CHINESE Revolutionary PIES

The Chinese Revolution Overview

POLITICAL CAUSES

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908)

De facto Chinese monarch (1861-1908)

Blamed by many Chinese for foreign imperialist power

in ChinaEmperor Puyi – the “Last Emperor”

ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CAUSES

Foreign Imperialism

Lack of industry

Little infrastructure

Peasants had no access to landLack of

Education

INTELLECTUAL CAUSES

Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)

Founded Kuomintang (KMT) – Nationalist party

Overthrew Manchu (Qing) dynasty, 1911Established a republicPresident of Chinese Republic who succeeded him – Yuan Shih-k’ai

Three Principles of the People

Sun Yat-sen wanted to establish a modern government based on three principles

1. People’s Rights- Democracy the people are sovereign

2. Nationalism – an end to foreign imperialism

3. People’s Livelihood – economic development, industrialization, land reform, and social welfare – elements of progressivism and socialism

Republic of China: Weaknesses

• Disunity– Local warlords fought Kuomintang for control– Wars raged between 1912 and 1928

• Foreign imperialists– Americans, Europeans, and Japanese

• Poor transportation– 1914 – only 6,000 miles of railroad track

• 225,000 miles in the smaller United States

– Few decent roads

Chinese Warlords, 1920s

Chinese Warlords, 1920s

Yuan Shi-kaiYuan Shi-kai

China in 1924China in 1924

Foreign Imperialists

• Twenty-One Demands (1915)– Japan attempted to make China a Japanese

protectorate– Action condemned and stopped by other

leading world powers• World War I and the Treaty of Versailles

– China declared war on Germany in hopes that Allies would concessions and extraterritoriality• Attempt failed

– China did not sign the Treaty of Versailles– Japan gained mandate over most of Germany’s

Asian possessions and rights

May 4th Movement• 1919- 3,000 angry students protested the

Treaty of Versailles in Beijing • Demonstrations spread across the country as

workers, shopkeepers, and professionals joined the cause.

• Protestors demanded strong, modern government

• However, many young intellectuals turned against Sun’s belief in Western democracy in favor of communism

Mao ZedongMao Zedong

(Mao Tse-tung)(Mao Tse-tung)

•Assistant librarian in Beijing

•1921- Helped organize the Chinese Communist Party

•Believed he could bring revolution to a rural country and that peasants could be true revolutionaries

Mao With His Children, 1930sMao With His

Children, 1930s

Growth of Communism• Sun Yat-sen appealed for Russian (Soviet)

aid following the Versailles Conference– Sun became disillusioned with the Western

democracies that refused to support his struggling government

– Allied Kuomintang with the Communist party– 1921-1925 – China received advisors, arms,

communist propaganda, and loans– Russia revoked its imperialist rights in China

Chinese flag, 1912-1928

The Kuomintang (KMT) is Split

• Right wing– Business people– Politicians

• Left wing– Communists– Intellectuals– Radicals– Students

Nationalist Revolution

• Sun Yat-sen died in1925 and was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)– His followers were bankers/business

people– Feared Communism– Government became less democratic

and more corrupt• Peasants started to support communists

because they lost faith in Kai-shek– Mao divided land that the Communists

won among local farmers.Presidential Palace under Kuomintang Government in Nanjing

(Chiang Kai-shek)(Chiang Kai-shek)

• 1926-1928 – war to control the warlords – Communists/Nationalists join forces.– 1927 Kai-shek turned against communists and

ordered many Communist leaders and union workers killed. Killings in many Chinese cities.

– Communists almost wiped out.

– 1928- Jiang Jieshi becomes President of the Nationalist Republic of China.

– Capital moved from Peiping (a.k.a. Peking, today’s Beijing) to Nanking (Nanjing)

Civil War in China

• 1927-1932 and 1933-1937 – war between Communists and Nationalists– Communists – Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong)

– Nationalists – Chiang Kai-shek

• War halted 1932-1933 and 1937-1945 to fight Japanese aggression

• Communists were victorious in 1949

• Nationalists retreated to Formosa (Taiwan)

1. Mao and other Communists leaders established themselves in the hills of south-central China.

2. “swimming in the peasant sea”1. Recruited peasants to join the Red Army, trained them in

guerilla warfare. 3. Nationalists failed to drive them out4. Long March

• 1933- Jiang’s army surrounded the Communists’ mountain stronghold.

• Communists fled (100,000)• 6,000 mile journey • 1934-1935 stayed just ahead of Jiang’s forces• Thousands died of hunger, cold, exposure, and battle

wounds.• Settled in caves in northwestern China, gained new

followers

The Long MarchThe Long March

Survivors of the March

Survivors of the March

• Civil War interrupted when Japan invaded China• 1st in 1931 when Japanese invaded

Manchuria• 2nd in 1937 with the invasion of

China

Japanese Aggression, 1931 - 1945

Japanese Aggression, 1931 - 1945

Japanese Soldiers March into Nanking

December 9, 1937

Japanese Soldiers March into Nanking

December 9, 1937

The Japanese Invasion, 1937The Japanese

Invasion, 1937