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End of Qing Dynasty-Rise of the Chinese Republic
The Qing Dynasty ended when Sun Yixian, a physician that lived for many years in USA, overthrew the last Emperor. Sun Yixian was the leader of the Kuomintang (National Party) and lasted 6 weeks as President. He believed in the "Three Principles of the Peole" : 1. nationalism-end to foreign control. 2. people's rights-democracy. 3. people's livelihood- economic security for all Chinese. -
Yuan Shikai Takes the Presidency + Chaos After His Death.
Yuan Shikai was a powerful general that ruled as a military dictator and betrayed the democratic ideals. His own generals refused to fight the rebels that were leading the revolts. Yuan Shikai died in 1916. After he died, chaos reigned China. A Civil War broke out between battle groups. The peasant sufferd the most, their crops were destroyed, and a famine took the lives of millions. All these was happening parallel to World War I. -
China Declares War to Germany
The Government of Beijing declared war against Germany. Some leader believed that this way, the Allies would return control to China. Under the traty of Versailles, the Allies gave Japan the territories and privileges that belonged to Germnay. -
May Fourth Movement
3,000 angry students gathered in the center of Beijing to protenst the German ports in China that were now in Japan's hands. Mao Zedong, at the time, was a schoolteacher that supported the students. Then Mao became China's greatest revolutionary leader. These protestes became a national movement called the "May Fourth Movement". Young chinese intellectuals turned against Sun Yixian's believes in Western democracy in favor of Lenin's brand of soviet communism. -
The Communist Party in China
In 1920 a small group met to discuss Marx's revolutionary beliefs. The Soviet Union under Lenin was considered a model for political and economical changes. In 1921 a group gathered to organize the Chinese Communist Party. Sun Yixian set up a government in south China and decided to ally with the communist Party. He used Lennin's blueprints to organize his Party along with Bolshevik lines. -
Lenin Helps China + Jiang Jieshi Takes Control
In 1923, Lenin send military advisers and equipment to the Nationalists in return for allowing the Chinese Communists to join the Kuomintang. Some Chine Nationalists leaders went to Moscow for military training. In 1925, when Sun Yixian died, Jiang Jieshi was the head of the Kuomintang. He feared the Communist's goal of creating a socialist economic model after the Soviet Union. His followers were mostly bankers and businesspeople. -
Masacre + Jiang Jieshi President
On April of 1927, the Nationalist troops and the armed gangs killed many Communist leaders and Trade Union members in the city streets. They wiped out the Chinese Communist party. In 1928,Jian became President. He promised democracy and polotical rights, but his government was actually less democratic. -
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Chinese Civil War
Between the Communists Pary of China and the Kuomintang. Started in the Northern Expedition and essentially ended when major active battles ceased in 1950. The conflict eventually resulted in two states, the Republic of China in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China in mainland China, both claiming to be the legitimate government of China. -
Mao Develops His own Brand of Communism
While Jiang ruled, Mao divided the lands that the Communist won among local farmers. Mao survived the massacre and decided to develop his own brand of communism based in the Russian cities organization. He beileved he could bring revolutions to a rural country were peasants could be the revolutionaries. -
Civil War Reages in China
Nationalists and Communists were fighting a bloody civil war. Mao recruited the peasants to join his Red Army and trainned them in guerrilla warfare. Nationalists attacked the Communists repeatedly but failed to drive them out. -
Japan`s Invasion Suspends the Civil War
Japanesen foreces tooka advantage of the civil war between Nationalists and Communistsin China, and invaded them. They invaded Manchuria, which with the attack signaled the onset of World War II in Asia. -
The Long March
Jiang gathered an army of 700,000men and then surrounded the Communists. In 1934 the Communists forces fled and began a hazardous, 6,000-mile-long journey called the Long March. -
Union of Communists and Nationalists
Japanese launched an all-out invasion of China massive bombing killed thousands of Chinese. The destruction of farms caused many more to die of starvation. By 1938, Japan held control of a large part of China. The Civil War paused and Nationalists and Communists united temporarly to defeat Japan. During World Wr II, the political opponents temporarly united to figth the Japanese. -
Nationalists forces under Jiang Jieshi
Nationalists dominated southwestern China. Jiang gathered an army of 2.5 million men. Between 1942 and 1945, USA sended the Nationalists at least an amount of $1.5 billion in aid to figth the Japanese, but instead of using it properly, these supplies and money mostly ended in corrupt officers hands. Besides the army saved its strength for the upcoming battles against Mao's Red Army, rather than faughting against the Japanese. When Japan surrended, the civil war continued. -
Mao's Red Army
Under their leader Moa Zedong, the Communists held a stronghold in northwestern China. They mobilized peasants for guerrila war against the Japanese in northeastern. Their efforts to teach literacy and improvements in food production led to win the peasants loytalty. by 1945, they controlled much of northern China. -
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Civil War Resumed
A year after the end of hostilities with Japan, the war contienued for 4 more years. China split into two nations: the Nationalists, which controlled the island of Taiwan (an area of 13,000square miles) and the People's Republic of China, which controlled mainland of China (an area of more than 3.5 million square miles). -
Mao defeats Nationalists
Nationalists outnumbered the Communists and USA provided them nearly $2 billion more in aid, but did little to win popular support. When China's economy was collapsing, thousands of Nationalist soldiers turned to Comunists. In spring of 1949, important cities fell to the Comunists one by one and by October of the same year, Mao gained control of the country and called it "People's Republic of China" Meanwhile, Jiang and other Nationalists escaped to Taiwan. -
Gathered Help from the two Power Countries
After Jiang Jieshi fled to Taiwan, USA helped him set up a Nationalists government which called it the Republic of China, Instead, the Soviets gave financial, military and technical aid to the Communists People's Republic of China and agreed to defend each other country whenever it was attacked. In response , USA tried to expand it influence in Asia. The two Power Contries divided Korea into a Soviet-supported Communist north and a USA- supported south. -
Communisms Continues to Expand
Chinese troops expanded into southern, inner Mongolia, Tibet, and India. At the north of Mongolia, remained the Soviet sphere. They took control of the country after Mongolia was declared an Autonomous Area. In a brutal assault, bwtween 1950-1951, China took control of Tibet. The Chinese promised aoutonomy to Tibeatans, whose religious leader was the Dalai Lama. When China controled Tibet by the late 1950s, the Dalai Lama fled to India. Tibeteans responded by protests. -
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Further Mao's Socialism
Chinese Comunists forced the peasants to join collective farms or communes, which consisted of 200-300 households, they made the women fully equal in the home and in the workplace as mens, and istituted state-sponsored child care. Mao started a plan that set high production targets for industry and succeeded. In 1958, Mao called for another plan with larger communes which ended up with 26,000 communes. In there everyone ate, slept and raise children in communal areas but they owned nothing. -
Mao's Marxist Socialism
Until 1959, Mao ruled both, the Communist party and the national government. Then Mao determined to reshape China's economy based on Marxist socialism. The majority of the popilation lived in rural areas and owned no land. While the rich (10%) owned almost all farmlands. Under the Agrarian Rerform Law of 195, divided the holding among the peasants. His forces killed more tha a million thet resisted the policy. -
Resenmente Between China and India
India welcomed the Dlai Lma and other Tibetan refugees after Tibet's failed revolt in 1959. As a result, resenmet between China and India grew. In 1962,when India trespassed acorss the two countries' Mao unleashed his forces. -
Famine + New Policies
Between 1958 and 1961, a famine rose and killed millions of people. The bound that held the Soviet Union with China started to fade. In 1960, the Soviets halted economic iad to China. After the famine, Mao reduced his role in the government. Under the new leaders, farm families could live in their own homes, and could sell crops they grew on small private plots. Factory workers compete for wage increases, bonuses and promotions. -
The Red Guards + Cultural Revolution
In 1966, Mao started a new campaign. Millions of students left their clasess and formed militia units called Red Guards. They were the major uprising for the Cultural Revolution. The goal of the revolution was to establish a society of peasanst and workers in which all were equal. They targeted anyone who seemed to have special priviledges or who resisted the regime. Many were executed and others died in jail. By 1976, Mao admitted that the Cultural Revolution had to stop and so it did.
