More ideological factions in the Chinese warlord period and post-WWII civil war?

[Strategos' Risk]

Besides the Nationalists and Communists, were there any other groups in the running who could've not only established political and military power to contest those two, but also ideological legitimacy and support?

I don't want to be too influenced by the Kaiserreich China rework (though I am), but the ones that come to mind are

1. Chen Jiongming and his Federalist conception of a United States of China; the Public Interest Party
2. Liang Qichao's constitutional monarchist ideals which included possibly replacing Qing with the descendant of Confucius, Duke Yansheng; the Progressive Party
3. Kang Youwei, another monarchist reformer who wanted the Qing or a Ming descent, but also creator of the proto-communist Great Unity, whose Society to Protect the Emperor ended up merging into Liang's Progressive Party
4. the actual Royalist Party of Qing/Manchu loyalists, which I'm gonna declare defunct by 1917, on account of Zhang Xun's restoration attempt failing badly
5. Feng Yuxiang's Christian Socialism with Chinese characteristics
6. a bunch of smaller democratic parties (including the post-Progressive parties) who attempted to be a third way between the KMT and CPC and just weren't popular or violent enough to get ahead:

Minus Liang, several members in 1927 created the Democratic Constitutionalist Party (民主憲政黨) but they were based in the United States so they had very little influence in Chinese politics. Within China, Carsun Chang started the 1931 National Renaissance Society (再生社) which was succeeded by the 1932 China National Socialist Party (中國國家社會黨) which mixed Liang's reformism with Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. They were upset that Chiang Kai-shek's rule was a personalistic dictatorship and that the Nationalists had ignored their democratic principles. Opposing both the Nationalists and the Communist Party of China, they aimed to be the third force in Chinese politics so they created an umbrella group of small democratic parties called the China Democratic League (中國民主同盟). The CDL pushed for the long delayed constitution and reconciliation between the Communists and Nationalists especially after the New Fourth Army Incident.

When the CDL became increasingly pro-Communist, the National Socialists withdrew and merged with the Democratic Constitutionalists on 15 August 1946 to form the China Democratic Socialist Party (中國民主社會黨). They fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War and along with the Nationalists and the Chinese Youth Party (中國青年黨), were the only legal parties for decades. In Taiwan, they offered the same soft criticisms they have been giving since their earliest incarnations. The Democratic Socialists lost all their seats in the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly after free and fair elections began in the 1980s. Within the People's Republic of China, the China Democratic League continues to exist as part of the United Front.

Okay, given how some of these guys alternatively became puppet opposition parties in both China and in Taiwan, they're probably all hopelessly unfeasible. That said,

7. Carsun Chang/Zhang Junmai "supported German-style social democracy while opposing capitalism, communism, and guild socialism" sounds distinct enough to be considered, though probably not compelling or violent enough to base an entire military faction around. Though perhaps they would have had a chance with foreign backing. To bridge this mess of names, I dub them the Chinese Democratic Nationalist League to bridge the CNSP, CDSP, and CDL mishmash of names.

Anyone else? I'm just really imagining an alternate Chinese Civil War where Chen systemizes his ideas and federalists take over Beiyang fighting against Liang's constitutional monarchists while Feng and Zhang try to make their own plays. I also don't know how either Zhang Zuolin or Zhang Xueliang fit into this.

Edit: well, well, well

Initially called the China National Youth Corps, the YCP acquired its current name during its fourth national convention in September 1929. During the Northern Expedition, the party supported the northern warlords because they opposed the Communists within the First United Front. After the anti-communist purge, they still resisted the KMT because of its one-party state.

The party was banned after the Nationalists came to power in 1928 and the YCP refused Chiang Kai-shek's offer to merge the two parties. The Nationalists denounced them as a warlord party due to their early failed attempts to recruit Wu Peifu and their opposition to the Northern Expedition. The Communists called them fascists because their leaders had ties to a French fascist and their strident anti-communism. The YCP considered itself to be a conservative parliamentary democratic party.

They were based in Manchuria under the protection of Zhang Xueliang. After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the YCP called for an immediate declaration of war, in contrast with the Nationalist government's resistance to a formal war declaration and initiating hostilities. The YCP joined the anti-Japanese United Front in 1937 to support the national government. After the initiation of the full-scale war, the YCP cooperated closely with the Kuomintang (KMT) in fighting Japanese military aggression. It joined the China Democratic League, an umbrella group of small democratic parties. In the early years of the war, the Youth Party became the third largest party, after the GMD and the CCP, yet one informed historian called the party organization "extremely weak." The members were either personal friends of Zhang Junmai, many of whom had been followers of Liang Qichao, or his former students.

Leaving aside their good terms with Zhang Junmai, perhaps they could be the Fengtian Zhangs' party! So either scrap the CDL altogether, or at least have the YCP remain separate from it, in opposition to Zhang Junmai's third way social democrats, as well against both the KMT/CCP/Chen federalists/constitutional monarchists/whomever else is out there.

 

[Kaze]

I would play that game if you do make it. It would sound fun. But for historical accuracy I would have each of the powers to have this in the tree:
1. Reach out to the West. Stalin is still wants his hand inside China at least as a puppet. You get guns and higher research time but daily communist support goes up
2. Reach out to the East. The US and the victorious powers would be wanting to keep China outside of Stalin's grasp. You get guns and higher research time but daily democratic support goes up
3. We are on our own. You do not get guns from either side, research time goes down, your own political support goes up.

 

[Strategos' Risk]

The unfortunate thing is that the political situation in a fallen nation period is hazy and chaotic. But I did find one potential source of scholarship to read up on it.

Roads Not Taken: The Struggle Of Opposition Parties In Twentieth-century China