Chinese Communist Revolution

{{Short description|1927–1949 social revolution in China}} {{About-distinguish-text|the social revolution in China|the [[Chinese Civil War]]|the later [[Cultural Revolution]]}}

{{Infobox historical event | name = Chinese Revolution | image = {{Multiple image |total_width=300 |border=infobox |perrow=2/2/2 | image1 = Communists Being Arrested in the Shanghai Massacre.jpg | image2 = 1967-10 红军时期夹金山.jpg | image3 = 中共六届六中全会主席团成员合影.jpg | image4 = Choubapi.jpg | image5 =Chinese Nationalist artillery during the Chinese Civil War.jpg | image6=Mao Proclaiming New China.JPG | footer = Clockwise: {{flatlist|class=inline| * [[Shanghai massacre|Massacre]] of communists in Shanghai * [[Long March]] * Peasants ''[[Struggle session|pidou]]'' a landord during [[Land Reform Movement]] * Proclamation of the [[founding of PRC]] * [[Huaihai campaign]] * CCP leaders during [[Shanbei]] [[Yan'an#Red capital of Chinese communism|Era]] <!-- * 1927: Shanghai Massacre * 1935: Long March * 1938: 6th Conference of CCP Politburo * 1946: Pidou * 1948: Huaihai Campaign * 1949: Founding of PRC --> }} }} | partof = the [[Chinese Civil War]] and the [[Cold War]] | date = 1 August 1927{{snd}}1 October 1949 | place = China | result = Communist victory{{blist | [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China]] | [[Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan]] }} }} {{Campaignbox Chinese Civil War|state=expanded}} {{Chinese Communist Revolution sidebar}} The '''Chinese Communist Revolution''' was a [[social revolution|social]] and [[political revolution]] in [[mainland China]] that began in 1927 and culminated with the [[proclamation of the People's Republic of China]] (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP), which afterwards became the ruling party of China. The political revolution resulted in major social changes within China and has been looked at as a model by revolutionary communist movements in other countries.

During the preceding century, termed the [[century of humiliation]], the decline of the [[Qing dynasty]] and the rise of foreign imperialism caused escalating social, economic, and political problems in China. The Qing collapsed in 1912 and were replaced with the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], which had itself fallen into [[Warlord Era|warring factions]] by 1917. A small group of urban intellectuals, inspired by the [[October Revolution]] and European socialist ideas, founded the CCP in 1921. They created an alliance known as the [[First United Front]] with the much larger [[Kuomintang]] (KMT), having the shared goal of overthrowing the warlords governing China. During this period the CCP rapidly expanded its membership, organized a militant labor movement in several of China's major cities, and established rudimentary peasant associations in rural areas. Nonetheless, and despite the First United Front's military successes, KMT leader [[Chiang Kai-shek]] ended the alliance in 1927 by initiating the [[Shanghai massacre]].

The [[Chinese Civil War]] between the CCP and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fundamentally changed the course of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Forced to flee into the remote countryside, semi-isolated CCP cadres began to experiment with [[land reform]] and other ways of appealing to the peasantry. One of the most successful local leaders was [[Mao Zedong]], who turned the [[Jiangxi Soviet]] into a "state within a state".<ref name="Cultural">{{Cite web |year=2007–2010 |title=Chinese Soviet Republic |url=http://history.cultural-china.com/en/34History7366.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025134115/http://history.cultural-china.com/en/34History7366.html |archive-date=25 October 2012 |access-date=21 September 2012 |website=Cultural China |publisher=cultural-china.com}}</ref> In 1935, the Communists were handed a major military defeat, and the survivors made the [[Long March]] to a [[Yan'an Soviet|new base]] in northwest China. During the Long March, Mao rose from a regional leader to undisputed leader of the entire CCP. After settling in their new base, the Communists undertook a [[Yan'an Rectification Movement|campaign of ideological self-purification]] to solidify their allegiance to Mao and their new peasant-based strategy.<ref name="LIEBERTHAL">{{Cite book |last=Lieberthal |first=Kenneth |url=https://archive.org/details/governingchinafr0000lieb |title=Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform |date=2004 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |isbn=978-0-393-92492-3 |pages=45–48 |language=en}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Japan had taken advantage of China's disunity to [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|seize Manchuria]] and other Chinese territories. Chiang Kai-shek, prioritizing "first internal pacification, then external resistance", avoided confronting Japan. The Communists argued that the CCP and KMT should cooperate to fight the Japanese, an appeal to patriotism that won them broad sympathy. In 1936, Nationalist troops who had become sympathetic to the Communists [[Xi'an Incident|kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek]] and forced him to begin ceasefire negotiations. The [[Second United Front]] was finalized when the Japanese launched a [[Second Sino-Japanese War|full-scale invasion]] of China the following year. The renewed alliance allowed the CCP to once again expand their areas of influence by waging a guerrilla war behind Japanese lines.

Following the [[Surrender of Japan|Japanese surrender]] in 1945, China became a battlefield in the [[Cold War]]. The Nationalists received military support from the [[United States]] and the CCP from the [[Soviet Union]]. Although the Nationalists at first held most of the country, sympathy for the Communists grew in urban areas suffering from high unemployment, runaway inflation, and rampant government corruption. The presence of [[United States Marine Corps|United States Marines]] in Chinese cities further inflamed [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] sentiment, especially among students. When peace talks between the two Chinese sides floundered, the Civil War resumed. The Communists' newly-formed [[People's Liberation Army]] launched a successful series of campaigns that defeated the Nationalists and forced them to [[retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan|retreat to Taiwan]] in 1949.

The Communist victory had a major impact on the global balance of power: China became the largest [[socialist state]] by population, as well as a third force in the Cold War following the 1956 [[Sino-Soviet split]]. The People's Republic offered direct and indirect support to communist movements around the world, and inspired the growth of [[Maoism|Maoist]] parties in a number of countries. Shock at the CCP's success, and the emerging geopolitical [[domino theory]] postulating communism's spread across [[East Asia]], led the United States to stage successive military interventions against Chinese-backed forces [[Korean War|in Korea]] and [[Vietnam War|Southeast Asia]]. The CCP remains in government in mainland China and is the second-largest political party in the world.{{sfn|Tian|2021}}

==Start and end dates== Many historians agree with the Chinese Communist Party official history that the Chinese Communist Revolution dates to the founding of the party in 1921. A few consider it to be the latter part of the [[Chinese Civil War]], since it was only after the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] that the tide turned decisively in favour of the CCP. That said, it is not entirely clear when the second half of the civil war began. The earliest possible date would be the end of the [[Second United Front]] in January 1941, when Nationalist forces [[New Fourth Army Incident|ambushed and destroyed]] the New Fourth Army. Another possible date is the [[surrender of Japan]] on August 10, 1945, which began a scramble by CCP and Nationalist forces to seize the equipment and territory left behind by the Japanese.{{sfn|Cohn|2007|pp=121–122}}{{sfn|Jessup|1989}} However, full-scale warfare between the two sides did not truly recommence until June 26, 1946, when [[Chiang Kai-shek]] launched a major offensive against CCP bases in Manchuria.{{sfn|Hu|2003}} This article is focused on the political and social developments that contributed to the Revolution, rather than the military events of the Civil War, so it begins with the founding of the CCP.

The most common date used for the end of the Revolution is the [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China]] on 1 October 1949.<ref name="OER">{{Cite web |last=Hodges |first=Francesca |title=The Chinese Communist Revolution in a Global Perspective |url=https://www.oerproject.com/-/media/WHP/PDF/Transcripts/WHP---The-Chinese-Communist-Revolution-in-a-Global-Perspective-Transcript.ashx |access-date=17 February 2022 |website=World History Project |publisher=OER Project}}</ref>{{sfn|Yang|Saich|2016}}{{sfn|Perry|2018}}<ref name="State Dep">{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1945–1952: The Chinese Revolution of 1949 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/chinese-rev |access-date=17 February 2022 |website=Office of the Historian |publisher=United States State Department}}</ref> Nonetheless, the Nationalist Government had not evacuated to [[Taiwan]] until December, and significant fighting (such as [[Battle of Hainan Island|the conquest of Hainan]]) continued well into 1950 and the [[Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China|takeover]] of [[Tibet (1912–1951)|Tibet]] in 1951.{{sfn|Cook|Stevenson|2005|p=376}}{{sfn|Goodman|2004a|p=73}} While never posing a serious threat to the People's Republic, the [[Kuomintang Islamic insurgency]] continued until as late as 1958 in the provinces of [[Gansu]], [[Qinghai]], [[Ningxia]], [[Xinjiang]], and [[Yunnan]].{{sfn|Allatson|McCormack|2008|p=66}}{{sfn|Goodman|2004b|p=387}}{{sfn|Goodman|2005|p=6}} ROC soldiers who had fled into the mountains of [[Burma]] and [[Thailand]] worked with the CIA and KMT to finance anti-Communist activities with drug trafficking well into the 1980s.{{sfn|Gibson|2011}} No formal peace between the ROC and the PRC has ever been negotiated.{{sfn|Green|1993|p=79}}

==Origins== During the final years of the [[Qianlong Emperor]]'s reign, China began a long period of decline popularly known as the "[[century of humiliation]]". Successive administrations within the imperial administration of the Qing dynasty failed to address the mounting problems of economic stagnation, official corruption, and military weakness.{{sfn|Harris|1959|pp=161–169}}{{sfn|Platt|2018|pp=49–70, 420–448}} Massive peasant rebellions, most notably the [[Taiping Rebellion]], cost millions of lives and ravaged the countryside.{{sfn|Platt|2012}} Japan and the Western powers forced China to accept [[unequal treaties]] that gave them territorial concessions and allowed them to exploit the Chinese economy. China had been turned into a "semi-colony" by the time of the [[Boxer Rebellion]].{{sfn|Zarrow|2005|pp=1–2, 6–11}}

===The landlord system=== Prior to the revolution, the majority of agricultural land in rural China was owned by a class of landlords and wealthy peasants, with between 50 and 65 percent of peasants owning little or no land and thus needing to rent additional land from landlords.{{sfn|Buck|1980|p=2}}{{sfn|Chen|1933|pp=2–5}}{{efn|Social scientist [[Chen Hansheng]] divides the rural population into five basic economic classes. At the top were landlords who owned large amounts of land, animals, and other capital and lived entirely off of what they collected in rents. The rich peasants took a significant portion of their income from rent, but owned slightly less land and therefore had to work their land themselves alongside hired labor. Middle peasants had enough land and capital to sustain themselves without working for wages, but neither could they afford to hire laborers. The poor peasants, usually the largest group, owned some land but not enough to live on, and had to sell part of their labor to landlords in order to make ends meet. Finally, on the lowest social rung were the hired laborers, who had no land of their own and had to survive entirely off of wages.{{sfn|Chen|1933}}}} This disparity in land ownership differed by region, and was more extreme in southern China where the commercialization of agriculture was more developed. For example, in [[Guangdong]] more than half the rural population owned no land at all. Poor peasants owned an average of only 0.87 ''[[Chinese units of measurement#Area|mu]]'' (about 0.14 acres) and so spent most of their time working rented land.{{sfn|Chen|1936}} Even in north China, where most peasants owned at least some land, the plots they owned were so small and [[soil fertility|infertile]] that they remained on the edge of starvation.{{sfn|Perry|1980|p=29}}{{sfn|Hinton|1966|p=24–25}} [[List of famines in China|Periodic famines]] were common during both the Qing dynasty and the later [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. Between 1900 and the end of WWII, China experienced no less than six major famines, costing tens of millions of lives.{{sfn|Chen|2002}}{{sfn|Li|2007|pp=303–307|loc="In Gansu the estimated mortality was 2.5 to 3 million [...] In Shaanxi, out of a population of 13 million, an estimated 3 million died of hunger or disease."}}{{sfn|Kelly|2015}}{{sfn|Garnaut|2013|pp=2034, 2044}}

Depending on the system of tenancy, peasants renting land might have been expected to pay in kind or in cash, either as a fixed amount or as a [[Crop share rent|proportion of the harvest]].{{sfn|Buck|1980|pp=7-8}} Where a share of the harvest was paid, as in much of north China, rates of 40%, 50%, and 60% were common. A system of [[sharecropping]] prevailed in much of [[Shanxi]], where landlords owned all agricultural capital and expected 80% of the harvest as rent.{{sfn|Buck|1980|p=10}} The amount of fixed rents varied, but in most areas averaged about $4 a year per ''mu''.{{sfn|Buck|1980|p=9}} Proponents of peasant exploitation as a cause of the Chinese Communist Revolution argue that these rents were often exorbitant and contributed to the extreme poverty of the peasantry.{{sfn|Hinton|1966|p=27}}<ref name="Mandel">{{Cite journal |last=Mandel |first=Ernest |date=May 1950 |title=The Third Chinese Revolution |url=https://www.ernestmandel.org/en/works/txt/1950/third_chinese_revolution.htm#f55 |journal=The Fourth International |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=147–157 |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> Agricultural economist [[John Lossing Buck]] disagreed, arguing that landlords' return on investment was not especially high in comparison to the standard rates of interest in China at the time.{{sfn|Buck|1980|pp=12–13}}

===Other forms of rural exploitation=== According to [[William H. Hinton]], author of [[Fanshen|a case study]] on how the Revolution impacted a village in north China:{{sfn|Hinton|1966|p=29}} <blockquote>The land held by the landlords and rich peasants, while ample, was not enough in itself to make them the dominant group in the village. It served primarily as a solid foundation for other forms of open and concealed exploitation which taken together raised a handful of families far above the rest of the inhabitants economically and hence politically and socially as well.</blockquote> Landlords utilized forms of exploitation such as [[usury]], [[corruption]], and the theft of public funds to enrich themselves and their families.{{sfn|Hinton|1966|p=30}}{{sfn|Chen|1933|p=18}} They ran side businesses with the profits from farming to shore up their finances and isolate themselves from the effects of bad harvests.{{sfn|Hinton|1966|pp=30–31}} On holidays, funerals, and other important events, landlords had the right to demand their tenants act as servants, reinforcing the social divide and engendering resentment from the peasants.{{sfn|Buck|1980|p=15}} [[Agnes Smedley]] observed how even within a short distance from Shanghai, rural landlords operated essentially as feudal lords, paying for private armies, dominating local politics, and keeping numerous [[concubines]].<ref name="Mandel" />

===Radicalization of urban intellectuals=== [[File:新青年封面.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chen Duxiu]]'s journal ''[[New Youth]]'' played a major role in publicizing Marxist ideas to a wider Chinese audience during the [[New Culture Movement]] of the 1910s and 20s.]] In the first decade of the twentieth century, young Chinese intellectuals such as [[Ma Junwu]], [[Liang Qichao]], and Zhao Bizhen were the first to translate and summarize socialist and [[Marxist]] ideas into Chinese.{{sfn|Xu|Liu|1989|pp=23–28}}{{sfn|Hu|1994|pp=41–42}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=巩梅：百年前《社会主义史》的三种译本 |trans-title=Gong Mei: Three Translations of ''A History of Socialism'' a Century Ago |url=https://marxism.pku.edu.cn/xzlt/1339455.htm |access-date=21 October 2021 |website=School of Marxism, Peking University |quote=一是署名“独立之个人”即马君武编译的《俄罗斯大风潮》。该译本是根据《社会主义史》1900年第二版中的第十章“无政府主义”编译的[...]他仅选择《社会主义史》中的“无政府主义”一章进行翻译，并在行文中加入了自己的大量评论 |trans-quote=The first is ''The Great Tide in Russia'', which was compiled by Ma Junwu who used the pseudonym "an independent individual". This translation is based on chapter 10, "Anarchism," in the second edition of ''A History of Socialism'', 1900[...]He chose to translate only the chapter on "Anarchism" from ''A History of Socialism'', and added his own extensive comments to the text.}}</ref> However, this happened on a very small scale, and had no immediate impacts. This would change following the [[1911 Revolution]], which saw [[Wuchang Uprising|military]] and popular revolts overthrow the [[Qing Dynasty]].{{sfn|Li|2007b|pp=13, 26–27}}<ref name="reillyt">Reilly, Thomas. [1997] (1997). ''Science and Football III'', Volume 3. Taylor & Francis publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-419-22160-9}}. pp. 105–106, 277–278.</ref> The failure of the new [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Chinese Republic]] to improve social conditions or modernize the country led scholars to take a greater interest in Western ideas such as socialism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Before and After the May Fourth Movement |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_mayfourth.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629230745/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_mayfourth.htm |archive-date=29 June 2020 |access-date=17 July 2020 |website=Asia For Educators |publisher=Columbia University}}</ref><ref>[[Jonathan Spence]], ''[[The Search for Modern China]]'', [[W.W.Norton]], 1999, pp. 290–313.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hon |first=Tze-ki |date=2014-03-28 |title=The Chinese Path to Modernisation |journal=International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=211–228 |doi=10.18352/hcm.470 |issn=2666-6529 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[New Culture Movement]] was especially strong in cities like [[Shanghai]], where [[Chen Duxiu]] began to publish the left-leaning journal ''[[New Youth]]'' in 1915.<ref name="Wei">{{Cite news |last=Wei |first=Huang |date=1 July 2021 |title=How China Got Marx |url=https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1007824/how-china-got-marx |access-date=25 February 2022 |work=[[Sixth Tone]]}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=October 2025}} ''New Youth'' quickly became the most popular and widely distributed journal amongst the intelligentsia during this period.{{sfn|Spence|1999|pp=296–304}} [[File:Student Demonstrations, June 4th and 5th, 1919 1.jpg|thumb|right|The [[May Fourth Movement]] radicalized the New Culture Movement. For the first time, the general urban population became involved in political demonstrations and many future Communist leaders were converted to Marxism.]] In May 1919, news reached China that the [[Versailles Peace Conference]] had decided to give [[German Empire|German]]-occupied province of [[Shandong Province|Shandong]] to [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] rather than returning it to China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griswold |first=Alfred Whitney |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.12294 |title=The Far Eastern Policy of the United States |date=1938-01-01 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and company |pages=239–268}}</ref><ref>A. Whitney Griswold, ''The Far Eastern Policy of the United States'' (1938). pp. 239–268</ref> The Chinese public saw this not only as a betrayal by [[Allies of World War I|the Western allies]], but also as a failure by the Chinese Republican government to properly defend the country against imperialism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chow |first=Tse-tsung |title=The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China |date=1960 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-28339-8 |pages=86–93 |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674283404}}</ref> In what became known as the [[May Fourth Movement]], large protests erupted in major cities across China. Although led by students, these protests were significant because they included the first mass participation by those outside the traditional intellectual and cultural elites.<ref name="zhidong">{{Cite journal |last=Hao |first=Zhidong |year=1997 |title=May&nbsp;4th and June&nbsp;4th Compared: A Sociological Study of Chinese Social Movements |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary China]] |volume=6 |issue=14 |pages=79–99 |doi=10.1080/10670569708724266}}</ref><ref name="Wasserstrom">{{Cite web |last=Wasserstrom |first=Jeffrey N. |title=Chinese Students and Anti-Japanese Protests, Past and Present |url=http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj05-2/wasserstrom.html |date=Summer 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105101235/http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/articles/wpj05-2/wasserstrom.html |archive-date=November 5, 2013 |access-date=November 18, 2008 |publisher=World Policy Journal}}</ref> [[Mao Zedong]] later stated that the May Fourth Movement "marked a new stage in China's bourgeois-democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism...a powerful camp made its appearance in the bourgeois-democratic revolution, a camp consisting of the working class, the student masses and the new national bourgeoisie."<ref>"[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_13.htm The May Fourth Movement]" (1939), Selected Works of Mao Zedong.</ref> Many political, and social leaders of the next five decades emerged at this time, including those of the Chinese Communist Party.{{sfn|Hayford|2009|p=569}}

The [[October Revolution]] in [[Russian Empire|Russia]] attracted the admiration of many of the organizers of the May Fourth Movement.{{sfn|Hunt|2013|p=114}}{{sfn|Van de Ven|1991|p=38}} Although exposure to Marxist theory was extremely limited in China at the time, Chinese radicals found [[Leninism|Lenin's ideas about organizing a revolutionary movement]] to be readily applicable to their own context.{{sfn|Saich|2021|p=44}} Moreover, the [[Soviet Union]] (once established in 1922) offered a unique and compelling model of modernization and revolutionary social change in a semi-colonial nation.{{sfn|Forster|2018}} Historian Tony Saich wrote that the early Chinese Communists "were Bolsheviks before they were Marxists."{{sfn|Saich|2021|p=44}} Interest in the Bolsheviks led to an interest in Marxism. Students formed study groups to discuss Marx's ideas, including one at [[Peking University]] led by [[Li Dazhao]].<ref>Patrick Fuliang Shan, "Assessing Li Dazhao's Role in the New Cultural Movement", in ''A Century of Student Movements in China: The Mountain Movers, 1919–2019'', Rowman Littlefield and Lexington Books, 2020, p. 20.</ref> His study group included Chen Duxiu, who was working as a dean at the university.<ref>Murray, Stuart. The Library: An Illustrated History. New York: Skyhorse, 2009.</ref> Other future party leaders who became interested in the Communist movement at this time include Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.<ref>{{cite web |title=Zhou, Enlai 1898–1976 |url=https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/people/zhou-enlai |website=Wilson Center Digital Archive }}</ref> As the editor of ''New Youth'', Chen used his journal to publish a series of Marxist articles, including an entire issue devoted to the subject in 1919.<ref name="UN">{{Cite journal |last=Ash |first=Alec |date=6 September 2009 |title=China's New New Youth |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/chinabeatarchive/626/ |url-status=live |journal=The China Beat Blog Archive 2008–2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612103436/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/chinabeatarchive/626/ |archive-date=12 June 2020 |access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>{{sfn|Spence|1999|p=296}} By 1920, Li and Chen had fully converted to Marxism, and Li founded the Peking Socialist Youth Corps in Beijing.<ref name="Dazhao">{{Cite web |last=Kuiper |first=Kathleen |title=Li Dazhao |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Li-Dazhao |access-date=25 February 2022 |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]}}</ref> Chen moved back to Shanghai, where he also founded a small Communist group.<ref name="Chow">{{Cite web |last=Chow |first=Tse-tsung |title=Chen Duxiu: Role in the intellectual revolution |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chen-Duxiu |access-date=25 February 2022 |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]}}</ref>

==Cooperation with the Nationalists== ===Foundation of the Chinese Communist Party=== [[File:78 Xingye Lu (3919339998).jpg|thumb|right|Location of the [[1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]] in July 1921, on [[Xintiandi]], former [[French Concession]], Shanghai.]]

By 1920, "skepticism about <nowiki>[study groups']</nowiki> suitability as vehicles for reform had become widespread."{{sfn|Van de Ven|1991|p=44}} Instead, most Chinese Marxists had determined to follow the [[Leninist]] model, which they understood as organizing a [[Vanguardism|vanguard party]] around a core group of professional revolutionaries.<ref name="Zhao">{{Cite journal |last=Zhao |first=Xuduo |year=2022 |title=Democracy, Enlightenment, and Revolution: Cantonese Marxists and Chinese Social Democracy, 1920–1922 |journal=[[Modern China (journal)|Modern China]] |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=167–196 |doi=10.1177/0097700420954771 |s2cid=224896224 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{sfn|Columbia|2001}} The Chinese Communist Party was founded on 23 July 1921 in Shanghai, at the [[1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|1st National Congress of the CCP]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tatlow |first=Didi Kirsten |date=20 July 2011 |title=On Party Anniversary, China Rewrites History |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/world/asia/21iht-letter21.html |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/world/asia/21iht-letter21.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |access-date=2 June 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{sfn|Gao|2009|p=119}} The dozen delegates resolved to affiliate with the [[Communist International]] (Comintern), although the CCP would only formally become a member at its [[2nd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|second congress]].{{sfn|Gao|2009|p=119}} Chen was elected ''in absentia'' to be the first [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary]].<ref name="Chow" />{{sfn|Gao|2009|p=119}} The Chinese Communist Party grew slowly in its first few years.{{sfn|Hunt|2013|p=115}} The party had 50 members at the beginning of 1921, 200 in 1922, and 2,428 in 1925.{{sfn|Spence|1999|p=312}}<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Shuanghai |first1=Zhou (周霜梅) |last2=Minggang |title=中共二大代表"尚有一人无法确定"之谜--理论--人民网 |trans-title=The mystery of the "Unconfirmed attendee" in the 2nd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party - Theories - People's Daily |url=http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2013/0311/c49157-20746896.html |access-date=5 November 2016 |website=theory.people.com.cn |publisher=[[People's Daily]] |language=zh}}</ref>{{sfn|奎松|2010}} In contrast, the Kuomintang had 50,000 members already in 1923.<ref name="Fairbank">Fairbank, John King. [1994] (1994). China: A New History. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-11673-9}}.</ref> The CCP continued to be dominated by students and urban intellectuals living in China's large cities, where exposure to Marxist ideas was strongest: three of the first four party congresses were held in Shanghai, the other in [[Guangzhou]]. One exception was [[Peng Pai]], who became the first CCP leader to seriously engage with the peasants. In [[Haifeng County]] in rural Guangdong, he organized a powerful peasant association that campaigned for lower rents, led anti-landlord boycotts, and organized welfare activities.{{sfn|Ip|2009|pp=54–66}} By 1923, it claimed a membership of about 100,000, or one-quarter of the population of the entire county.{{sfn|Galbiati|1985|pp=129–130}}<ref>''Current Intelligence Staff Study – '''Mao Tse-Tung And Historical Materialism'''''. April 1961. p8 [http://www.foia.cia.gov/CPE/POLO/polo-01.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724224515/http://www.foia.cia.gov/CPE/POLO/polo-01.pdf|date=2009-07-24}}</ref> Later that year, Peng worked with the KMT to establish a joint "[[Peasant Movement Training Institute]]" to train young idealists to work in rural areas, which slowly increased both parties' awareness of and engagement with the peasants and their issues.<ref name="Berkley">{{Cite journal |last=Berkley |first=Gerald W. |date=April 1975 |title=The Canton Peasant Movement Training Institute |journal=[[Modern China (journal)|Modern China]] |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=161–179 |doi=10.1177/009770047500100203 |jstor=189039 |s2cid=144243046}}</ref>

===First United Front=== At the same time as CCP was developing in Shanghai, in Guangzhou the seasoned revolutionary [[Sun Yat-sen]] was building the Chinese Nationalist Party, or [[Kuomintang]] (KMT). Although not a communist, Sun admired the success of the [[Russian Revolution]] and sought help from the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Verbyla|2010|p=170}} The [[Sun–Joffe Manifesto]] issued in January 1923 formalized cooperation between the KMT and the Soviet Union.<ref name="Tung1">Tung, William L. [1968] (1968). ''The political institutions of modern China''. Springer publishing. {{ISBN|9789024705528}}. pp. 92, 106.</ref> The CCP's [[3rd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|Third Party Congress]] was held in Guangzhou later that year, and the Comintern instructed the CCP to disband and join the KMT as individuals.<ref name="Zhao" /> This was justified in view of the "[[two-stage theory]]" of revolution, which postulated that "feudal" societies such as China's needed to undergo a period of capitalist development before they could experience a successful socialist revolution. Although the CCP did agree to allow members to join the KMT, it did not disband. Sun encouraged this decision by offering praise for [[Vladimir Lenin]] and calling his [[Three Principles of the People|principle of livelihood]] "a form of communism".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Godley |first=Michael R. |year=1987 |title=Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Sun Yatsen and the International Development of China |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2158585 |journal=The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs |issue=18 |pages=109–125 |doi=10.2307/2158585 |jstor=2158585 |s2cid=155947428|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This was the basis of the [[First United Front]], which in effect turned the CCP into the left wing of the larger KMT.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wasserstrom |first=Jeffrey |title=Chinese Students and Anti-Japanese Protests, Past and Present |url=https://worldpolicy.org/world-policy-journal-summer-2005/ |work=World Policy Journal –Summer 2005 |access-date=2018-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701030616/https://worldpolicy.org/world-policy-journal-summer-2005/ |url-status=dead |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-07-01}}</ref> The KMT ratified this United Front at its [[1st National Congress of the Kuomintang|First National Congress]] in 1924. The Soviets began sending the support the KMT needed for its planned expansion out of Guangdong. Military advisers [[Mikhail Borodin]] and [[Vasily Blyukher]] arrived in May to oversee the construction of the [[Whampoa Military Academy]], financed with Soviet funds. Chiang Kai-shek, who the year prior had spent three months in the Soviet Union, was appointed commandant of the new [[National Revolutionary Army]] (NRA).<ref>Gao. James Zheng. [2009] (2009). ''Historical dictionary of modern China (1800–1949)''. Scarecrow press. {{ISBN|0-8108-4930-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4930-3}}. p. 251.</ref>

On 30 May 1925, Chinese students gathered at the [[Shanghai International Settlement]], and held the [[May Thirtieth Movement]] in opposition to foreign interference in China.{{sfn|Wilbur|1983|page=22}} Specifically, with the support of the KMT, they called for the boycott of foreign goods and an end to the Settlement, which was [[Concessions in China|governed]] by the British and Americans. The [[Shanghai Municipal Police]], largely operated by the British, opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators. This incident sparked outrage throughout China, culminating in the [[Canton–Hong Kong strike]], which began on 18 June, and proved a fertile recruiting ground for the CCP.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|pp=11, 29}} Membership was catapulted to over 20,000, almost ten times what it had been earlier in the year.{{sfn|Carroll|2007|p=100}}<ref name="May EB">{{Cite web |last=Xia |first=Zhihou |title=May Thirtieth Incident |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/May-Thirtieth-Incident |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>{{sfn|Nolan|2002|p=1509}} Concerns about the rising power of the leftist faction, and the effect of the strike on the Guangzhou government's ability to raise funds, which was largely dependent on foreign trade, led to increasing tensions within the United Front. When Sun Yat-sen had died on 12 March, his immediate successor as chairman was the moderate [[Liao Zhongkai]], who supported the United Front and the KMT's close relationship with the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Tamura|1998|p=174}} On August 20 [[Hu Hanmin]]'s far-right faction likely orchestrated Liao's assassination.{{sfn|Radtke|Liao|1990|p=23}} Hu was arrested for his connections to the murderers, leaving Chiang and [[Wang Jingwei]]—Sun's former confidant and a leftist sympathizer—as the two main contenders for control of the party. Amidst this backdrop, Chiang began to consolidate power in preparation for an expedition against the northern warlords. On 20 March 1926, he launched a bloodless purge of hardline communists who were opposed to the proposed expedition from the Guangzhou administration and its military, known as the [[Canton Coup]]. The rapid replacement of leadership enabled Chiang to effectively end civilian oversight of the military.{{sfn|Xiang|1998|p=3}} At the same time, Chiang made conciliatory moves toward the Soviet Union, and attempted to balance the need for Soviet and CCP assistance in the fight against the warlords with his concerns about growing communist influence within the KMT.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|pp=39–40}}{{sfn|Wilbur|1983|page=47}} In the aftermath of the coup, Chiang negotiated a compromise whereby hardline members of the rightist faction, such as [[Wu Tiecheng]], were removed from their posts in compensation for the purged leftists.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=84, 89}}{{sfn|Wortzel|1999|loc="[https://books.google.com/books?id=rfu-hR8msh4C&pg=PA39 Canton Coup]"}} By doing so, Chiang was able to prove his usefulness to the CCP and their Soviet sponsor, [[Joseph Stalin]]. Soviet aid to the KMT government would continue, as would co-operation with the CCP. A fragile coalition between KMT rightists, centrists led by Chiang, KMT leftists, and the CCP managed to hold together, laying the groundwork for the Northern Expedition.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|pp=42–49}}{{sfn|Kotkin|2014|pp=627–629}}

===The Northern Expedition=== {{Main|Northern Expedition}} [[File:Shanghai rev 1927.jpg|thumb|right|Shanghai workers posing with weapons in 1927. After successfully ousting the [[Zhili Clique]] and handing the city over to the Kuomintang, the Communist-allied [[Shanghai massacre|workers were massacred]].]]

By 1926, the Kuomintang (KMT) had solidified their control over [[Guangdong]] enough to rival the legitimacy of the [[Beiyang government]] based in [[Beijing]].<ref name="Nationalist China">{{Cite web |date=6 June 1996 |title=Nationalist China |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MODCHINA/NATIONAL.HTM |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906095406/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MODCHINA/NATIONAL.HTM |archive-date=6 September 2006 |publisher=Washington State University}}</ref> After purging his opponents in the KMT leadership, Chiang Kai-shek was appointed [[Generalissimo]] of the [[National Revolutionary Army]] and set out to defeat the warlords one at a time. The campaign saw massive success against [[Wu Peifu]] in [[Hunan]], [[Hubei]], and [[Henan]]. [[Sun Chuanfang]] put up a stronger resistance, but popular support for the KMT and opposition to the warlords helped the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) make inroads into [[Jiangxi]], [[Fujian]], and [[Zhejiang]]. As the NRA advanced, workers in the cities organized themselves into left-leaning [[trade union]]s: in [[Wuhan]], for example, more than 300,000 had joined trade unions by the end of the year.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wu |first=Tien-wei |date=November 1969 |title=A Review of the Wuhan Debacle: The Kuomintang-Communist Split of 1927 |journal=[[The Journal of Asian Studies]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=125–143 |doi=10.2307/2942527 |jstor=2942527 |s2cid=163744191}}</ref> The All-China Federation of Labor (ACFL), founded by the Communists in 1925, reached 2.8 million members by 1927.{{sfn|Thomas|1983|p=2}}

At the same time as workers organized in the cities, peasants rose up across the countryside of Hunan and Hubei provinces, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising the growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=95}}</ref> CCP leader Chen Duxiu was also upset, both from doubt in the peasants' revolutionary capabilities and fear that premature revolt would wreck the United Front.<ref name="Xuyin">Xuyin, Guo. "Reconsideration of Chen Duxiu's Attitude toward the Peasant Movement." Chinese Law & Government 17, no. 1–2 (1984): 51–67.</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2010 |title=A Critical Introduction to Mao |publisher=Cambridge University Press |editor-last=Cheek |editor-first=Timothy |pages=74–75 |author-first=Brantly |author-last=Womack |chapter=From Urban Radical to Rural Revolutionary: Mao From the 1920s to 1937}}</ref> The KMT-CCP leadership dispatched prominent CCP cadre Mao Zedong to investigate and report on the nature of the unrest. Mao had returned from a previous visit to his rural home town [[Shaoshan]] personally convinced that the peasantry had revolutionary potential, and over the course of 1926 had established himself as an authority on rural issues while lecturing at the [[Peasant Movement Training Institute]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schram |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart R. Schram |date=March 2007 |title=Mao: The Unknown Story |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |issue=189 |pages=78 |doi=10.1017/s030574100600107x |s2cid=154814055}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Mao |first=Zedong |title=National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920 – June 1927 |date=1992 |page=465 |editor-last=Schram |editor-first=Stuart Reynolds |author-mask=Mao Zedong |series=''Mao's Road to Power'', Vol. II |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |ref={{harvid|Schram & al.|1992}} |editor2-last=Nancy Jane Hodes |display-editors=1}}.</ref> Mao spent just over a month in Hunan and published his report in March. Rather than condemning the peasant movement, his now-famous [[Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan|Hunan Report]] made the case that a peasant-led revolution was not only justified, but practically possible and even inevitable.<ref>Wright, Mary C. "The Chinese peasant and communism." ''Pacific Affairs'' 24, no. 3 (1951): 256–265.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Commanding Heights: Mao Zedong |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/prof_maozedong.html |website=PBS }}</ref> Mao predicted that:

<blockquote>In a very short time, in China's central, southern and northern provinces, several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back. They will smash all the trammels that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation. They will sweep all the imperialists, warlords, corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry into their graves. Every revolutionary party and every revolutionary comrade will be put to the test, to be accepted or rejected as they decide. There are three alternatives. To march at their head and lead them. To trail behind them, gesticulating and criticizing. Or to stand in their way and oppose them. Every Chinese is free to choose, but events will force you to make the choice quickly.<ref>Section: "The Importance Of The Peasant Problem"</ref></blockquote>

===Wuhan Nationalist Government=== [[File:Wuhan government leaders.png|thumb|280px|Leaders of Wuhan Nationalist government, from left to right: Mikhail Borodin (second from left), Wang Jingwei, T. V. Soong and Eugene Chen.]]

After the capture of Wuhan, the Central Committee of the Kuomintang voted to move to their government to this more central location.{{sfn|Chen|1978|p=13}} Headed in Chiang's absence by Minister of Justice [[Xu Qian]], the executive committee was a mix of liberals and conservatives who had not been subject to Chiang's purge of leftists. They included Minister of Finance [[Sun Fo]], Minister for Foreign Affairs [[Eugene Chen]], and banker and industrialist [[T. V. Soong]].{{sfn|Liu|Wan|Wang|Kong|1995|p=379}} When they arrived in Wuhan on December 10, the Nationalists found a city gripped by enthusiasm for the revolution. The rapidly-expanding, Communist-led labor movement staged near-constant demonstrations in Wuhan itself and across the nominally KMT-controlled territories.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|pp=118–120}}{{sfn|Chiang|1978|p=69}} Although still prevented from participating in the KMT government, the CCP established parallel structures of administration in areas liberated by the NRA.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|pp=118–120}}

The [[Wuhan Nationalist government|Wuhan government]] proved its competency when, in January 1927, violent protests broke out in the British [[Concessions in China|concession]] at [[Hankou]]. Eugene Chen successfully negotiated its evacuation by the British and handover to the Chinese.{{sfn|Worthing|2016|p=75}} The Wuhan administration gradually drifted away from Chiang, becoming a center of leftist power and seeking to reassert civilian control over the military. On 10 March, the [[Wuhan government|Wuhan leadership]] nominally stripped Chiang of much of his military authority, though refrained from deposing him as commander-in-chief. At the same time, the Communist Party became an equal partner in the Wuhan government, sharing power with the KMT leftists.{{sfn|Wu|1969|p=126}}

Chiang Kai-shek declined to join the rest of the KMT in Wuhan, wary of the influence the CCP had there. Instead, he stayed at his military headquarters in [[Nanchang]] and began to rally anti-Communist elements in the KMT and NRA around him.{{sfn|Wu|1969|pp=126–127}}{{sfn|Wilbur|1983|p=47}} In February 1927, he launched an offensive on the last and most important cities under Sun Choufang's control: Nanjing and Shanghai. While two of Chiang's columns advanced on Shanghai, Sun was confronted with the defection of his navy and a communist general strike.{{sfn|Worthing|2016|page=75}}{{sfn|Smith|2000|pp=181–183}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elizabeth |first=J. Perry |date=11 April 2003 |title=The Fate of Revolutionary Militias in China |url=http://www.hws.edu/news/speakers/transcripts/eperrychina.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902214254/http://www.hws.edu/news/speakers/transcripts/eperrychina.asp |archive-date=2 September 2006 |access-date=25 November 2006 |publisher=Hobart and William Smith Colleges}}</ref> On 22 March, NRA General [[Bai Chongxi]]'s forces marched into Shanghai victorious.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|pp=115–116}}{{sfn|Worthing|2016|page=75}}{{sfn|Jowett|2014|page=26}} But the strike continued until Bai ordered its end on 24 March. The general disorder caused by the strike is said to have resulted in the deaths of 322 people, with 2,000 wounded, contributing to KMT feelings of unease with its rising Communist allies.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|page=116}} The same day the Shanghai strike ended, nationalist forces entered Nanjing.{{sfn|Worthing|2016|page=75}}{{sfn|Jordan|1976|page=117}}{{sfn|Taylor|2009|page=65}} Almost immediately after arrival of the NRA, mass anti-foreigner riots broke out in the city, in an event that came to be known as the [[Nanking incident of 1927|Nanjing Incident]].{{sfn|Worthing|2016|page=75}} British and American naval forces were sent to evacuate their respective citizens, resulting in a naval bombardment that left the city burning and at least forty people dead.{{sfn|Tolley|2000|pp=150–160}} He's forces arrived on 25 March, and on the next day, Cheng and He were finally able to put an end to the violence.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|page=116}}{{sfn|Tolley|2000|pp=150–160}} Although it was a mix of both Nationalists and Communist soldiers within the army who had participated in the riots, Chiang Kai-shek's faction accused [[Lin Boqu]] of planning the unrest in order to turn international opinion against the KMT.<ref name="beede">{{Cite book |last=Beede |first=R. Benjamin |url=https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti0000unse_o8w2/page/355 |title=The War of 1898, and U.S. interventions, 1898–1934: an encyclopedia |publisher=Taylor & Francis Publishing |year=1994 |isbn=0-8240-5624-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanrevoluti0000unse_o8w2/page/355 355]}}</ref> Lin, a member of both the CCP and the KMT, had been serving as [[political commissar]] of the Sixth Army, part of the forces that captured Nanjing.{{sfn|Jordan|1976|page=117}} Whatever was responsible, the Nanjing Incident represented the culmination of tensions within the First United Front.

==First phase of the Civil War (1927–1936)== ===Shanghai Massacre=== {{Main|Shanghai massacre}} On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and his right-wing faction of the KMT ordered [[Shanghai Massacre|the massacre]] of the Communists in Shanghai.{{sfn|Hunt|2015|p=113}}<ref>Chen Lifu, Columbia interviews, part 1, p. 29.</ref> The White Terror spread nationwide and the United Front collapsed. In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by [[Zhang Zuolin]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=106–109, 112–113}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p62">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=62}}</ref> That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and the CCP lost approximately {{formatnum:15000}} of its {{formatnum:25000}} members.<ref name="Carter1976 p62" /> Only in Wuhan, where leftist sympathizer [[Wang Jingwei]] split from Chiang and proclaimed a rival [[Government of the Republic of China in Wuhan|nationalist government]], were the Communists safe to hold their [[5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|Fifth National Congress]].<ref>Spence, Jonathan D. (1999) ''The Search for Modern China'', W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 338–339. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.</ref> However, under pressure from Chiang, Wang eventually [[July 15 Incident|purged Communists from his government]] and declared his loyalty to the right-wing government in Nanjing.<ref name="Barnouin38">Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life.'' Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. p. 38. Retrieved 12 March 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=James Pinckney |title=The Long March to Power – a History of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921–72 |publisher=Macmillan |year=1972 |isbn=0333141547 |pages=108–110}}</ref>{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}}

===Failed insurrections and the Chinese Soviet=== {{Main|Chinese Soviet Republic}} [[File:China Soviet Zones.png|thumb|left|After the Shanghai Massacre, the Communists retreated to the countryside and began a series of rural insurgencies, organized as [[Soviet (council)|soviets]].]] In 1927, immediately after the collapse of Wang Jingwei's [[Wuhan Nationalist government|leftist Kuomintang government]] in Wuhan and Chiang Kai-shek's [[Shanghai massacre of 1927|suppression of communists]], the CCP attempted a series of uprisings and military mutinies in Guangzhou, [[Nanchang Uprising|Nanchang]] and [[Autumn Harvest Uprising|Hunan]].{{sfn|Thomas|1983|p=3}}<ref>Schwartz, Benjamin, ''Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao'', Harper & Row (New York: 1951), p.&nbsp;93.</ref>{{sfn|Li|2012|pp=5–8}} Despite initial success they were unable to withstand direct pressure from the NRA. The immediate effect was to make it clear to CCP leaders that a formal military apparatus was needed, and during [[Little Long March|the flight from Nanchang]] they founded the [[Chinese Red Army]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rhoads |first1=Edward J. M. |title=The Chinese Red Army, 1927–1963: An Annotated Bibliography |last2=Friedman |first2=Edward |last3=Joffe |first3=Ellis |last4=Powell |first4=Ralph L. |date=1964 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-12500-1 |edition=|volume=16 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1tg5nnd |jstor=j.ctt1tg5nnd}}</ref>

The defeat left an opening for machinations within the party leadership. In late 1927, [[Xiang Zhongfa]] was sent as the CCP's representative to celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution's 10th Anniversary. While in Moscow, Xiang was able to convince the Soviet leadership to hold the CCP's [[6th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|6th Party Congress]] there, rather than in China.<ref>{{Cite web |title=6th National Congress |url=http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/206972/206981/8188357.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401075856/http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/206972/206981/8188357.html |archive-date=2014-04-01 |access-date=2019-03-16}}</ref> With the help of the [[28 Bolsheviks]], Chinese students studying Marxism at the [[Moscow Sun Yat-sen University]], Xiang replaced Chen Duxiu as general secretary to the dismay of CCP leaders back in China.{{sfn|Chow|2009}} Upon his return to Shanghai, Xiang attempted several bureaucratic changes to consolidate centralized power, with mixed success.{{sfn|Leung|1992|p=72}} In 1930, the Comintern began pressuring the CCP to conduct more "anti-rightist" actions and [[Li Lisan]] was promoted to propaganda chief. Li grew to become the effective paramount leader with support from Xiang and advocated for an immediate armed uprising in the cities. This was attempted in July 1930, but failed and again led to heavy losses.

[[File:Map of the Long March 1934-1935-en.svg|thumb|right|Eventually, the Communist insurgents were defeated and the CCP was forced to withdraw northwards in the [[Long March]].]]

After learning of the disastrous results of Li's offensives, the Comintern sent [[Zhou Enlai]] and [[Qu Qiubai]] back from Moscow to moderate Li.{{sfn|Kampen|2000|p=35}} When this failed, the Comintern summoned Li to Moscow in October 1930.{{sfn|Kampen|2000|p=36}} [[Bo Gu]] became nominal party secretary while [[Wang Ming]] became the de facto paramount leader. Under the influence of Moscow, the strategy of direct confrontation with the KMT by organizing urban uprisings continued until 1933, when party leadership was finally forced to evacuate to the countryside. They fled to Jiangxi, where Mao Zedong had had considerable success in setting up the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]]. Established in November 1931, the Soviet had helped expand CCP membership to over 300,000 and supported 100,000 Red Army soldiers.<ref name="Xia">{{Cite web |last=Xia |first=Zhihou |title=Jiangxi Soviet |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jiangxi-Soviet |access-date=26 February 2022 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref><ref name="Yang 1990 233">{{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Benjamin |title=From Revolution to Politics: Chinese Communists on the Long March |publisher=Westview Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-8133-7672-6 |page=233}}</ref> Mao's guerilla tactics had successfully repulsed three KMT [[encirclement campaigns]]. The CCP leadership [[Ningdu Conference|quickly took over]] from Mao when they arrived from Shanghai. Following the advice of [[Otto Braun (communist)|Otto Braun]], they replaced cautious guerilla tactics with a more traditional military strategy. The subsequent [[Fourth encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|fourth encirclement campaign]] was a disaster for the Communists, and forced them to abandon South China altogether. They began the [[Long March]], a 9,000 kilometer retreat to Northern China, where Chiang Kai-shek's authority was weaker.<ref name="Zhang">Zhang, Chunhou. Vaughan, C. Edwin. [2002] (2002). ''Mao Zedong as Poet and Revolutionary Leader: Social and Historical Perspectives''. Lexington books. {{ISBN|0-7391-0406-3}}. p. 65.</ref> In January 1935, the CCP paused the march to hold a [[Zunyi Conference|conference in Zunyi]]. Here, Mao Zedong denounced the party leadership for its dogmatic adherence to urban revolution in the face of repeated defeats. He also criticized Otto Braun's conventional tactics. Instead, Mao put forward [[People's war|a strategy based on rural guerilla warfare]] that prioritized winning peasant support. This was controversial because it conflicted with traditional party doctrine and the line endorsed by the Comintern. But with the support of Zhou Enlai, Mao defeated the 28 Bolsheviks and Otto Braun, becoming chairman of the Politburo and de facto leader of the party. Although the party survived the Long March, it had lost about 90% of its membership and was on the brink of destruction.<ref name="Yang 1990 233" /> But the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War gave the [[Yan'an Soviet]], the communists' new base, a reprieve.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2016-07-15 |script-title=zh:延安市历史沿革 |trans-title=Yan'an Organizational History |url=http://www.xzqh.org/html/list/327.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806012152/http://xzqh.org/html/show/sn/20380.html |archive-date=2020-08-06 |access-date=2021-05-14 |publisher=XZQH.org}}</ref>

== Second Sino-Japanese War and the Second United Front == {{further|Second Sino-Japanese War|Second United Front}} [[File:Eighth Route Army meeting on Futuyu Great Wall, spring 1938.jpg|thumb|right|During [[WWII]], one of the Communist units that joined the National Revolutionary Army was the [[Eighth Route Army]], pictured here on [[the Great Wall]].]]

In 1931, the Japanese [[Kwantung Army|army]] had [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|occupied Manchuria]], which had nominally been under Chinese sovereignty.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Japan: The Twentieth Century'', p. 294, Peter Duus, John Whitney Hall, Cambridge University Press: 1989 {{ISBN|978-0-521-22357-7}}</ref> This triggered debates inside China on whether the [[Nationalist Government]] of Chiang Kai-shek, the administration with the strongest claim to national leadership at the time, should declare war on Japan.{{sfn|Garver|1988|p=5}} Chiang, despite popular disapproval, wanted to continue to focus on wiping out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) before opposing Japan.<ref name="Chor">{{Cite journal |last=Chor |first=So Wai |date=2002 |title=The Making of the Guomindang's Japan Policy, 1932–1937: The Roles of Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/009770040202800203?journalCode=mcxa |journal=Modern China |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=213–252 |doi=10.1177/009770040202800203 |s2cid=143785141 |access-date=27 February 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{sfn|Taylor|2009|p=125}} For this policy, Chiang adopted the slogan "first internal pacification, then external resistance".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Pan |first=Yihong |title=Not Just a Man's War: Chinese Women's Memories of the War of Resistance Against Japan, 1931–45 |publisher=[[University of British Columbia Press]] |year=2025 |isbn=9780774870368}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=8}} In contrast, the CCP's [[August 1 Declaration]] called for an end to civil war and a united front of all Chinese parties, organizations, overseas Chinese, and ethnic minorities against the Japanese.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=8}} Chiang's policy of non-resistance to Japan contributed to a decrease in support for the Nationalists and an increase in support for the CCP.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=10}}

In 1936, [[Xi'an incident|Chiang was arrested]] by two of his generals in [[Xi'an]], who forced him to form a united front with the CCP against Japan.{{sfn|Taylor|2009|p=127}} In return for the ceasefire, the CCP agreed to dissolve the Red Army and place their units under National Revolutionary Army command.<ref>Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life.'' Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press: 2006. p. 67</ref> This arrangement did not end tensions between the CCP and KMT.<ref>Ray Huang, 從大歷史的角度讀蔣介石日記 (Reading Chiang Kai-shek's Diary from a Macro History Perspective) China Times Publishing Company, 1994-1-31 {{ISBN|957-13-0962-1}}, p. 259</ref> In January 1941, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Nationalist troops to ambush the CCP's [[New Fourth Army]], one of the Communist armies that had been placed under Nationalist command, for alleged insubordination.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Benton |first=Gregor |date=1986 |title=The South Anhui Incident |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=681–720 |doi=10.2307/2056083 |issn=0021-9118 |jstor=2056083 |s2cid=163141212}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=政治垃圾張蔭梧曾欲為國民黨奪回北平_历史-多維新聞網 |url=http://culture.dwnews.com/history/big5/news/2017-07-19/59826173.html |access-date=2019-10-30 |website=culture.dwnews.com |archive-date=2019-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030222133/http://culture.dwnews.com/history/big5/news/2017-07-19/59826173.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[New Fourth Army incident]] effectively ended any substantive co-operation between the Nationalists and the CCP, although open fighting between the two sides remained sporadic throughout the war.<ref name="schok">Schoppa, R. Keith. (2000). ''The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History''. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-11276-9}}.</ref>

The war with Japan and the Second United Front created an enormous opportunity to expand CCP influence. French historian [[Lucien Bianco]] argues that before the war, the peasantry had not been ready for revolution; economic reasons were not enough to mobilize them.{{sfn|Bianco|1971|p=202}} But the nationalism caused by the war changed the situation: "It was the war that brought the Chinese peasantry and China to revolution; at the very least, it considerably accelerated the rise of the CCP to power."{{sfn|Bianco|1971|p= 155}} The Nationalists' image had been tarnished by Chiang's original reluctance to the take on the Japanese, while the Communists willingly adopted the rhetoric of national resistance against imperialism.{{sfn|Johnson|1962|pp=4–5}} Using their experience in rural guerilla warfare, the Communists were able to operate behind the front lines and gain influence among the numerous peasant resistance groups set-up to fight the Japanese.{{sfn|Johnson|1962|pp=2–3}}<ref>Patrick Fuliang Shan, "Local Revolution, Grassroots Mobilization and Wartime Power Shift to the Rise of Communism", in Xiaobing Li (ed.), ''Evolution of Power: China's Struggle, Survival, and Success'', Lexington and Rowman & Littlefield, 2013, pp.&nbsp;3&ndash;25.</ref> In contrast with the Nationalists, the Communists undertook moderate land reform that made them extremely popular among the poorer peasants.{{sfn|DeMare|2019|pp= 6–17}} Communist cadres worked tirelessly to organize the local population in each new village they arrived, which had the dual benefits of spreading Communist ideas and allowing for more effective administration.{{sfn|Johnson|1962|pp=2–3}} In the eight years of war, the CCP membership rose from 40,000 to 1,200,000.<ref>Benjamin Yang,''From Revolution to Politics: Chinese Communists on the Long March'' Westview 1990, p. 307</ref> According to historian [[Chalmers Johnson]], by the end of the war the CCP had also won the support of perhaps 100 million peasants in the regions where they had operated.{{sfn|Johnson|1962|p=11}} The temporary truce with the Nationalists also made it possible for the Communists to once again target the urban proletariat, a policy advocated by the "internationalist" faction of the party. Led by [[Wang Ming]], this faction advocated mobilizing labor not for revolution, but rather to support to Nationalists (at least until the war was won).{{sfn|Thomas|1983|p=6}} Mao, in contrast, advocated continued focus on the peasantry, and ultimately managed to consolidate his position during the [[Yan'an Rectification Movement]].{{sfn|Thomas|1983|p=6}}<ref name="LIEBERTHAL"/>

== Second Phase of Civil War (1945–1949) == {{main|Second Kuomintang-Communist Civil War}}

[[File:Carrying Cash in Republican China - Preparing to pay wages.jpg|thumb|right|Starting in 1937 and lasting until the end of the Civil War, [[hyperinflation]] skyrocketed in the Republic of China.]]

=== Postwar situation === The impact of the war on the social and economics conditions of China had been brutal. An estimated 20 to 25 million Chinese were killed in fighting, massacres, and man-made or natural disasters.<ref>Sun Jian, pp.&nbsp;615–616.</ref> By 1946, Chinese industries operated at 20 percent capacity and had 25 percent of the output of pre-war China.<ref>Sun Jian, p. 1319</ref> The influx of cheap American goods forestalled any recovery. In order to coordinate the war effort, the Nationalist government had taken over more than 70% of Chinese industry, a dramatic increase from the 15% it owned before the war.<ref>Sun Jian, pp.&nbsp;1237–1240.</ref> This consolidation of wealth in the regime's hands contributed to the pervasive problem of corruption.<ref>Sun Jian, pp. 617–618</ref> The Nationalist currency had been undergoing [[Chinese hyperinflation|hyperinflation]] since the beginning of the war.<ref name="Young">{{Cite book |last=Young |first=Arthur N. |title=China's Wartime Finance and Inflation, 1937–1945 |date=1965 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref> By 1945, retail market prices had reached 3,000% of their 1937 levels.<ref name="Young" /> This problem was compounded by the presence of numerous other currencies printed by the Japanese, Communists, and other local authorities.<ref name="Campbell and Tullock">{{Cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Colin D. |last2=Tullock |first2=Gordon C. |date=1954 |title=Hyperinflation in China, 1937–49 |journal=Journal of Political Economy |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=236–245 |doi=10.1086/257516 |s2cid=154757658}}</ref> The Nationalist Government failed to curb inflation after the Japanese surrender and continued to print more currency to pay for the civil war.{{efn|The Nationalists attempted two currency reforms in 1948 and 1949, but as discussed below, by then the lack of confidence in the Nationalist Government undermined the reforms' effectiveness.<ref name="Campbell and Tullock" />}}<ref name="Tang and Hu">{{Cite journal |last1=Tang |first1=De-Piao |last2=Hu |first2=Teh-Wei |date=Autumn 1983 |title=Money, Prices, and causality: the Chinese Hyperinflation, 1945–1949 |journal=Journal of Macroeconomics |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=503–510 |doi=10.1016/0164-0704(83)90037-X}}</ref><ref name="Quddus et al">{{Cite journal |last1=Quddus |first1=Munir |last2=Liu |first2=Jin-Tan |last3=Butler |first3=John S. |date=Summer 1989 |title=Money, Prices, and causality: the Chinese Hyperinflation, 1946–1949, reexamined |journal=Journal of Macroeconomics |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=447–453 |doi=10.1016/0164-0704(89)90070-0}}</ref> Hyperinflation reduced the real wages of peasants, workers, and especially soldiers, and destroyed the savings of the upper-middle class that was Chiang's base of support.<ref name="Quddus et al"/>

The power of the CCP had grown considerably by the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The [[Eighth Route Army]] and [[New Fourth Army]]—officially still part of the NRA, but in reality under independent Communist command—counted between 1.2 and 1.27 million men. An additional 1.8 to 2.68 million militia brought the total Communist forces to between 3 million and 4 million.{{sfn|Xu|Liu|1989|p=xxx}}<ref name="Raleigh">{{Cite thesis |last=Raleigh |first=Edward Augustine |date=1953 |title=An inquiry into the rise of communism in China |type=MA thesis |publisher=College of the Pacific |url=https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2212&context=uop_etds |access-date=28 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Robertson">{{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=Walter S. |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v09/pg_448 |title=The mission of General of the Army George C. Marshall to China to arrange for cessation of civil strife and to bring about political unification |date=1946 |publisher=US Department of State Office of the Historian |page=448}}</ref> When the Japanese surrendered, the Communists' "Liberated Zone" grew to contain 19 base areas (mostly in north China), making up one-quarter of the country's territory and one-third of its population.{{sfn|Xu|Liu|1989|p=xxx}} In the south, the New Fourth Army had recovered from the [[New Fourth Army incident|attempted massacre]] of its forces and established a serious Communist presence along the banks of the [[Yangtze]]. Nonetheless, the CCP's forces were still numerically inferior to the rest of the NRA, which excluding the Communists counted around 4 million regulars and 1 million militia in its ranks.<ref name="Raleigh" /> This was compounded by the Communists' lack of war material like trucks, artillery, and other heavy weaponry. For most of the war the Communists had operated in rural areas without factories or support from the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], which the Kuomintang received in abundance.<ref name="Kirby">{{Cite book |last=Kirby |title=China's Bitter Victory: the War with Japan, 1936–1945 |date=1992 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe, Inc. |editor-last=Hsiung |editor-first=James C. |location=Armonk, New York |author-link=William C. |editor-last2=Levine |editor-first2=Steven I.}}</ref> As Mao Zedong said to an American Colonel [[David D. Barrett]], the Communists had an army based on "[[millet plus rifles]]."<ref name="Kau2017">{{Cite book |last=Ying-Mao Kau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mZQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |title=Revival: The People's Liberation Army and China's Nation-Building (1973) |date=2017 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-71622-2 |pages=58–}}</ref><ref name="Deng2011">{{Cite book |last=Kent G Deng |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aWpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 |title=China's Political Economy in Modern Times: Changes and Economic Consequences, 1800–2000 |date=2011 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-136-65513-5 |pages=107–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zedong |first=Mao |title=The Situation and Our Policy After the Victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-4/mswv4_01.htm#bm25 |access-date=1 March 2022 |website=Marxists.org}}</ref><ref name="a1">{{Cite journal |last=Huo Jianshan |date=2014-05-01 |title=The term "Millet Plus Rifles" should not be misused |url=http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTOTAL-LSJZ201405014.htm |journal=History Teaching |location=Tianjin |publisher=History Teaching Agency |pages=56–58 |issn=0457-6241 |access-date=2022-03-05 |archive-date=2022-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305054530/http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTOTAL-LSJZ201405014.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="a2">{{Cite journal |last=Liu Tong |date=2008-06-13 |title=The Liberation War and the "Millet Plus Rifles" |url=http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTOTAL-LNZZ200810009.htm |journal=Education Journal for Senior Citizens |location=Jinan |pages=12–13 |issn=1002-3402 |access-date=2022-03-05 |archive-date=2022-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305054532/http://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTOTAL-LNZZ200810009.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The international situation for the Communists was unfavorable in 1945. At [[Yalta Conference|Yalta]], the Allies had agreed to recognize USSR claims in the Far East in exchange for a [[Soviet–Japanese War|Soviet declaration of war on Japan]].<ref name="Radchenko">{{Cite journal |last=Radchenko |first=Sergey |date=August 2017 |title=Lost Chance for Peace: The 1945 CCP-Kuomintang Peace Talks Revisited |url=https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/105836/1/Lost%20Chance%20for%20Peace%20the%201945%20CCP-Kuomintang%20Peace%20Talks%20Revisited.pdf |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=84–114 |doi=10.1162/JCWS_a_00742 |s2cid=57560404}}</ref> These claims included control of [[Lüshunkou District|Port Arthur]] and joint control over the [[Chinese Eastern Railway]], which Chiang reluctantly accepted in return for [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance|Soviet recognition]] of the KMT as the sole legitimate government of China.<ref>Zhang Shengfa, "Return of the Chinese Changchun Railway to China by the USSR." In ''Manchurian Railways and the Opening of China'', 171–194. 1st ed. Vol. 1. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2010. p, 171.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Atwood |first=Christopher |title=The Black Master: Essays on Central Eurasia in Honor of György Kara on His 70th Birthday |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2005 |editor-last=Kara |editor-first=György |page=2 |chapter=Poems of Fraternity: Literary Responses to the Attempted Reunification of Inner Mongolia and the Mongolian People's Republic}}</ref> In that way, the Communists appeared to have lost their most likely ally. The American [[Dixie Mission]] had investigated the possibility of American support for the Communists, but although its findings were favorable, cooperation was stubbornly blocked by American Ambassador [[Patrick J. Hurley]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=China Expert John P. Davies Dies |url=http://mlloyd.org/gen/davies/text/jpdjr.htm |access-date=5 July 2009 |publisher=mlloyd.org}}</ref> Hurley and the powerful pro-Nationalist [[China Lobby]] orchestrated the recall or dismissal of American "[[China Hands]]" who favored cutting ties with the Nationalists or supporting the Communists, including [[John Service]], [[Joseph Stilwell]], and [[David D. Barrett|David Barrett]].<ref name="Fenby, Jonathan page 446">Fenby, Jonathan ''Chiang Kai-shek China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost'', New York: Carrol & Graf, 2004 p. 446.</ref>{{sfn|Lohbeck|1956|p=292}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Klehr |first1=Harvey |title=The Amerasia Spy Case: Prelude to McCarthyism |last2=Radosh |first2=Ronald |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1996 |isbn=0-8078-2245-0}}</ref> By mid-1945, the United States was firmly committed to supporting Chiang. According to [[William Blum]], American aid included substantial amounts of mostly surplus military supplies, and loans were made to the KMT.<ref>p. 23, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, William Blum, Zed Books 2004 London.</ref> In the two years following the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $4.43&nbsp;billion from the US—most of which was military aid.<ref name="nat" />

===Japanese surrender and attempted negotiations=== [[File:1945 Mao and Chiang.jpg|thumb|right|Mao and Chiang Kai-shek toast to victory over Japan in [[Chongqing]], during negotiations.]] On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]], immediately altering the military situation in China. The Soviet invasion, among other contemporary developments, made Japan's defeat inevitable.<ref name="Bright">Bright, Richard Carl.(2007). ''Pain and Purpose in the Pacific: True Reports of War''. Trafford Publishing. {{ISBN|1-4251-2544-1}}.</ref><ref name="Hasegawa2006">{{Cite book |last=Tsuyoshi Hasegawa |url=https://archive.org/details/racingenemystali00hase/page/298 |title=Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-674-01693-9 |page=298}}</ref> Both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party immediately ordered their forces to take as much territory from the Japanese as possible, which would yield not just land, but also weapons and equipment from the defeated Japanese units. Although Chiang Kai-shek was confident that he was in a strong position to win a civil war against the CCP, he also knew that if the Communists gained control of Japanese materiel, the balance of power would change.<ref name="ReferenceA">Lilley, James. ''China hands: nine decades of adventure, espionage, and diplomacy in Asia''. PublicAffairs, New York, 2004</ref> In order to buy time, and under American pressure to negotiate, Chiang Kai-shek reached out to Mao Zedong with a request that the latter fly to Chongqing to negotiate.<ref name="Radchenko" /> At first, Mao demanded that Chiang grant the CCP certain conditions, but sustained pressure from Joseph Stalin made him realize the extent of the CCP's international isolation.<ref name="Radchenko" /> On August 23, Mao told the [[Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo]] that without Soviet backing, the CCP would have to make concessions to Chiang.<ref name="Radchenko" />

Meanwhile, military forces on all sides continued their maneuvers. On the 20th, the last Japanese units in Manchuria surrendered to the Soviet Red Army.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Max |title=Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944–45 |date=2007 |publisher=William Collins |location=London |page=543}}</ref> On the 26th, the CCP authorized army units and cadres to begin infiltrating the Manchurian countryside (a move tolerated by the Soviets).<ref name="Radchenko" /> CCP dominance in northern China seriously concerned Chiang, who was not in a position to stop the CCP from taking [[Beijing|Beiping]] or [[Tianjin]]. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Japanese troops to remain at their post to receive the Kuomintang and not surrender their arms to the Communists.{{sfn|Zarrow|2005|p=338}} Chiang called on the Americans for assistance, and the [[United States]] [[Operation Beleaguer|landed more than 50,000 marines]] in northern China to occupy the major cities until the Nationalists could arrive.<ref name="Millett, pg. 448-451">{{Cite book |last=Millett |first=Allan R. |title=Semper fidelis: the history of the United States Marine Corps |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1991 |isbn=002921596X}}</ref><ref name="mca-marines.org">{{Cite web |title=Operation Beleaguer : The Marine III Amphibious Corps in North China, 1945–1949: Marine Corps Gazette |url=http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/operation-beleaguer-marine-iii-amphibious-corps-north-china-1945-49 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312161729/http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/operation-beleaguer-marine-iii-amphibious-corps-north-china-1945-49 |archive-date=March 12, 2013 |access-date=April 6, 2013}}</ref><ref name="www.au.af.mil">{{Cite web |title=af.mil |url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmchist/nochina.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213052335/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/usmchist/nochina.txt |archive-date=February 13, 2013 |access-date=April 6, 2013}}</ref> Although greeted with enthusiasm, incidents such as the [[Shen Chong case|rape of a Chinese student]] quickly turned the population against the Americans and contributed to growing support for the Communists.<ref>"A Rape in Beijing, December 1946: GIs, Nationalist Protests, and U.S. Foreign Policy" by Robert Shaffer, ''The Pacific Historical Review'', Vol. 69, No. 1 (Feb., 2000), pp. 31–64</ref> The Americans were anxious to have the Nationalists take over their duties, and so [[Albert Coady Wedemeyer|General Wedemeyer]] further ordered the airlifting of 100,000 Nationalist troops into Northern China.{{sfn|Alexander|1992|p=39}} As Nationalist troops moved in to formerly occupied territories, looting and large-scale corruption were common. Under the pretext of "receiving the Japanese surrender," business interests within the KMT government occupied most of the banks, factories and commercial properties, which had previously been seized by the [[Imperial Japanese Army]].<ref name="nat">{{Cite book |last1=Nguyễn |first1=Anh Thái |title=Lịch sử thế giới hiện đại |last2=Nguyễn |first2=Quốc Hùng |last3=Vũ |first3=Ngọc Oanh |last4=Trần |first4=Thị Vinh |last5=Đặng |first5=Thanh Toán |last6=Đỗ |first6=Thanh Bình |date=2002 |publisher=Giáo Dục |location=Ho Chi Minh City |pages=320–322 |language=vi}}</ref> They also conscripted troops at an accelerated pace from the civilian population and hoarded supplies, preparing for a resumption of war with the Communists. These harsh and unpopular measures caused great hardship for the residents of cities such as Shanghai, where the unemployment rate rose dramatically to 37.5%.<ref name="nat" /> The Communists abstained from trying to take and hold any major cities (with the exception of [[Jinzhou]]), focusing instead on gaining control over the countryside.<ref name="Radchenko" /> Nevertheless, as Mao left for negotiations he simultaneously ordered the [[Shangdang Campaign]] to defeat as many KMT units in Shanxi as possible and thereby gain a stronger hand at the negotiating table.<ref name="Zhu and Wang">{{Cite book |last1=Zhu |first1=Zongzhen |title=Liberation War History |last2=Wang |first2=Chaoguang |date=2000 |publisher=Social Scientific Publishing House |edition=|location=Beijing}}</ref>

During negotiations, Chiang's main offer was to move from the second stage of Sun Yat-Sen's stages of unification (KMT tutelage) to the third stage (constitutional government). Mao and Zhou Enlai, on the other hand, were willing to recognize Chiang as ''de jure'' President of China in return for ''de facto'' autonomy in the provinces of Shanxi, [[Shandong]], [[Hebei]], [[Rehe]], and [[Chahar Province|Chahar]]. They would be willing to join and support a KMT-led coalition government, but wanted to maintain separate armed forces in their provinces.<ref name="Radchenko" /> Both sides criticized the other as unreasonable. Chiang viewed the degree of local autonomy requested by the Communists as a regression to the Warlord Era, and was not willing to sacrifice his goal of reunification.<ref name="Radchenko" /> The CCP, on the other hand, suspected they would be massacred if they laid down their arms.<ref name="Radchenko" /> Both sides eventually signed the [[Double Tenth Agreement]], but this was mostly for show and the major issues were left unresolved.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Shaoqi |title=Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi, Vol. I |date=1991 |publisher=Foreign Languages Press |isbn=0835111806 |page=456 |author-link=Liu Shaoqi}}</ref><ref name="Xu">Xu, Guangqiu. [2001] (2001). ''War Wings: The United States and Chinese Military Aviation, 1929–1949''. Greenwood Publishing Group. {{ISBN|0-313-32004-7}}. p.&nbsp;201.</ref> Negotiations between Chiang and Zhou would continue in [[Nanjing]], but Mao returned to the Yan'an Soviet.<ref name="Xu" />

The outbreak of fighting in Manchuria (see next section) proved to Ambassador Hurley that negotiations had failed, and he resigned in disgust.<ref>Fenby, Jonathan ''Chiang Kai-shek China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost'', New York: Carrol & Graf, 2004 p. 459</ref> He was replaced by General [[George Marshall]], who arrived in China on 20 December 1945. The goal of the [[Marshall Mission]] was to bring both parties into a coalition government, with the hope that a strong, non-Communist China would act as a bulwark against the encroachment of the Soviet Union. Marshall drew both sides into negotiations which would drag on for more than a year. No significant agreements were reached, as both sides used the time to further prepare themselves for the ensuing conflict.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, the Far East: China, Volume VII – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1948v07/d373}}</ref>

=== Manchurian Campaigns, 1946–1948 === [[File:Battle of Siping01.jpg|thumb|right|Communist soldiers wait in trenches during the [[Campaign to Defend Siping]], 1946.]] By the time that Nationalist units had been able to arrive in the major cities of northeastern China, Communist forces commanded by [[Lin Biao]] were already in firm control of most of the countryside and surrounding areas, including the city of Jinzhou.<ref>Leung 70–71</ref> On 15 November 1945, the Nationalists began a campaign to roll back these gains.{{sfn|Jessup|1989}} Chiang Kai-shek's forces pushed as far as Jinzhou by 26 November 1945, meeting with little resistance. Rather than confront the advancing Nationalists head on, Lin Biao avoided decisive confrontations, and in doing so was able to preserve the strength of his army.<ref>Lew 32–36</ref> The Nationalist advance also prompted Stalin, who did not want the CCP entirely crushed, to command Marshal [[Rodion Malinovsky]] to give most captured Japanese weapons to the CCP.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang Kuisong |date=24 November 2011 |script-title=zh:杨奎松《读史求实》：苏联给了林彪东北野战军多少现代武器 |url=http://book.sina.com.cn/excerpt/sz/rw/2011-11-24/0951293044_2.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926184147/http://book.sina.com.cn/excerpt/sz/rw/2011-11-24/0951293044_2.shtml |archive-date=26 September 2013 |access-date=17 May 2013 |website=[[Sina Corp|Sina]] Books}}</ref><ref name="nat" /> This was decisive; from this point onwards the Communist forces were no longer just an army of "millet plus rifles".

In March 1946, despite repeated requests from Chiang Kai-shek, the [[Soviet Red Army]] under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky continued to delay pulling out of Manchuria, while Malinovsky secretly told the CCP forces to move in behind them. Mao quickly seized the opportunity, ordering Lin Biao and [[Zhu De]] to begin taking key cities, including [[Battle of Siping|Siping]] and [[Harbin]].<ref name="Lew 36">Lew 36</ref><ref name="Historical Evolution">{{Cite web |title=Historical Evolution |url=http://www.harbin.gov.cn/english/Harbin_Overview/Historical_Evolution.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130223146/http://www.harbin.gov.cn/english/Harbin_Overview/Historical_Evolution.htm |archive-date=2013-01-30 |access-date=2017-01-17 |publisher=Harbin Municipal Government |quote=At the end of the 19th century, there were over ten villages and about 30,000 people in Harbin, and the economic elements such as transportation, trade and population began to develop, which laid the foundation for formation and development of the city.}}</ref> These favourable conditions also facilitated many changes inside the Communist leadership: the more radical faction who wanted a complete military take-over of China finally gained the upper hand and defeated the careful opportunists.<ref>Michael M Sheng, ''Battling Western Imperialism'', Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 132–135</ref> By 3&nbsp;May, all Soviet troops had withdrawn, and fighting between local Communist and Nationalist forces had broken out in earnest.<ref name="Lew 36" /> The conflict would escalate to the scale of a nation-wide civil war over the summer, as Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale assault on Communist territory in north China with 113 brigades (a total of 1.6&nbsp;million troops).<ref name="Hu">Hu, Jubin. (2003). ''Projecting a Nation: Chinese National Cinema Before 1949''. Hong Kong University Press. {{ISBN|962-209-610-7}}.</ref><ref name="nat" />

Knowing their disadvantages in manpower and equipment, the CCP adopted a "passive defence" strategy. It avoided the strong points of the KMT army and was prepared to abandon territory in order to preserve its forces. In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Communist influence long before the cities. The CCP also attempted to wear out the KMT forces as much as possible. This tactic seemed to be successful; after a year, the power balance became more favorable to the CCP. They wiped out 1.12&nbsp;million KMT troops, while their strength grew to about two million men.<ref name="nat" /> In March 1947 the KMT achieved a symbolic victory by seizing Yan'an, the capital of the Yan'an Soviet.<ref>Lilley, James R. China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia. {{ISBN|1-58648-136-3}}.</ref> The Communists counterattacked soon afterwards; on 30 June 1947 CCP troops crossed the Yellow River and moved to the [[Dabie Mountains]], restored and developed the [[Central Plain (China)|Central Plain]]. At the same time, Communist forces also began to counterattack in Northeastern China, North China and [[East China]].<ref name="nat" />

===The Three Campaigns, 1948–1949=== [[File:Three Campaigns of Chinese Civil War.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Map showing the [[Liaoshen Campaign|Liaoshen]], Huaihai, and Pingjin Campaigns that decisively turned the war in favour of the CCP.]]

In late 1948, the CCP and the newly rechristened "[[People's Liberation Army]]" (PLA) launched the decisive [[Liaoshen Campaign]]. The PLA finally captured for good the northern cities of [[Shenyang]] and [[Changchun]] and consolidated control of the Northeast.<ref name="Westad">Westad, Odd Arne. (2003). ''Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950''. Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-4484-X}}. pp. 192–193.</ref> The [[New 1st Army]], regarded as the best KMT army, was forced to surrender after the CCP conducted a brutal six-month [[siege of Changchun]] that resulted in more than 150,000 civilian deaths from starvation.<ref name="AP">Pomfret, John. "Red Army Starved 150,000 Chinese Civilians, Books Says" [https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19901122/1105487/red-army-starved-150000-chinese-civilians-books-says Seattle Times 2 October 2009] Accessed: 2009-10-02. Archived [https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19901122/1105487/red-army-starved-150000-chinese-civilians-books-says]</ref>

The conscripted peasants who filled the Nationalist ranks also were beginning to defect to the PLA in larger and larger numbers, drawn by the promise of land and much better treatment by Communist officers.<ref>[[Ray Huang]], ''cong dalishi jiaodu du Jiang Jieshi riji'' (Reading Chiang Kai-shek's diary from a macro-history perspective), China Times Publishing Press, Taipei, 1994, pp. 441–443</ref> The defection and capture of large numbers of well-trained KMT troops finally gave the PLA material superiority over the Nationalist army.<ref>''The New York Times'', 12 January 1947, p. 44.</ref><ref>Zeng Kelin, ''Zeng Kelin jianjun zishu'' (General Zeng Kelin Tells His Story), Liaoning renmin chubanshe, Shenyang, 1997. pp. 112–113</ref> Manpower continued to grow as well; during the [[Huaihai Campaign]] alone the CCP was able to mobilize 5,430,000 peasants to fight against the KMT forces.<ref>[[Lung Ying-tai]], ''dajiang dahai 1949'', Commonwealth Publishing Press, Taipei, 2009, p. 184</ref>

Now with tanks, heavy artillery, and other combined-arms assets, the PLA was prepared to execute offensive operations south of the Great Wall. In April 1948 the city of [[Luoyang]] fell, cutting the KMT army off from Xi'an.<ref name="Elleman">Elleman, Bruce A. Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795–1989. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-21473-4}}.</ref> Following a fierce battle, the CCP captured [[Jinan]] and Shandong province on 24 September 1948. The Huaihai Campaign of late 1948 and early 1949 secured east-central China for the CCP.<ref name="Westad" /> The outcome of these encounters were decisive for the military outcome of the civil war.<ref name="Westad" /> The [[Pingjin Campaign]] resulted in the Communist conquest of northern China. It lasted 64 days, from 21 November 1948 to 31 January 1949.<ref name="Finkld">Finkelstein, David Michael. Ryan, Mark A. McDevitt, Michael. (2003). Chinese Warfighting: The PLA Experience Since 1949. M.E. Sharpe. China. {{ISBN|0-7656-1088-4}}. p. 63.</ref> The PLA suffered heavy casualties while securing [[Zhangjiakou]], Tianjin along with its port and garrison at [[Taku Forts|Taku]] and Beijing (then "Beiping").<ref name="Finkld" /> The CCP brought 890,000 troops from the northeast to oppose some 600,000 KMT troops.<ref name="Elleman" /> There were 40,000 PLA casualties at Zhangjiakou alone. They in turn killed, wounded or captured some 520,000 KMT during the campaign.<ref name="Finkld" />

[[File:CCP expand 1934 - 1949.PNG|thumb|left|Areas colored yellow represent the final expansion of the CCP after the three campaigns and prior to the formal establishment of the People's Republic of China.]]

After achieving decisive victory at Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin campaigns, the CCP wiped out 144 regular and 29 irregular KMT divisions, including 1.54&nbsp;million veteran KMT troops, which significantly reduced the strength of Nationalist forces.<ref name="nat" /> Stalin initially favored a coalition government in postwar China, and tried to persuade Mao to stop the CCP from crossing the Yangtze and attacking the KMT positions south of the river.<ref>Donggil Kim, "Stalin and the Chinese Civil War." ''Cold War History'' 10.2 (2010): 185–202.</ref> Mao rejected Stalin's position and on 21 April, began the [[Yangtze River Crossing Campaign]]. On 23 April they captured the KMT's capital, Nanjing.<ref name="Zhang" /> The KMT government retreated to Canton (Guangzhou) until 15 October, Chongqing until 25 November, and then [[Chengdu]] before [[Chinese Nationalist Party retreat to Taiwan|retreating to Taiwan]] on 7 December. By late 1949 the People's Liberation Army was pursuing remnants of KMT forces southwards in southern China, and only [[Tibet]] was left. A Chinese Muslim [[Hui people|Hui]] cavalry regiment, the 14th [[Dungan people|Dungan]] Cavalry, was sent by the Chinese government to attack Mongol and Soviet positions along the border in the [[Battle of Baitag Bogd]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrew D. W. Forbes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&q=warlords+and+muslims |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 |publisher=CUP Archive |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-25514-7 |location=Cambridge, England |page=215 |access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrew D. W. Forbes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&q=warlords+and+muslims |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 |publisher=CUP Archive |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-25514-7 |location=Cambridge, England |page=225 |access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref>

==Establishment of the People's Republic== {{Main|Proclamation of the People's Republic of China}}

The founding of the [[Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China (1949–1954)|Central People's Government of China]] was formally proclaimed by [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Chairman]] Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949, at 3:00 pm in [[Tiananmen Square]] in Beijing, the new capital. The new [[Flag of China|national flag of the People's Republic of China]] (the Five-starred Red Flag) was officially unveiled and hoisted to a [[21-gun salute]].{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} The ceremony was followed by a PLA military parade. Commanded by [[Nie Rongzhen]], the Commander of the Northern China Military Region and inspected by Zhu De, the Commander-in-Chief of the PLA, the parade involved around 16,000 PLA officers and personnel.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Reds Proclaim a Republic in China; Chou is Premier; Chinese Republic Launched by Reds| work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/10/02/93548261.html?zoom=15&pageNumber=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608140404/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/10/02/93548261.html?zoom=15&pageNumber=1 |archive-date=June 8, 2021 |access-date=October 8, 2019}}</ref> The parade, which was approved in June 1949, was the first large-scale and modern Chinese military parade, with the country having never done a public review of troops before under previous governments. [[Liu Bocheng]] proposed to parade directors [[Yang Chengwu]] and [[Tang Yanjie]] be organized in the Soviet format, having personally witnessed a military parade on [[Red Square]] in Moscow. The [[Central Military Band of the People's Liberation Army of China|Northern Military Region Band (now the Central Military Band of the PLA)]] provided musical accompaniment which included the ''[[Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army]]'' and new national anthem of China, the ''[[March of the Volunteers]]''.<ref name="provo">[[s:Resolution on the Capital, Calendar, National Anthem and National Flag of the People's Republic of China|Resolution on the Capital, Calendar, National Anthem, and National Flag of the People's Republic of China]]. 1st [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] (Beijing), 27 September 1949. Hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].</ref><ref name="Parade">{{Citation |title=The Rise Of Mao Zedong {{!}} Parade Of The Waking Giant {{!}} Timeline | date=26 June 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y5xma2-hVI |access-date=2021-07-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628055639/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y5xma2-hVI |url-status=live |language=en |archive-date=June 28, 2021}}</ref>

== Aftermath and legacy == {{see also|Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China|Cross-Strait relations|Black Cat Squadron|1960–1961 campaign at the China–Burma border}} [[File:US MAAG Taiwan Badge.svg|thumb|left|100px|Badge of MAAG ROC in [[Vietnam War]].]] [[File:Stamp china 1952 800 soldiers marching.jpg|thumb|Chinese troops in Korea depicted on a 1952 Chinese postage stamp]] [[File:Communist_terrorist_remnants_in_RASCOM_area.gif|thumb|220px|Poster of Chinese rebels in Sarawak, Malaysia.]]

On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong officially proclaimed the founding of the [[People's Republic of China]] at Tiananmen Square. Chiang Kai-shek, 600,000 Nationalist troops and about two million Nationalist-sympathizer refugees retreated to the island of Taiwan. After that, resistance to the Communists on the mainland was substantial but scattered, such as in the far south. An attempt to take the Nationalist-controlled island of [[Kinmen]] was thwarted in the [[Battle of Guningtou|Battle of Kuningtou]].

In December 1949 Chiang proclaimed [[Taipei]], Taiwan the temporary capital of the Republic, and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority of all China, while the PRC government continued to call for the unification of all China. The last direct fighting between Nationalist and Communist forces ended with the Communist capture of [[Hainan Island]] in April 1950, though shelling and guerrilla raids continued for several years.{{Sfn|Westad|2003|p=305}}

In June 1950, the outbreak of the [[Korean War]] led the United States government to place the [[United States Seventh Fleet]] in the [[Taiwan Strait]] to prevent either side from attacking the other.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Army Department Teletype conference, ca. June 1950 |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/army-department-teletype-conference |access-date=2015-04-14 |website=Harry S. Truman Library and Museum |publisher=US Department of Defense}}</ref> However, the CCP and Kuomintang kept [[Cold War in Asia|clashing in Southeast Asia during the Cold War]].

The Kuomintang also made several last-ditch attempts to use Khampa troops against the Communists in southwest China. The Kuomintang formulated a plan in which three Khampa divisions would be assisted by the [[Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama|Panchen Lama]] to oppose the Communists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hsiao-ting Lin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC&q=shen+in+Chongqing+to+render+clandestine+support+to+pro-Nationalist+underground+forces+led+by+a+Khampa+Tibetan&pg=PA95 |title=Modern China's ethnic frontiers: a journey to the west |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-415-58264-3 |edition=illustrated |volume=67 of Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia |page=117 |quote=China's far northwest.23 A simultaneous proposal suggested that, with the support of the new Panchen Lama and his entourage, at least three army divisions of anti-Communist Khampa Tibetans could be mustered in southwest China. |access-date=27 December 2011}}</ref> Kuomintang intelligence reported that some Tibetan tusi chiefs and the Khampa Su Yonghe controlled 80,000 troops in Sichuan, Qinghai and Tibet. They hoped to use them against the Communist army.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hsiao-ting Lin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC&q=shen+in+Chongqing+to+render+clandestine+support+to+pro-Nationalist+underground+forces+led+by+a+Khampa+Tibetan&pg=PA95 |title=Modern China's ethnic frontiers: a journey to the west |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-415-58264-3 |edition=illustrated |volume=67 of Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia |page=xxi |quote=(tusi) from the Sichuan-Qinghai border; and Su Yonghe, a Khampa native-chieftain from Nagchuka on the Qinghai–Tibetan border. According to Nationalist intelligence reports, these leaders altogether commanded about 80000 irregulars. |access-date=27 December 2011}}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|China|Communism}} * [[Outline of the Chinese Civil War]] * [[Timeline of the Chinese Civil War]] * [[Aftermath of World War II]] * [[Loss of China]] * [[John F. Melby]] * [[Cultural Revolution]]

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == === Citations === {{Reflist}}

=== Sources === {{refbegin|colwidth=30em}} *{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Luke |title=Sichuan famine, 1936–37 |date=2015 |url=https://disasterhistory.org/sichuan-famine-1936-1937 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420050036/http://www.disasterhistory.org:80/sichuan-famine-1936-1937 |archive-date=2017-04-20 |access-date=2023-03-14 |website=Disaster History |language=en-GB }} *{{Cite journal |last=Garnaut |first=Anthony |date=2013 |title=A Quantitative Description of the Henan Famine of 1942 |journal=Modern Asian Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=47 |pages=2034, 2044 |doi=10.1017/S0026749X13000103 |issn=1469-8099 |s2cid=146274415 |quote=A detailed survey organized by the Nationalist government in 1943 of the impact of the famine came up with a toll of 1,484,983, broken down by county. The official population registers of Henan show a net decline in population from 1942 to 1943 of one million people, or 3 per cent of the population. If we assume that the natural rate of increase in the population before the famine was 2 per cent, [...] Comparison with the diminution in the size of age cohorts born during the famine years suggests that the official Nationalist figure includes population loss through excess mortality and declined fertility migration, which leaves a famine death toll of well under 1 million. |number=6}} *{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Sherong |year=2002 |script-title=zh:浅析1928-1930年西北大旱灾的特点及影响 |trans-title=An Elementary Study about the Characteristics and the Effect of the Great Drought in Northwest China from 1928 to 1930 |url=http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-ISSN~1001-0491(2002)01-0036-05.html |journal=Gùyuán Shīzhuān Xuébào |language=Chinese |volume=23 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707044408/http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-ISSN~1001-0491(2002)01-0036-05.html |archive-date=2011-07-07 |access-date=2011-02-15 |script-work=zh:固原师专学报 |trans-work=Journal of Guyuan Teachers College }} *{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=Richard |date=1959 |title=China and the World |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2605294 |journal=International Affairs |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=161–169 |doi=10.2307/2605294 |issn=0020-5850 |jstor=2605294 |url-access=subscription }} *{{Cite journal |last=Goodman |first=David S G |date=2005 |title=Exiled by Definition: The Salar of Northwest China |url=http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/portal/article/download/83/51 |journal=PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies |volume=2 |issue=1 |doi=10.5130/portal.v2i1.83 |issn=1449-2490 |access-date=13 July 2014 |doi-access=free }} *{{Cite journal |last=Goodman |first=David S. 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<!-- == Further reading == -->

{{Clear}}{{Mao Zedong}}{{Maoism}} {{Chinese Civil War}} {{Cross-Strait relations}} {{authority control}}

[[Category:20th-century revolutions]] [[Category:1930s revolutions]] [[Category:1940s revolutions]] [[Category:Chinese Civil War]] [[Category:Revolutions in China]] [[Category:Communist revolutions]] [[Category:Maoism in China]] [[Category:Chinese Communist Revolution]]