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Qing Dynasty
1644 to 1912. -
Sun Yat-sen
First President of China. Played a key role in the defeat of the Qing Dynastyb and establishment of the Guomindang. -
Josef Stalin
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952. -
Harry S. Truman
President Harry S. Truman was the President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. Truman used nuclear bombs against Japan to end World War II. He sent in U.S. troops to fight for South Korea when North Korea invaded South Korea. However, the U.N. troops were defeated by Chinese troops. -
Chiang Kai Shek
Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of the GMD. -
Mao Zedong
December 26, 1893 to Septemper 9, 1976
Mao Zedong was the Chairman of the CCP and the ruler of China. -
Formosa, Taiwan
May 23, 1895 to October 21, 1895.
The Republic of Formosa was formed after Taiwan was ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty. Later, the Japanese invaded the capital city of Tainan. -
Zhou Enlai
March 5, 1898 to January 8, 1976
Zhou Enlai was the Premier of China from 1949 to his death in 1976. He survived the GPCR but died before Mao did. -
Peng Duhai
October 24, 1898 to November 29, 1974
Peng Duhai was the Defense Minister of China. He supported Mao's decision to intervene in the Korean War. Peng Duhai was removed from power in the Lushan Conference and died in prison. -
Liu Shaoqui
Liu Shaoqui was the Chairman of China from 1959 to 1968. He was removed from power in the GPCR. -
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was purged during the GPCR but regained power after Mao's death. He was the unofficial leader of China from 1978 to 1992. -
Lin Biao
December 5, 1907 to Septemer 13, 1971
Lin Biao was Mao's designated successor and replaced Peng Duhai in the Lushan Conference. However, after a failed coup to remove Mao from power, he was killed in a plane crash in Mongolia. -
Kim II-Sung
April 15, 1912 to July 8, 1994
Kim II-Sung was the leader of North Korea. He invaded South Korea. -
Tibet
Tibet became independent after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. In 1951, it was incorporated into China. -
Jiang Qing
May 19, 1914 to May 14, 1991
Jiang Qing was the fourth and last wife of Mao Zedong. She played a key role in the Gang of Four and the GPCR. -
Warlord Period
1916 to 1928
During the Warlord Period, China was ruled by warlords in different regions. -
Comintern
The Comintern (Communist International) was a Communist organization in the Soviet Union that advised the CCP in China until Mao stopped taking its advice. -
May Fourth Movement
In the May Fourth Movement, Chinese intellectuals protested against the Treaty of Versailles. -
Treaty of Versailles
This treaty ended World War I. It gave the German concessions in Shandong, China, to Japan rather than allowing China to maintain sovereign control. This sparked the May Fourth Movement. -
GMD
The Guomindang is the Chinese Nationalist Party and was founded partly by Sun Yat-sen. -
CCP
The CCP is the Chinese Communist Party. -
First United Front
1924 to 1927
The GMD and CPC formed an alliance to eliminate warlordism in China. The CPC used the front to spread Communism while the GMD used the front to control the CPC. The GMD attacked the CPC, ending the alliance. -
Northern Expedition
1926 to 1928
The Northern Expedition was a march by the GMD military that sought to end the rule of local warlords and unify China. -
Nanjing Decade
1927 to 1937
The Beiyang government in Beijing was defeated in 1928, and Chiang took power. -
Shanghai Massacre
The GMD massacred Communists in Shanghai. -
PLA
The PLA is the People's Liberation Army. It originated as the Red Army. -
Jiangxi Soviet
November 7, 1931 to October 16, 1934
The Jiangxi Soviet was a Communist base in which Communist leaders experimented with different economic systems. It was followed by the Long March and Mao's rise to power. -
Long March
1934 to 1935.
The Long March was a strategic retreat of the CPC from the Jiangxi Soviet. During the march, Mao gained power. The march ended at Yan'an. -
United Front against the Japanese, 1936
1936 to 1946.
The CCP and the GMD benefited from their collaboration, with the CCP getting recognition and the GMD getting money from the Soviet Union. After the GMD killed most of the CCP members, Mao’s ideology emerged as leading; the CCP geared towards sparking revolution in the peasant class and, distrusting the GMD, decided to create its own army. -
Land Reform Campaign
1947 to 1952
In the Land Reform Campaign, Mao called for peasants to denunciate and even kill landlords. Land was distributed equally among peasants. -
Treaty of Alliance and Friendship
The Treaty of Alliance and Friendship was a treaty signed between China and the Soviet Union that provided China wth economic aid and the Soviet Union with private enterprises in China. -
Marriage Law of 1950
In the Marriage Law of 1950, Mao declared that men and women were equal and that women had the right to choose who they married. -
Agrarian Reform Law of 1950
In the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950, land was confiscated from wealthy landlords and given to peasants. The landlords as a class was eliminated. -
3 Anti Campaign
The 3 Anti Campaign sought to eliminate:
Corruption
Waste
Bureaucracy -
5 Anti Campaign
The 5 Anti Campaign sought to eliminate:
Bribery
State property theft
Tax evasion
Government contract cheating
Stealing economic information from the state
This campaign induced fear in businessmen. -
Socialist Transformation of the Economy
In the Socialist Transformation of the Economy, the CCP offered to buy private businesses at cheap prices. Since businessmen were already scared by the Five Anti Campaign, most businesses were sold to the government. -
Five Year Plan
1953 to 1957
The Five Year Plan called for an implementation of the Soviet economic system. -
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress represents the people of China. However, its members are all members of the CCP. -
National Party Congress
The National Party Congress deals with the leadership and structure of the CCP. -
100 Flowers Campaign
In the 100 Flowers Campaign, Mao encouraged people to provide positive criticism to the CCP. However, after the level of criticism became too much, Mao suppressed the campaign. -
Anti-Rightist Campaign
In the Anti-Rightist Campaign, Mao labelled those who had spoken out against the CCP in the 100 Flowers Campaign as rightists. -
Great Leap Forward
1958 to 1961
In the Great Leap Forward, Mao tried to take a shortcut to industrialization and collectivization. Peasants tried to grow maximum amounts of crops. They tried to make steel from household items in backyard furnaces. The Great Leap Foward ended in a famine due to CCP officials boosting agricultural production numbers. -
Four Pest Campaign
In the Four Pests Campaign, Mao called for the extermination of rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. Instead of increasing agricultural production, this caused more insects to eat crops. -
People's Communes
1958 to 1982
The People's Communes were established during the Great Leap Forward. -
Lushan Conference
During the Lushan Conference, Peng Duhai criticized the Great Leap Forward. Mao threatened that if the CCP did not agree with him and remove Peng Duhai, he would begin a new party and lead another revolution. Peng Duhai was replaced by Lin Biao. -
Sino-Soviet Split
1960 to 1989
The Sino-Soviet split was the worsening of the relationship between China and the Soviet Union. The CCP denounced the Soviet style of Communism while the Soviet Union withdrew its technicians and blueprints from China. -
Quotations of Chairman Mao (Little Red Book)
Quotations of Chairman Mao, otherwise known as the Little Red Book, was compiled by the PLA Daily. It was first distributed to the Red Army. -
GPCR - Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
1966 to 1969 (official)
In the GPCR, Mao called for the purging of revisionists in the CCP. Red Guards, comprised of youths, persecuted officials. -
Gang of Four
1966 to October 6, 1976
The Gang of Four consisted of Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen. It played a key role in the GPCR but was removed from power in a coup after Mao's death. -
Four Olds
On this date, the GPCR's campaign to eliminate the Four Olds began. The Four Olds were Old Culture, Old Customs, Old Habits, and Old Ideas. -
Richard Nixon Visit to China
February 21, 1972 to February 28, 1972
Nixon met Mao and toured China, creating a period of rapprochement between China and the United States.