China and the Revolution

The End of Chinese Imperial Rule

• Reasons – foreign influence during Age of Imperialism

• China abused by Western nations

– China lacked industrialization – weak military – poor education system

The End of Chinese Imperial Rule

• Nationalists

– Kuomintang (KMT) the nationalist party in China • leader was Sun Yixian (Sun Yat Sen)• leader of China for only 6 weeks

Sun Yixian• "Three Principles of the People"

– Nationalism-- end foreign control

– Democracy-- rights of/by/for the people

– Economic security/freedom for all

• Sun turned control over to Yuan Shikai– Yuan turned China into military dictatorship

– revolution & warlords dominated China .

– peasants & country as a whole suffered

World War I

• Joined Allied side in 1917 – hoped to have foreign influence in China

removed in return

– German-held land in China given to Japan by Versailles Treaty

World War I

• May Fourth Movement (May 1919) – when news of treaty reached China, protests

broke out in China – KMT shared anger of May Fourth Movement but

unable to increase own power or make reforms– Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung) among the young

communists who called for revolution in China– increasing numbers of Chinese turned away from

democracy and toward communism

The Rise of the Communists in China

• Sun Yixian disillusioned by Western nations

– liked Lenin's (Soviet Union's) organization

– Sun asked for/received aid from Soviets

– Soviets sent military aid/advisers/equipment to China• in return for aid communists were allowed to

join the KMT

The Rise of the Communists in China

• Death of Sun Yixian (1925) → Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek) taking over – had middle and upper classes on his side – middle & upper classes feared communist

influence on the economy

The Rise of the Communists in China

• Jiang Jieshi worked with communists to put down the warlords – KMT needed more men to fight

• Turned against communists soon after

Shanghai Massacre (April 1927)

• April 1927

• communists nearly eliminated

• Civil War begins

• Jiang Jieshi becomes president of China

• communists flee to western China

Chinese Civil War (1927-1949)

• Jiang loses support of the peasant class– promised reforms were never delivered to

peasants • cities modernized; rural areas ignored

– Mao & communists redistributed land to the peasants

The Long March (1934)

• communists were outnumbered by 6:1– had to retreat to mountains of western

China 6000 miles away

– thousands of communists killed but not whole army • communists live to fight another day-- seals

Jiang's fate

Japan's Invasions of China (1931 & 1937)

• Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 in response to economic problems of the Depression – Japan created puppet state of Manchukuo

Japan's Invasions of China (1931 & 1937)

• Japan invaded remainder of China in 1937

– Japan reasoned China was distracted from defense by Civil War

– invasion brought about uneasy truce b/t communists & KMT • both sides supposed to work together against

Japan • Jiang promised to make needed reforms--he

didn't

The End of the Civil War in China

• The Civil War resumed in 1945 at end of WWII

• Jiang's Nationalists millions received millions in US aid money – money went into Jiang's pockets instead into KMT's

soldiers'

• Jiang had much larger army– did not suffer great losses in war--they let

communists do the fighting

The End of the Civil War in China

• KMT was corrupt, incompetent & offered nothing to the common soldier – KMT soldiers deserted in large numbers – deserters joined communists

• by 1949 communists pushed KMT of mainland China – KMT forced to Taiwan & created Republic of

China – US supported Taiwan & USSR supported People's

Republic of China

China Under Mao

• signed friendship agreement with Soviets in 1950

• Mao began land redistribution program – 10% of population (550 million) owned 70% of

the land – anyone who resisted was killed (about a

million)

China Under Mao

• Agricultural changes – created small collective farms at first

consisting of 200-300 families – success of collective farms led Mao to proclaim

the Great Leap Forward

China Under Mao

• the Great Leap Forward– designed to improve China's agriculture– created communes to build on success of

collective farms – huge farms (25,000 people or more) – failed miserably b/c peasants had no ownership

of anything they produced– crop failures led to death of over 20 million