A-24

To discuss the Collapse of Imperial China. toc The Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Party, was one of the many groups that were in favor of modernization. Sun Yixian was the Nationalist Party's first leader. Sun Yixian succeeded in overthrowing the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Thus, was the end for Imperial China and the beginning of the new Republic of China. =The Start of the New Republic=

In 1912, after the fall of the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Sun Yixian becomes the president of the new Republic of China. Sun's hope for the new government of China was to establish a modern government. He wanted to base this government off of the "Three Principals of the People", which was:

[[image:http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/2006/images/Sun_Yat_sen.gif width="161" height="216" align="left" caption="Sun Yixian"]]
1. People's Rights and the establishment of a democracy. 2. Livelihood of the People, economic security for all of the Chinese people 3. Nationalism, and ending foreign control. (Black, Beck, Krieger, Naylor, Shabaka 448)

Sun Yixian was a great revolutionary leader, but lacked the authority and the support from the military to unify China. Therefore, he turned his power over to Yuan Shikai, a powerful general in the Chinese army. Shikai, after gaining power, betrayed Sun Yixian's principals and sparked revolts, which eventually become one the cause of the civil war, due to it starting the revolts among the people of China.

In 1917, China joins World War I on the side of the Allies. Hoping for a victory over Germany, China believed that the Allies would return control of the Chinese territories the Germany owned as thanks for their participation in the war. Instead the Allies gave Japan these territories, enraging Chinese citizens.



= **The May Fourth Movement** = = = On May 4, 1919, 3,000 students, enraged by the Treaty of Versailles, gather at the center of Beijing. News of this meeting spreads to other cities in China. This gathering becomes a national movement in China, and became known as the May Fourth Movement. The May Fourth Movement was considered partly a cultural movement and partly a political movement. Students during the movement were inspired by Western thought. These thought created a feeling of frustration and an unsatisfactory attitude towards China's traditional culture. The May Fourth Movement was seen as a catalyst for he founding of the Chinese Communist Party. = = = = = = = The Chinese Communist Party =

In 1921, a group of Chinese people meet in Shanghai, China. The goal of this meeting was to organize the Communist Party in China. Among these people, was Mao Zedong, a Chinese communist who studied revolutions. During the time that the Chinese Communist Party was forming, Sun Yixian goes to southern China and sets up a government there.While here, Sun asks Western democracies for help, but they refuse to help his struggling government. After the rejection, Sun decides to ally the Nationalist Party with the Chinese Communist Party. By doing this, Sun had hoped to unite both parties in order to unite for a common goal. Lenin of Russia seizes this opportunity to help the Nationalist government. He sends military advisers and equipment, and in return, Lenin asked the Nationalists to allow the Communist Party members in China to join the Kuomintang.

Mao Zedong and the Communist Party
Mao Zedong was an important man among the Chinese Communists. He was a Chinese Marxist theorist, a soldier and a statesmen. He was in a vital position for the resurgence, and was the man who led China to a Communist revolution. He was also to become the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and future chairman of the People's Republic of China. Mao Zedong believed that peasants were true revolutionaries. Mao Zedong supports this theory by saying that the force of peasantry is like raging winds and driving rain. No force can stand in it's way and it is also rapidly increasing in violence. He also says that the peasantry will tear apart the boundaries that restrain it and will continue up the path to liberation. Mao also states that the peasantry will put behind them all of the faults in the government, such as corruption, imperialism, and militarism.

The Nationalist Party vs. The Communist Party
After the death of Sun Yixian in 1925, Jiang Jieshi becomes the new leader of the Nationalist Party. Jiang, at first, promises to create a democracy and provide political rights to Chinese citizens. Instead however, the government became less democratic and begins to go corrupt. Then, the peasants begin to think that Jiang would do little to help them, so they side with the Communist Party of China. After a considerable amount of time, Jiang allied himself with the Communists in order to successfully fight the warlords. Afterward though, Jiang quickly attacks the Chinese Communist Party.

In April 1927, Jiangs troops move into Shanghai and kills many Communist Party members in the streets. The same event happened in many other cities also. The Chinese Communist Party was nearly wiped out. After the killings, Jiang becomes president of China. Both Great Britain and the U.S. recognize the new Chinese government. Only the Soviet Union refused to recognize the new government. This is because of the massacre of the Communists in the streets of Shanghai. There also emerged a hidden rage over the slaughter in the Communists that would eventually erupt into a bloody civil war.

=China Erupts into a Civil War=

After the killings in Shanghai, Mao and the other Communist leaders relocate to south China. In 1930, the Nationalist and Communist parties were fighting in a bloody civil war. Mao takes the revolution to the countryside, where he recruits peasants to be in his Red Army. Mao describes taking the revolution to the countryside as "swimming in a peasant sea." This means that Mao believes that the revolution belongs in the countryside, for he believed that the peasants were true revolutionaries. Mao trains the peasants he recruited into the Red Army in guerrilla warfare, in order to combat the Nationalist forces. Nationalists have repeatedly tried to drive out the Communists, but have failed on many attempts. =The Long March=

In 1933, Jiang sends an army of 700,000 men to the Communists base. The Communist Party was outnumbered, so facing defeat, the Communist leaders decide to flee. They make a dangerous, 6,000 mile long journey to north-west China. This journey becomes known as the Long March. 100,000 Communist forces flee their base led by Mao and other Communist leaders. During the whole journey, the Communists were closely followed by Jiang's forces. By the end of the journey, thousands of Communists died because of hunger, harsh weather, injuries obtained during battles with the Nationalists, and exposure. Along the way though, Communists gained followers despite being on the run from the Nationalists and hiding in caves away from people. Finally, after about a year of being on the run, did the Communists settle in caves in the northwestern region of China. The remaining amount of Communists that survived ranged from 7,000 to 8,000 survivors. While the civil war rages between the Communists and the Nationalists, Japan decides that it is a key moment to invade China, with the Communist and Nationalist troops distracted.

=Uneasy Truce between the Nationalists and the Communists=

Japan, knowing the Chinese forces are distracted with the civil war, decide that now would be the best time to attack and invade China. The Japanese bombed many Chinese cities and villages, killing thousands and destroying farms. This caused a shortage in available food and many more citizens die due to starvation. This new threat forced China's two warring parties to come to a truce in order for them to combat the Japanese forces. As the truce was made, the National Assembly in China finally agrees to promote changes made to the "Three Principals of the People", created by Sun Yixian. But this truce would only be temporary, for at the end of World War II, this truce would also come to an end.