China's search for Order
- During the first half of the twentieth century, China was in an almost continuous state of revolution
- As revolutionary and nationalist uprising continued, a revolution 1911 forced the emperor Xuantong, who was still a child to abdicate - The Qin empire fell easily and Dr. Sun Yatsen proclaimed China a republic in 1912 |
The Republic
- The revolutions did not establish a stable government
- The republic plunged into a state of anarchy and economic corruption, marked by war lords and their troops - The central government in Bejing ran the post office and other services, the war lords marked themselves as regional rulers - Through a series of unequal treaties, foreigners began controlling parts of the Chinese economy and prevented development - Foreigners impaired China’s sovereignty |
Chinese Nationalism
- After the Great War, nationalist movements began to developed rapidly in China
- Intellectuals anticipated the results of the 1919 Peace Conference in Paris and expected the restoration of full Chinese sovereignty
- These hopes were shattered when peace makers approved increasing Japanese interference with China
- Their decision gave rise to the May Fourth Movement which galvanized the country and all classes protested against foreigners
- Intellectuals anticipated the results of the 1919 Peace Conference in Paris and expected the restoration of full Chinese sovereignty
- These hopes were shattered when peace makers approved increasing Japanese interference with China
- Their decision gave rise to the May Fourth Movement which galvanized the country and all classes protested against foreigners
Communists and Nationalists
- Disillusioned by the United States and European powers, some Chinese became interested in Marxist thought as modified by Lenin
- In 1921 the Chinese Communist Part was organized in Shanghai - Many of the supporters campaigned for equal right for women and were against the practice of foot binding - Sun Yatsen, a powerful nationalist leader, did not agree with the idea of communism - Sun summarized his ideology in his Three Principles of the People which, - Called for the elimination of special privileges for foreigners - National reunification - Economic development - And a democratic republican government based on universal suffrage - Both groups began working their way up the ranks - Under the doctrine of VI. Lenin’s democratic centralism, Soviet advisors helped reorganize the Guomindang (nationalists) and the CCP (communists) |
Civil War
- After the death of Sun Yatsen in 1925, the leadership of the Guomindand fell to Jiang Jieshi, a young general from the Soviet Union
- He launched a political and military offence called the Northern Expedition, which aimed to unify China under Guomindang rule - Toward the end of his campaign he turned against his communist allies which brought the alliance between the Guomindand and the CCP to an end - At this time nationalist forces had claimed Bejing and claimed the Guomindand as the official government of China - At this time the Communists were regrouping in southern China and gaining forces - The Nationalist faced three major problems in the 1930s - The first was that they only controlled part of China, the war lords controlled the majority - The second was communist revolution - The third was increasing Japanese aggression - They wanted to destroy the CCP and the Red Army because of these - The communists fled in 1934 and later began the legendary Long March of 10,000 kilometers - After fighting through extreme difficulty the Red Army arrived at Yan’an in 1935. - Many Chinese people joined the Communist party because of the march - The leader Mao Zedong came up with Maoism, a form of Marxist-Leninism, an idea that peasants rather than urban proletarians were the foundation of a successful reform - It ended with Communist victory after they took the capitol A short video explaining the Chinese Civil War and how the Communists won.
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