Imperial China Collapse

Imperial China Collapses

• After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Nationalist and Communist movements struggled for power. The seeds of communism were planted at this time.

Setting the Stage

• China faced years of humiliation at the hands of outsiders in the early 1900s.
• Foreign countries controlled China's trade and economic resources.
• Many Chinese people believed modernization and nationalism were key to survival.
• They wanted to build up the army and navy, construct modern factories, and reform education.

Nationalists Overthrow Qing Dynasty

• The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) pushed for modernization and nationalization.
• Sun Yixian was the first great leader of the Kuomintang.
• In 1911, the Revolutionary Alliance succeeded in overthrowing the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, which had ruled China since 1644.

Shaky Start for the New Republic

• In 1912, Sun Yixian became president of the new Republic of China.
• Sun hoped to establish a modern government based on the "Three Principles of the People": nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood.
• Sun considered nationalism vital but lacked the authority and military support to secure national unity.
• Yuan Shikai betrayed the democratic ideals of the revolution, sparking local revolts after Sun turned over the presidency to him.
• After Yuan Shikai died in 1916, civil war broke out, and real authority fell into the hands of provincial warlords or powerful military leaders.

World War I

• In 1917, the government in Beijing declared war against Germany, hoping the Allies would return control of Chinese territories.
• The Treaty of Versailles gave those territories to Japan.
• On May 4, 1919, over 3,000 angry students gathered in the center of Beijing, and demonstrations spread to other cities, exploding into the May Fourth Movement.
• The May Fourth Movement showed the Chinese people's commitment to establishing a strong, modern nation.
• Many young Chinese intellectuals turned against Sun Yixian's belief in Western democracy in favor of Lenin's brand of Soviet communism.

The Communist Party in China

• In 1921, a group met in Shanghai to organize the Chinese Communist Party.
• Mao Zedong, an assistant librarian at Beijing University, was among its founders and would become China's greatest revolutionary leader.
• Mao Zedong developed his own brand of communism, envisioning bringing revolution to a rural country.

Lenin Befriends China

• Sun Yixian and his Nationalist Party set up a government in south China while the Chinese Communist Party was forming.
• Lenin seized the opportunity to help China's Nationalist government, sending military advisers and equipment to the Nationalists in return for allowing Chinese Communists to join the Kuomintang.

Peasants Align with the Communists

• After Sun Yixian died in 1925, Jiang Jieshi headed the Kuomintang.
• The followers of Jiang Jieshi feared the Communists' goal of creating a socialist economy modeled after the Soviet Union's.
• Jiang's government became steadily less democratic and more corrupt, causing many peasants to support the Chinese Communist Party.
• Mao divided land that the Communists won among the local farmers to enlist their support.

Nationalists and Communists Clash

• Jiang initially put aside his differences with the Communists and fought the warlords together.
• Nationalist troops and armed gangs moved into Shanghai in April 1927, killing many Communist leaders and trade union members.
• In 1928, Jiang became president of the Nationalist Republic of China, receiving formal recognition from Great Britain and the United States.
• The Soviet Union did not recognize the new government because of the slaughter of Communists at Shanghai.

Civil War Rages in China

• By 1930, the Nationalists and Communists were fighting a bloody civil war.
• Mao and other Communist leaders established themselves in the hills of south-central China, recruiting the peasants to join his Red Army.
• Jiang gathered an army of at least 700,000 men in 1933 and surrounded the Communists' mountain stronghold.

The Long March

• Communist Party leaders realized they faced defeat, beginning a hazardous, 6,000-mile-long journey called the Long March.
• Between 1934 and 1935, thousands of Communist forces died from hunger, cold, exposure, and battle wounds.
• After a little more than a year, Mao and the seven or eight thousand Communist survivors settled in caves in northwestern China.

Civil War Suspended

• As civil war raged between Nationalists and Communists, Japan invaded China.
• Japanese forces took advantage of China's weakening situation in 1931, invading Manchuria.
• In 1937, the Japanese launched an all-out invasion of China, causing massive bombings and destruction.
• The Japanese threat forced an uneasy truce between Jiang's and Mao's forces as Nationalists and Communists temporarily united to fight the Japanese.