The Unity Party was formed in Shanghai on 2 March 1912, as the merger of Zhang Binglin's Chinese Republican United Association (中華民國聯合會) and Zhang Jian's Preliminary Constitutional Consortia (預備立憲公會), as well as former officials and local gentries.
Zhang Jian was a major figure of the Constitutional Movement in the late Qing period, he and Zhang Binglin wanted to form a grand coalition to counter the radical Tongmenghui in the Nanjing Provisional Government.
In late April 1912, the party moved its headquarters to Beijing with the provisional government.
[2] The Unity Party was one of the targets the Yuan Shikai's government wanted to ally with.
Besides funding the party, Zhang Binglin was invited as Yuan's adviser and Cheng Dequan was appointed as Governor of Jiangsu when the Provisional Senate was opened.