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Today, we'll be exploring how China transformed into a communist state
Despite thousands of years of dynastic rule and as always we'll need to wind back the clock to really understand how this process
unfolded
Throughout the 17th century and up until the 19th century the Ching dynasty
Loosely reigned over China as it was plagued by regionalism and corruption to make matters worse
European merchants arrived in China on mass during the 18th century
these Westerners arriving were driven by fiscal interests and some would later say that it was the wave of
Merchants, who would spell China's near ruin?
Meanwhile in Japan things were looking up after their decisive victory over the Chinese in the sino-japanese war
In Richard Bernstein's work. He writes this of the conflict
Japan's major goal was the possession of Korea and Manchuria
The vast landmass is just across the sea that were stepping stones towards the even larger prize, which was China
This defeat prompted cries for reform and after a series of failed revolts including the
1899 Boxer Rebellion the Qing government found itself in an even more precarious position by
1911 the government was fully overthrown in what was called the Wu Chun Revolution the leaders of this revolution selected the exiled
Intellectual Sun yat-sen to be China's first president in 1912
However, their territories were limited to southern China
Meanwhile, the boy Emperor Puyi remained in power in the north. He was backed by General Yuan Shikai
Who had the largest army in the region and therefore pretty much called the shots?
Thus soon yot sent one XI Chi over to his side without bloodshed by offering him the presidency
From there things didn't exactly go as planned. You want imposed a military dictatorship and egg Sun yat-sen
after he formed the opposing Kuomintang or KMT in
1916 yuan proclaimed himself emperor of China pretty much missing the point of the rebellion in Ireland
He quickly lost much of his support and after his death China was once again balkanized in two regions under the control of local
Warlords after yuan died soon yat-sen returned to China and at the helm of the nationalist
Kuomintang party was able to take power and impose yet another military government in
1921 shortly after in 1923
They sealed cooperation with the Communist Party of China or CPC in exchange for assistance in ending regionalism
The CPC had been founded in the wake of the may 4th movement
which involved a series of student protests formed in opposition to the Chinese government's
Ineffective response to the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred what was formerly Chinese own land to the Japanese
The may 4th movement
popularized Marxism as a radical alternative to the Kuomintang
really the only reason the CPC aligned itself with the
KMT was so it could spread communism as it liberated each warlord state with the assistance of the much stronger KMT
in
1925 soon yat-sen died leaving China in the hands of Chiang kai-shek who two years later
initiated what was known as the white terror in response to a communist plot to overthrow him this resulted in the deaths of
Thousands of members of the CPC in the aftermath communist leaders lead Lee Sung and Mao Zedong
Began waging a guerrilla war against the Kuomintang
While this was happening the soviet union who saw the CPC as their communist allies
Directed it to take a more aggressive stance
Against the Kuomintang as a result Lee Lisan ordered an offensive to be carried out against the Nationalists
It was a disaster and led to his replacement by a group of Chinese intellectuals called d28 Bolsheviks
with warlords still in control of numerous regions and the two major political factions of China in all-out war the
Situation was looking worse than ever
Seeing the turmoil unfold the shadow of Japan once again loomed over China in
1931 they sent roughly
45,000 men to occupy Chinese Manchuria with no troops to spare the Kuomintang was forced to concede without resistance
Chiang now understood that he needed to defeat the CPC before China was fully invaded to this end Chang assembled the largest
Kuomintang army yet
And in 1934 encircled Mao's guerrilla forces stationed in the mountains
The climax of this episode was the long march which began when the CPC devised a near
Suicidal plan to break through Shang's encirclement and march over 6,000 miles to regroup in the north
About half of the CPC's forces were lost when crossing the Xiong river a decision which the 28 Bolsheviks shouldered
Responsibility for in the wake of this debacle mount took control of the Communists
By the time the remnants of the CPC reached their northern destination only 10 percent of them were still alive
Prompting now to launch a massive recruitment effort
Recognizing that if the Japanese invaded both day and the Kuomintang would be destroyed Mao sought to form yet another United Front
Shang was vehemently opposed to the offer but his generals weren't they took matters into their own hands taking Shang
hostage and pressuring him to accept Mao's offer
Chiang eventually decided to accept and formed what was called the second United Front in
1937 when Japan did invade that year the Kuomintang proved unable to fully repulse the invaders
something which worried the Chinese people and now capitalized on this discontent to recruit even more men to his cause
Furthermore his forces did not engage those of Japan very frequently allowing the Kuomintang to bear the of the Japanese onslaught
After Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945
The Kuomintang and CPC ended the second United Front
It only took one year for the Chinese Civil War to rage on yet again
the CPC was now armed with
Leftover Japanese weapons and equipment had newfound support from the populace and faced a foe who suffered 3.2 million casualties
Against the Japanese whereas the Communists lost approximately four hundred and forty thousand
after a highly successful guerrilla campaign both Beijing and Nanking had fallen to the
Communists with the capture of these two major cities
It would not be long before Mao was victorious and the People's Republic of China was established
Chiang kai-shek and the defeated Kuomintang government went into exile in Taiwan in
1949 which to this day still has the official name of the Republic of China
under Mao 30 year reign tens of millions of people starved even so it is still debated to this day whether Mao
Contributed to China's modernization or whether he delayed its development
Either way the Chinese government still sees Mao as one of their founding fathers
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