The Emergence of Communism
Nationalism certainly wasn't the only ideology that emerged from the collapse of the imperial age but communism, showcased by the recent Russian revolution, was the only one that offered serious competition to the KMT. You can still visit the building in Shanghai where the Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 (see Shanghai, Sightseeing). The CCP initially comprised two groups, the first of which was led by Li Dazhao and included Mao Zedong among its numbers, while the second was headed by Zhou Enlai and was guided by Russian advisors. In 1923, following Russian advice, the CCP and the KMT united to form the National Revolutionary Army, which headed north to remove the threat posed by warlords. The expedition was a success but the unity between communism and nationalism was short-lived. In response to a Communist strike Chiang executed many of the CCP's top leaders in 1927, leaving the rest, including Mao Zedong, to flee for the hills.
The Long March
Chiang Kaishek perceived the Communists as a more significant threat than the encroaching Japanese and focused on trying to obliterate the CCP, forcing them deep into the countryside, where their support was strongest. By 1934 nationalist forces had surrounded Mao Zedong's mountainous Jiangxi base and it seemed as if the Communists were on the verge of defeat. Instead, Mao led 100,000 troops on a year-long, 6,000-mile escape, which became known as the Long March. They traversed numerous mountain ranges, some of which were snowcapped and only 10,000 made it all the way to Yan'an in Shaanxi province. Although thousands died, the march became a symbol of the grit and determination of Mao and the Zunyi Conference along the way firmly established him as the leader of the CCP.
Japanese Encroachment & Civil War
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles had ratified all of Japan's claims to Chinese territory and they were just waiting in the wings to swoop down on China. China's division presented this opportunity and the Japanese seized Manchuria in 1931, renaming it as the supposedly independent state of Manchukuo and installing the last Qing emperor, Puyi, as its puppet leader. Anti-Japanese sentiment ran high and in 1936 Chiang Kaishek was seized by his own officers (which became known as the Xi'an Incident) and forced into forging another doomed alliance between the KMT and the CCP. However, Manchuria was just a prelude to full-scale invasion and in 1937 Japanese forces swept into China and captured much of the east coast by 1939, forcing the government to mountainous Chongqing, from where they were reliant upon US and British airdrops. By 1940 the Japanese controlled Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou, while Chiang Kaishek's failure to distribute mutual arms to the Communist Red Army resulted in the collapse of the KMT-CCP alliance. Up to 20 million Chinese are thought to have died during the Japanese invasion and the atrocities committed during the infamous 1937 Rape of Nanjing are reviled to this day.
Allied & Communist Victory
The Allied victory in World War II and the devastating Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs spelled the end for Japanese rule in China and, in spite of US support for the KMT, in 1945 it was the Communists who were better placed and prepared to stake their claim on the country. Although the KMT managed to retake the cities, the rural bulk of the country lay in the hands of the Communists. When the People's Liberation Army (formerly the Red Army) captured a US arms consignment they had not only the weaponry, but the public support and determination to win and the KMT crumbled. Chiang Kaishek fled to Taiwan, along with much of the treasure from the Forbidden City. In Taiwan he established the Republic of China (ROC) with the now inconceivable aim of regrouping to return and reinstate the KMT in China.
Chairman Mao (1893-1976)
Early Years
One of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, Mao Zedong (aka Mao Tse Tung) was born in Hunan into a comparatively wealthy grain-dealing peasant family. He was schooled in Changsha and then continued his education in Beijing. In response to the humiliating terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Mao became involved in the anti-foreign May 4th Movement. Russia's Bolshevik Revolution and sponsorship of communist cells in China helped to convince Mao that socialism was the way forward and, when the CCP was founded in 1921, Mao was one of its key members.
Mao in 1931
Rural Revolt
Mao's time teaching at Guangzhou's Peasant Training Institute in the early 1920s reinforced his socialist principles, but also convinced him that revolution must come from the rural masses. After Chiang Kaishek's purge of the CCP, Mao retreated to establish a Communist Red Army base in Jinggang Shan in Jiangxi and managed to hold out until 1934 when nationalist forces encircled the mountain. The Communist retreat took the form of the incredible Long March (see above), which resulted in huge loss of life and suffering, but it cemented Mao as the resilient leader of the CCP and helped to expand his power base. In spite of Soviet and US support for the KMT, the popular following Mao had engendered carried the CCP to victory.
Revolutionary Zeal
Mao Zedong was hardly seen in public for the first few years of and was at odds with many of the party's early policies. Reforms and successes soon gave way to failures spurred by Mao's belief that his revolutionary ideals had been usurped. The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution (see below) were both a result of ideology overruling reason and had disastrous consequences for China's people, culture and economy. Although he was never a great statesman it was the powerful personality cult that Mao developed which allowed him to implement these crass plans. He was tempered to some extent by his second-in-command, Zhou Enlai, but Mao's third wife, Jiang Qing fueled his revolutionary zeal. The Cultural Revolution only really ended with Mao's death in 1976 and he was entombed in a grand mausoleum at the center of Tian'anmen Square.
Views of Mao
To western minds Chairman Mao's catastrophic mistakes vastly outweigh his achievements, but within China he is still respected, almost revered, and, although his mistakes are now recognized, they are seen as less significant than his contribution in re-establishing a unified China. The younger generation may be freer in their criticism of Chairman Mao, but his portrait still adorns many rural village living rooms and there are enormous statues of the Great Helmsman, as he has become known, in cities around the country. What Mao Zedong would make of modern China is an interesting question. Although much of the party rhetoric remains intact, economics is at the heart of the new China and the Chairman might be shocked by the hordes of visiting capitalists eagerly snapping up Mao memorabilia, including singing lighters, waving watches and his Little Red Book of thoughts.