calendar, and espoused traditional arts such as Classical Chinese poetry, and calligraphy.