On July 1, 1925, the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China was established in Guangzhou. The former site is located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Yuehua Road and Jixiang Road in today’s Guangzhou. The building used to be the Governor’s Office of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty. Today, there is nothing left. Only the four pillars of the gate and one gate remain, with a pair of stone lions looking at each other. The stone pillars are beautifully carved and decorated with blue glazed tiles, which is very luxurious and elegant.

On August 25, 1927, the Nationalist Government officially established its capital in Nanking (now known as Nanjing), and the Ministry of Finance also moved there. At that time, Nanking was designated as a special city. Liu Ji-Wen, who graduated from University of Cambridge in the UK and had inspected municipal construction in European and American countries, was appointed as the mayor of Nanking special city. He focused on rectifying the city appearance, developing and constructing when he took office, hoping to change the situation in Nanking at that time of “immature education, declining industry, business downturn, and uneven roads.”

Liu Ji-Wen took advantage of the Nationalist Government’s preparations for Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Great Funeral, and built a 12-kilometer-long Zhongshan Avenue as the central axis of Nanking’s urban planning. The former site of the Ministry of Finance of the Nanking Nationalist Government is located at No. 128, East Zhongshan Road, adjacent to new street of a commercial downtown area in Nanking. The building was built by the famous Fuji Construction Factory at that time. Fuji Construction Factory was established by Tao Guilin, and had built projects including international hotels in Shanghai, Daxin Company, Gonghexiang Wharf, Bank of China Nanking Branch, and Taipei Songshan Airport International Airport Building and so on.

The Ministry of Finance of the Nationalist Government has a total of ten buildings with 425 rooms, with a total construction area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters. There are two main buildings inside, one is a western-style office building with reinforced concrete structure, and the other is the official residence of the Minister of Finance which had brick and wood structure and three stories high, with a simple and solid appearance, and it is still preserved. During the construction of Zhongshan East Road, Liu Ji-Wen purchased the first batch of French plane trees from the Shanghai French Concession, and its traces can still be seen near the former site of the Ministry of Finance.

During the period when the Nationalist Government established its capital in Nanking, the Ministry of Finance promoted the work of tariff independence, currency system reform, and tax system reform. In this period, relevant construction of banking, transportation, and industry around the country had gradually developed to create the early stages of a modernized country.

Due to the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Shanghai, the financial center of China, bore the brunt of the war at the beginning of the war. The Central Bank, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Farmers Bank of China, and other state-owned financial bureaus dispatched some personnel to the upper reaches of Yangtze in order to continue working. Nanking, the capital, felt threatened by the enemy soon. The Nationalist Government resolutely decided to move the capital in order to fight against the war for a long time and strive for the final victory of the nation.

In November, 1937, the Nationalist Government officially moved its capital to Chongqing, using Chongqing as the wartime capital, “thereafter, we will engage in longer-lasting battles on the largest scale.” Until April 30, 1946, the Nationalist Government issued an order to move back to the former capital Nanking, and the Ministry of Finance also officially moved back to Nanking on May 5:
The Nationalist Government moved to Chongqing in November 1937 for the protracted war. For the past eight years, our loyal and brave fighters had fought tenaciously and hard. Allied with a league of nations, with a joint navy and air force, our soldiers marched side by side and forged great achievements, forcing the enemy to surrender. Hereby, the land is rejuvenated and integrated. Although the task of the War of resistance is over, the responsibility of building a country has been increased. The government has decided to make a triumphant return to Nanking on May 5 of this year to achieve everyone's expectations.