The Little Long March was a 600-kilometre (370 mi), two-month withdrawal by left-wing members of the Kuomintang and the National Revolutionary Army up the Gan River and down to the coast, subsequent to the successful mutiny and insurrection at Nanchang on August 1, 1927.
146-492: Facing a counter-attack from Right-Kuomintang ( Chiang Kai-shek -affiliated Nationalists) regiments moving up from Jiujiang , the Revolutionary Committee—basically Zhou Enlai , Li Lisan and their Comintern military advisor Kunanin—decided to evacuate the city and make for the southern port of Shantou , Guangdong , in the hope of receiving a Soviet arms shipment. Once supplied they would attempt
292-457: A $ 120,000 inheritance, and the reason is that according to her niece, that she donated most of her wealth when she was still alive. Chiang, requiring support, tolerated corruption with people in his inner circles, as well as high-ranking nationalist officials, but not of lower-ranking officers. In 1934, he ordered seven military officers who embezzled state property to be shot. In another case, several division commanders pleaded with Chiang to pardon
438-415: A 1969 speech, Chiang related a story about his boat trip to Japan at nineteen years old. Another passenger on the ship, a Chinese fellow student who was in the habit of spitting on the floor, was chided by a Chinese sailor who said that Japanese people did not spit on the floor, but instead would spit into a handkerchief. Chiang used the story as an example of how the common man in 1969 Taiwan had not developed
584-540: A battle with warlord Zhang Zuolin in Henan province, hampering Wuhan's ability to defend itself, and that Feng had taken that opportunity to seize control of Henan , Wang Jingwei had to do as he requested, lest Wuhan be subject to an attack by Feng's forces. Unbeknownst to Wang Jingwei, Feng Yuxiang had dispatched Li Mingzhong to get in touch with Chiang Kai-shek, and managed to meet him in Xuzhou on 19 June. Compared to
730-506: A conference in Wuhan on International Women's Day , 1927, female revolutionaries laid out the goals of the women's movement. They demanded an end to foot-binding, increased female literacy, job opportunities for women, and an end to the patriarchal family structure. This last demand included women's right to get married and divorced as she chose, as well as bans on polygamy, concubinage , and child marriages. Most of these demands were granted by
876-441: A connection with the personal name of the person. As the courtesy name is the name used by people of the same generation to address the person, Chiang soon became known under this new name. Sometime in 1917 or 1918, as Chiang became close to Sun Yat-sen, he changed his name from Chiang Chih-ch‘ing to Chiang Chung-cheng ( Chinese : 蔣中正 ; pinyin : Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng ; Wade–Giles : Chiang Chung -cheng ). By adopting
1022-639: A criminal officer, but as soon as the division commanders had left, Chiang ordered him shot. The deputy editor and chief reporter at the Central Daily News, Lu Keng , made headline international news by exposing the corruption of two senior officials, Kong Xiangxi ( H. H. Kung ) and T. V. Soong . Chiang then ordered a thorough investigation of the Central Daily News to find the source. However, Lu, risked execution by refusing to comply and protecting his journalists. Chiang wanting to avoid an international response and so jailed Lu instead. Chiang realized
1168-463: A frontal war against Japan and prioritizing anti-communist suppression was widely unpopular and provoked nationwide protests. In 1932, while Chiang was seeking first to defeat the Communists, Japan launched an advance on Shanghai and bombarded Nanjing. That disrupted Chiang's offensives against the Communists for a time, but it was the northern factions of Hu Hanmin's Guangdong government (notably
1314-536: A helpless lone war. We were alone in a desert, with no available or possible assistance could we look forward to. But our determination was never shaken, nor was hope abandoned. In early 1906, Chiang cut off his queue , the required hairstyle of men during the Ch‘ing dynasty , and had it sent home from school, shocking the people in his hometown. Chiang grew up at a time in which military defeats, natural disasters, famines, revolts, unequal treaties and civil wars had left
1460-662: A lemon before being discarded. During the expedition, labour movements led by the Communist Party endangered commercial interests' support of the KMT. Land reform incited further dissatisfaction among generals and soldiers in the National Revolutionary Army who came from landowning families. For example, the landholding family of General He Jian were paraded through the streets as criminals by communists. The National Revolutionary Army, military arm of
1606-696: A national leadership conference in Nanjing with Zhang Xueliang and General Ma Fuxiang during which Chiang and Zhang dauntlessly upheld that Manchuria was part of China in the face of the Japanese invasion. After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Chiang resigned as Chairman of the National Government. He returned shortly afterward and adopted the slogan "first internal pacification, then external resistance." However, his policy of avoiding
SECTION 10
#17327720869461752-618: A pen name for the articles that he published in a Chinese magazine he founded: Voice of the Army ( 軍聲 ). Jieshi is the pinyin romanization of this name, based on Standard Chinese , but the most recognized romanized rendering is Kai-shek which is in Cantonese romanization. Because the Republic of China was based in Canton (a Cantonese-speaking area), Chiang (who never spoke Cantonese but
1898-695: A photograph that had been taken in Japan c. 1895 or 1898. It showed members of the Revive China Society with Yeung Ku-wan as president, in the place of honor, and Sun, as secretary, on the back row, along with members of the Japanese Chapter of the Revive China Society. When told that it was not for sale, Chiang offered a million dollars to recover the photo and its negative, "The party must have this picture and
2044-411: A prosperous family of salt merchants . Chiang's father died when he was eight, and he wrote of his mother as the "embodiment of Confucian virtues ". The young Chiang was inspired throughout his youth by the realization that the reputation of an honored family rested upon his shoulders. He was a naughty child. At a young age he was interested in the military. As he grew older, Chiang became more aware of
2190-617: A reform program, although the planned agrarian reform never really took off. Instead, the rural insurgents started to govern themselves, which in response alienated much of the NRA officials as the Kuomintang military leadership were generally opposed to peasant self-rule. In addition to peasants' organizations, United Front campaigners also helped found a number of women's associations. In Henan and Hubei dozens of women's associations were established as branches of county peasant associations. At
2336-406: A return to the provincial capital Guangzhou and thence a new and proper dissemination of Left-Kuomintang/Communist influence throughout the province from which most of the insurrection's soldiery had come. He Long strongly opposed this idea: he pointed out that marching such a great distance and over such terrain in the heat of summer would put a severe strain on the troops. He also pointed out that
2482-499: A rock', is the beginning of line 2 of Hexagram 16 , " 豫 ". Others note that the first character of his courtesy name is also the first character of the courtesy name of his brother and other male relatives on the same generational line, while the second character of his courtesy name shih ( 石 —meaning "stone") suggests the second character of his "register name" tai ( 泰 —the famous Mount Tai ). Courtesy names in China often bore
2628-404: A secret telegram from Joseph Stalin with orders for the Wuhan government, which later became known as the "May Instructions". Without consulting Borodin or anyone else, Roy revealed the contents of the message to Wang Jingwei. The instructions presented the following demands: Wang Jingwei believed that if these instructions were followed the KMT might be destroyed, but continued negotiations with
2774-457: A town in Yixing , Jiangsu, about 38 km (24 mi) southwest of central Wuxi and 10 km (6.2 mi) from the shores of Lake Tai . He was the third child and second son of his father Chiang Chao-Tsung [ zh ] (also Chiang Su-an; 1842–1895; 蔣肇聰 ) and the first child of his father's third wife Wang Tsai-yu [ zh ] (1863–1921; 王采玉 ) who were members of
2920-607: A way that had not been possible when the nation lacked an effective central government. Under that context, the Chinese Rural Reconstruction Movement was implemented by some social activists who graduated as professors of the United States with tangible but limited progress in modernizing the tax, infrastructural, economic, cultural, and educational equipment and the mechanisms of rural regions. The social activists actively co-ordinated with
3066-678: Is also criticized for his flooding of the Yellow River and for allowing the Honan Famine during the war with Japan. Chiang is also credited with transforming China from a semi-colony of various imperialist powers to an independent country by amending the unequal treaties signed by previous governments, as well as moving various national treasures and traditional artworks to the National Palace Museum in Taipei during
SECTION 20
#17327720869463212-600: Is known as the " 715 Incident ". In response to the purge, the Chinese Communist Party initiated the Nanchang uprising against the Wuhan government on 1 August 1927, after which Wuhan agreed to reunify with the Nanjing nationalist government. In return for his cooperation, Wang Jingwei demanded that Chiang resign from his post of commander-in-chief, and relinquish all political titles. Chiang accordingly resigned from his post on 12 August. On 21 September,
3358-524: Is said that 1000 women of the area, some widowed, perhaps by war, joined them as carriers. At the prefectural centre in early September, Li commandeered 100 boats each with her crew of four to take the wounded and weak down the Tingjiang river to Shanghang county ; not letting the crews sort themselves out resulted in costly accidents. The Chaozhou-Shantou area, their destination, and the hope of Muscovite reinforcement, lay much further downstream. In
3504-688: Is spelled using a Cantonese transliteration he adopted as opposed to Hanyu Pinyin, though pinyin was adopted by the Republic of China government in 2009 as its official romanization. Chiang was born on 31 October 1887, in Hsikow , a town in Fenghua , Zhejiang , China, about 30 kilometers (19 mi) west of central Ningbo . He was born into a family of Wu Chinese-speaking people with their ancestral home —a concept important in Chinese society —in Heqiao,
3650-494: Is the heart of China", "Foster the mother country of the proletariat — Soviet Russia", and "China and Russia are one". At the same time, Chiang was arresting communists as he advanced downstream the Yangtze River. It was widely suspected that the Chinese Communist Party and Soviet advisors in the Wuhan government used anti-imperialist and anti-foreign sentiments to instigate violent confrontations with foreign militaries in
3796-781: Is the name under which Chiang is still commonly known in Taiwan. Often the name is shortened to "Chung-cheng" only. Many public places in Taiwan are named Chungcheng after Chiang. For many years passengers arriving at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport were greeted by signs in Chinese welcoming them to the "Chung Cheng International Airport". Similarly, the monument erected to Chiang's memory in Taipei, known in English as Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall ,
3942-444: The 1949 retreat . Like many other Chinese historical figures, Chiang used several names throughout his life. The name inscribed in the genealogical records of his family is Chiang Chou-t‘ai ( Chinese : 蔣周泰 ; pinyin : Jiǎng Zhōutài ; Wade–Giles : Chiang Chou -t‘ai ). This so-called "register name" ( 譜名 ) is the one by which his extended relatives knew him, and the one he used in formal occasions, such as when he
4088-662: The 19th Route Army ) that primarily led the offensive against the Japanese during the skirmish. Brought into the NRA immediately after the battle, the 19th Route Army's career under Chiang would be cut short by being disbanded for demonstrating socialist tendencies. In December 1936, Chiang flew to Xi'an to co-ordinate a major assault on the Red Army and the CPC, which had retreated into Yan'an . However, Chiang's allied commander Zhang Xueliang, whose forces were used in his attack and whose homeland of Manchuria had been recently invaded by
4234-781: The Canton Coup . The SS Yungfeng , renamed the Chung-shan in Sun's honour, had appeared off Changzhou , the location of the Whampoa Academy, on apparently-falsified orders and amid a series of unusual phone calls trying to ascertain Chiang's location. He initially considered fleeing Guangdong and even booked passage on a Japanese steamer but then decided to use his military connections to declare martial law on 20 March 1926 and to crack down on Communist and Soviet influence over
4380-728: The Chinese Red Army in 1934. The Communists, tipped off that a Nationalist offensive was imminent, retreated in the Long March during which Mao rose from a mere military official to the most influential leader of the Chinese Communist Party. Some academics and historians have classified Chiang's rule as fascist. The New Life Movement , initiated by Chiang, was based upon Confucianism mixed with Christianity, nationalism, and authoritarianism that have some similarities to fascism. Frederic Wakeman argued that
4526-654: The Manchu -dominated Ch‘ing dynasty unstable and in debt. Successive demands of the Western powers and Japan since the Opium War had left China owing millions of taels of silver. During his first visit to Japan to pursue a military career from April 1906 to later that year, he describes himself as having strong nationalistic feelings with a desire, among other things, to 'expel the Manchu Ch‘ing and to restore China'. In
Little Long March - Misplaced Pages Continue
4672-547: The Nanjing decade , various aspects of foreign imperialism, concessions and privileges in China were moderated by diplomacy. The government acted to modernize the legal and penal systems and attempted to stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment industrial and agricultural production. Efforts were made to improve education standards, and
4818-490: The Nanjing incident to strengthen the communists while simultaneously damaging the right-wing faction of the Kuomintang. It was under these circumstances that a divergence between the KMT and CCP appeared. KMT rightist figures like Chiang Kai-shek pushed for the "complete clearance of the Communist Party". Meanwhile, KMT leftists, CCP and the Communist International were alarmed and decided to support
4964-607: The Republic of China on the island of Taiwan until his death in 1975. He was considered the legitimate head of China by the United Nations until 1971 . Born in Chekiang , Chiang received a military education in China and Japan and joined Sun Yat-sen 's Tungmenghui revolutionary organization in 1908. After the 1911 Revolution , he was a founding member of the KMT, becoming one of Sun's closest lieutenants and head of
5110-485: The SS Yungfeng , where Chiang joined them as soon as he could return from Shanghai, where he was ritually mourning his mother's death. For about 50 days, Chiang stayed with Sun, protecting and caring for him and earning his lasting trust. They abandoned their attacks on Chen on 9 August, taking a British ship to Hong Kong and traveling to Shanghai by steamer. Sun regained control of Canton in early 1923, again with
5256-610: The Second Sino-Japanese War , and over the next eight years led the war of resistance, mostly from Chungking . As the leader of a major Allied power , Chiang attended the Cairo Conference to discuss terms for the Japanese surrender . When the Second World War ended, the civil war with the Communists (led by Mao Zedong ) resumed; in 1949, Chiang's government was defeated and retreated to
5402-773: The Shanghai International Settlement police observed him and eventually charged him with various felonies. These charges never resulted in a trial, and Chiang was never jailed. Chiang became a founding member of the Nationalist Party (a forerunner of the KMT) after the success (February 1912) of the 1911 Revolution . After the takeover of the Republican government by Yuan Shikai and the failed Second Revolution in 1913, Chiang, like his KMT comrades, divided his time between exile in Japan and
5548-589: The Western Hills Group , began to show soon after the cleansing against the communists, and Chiang later imprisoned Hu. Though Chiang had consolidated the power of the KMT in Nanjing, it was still necessary to capture Beijing to claim the legitimacy needed for international recognition. Beijing was taken in June 1928, from an alliance of the warlords Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan . Yan Xishan moved in and captured Beiping on behalf of his new allegiance after
5694-773: The Whampoa Military Academy . After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang became commander-in-chief of the NRA, and led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, which nominally reunified China under a Nationalist government in Nanking . During the campaign, the KMT–CCP alliance broke down in 1927 and Chiang massacred the communists in Shanghai , triggering the Chinese Civil War . As the leader of
5840-566: The Wuchang uprising , Chiang returned to China in 1911, intending to fight as an artillery officer. He served in the revolutionary forces, leading a regiment in Shanghai under his friend and mentor Chen Qimei , as one of Chen's chief lieutenants. In early 1912 a dispute arose between Chen and Tao Chengzhang , an influential member of the Revolutionary Alliance who opposed both Sun Yat-sen and Chen. Tao sought to avoid escalating
5986-849: The Wuhan government , Wuhan regime , or Hankow government , was a government dominated by the left-wing of the Nationalist or Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China that was based in Wuhan from 5 December 1926 to 21 September 1927, led first by Eugene Chen , and later by Wang Jingwei . Following the capture of Wuhan during the Northern Expedition , the Nationalist government based in Guangzhou moved there in December 1926. In April 1927, after National Revolutionary Army (NRA) commander-in-chief Chiang Kai-shek purged communists and leftists in
Little Long March - Misplaced Pages Continue
6132-633: The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Chinese Communists and many conservative anti-communist writers have argued that Chiang was pro-capitalist based on the alliance thesis (the alliance between Chiang and the capitalists to purge the communist and the leftist elements in Shanghai , as well as in the resulting civil war). However, Chiang also antagonized the capitalists of Shanghai by often attacking them and confiscating their capital and assets for government use even while he denounced and fought against communists. Critics have called that " bureaucratic capitalism ". Historian Parks M. Coble argues that
6278-620: The death of Zhang Zuolin in 1928. His successor, Zhang Xueliang , accepted the authority of the KMT leadership, and the Northern Expedition officially concluded, completing Chiang's nominal unification of China and ending the Warlord Era . After the Northern Expedition ended in 1928, Yan, Feng, Li Zongren and Zhang Fakui broke off relations with Chiang shortly after a demilitarization conference in 1929, and together they formed an anti-Chiang coalition to openly challenge
6424-515: The island of Taiwan , where he imposed martial law and persecuted critics in the White Terror , which lasted until his death. Presiding over a period of economic reforms and prosperity , from 1948 Chiang won five elections to six-year terms as President of the ROC in which he faced minimal opposition or was elected unopposed. He was also Director-General of the KMT until his death in 1975, and
6570-430: The " Shanghai massacre ", the Wuhan government split from Chiang in what is known as the " Nanjing–Wuhan split " ( Chinese : 寧漢分裂 ). Chiang subsequently formed his own government in Nanjing . While Chiang continued the Northern Expedition on his own, increasing tensions between communists and the KMT in the Wuhan government resulted in a new purge of communists from that government, and an eventual reconciliation with
6716-768: The British and handover to the Chinese. Under such an atmosphere the leftists expanded control over the Kuomintang government in the Third Plenary Session of the Second Central Committee of Kuomintang. The party congress elected a majority of communists and leftists into the central committees, and therefore strengthened the Soviet hold on the party at the expense of Chiang Kai-shek. Areas under Wuhan's control, such as Changsha, were plastered with propaganda posters with slogans including: "Communism
6862-540: The CCP and Chiang's Nanjing faction simultaneously, Wang sought the backing of Guominjun leader Feng Yuxiang , who controlled large parts of northern China. Without informing the CCP, he sent Deng Yanda to meet with Feng at Zhengzhou on 8–10 June. In the meeting, though Wang had offered Feng all possible concessions, Feng still insisted that Wang take the lead in parting from the communists. Given that Wuhan military commander-in-chief Tang Shengzhi had been badly wounded in
7008-510: The CCP as the president of the Wuhan government, but Wang stated that he would "pick up side with the workers and farmers", and proposed to tolerate the communists for the time being. Concurrently, violence broke out in Hankou, part of Wuhan, when trade unionists and communist agitators attacked the Japanese concession there, sparking the " Hankou incident ". Wuhan garrison commander Tang Shengzhi and foreign minister Eugene Chen rushed to quell
7154-483: The Comintern requested that all communists withdraw from KMT. On 12 July, Chen Duxiu's was dismissed as CCP general secretary , and a leaders' group constituting Zhou Enlai , Li Lisan , Li Weihan , Zhang Tailei and Zhang Guotao was formed ( Qu Qiubai later joined them). Researcher Zhang Yufa speculates that the Comintern's intention was for an armed insurrection to seize leadership of revolutionary movements from
7300-434: The Comintern, but returned at Sun's demand, and accepted Chou En-lai as his political commissar. The early years at Whampoa allowed Chiang to cultivate a cadre of young officers loyal to both the KMT and himself. Throughout his rise to power, Chiang also benefited from membership within the nationalist Tien-ti-hui fraternity, to which Sun Yat-sen also belonged, and which remained a source of support during his leadership of
7446-469: The Communist Party of Soviet Union and the Comintern. "Article 11 on the KMT–CPC Union" had been passed by the expanded Central Committee on 30 June, and it suggested that the communists should consider breaking ties with the Wuhan government. On 4 July, the CCP held an expanded political bureau meeting on San Jiao Jie street, Hankou , Wuhan. General secretary Chen Duxiu and Borodin insisted that
SECTION 50
#17327720869467592-409: The Communists and their Soviet advisers led to the beginning of the Chinese Civil War . Wang Jingwei's National Government was weak militarily, and was soon ended by Chiang with the support of a local warlord ( Li Zongren of Guangxi ). Eventually, Wang and his leftist party surrendered to Chiang and joined him in Nanjing. However, the cracks between Chiang and Hu's traditionally Right-Wing KMT faction,
7738-523: The Communists knew that their uprisings had yet to take and keep one city from the Rightists. The Chiang -affiliated KMT or warlord forces were even now moving in to trap the Left Mutineers with the sea at their backs. The Com-Intern's Hong Kong station sent word that they should avoid further battles, forgo Shantou port (where in any event Soviet arms would not be forthcoming) and take cover like
7884-419: The Dang Guo of the KMT. Any successes that the Nationalists achieved, however, were met with constant political and military upheavals. Many of the urban areas were now under the control of the KMT, but much of the countryside remained under the influence of weakened-but -undefeated warlords, landlords, and Communists. Chiang often resolved issues of warlord obstinacy through military action, but such action
8030-421: The Japanese, did not support the attack on the Communists. On 12 December, Zhang and several other Nationalist generals, headed by Yang Hucheng of Shaanxi kidnapped Chiang for two weeks in what is known as the Xi'an Incident . They forced Chiang into making a " Second United Front " with the Communists against Japan. After releasing Chiang and returning to Nanjing with him, Zhang was placed under house arrest, and
8176-413: The KMT and NRA around him. Meanwhile, the Wuhan government began to face severe administrative problems. While the grassroots movements had originally been among its most important supporters, their actions sowed social instability and economic chaos in the areas under its control. They drove out foreigners, including several economically important firms, and suppressed middle and small merchants. Although
8322-421: The KMT left-wing. Wang Jingwei arrived at Wuhan on 10 April and met Tang Shengzhi and Tan Yankai , nominally to call together members of central committee to attend the fourth plenary session of the 2nd KMT Central Committee held in Nanjing. He thought that the meeting would be held as planned, but unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek rallied the anti-communist factions of Hu Hanmin and Li Jishen to "exterminate
8468-405: The KMT since the Canton Coup in March 1926, opted to stay at his military headquarters in Nanchang. He did not want to become involved in the politics at Wuhan, instead preferring to focus on the conquest of the rest of China while maintaining his independence from other KMT leaders. In January 1927, violent protests broke out in the British concession at Hankou, resulting in its evacuation by
8614-407: The KMT, and Canton Governor Chen Chiung-ming , who wanted to implement a federalist system with Canton as a model province. On 16 June 1922 Ye Ju , a general of Chen's whom Sun had attempted to exile, led an assault on Canton's Presidential Palace . Sun had already fled to the naval yard and boarded the SS Haichi , but his wife narrowly evaded shelling and rifle-fire as she fled. They met on
8760-502: The KMT, captured the three cities of Wuchang , Hankou , and Hanyang in a series of battles from August to October 1926 during the early stage of the Northern Expedition, and merged their municipal governments to form Wuhan . After the Wuhan area had fallen to the KMT, local workers organized themselves into left-leaning trade unions , which grew to around 300,000 members by the end of the year. Trade unions also emerged in other NRA-held cities, while peasant uprisings spread throughout
8906-420: The KMT-CCP dispute: Consent to Wang Jingwei's proposal of temporary tolerance of the Communist Party. The fourth plenary session will come up with a plan to settle the dispute. Before this session, the following actions proposed by Chiang Kai-shek will be carried out to solve any emergency: However, on 5 April, Wang decided to take the initiative by privately publishing with Chen Duxiu the "Joint Declaration of
SECTION 60
#17327720869469052-428: The KMT. On 13 July, CCP issued a declaration that it would officially withdraw from the KMT, and reproached Wang as "openly sponsoring counter-revolutionaries". Continuous unrest by trade unionists and communist-aligned peasant movements, along with Soviet interference in Wuhan's affairs, placed constant pressure on the Wuhan government, which subsequently moved to purge communists from its ranks on 15 July 1927, in what
9198-403: The Kuomintang. Sun Yat-sen died on 12 March 1925, creating a power vacuum in the Kuomintang. A contest ensued among Wang Ching-wei , Liao Chung-k‘ai , and Hu Han-min . In August, Liao was assassinated and Hu was arrested for his connections to the murderers. Wang Ching-wei , who had succeeded Sun as chairman of the Canton regime, seemed ascendant but was forced into exile by Chiang following
9344-410: The Leaders of the Nationalist and Communist Parties", in which he proclaimed a permanent collaboration between the two parties. This declaration drove the anti-communist KMT officials into a rage. Wu Zhihui, who had previously knelt down to beg Wang, mocked him as paternalistic, "the parent of the KMT". Wang left Shanghai that night for Wuhan, the government there being made up mostly of the communists and
9490-412: The NRA, and suffered from the defection of right-leaning commanders and their troops to Chiang's side. Commanded by Tang Shengzhi , the Wuhan army was too weak in numbers and equipment to truly rival Chiang's followers or to defeat the northern warlords. Nevertheless, a 70,000-strong army loyal to the Wuhan government launched its own "Northern Expedition" in April 1927, aiming to conquer Henan from
9636-409: The Nanjing faction, after which the government moved to Nanjing. Despite Kuomintang founder Sun Yat-sen 's policy of collaborating with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the First United Front , a discrepancy existed between the two parties' ultimate goals for the revolution, and there had been constant conflict between them, such as the March 1926 Canton Coup . Joseph Stalin tried to persuade
9782-512: The Nanjing faction. As result, the NRA's 14th Division under Xia Douyin rebelled in western Henan and marched against Wuhan in May, supported by Sichuan warlord Yang Shen. Though Xia was defeated by Wuhan loyalist Ye Ting 's 24th Division and Yang's attack was repelled, the open rebellion further undermined the confidence of political and military leaders in the KMT toward the Wuhan leadership. On 1 June, Communist International (Comintern) representatives Mikhail Borodin and M. N. Roy received
9928-421: The National Revolutionary Army, the military academy, and the party. The right wing of the party supported him, and Joseph Stalin , anxious to maintain Soviet influence in the area, had his lieutenants agree to Chiang's demands on a reduced Communist presence in the KMT leadership in exchange for certain other concessions. The rapid replacement of leadership enabled Chiang to effectively end civilian oversight of
10074-403: The Nationalist government but soon realized the widespread corruption. Military supplies that were sent appeared on the black market. Significant sums of money that had been transmitted through T. V. Soong, China's finance minister, soon disappeared. President Truman famously referred to the Nationalist leaders, "They're thieves, every damn one of them." He also said, "They stole $ 750 million out of
10220-453: The Nationalist government ultimately lay with Chiang. All major policy changes on military, diplomatic, or economic issues required his approval. According to historian Odd Arne Westad , "no other leader within the [KMT] had the authority to force through even the simplest decisions. The practical power of high-ranking officials like ministers or the head of the Executive Yuan was more closely tied to their relationship with Chiang than with
10366-466: The New Life Movement was " Confucian fascism ". Chiang also sponsored the creation of the Blue Shirts Society , in conscious imitation of the Blackshirts in the Italian Fascist Party and the Sturmabteilung of the Nazi Party. Its ideology was to expel foreign (Japanese and Western) imperialists from China and to crush communism. Close ties with Nazi Germany also gave the Nationalist government access to German military and economic assistance during
10512-570: The Northern Expedition in mutual non-interference, and on the 19th the Wuhan government appointed Hunan warlord Tang Shengzhi as Commander-in-chief to proceed with the Northern expedition. On 1 May, Chiang Kai Shek also continued with the Northern Expedition independently. By this point, however, the anti-communist sentiment in the NRA had grown significantly as result of internal tensions in Wuhan-controlled areas as well as agitation by
10658-617: The ROC during the Nanking decade , Chiang sought to modernise and unify the nation, although hostilities with the CCP continued. His government presided over economic and social reconstruction while trying to avoid a war with Japan. In 1936, he was kidnapped in the Sian Incident , and obliged to form an anti-Japanese Second United Front with the CCP. After the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937, Chiang mobilised China for
10804-640: The Soviets. He requested that the Soviet Union provide 15 million roubles in aid, but Moscow offered only 2 million. Later, Wang vented his frustration to chief Soviet adviser to the KMT Borodin, and considered sending him back to the Soviet Union. The "May Instructions" compelled Wang to diverge from the communists, but did nothing to quell his dislike for Chiang. In an effort to counter both
10950-622: The Wenjiashi troops, and furthermore establish a rural soviet in Peng's hometown. There was now, however, no avoiding the Rightist hammer: Ye and He lost two-fifths of their troop strength in battle at Fengshun County-town . In belated accordance with the Com-Intern directive, Ye circled down to Shanwei , lending peasant leader Peng a triumphant return to his home town Haifeng . Zhu, who in
11096-487: The Wuhan Nationalist government. Conference attendees from the countryside brought the message home, leading to some changes in the treatment of women there as well as in the cities. On 1 April 1927, Wang Jingwei returned to China, and arrived at Shanghai , which had been occupied by the National Revolutionary Army. Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren met with him to urge him to end the collaborative relations with
11242-477: The Wuhan Political Council made an official statement to the effect that they would relocate to Nanjing, ending the Wuhan government. Though most of the NRA was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek or various warlords who joined the KMT before or during the Northern Expedition, the Wuhan government commanded its own military force. The so-called "Wuhan Army" was less strong and well-armed than the rest of
11388-489: The Wuhan government began challenging Chiang's authority, and launched a propaganda campaign against him from January 1927. On 10 March, the 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. In response to these developments, Chiang started to rally anti-communist elements in
11534-447: The Wuhan government expel Soviet representative Mikhail Borodin, carry out a purge of communists within the party and finish the Northern Expedition, which forced Wuhan into an even weaker position. Views on the "May Instructions" varied within the Chinese Communist Party. When Chen Duxiu first read it he thought it did not fit into China's reality, and telegraphed back indicating that it was hard to be enforced. This, however, dissatisfied
11680-414: The Wuhan government was reluctant to alienate the communist-leaning workers, they could hardly tolerate the ongoing social trend, as they were beginning to create severe financial downturn. By May 1927, the Wuhan government had an expenditure of 10 million Chinese dollars in contrast to a revenue of just 1.8 million dollars. Inflation and mass layoffs further worsened the economic situation. Furthermore,
11826-545: The abolition of polygamy and foot binding . Under Chiang's leadership, the Republic of China government also enacted a women's quota in the parliament, with reserved seats for women. During the Nanjing Decade, average Chinese citizens received education that they had been denied by the dynasties. That increased the literacy rate across China and also promoted the ideals of Tridemism of democracy, republicanism, science, constitutionalism, and Chinese nationalism based on
11972-408: The anti-capitalist rhetoric of Sun Yat-sen and directed the Kuomintang media to attack the capitalists and capitalism openly. He supported government-controlled industries instead. Coble says that the rhetoric had no impact on governmental policy and that its use was to prevent the capitalists from claiming legitimacy within the party or society and to control them and their wealth. Authority within
12118-585: The battle dispelled Japan's claims that it could conquer China in three months and also demonstrated to the Western powers that the Chinese would continue the fight. By December, the capital city of Nanjing had fallen to the Japanese resulting in the Nanjing Massacre . Chiang moved the government inland first to Wuhan and later to Chongqing. Wuhan Nationalist government The Wuhan Nationalist government ( Chinese : 武漢國民政府 ), also known as
12264-541: The battle had minded the northern front, marched his 1,000 troops back up into Jiangxi and over its western ridges into Hunan. Zhu finally found refuge for his mutineers' regiment with the Yizhang County warlord - though he and fellow communist Chen Yi thought it best to live incognito while here. In 1928 April Zhu's force had expanded to 10,000 and he marched them into the Jinggang Mountains along
12410-531: The billions that we sent to Chiang. They stole it, and it's invested in real estate down in São Paolo and some right here in New York." Soong Mei-ling and Soong Ai-ling lived luxurious lifestyles and held millions in property, clothes, art, and jewelry. Soong Ai-ling and Soong Mei-ling were also the two richest women in China. Despite living a luxurious life for almost her entire life, Soong Mei-ling left only
12556-435: The borderlands, there to join the survivors of Mao's uprising. Other surviving members were much less fortunate; all became fugitives. Zhou Enlai, now seriously ill, unarmed save for a pistol or two and incommunicado save for the company of Ye Jianying (and some say Ye Ting too) made it to Hong Kong , the largest and safest of China's foreign concessions. Nie Rongzhen too arrived there. Zhang Guotao and Li Lisan holed up in
12702-517: The communists" on 12 April , and formed a rival government in Nanjing ( Chinese : 南京国民政府 ). Incensed and shocked, Wang declared that Chiang had been "expelled from the party and dismissed from all his posts", namely, the KMT central executive membership. The Wuhan government responded by accusing Chiang and his followers of being the puppets of foreign imperialists and criticised his close cooperation with Shanghai 's merchant class, arguing that he helped to oppress workers and peasants. On 18 April,
12848-420: The countryside began to descend into chaos, as peasant rebels took control of large swaths of land. The communists generally claimed that the rural insurgents were under their control, but in reality these insurgents were often independent groups or simply found themselves allied with the leftists. Regardless of the political position of the peasants, the Wuhan government tried to sway them to their side through
12994-466: The countryside. Backed by these emerging mass-movements, members of the Kuomintang relocated from Guangzhou to Wuhan, and formed a new nationalist government in December. In order to consolidate the conquest, it was in the interest of the KMT to relocate from Guangzhou to Wuhan. Chiang initially invited the government to move to Wuhan but later demurred and tried to keep the members of the central committees in Nanchang , Jiangxi, where his headquarters
13140-488: The course of the 1930s and the 1940s when the Nationalist government's revenues were less than $ 30 million per year. The Soong family's eldest son, T.V. Soong , was the Chinese premier and finance minister, and the eldest daughter, Soong Ai-ling , was the wife of Kung Hsiang-hsi , the wealthiest man in China. The second daughter, Soong Ching-ling , was the wife of Sun Yat-sen, China's founding father. The youngest daughter, Soong Mei-ling, married Chiang in 1927, and following
13286-463: The defeat. Reduced from an army commander in charge of tens of thousands of men to a beggar, he was not well received by his family except a few who were already communists. He was to raise another 3000 soldier-strong force in his homeland but it too would be wiped out by the Right-KMT (with just over 30 survivors). Only a year later would He Long again command a formidable force. Other fugitives of
13432-405: The disorder and assuage the Japanese. At a KMT senior officials' meeting in Shanghai on the following day, Wu Zhihui went so far as to kneel down and beg for Wang's assent to Chiang's proposals. The meeting only managed to proceed with Chiang Kai-shek's and others' mediation. In the fourth Plenary Session of the 2nd KMT Central Committee held in Nanjing , a consensus was reached on how to resolve
13578-445: The divide into Fujian . In the aftermath of battle, He Long swore allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party , witnessed by Zhou Enlai , Li Lisan and Zhang Guotao . At the other end of Asia, Pravda hailed the advent of a new, partisan , Workers' and Peasants' Red Army . For Joseph Stalin this was ample proof that the Comintern's line was being correct, and Leon Trotsky thus incorrect to be questioning it. Having rested at
13724-414: The exiled Chinese Revolutionary Party. In 1917, Sun Yat-sen moved his base of operations to Canton, where Chiang joined him in 1918. At this time Sun remained largely sidelined; without arms or money, he was soon expelled from the city and exiled again to Shanghai, only to return to Canton with mercenary help in 1920. After his return, a rift developed between Sun, who sought to militarily unify China under
13870-430: The first decades of his life (as a person grew older, younger generations would use one of the courtesy names instead). Colloquially, the school name is called "big name" ( 大名 ), whereas the "milk name" is known as the "small name" ( 小名 ). The school name that Chiang chose for himself was Chih-ch‘ing ( Chinese : 志清 ; pinyin : Zhīqīng ; Wade–Giles : Chih-ch‘ing , which means "purity of aspirations"). For
14016-528: The foreign great powers with suspicion, wrote in a letter that they "all have it in their minds to promote the interests of their own respective countries at the cost of other nations" and saw it as hypocritical for any of them to condemn one another's foreign policy. He used diplomatic persuasion on the United States, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union to regain lost Chinese territories, as he viewed all foreign powers as imperialists that were attempting to exploit China. During April 1931, Chiang Kai-shek attended
14162-470: The formal authority of their position. Chiang created multiple layers of power in his administration which he sometimes played off against each other to prevent individuals or cliques from gathering power that could oppose his authority. Contrary to the critique that Chiang was highly corrupt, he was not involved in corruption himself. However his wife, Soong Mei-ling, ignored her family's involvement in corruption. The Soong family embezzled $ 20 million in
14308-558: The generals who had assisted him were executed. The Second United Front had a commitment by Chiang that was nominal at best and was all but dissolved in 1941. The Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, and in August, Chiang sent 600,000 of his best-trained and equipped soldiers to defend Shanghai . With over 200,000 Chinese casualties, Chiang lost the political cream of his Whampoa -trained officers. Although Chiang lost militarily,
14454-574: The havens of the Shanghai International Settlement . In Shanghai, Chiang cultivated ties with the city's underworld gangs, which were dominated by the notorious Green Gang and its leader Du Yuesheng. On 18 May 1916 agents of Yuan Shikai assassinated Chen Qimei. Chiang then succeeded Chen as leader of the Chinese Revolutionary Party in Shanghai. Sun Yat-sen's political career reached its lowest point during this time—most of his old Revolutionary Alliance comrades refused to join him in
14600-546: The headwaters of the Gan River, the Liberated troops filed over into Changting Prefecture . The best combat troops formed the vanguard, they were soon 20 miles and two days' march ahead of the rear. Most of the leaders of the revolutionary committee and Nanchang civilian sympathisers were in the main section. The rearguard, 200 troops under Li Lisan , had the wounded and the baggage and veteran peasant activist Peng Pai ; it
14746-537: The help of mercenaries from Yunnan and of the Comintern . Undertaking a reform of the KMT, he established a revolutionary government aimed at unifying China under the KMT. That same year Sun sent Chiang to Moscow, where he spent three months studying the Soviet political and military system. There Chiang met Leon Trotsky and other Soviet leaders, but quickly came to the conclusion that the Russian model of government
14892-404: The infant shortly after his birth and known only to the close family. So the name that Chiang received at birth was Chiang Jui-yüan ( Chinese : 蔣瑞元 ; pinyin : Jiǎng Ruìyuán ). In 1903, the 16-year-old Chiang went to Ningbo as a student, and chose a " school name " ( 學名 ). This was the formal name of a person, used by older people to address him, and the one he would use the most in
15038-576: The influence of compatriots to support the revolutionary movement to overthrow the Manchu -dominated Qing dynasty and to set up a Han -dominated Chinese republic. He befriended Chen Qimei , and in 1908 Chen brought Chiang into the Tungmenghui , an important revolutionary brotherhood of the era. Finishing his military schooling at Tokyo Shinbu Gakko, Chiang served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911. After learning of
15184-546: The instructions not be followed for the time being, but this was opposed by radical elements in the party. Apart from this, the two leaders decreed that the workers and farmers' movements in Hunan and Hubei be put on hold so as to rescue the united front with the KMT left wing. However, the Comintern deemed that by pausing workers and farmers' movements to maintain KMT membership status Chen and Borodin were guilty of "opportunism" and recalled Borodin to Russia immediately. On 8 July,
15330-618: The issues that surrounded him and in his speech to the Kuomintang in 1945 said: As you all know I was an orphan boy in a poor family. Deprived of any protection after the death of her husband, my mother was exposed to the most ruthless exploitation by neighbouring ruffians and the local gentry. The efforts she made in fighting against the intrigues of these family intruders certainly endowed her child, brought up in such an environment, with an indomitable spirit to fight for justice. I felt throughout my childhood that my mother and I were fighting
15476-437: The leftist leader Wang Jingwei who previously had been exiled abroad. The Wuhan government, which was dominated by leftist KMT politicians from the beginning, aided by the Chinese Communist Party , as well as widespread grassroots support, transformed Wuhan into "a seedbed for revolution", while portraying themselves as the sole legitimate leadership of the KMT. Controlling much of Hunan , Hubei , Guangdong and Jiangxi ,
15622-632: The legitimacy of the Nanjing government. In the Central Plains War , they were defeated. Chiang made great efforts to gain recognition as the official successor of Sun Yat-sen. In a pairing of great political significance, Chiang was Sun's brother-in-law. He had married Soong Mei-ling , the younger sister of Soong Ching-ling , Sun's widow, on 1 December 1927. Originally rebuffed in the early 1920s, Chiang managed to ingratiate himself to some degree with Soong Mei-ling's mother by first divorcing his wife and concubines and promising to sincerely study
15768-515: The local governments in the towns and villages since the early 1930s. However, the policy was subsequently neglected and canceled by Chiang's government because of rampant wars and the lack of resources after the Japanese War and the civil war. Despite being a conservative, Chiang supported modernization policies such as scientific advancement, universal education, and women's rights. The Kuomintang supported women's suffrage and education and
15914-405: The marriage, both families became intimately connected, which created the "Soong dynasty" and the "Four Families". However, Soong was also credited for her campaign for women's rights in China, including her attempts to improve the education, culture, and social benefits of Chinese women. Critics have said that the "Four Families" monopolized the regime and looted it. The US sent considerable aid to
16060-478: The meantime, other Left-KMT troops had convened at Wenjiashi , on Jiangxi's western border, ostensibly for a similar uprising ( Autumn Harvest Uprising ), this to seize Changsha for the Wuhan government . The troops instead found themselves commandeered by Mao Zedong and marched south up into the Jinggang mountains . And so it was that by the end of September, with their Nanchang troops poised above Shantou ,
16206-538: The mid-1930s. In a 1935 speech, Chiang stated that "fascism is what China now most needs" and described fascism as the stimulant for a declining society. Mao once derogatorily compared Chiang to Adolf Hitler, referring to him as the "Führer of China". Sino-German relations rapidly deteriorated as Germany grew closer to Japan and almost completely broke down when Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China in 1937, which Germany failed to mediate. However, China did not declare war on Germany, Italy, or even Japan until after
16352-518: The military after 15 May, though his authority was somewhat limited by the army's own regional composition and divided loyalties. On 5 June 1926, he was named commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army [NRA] and, on 27 July, he finally launched Sun's long-delayed Northern Expedition , aimed at conquering the northern warlords and bringing China together under the KMT. The NRA branched into three divisions: to
16498-411: The name Chung-cheng, he was choosing a name very similar to the name of Sun Yat-sen, who is known among Chinese as Chung-shan ( 中山 —meaning "central mountain"), thus establishing a link between the two. The meaning of uprightness, rectitude, or orthodoxy, implied by his name, also positioned him as the legitimate heir of Sun Yat-sen and his ideas. It was readily accepted by members of the Kuomintang , and
16644-468: The national academy of sciences, Academia Sinica , was founded. In an effort to unify Chinese society, the New Life Movement was launched to encourage Confucian moral values and personal discipline. Guoyu ("national language") was promoted as the official language, and the establishment of communications facilities (including radio) was used to encourage a sense of Chinese nationalism in
16790-422: The national government as having moved to Wuhan. In 1927, when he was setting up the Nationalist government in Nanjing, he was preoccupied with "the elevation of our leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen to the rank of 'Father of our Chinese Republic'. Dr. Sun worked for 40 years to lead our people in the Nationalist cause, and we cannot allow any other personality to usurp this honored position". He asked Chen Guofu to purchase
16936-574: The negative at any price. They must be destroyed as soon as possible. It would be embarrassing to have our Father of the Chinese Republic shown in a subordinate position". On 12 April 1927, Chiang carried out a purge of thousands of suspected Communists and dissidents in Shanghai, and began large-scale massacres across the country collectively known as the "White Terror" . During April, more than 12,000 people were killed in Shanghai. The killings drove most Communists from urban cities and into
17082-606: The new capital of Nanjing to be enshrined in a mausoleum, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum . In the West and in the Soviet Union, Chiang Kai-shek was known as the "Red General". Movie theaters in the Soviet Union showed newsreels and clips of Chiang. At Moscow, Sun Yat-sen University portraits of Chiang were hung on the walls; and, in the Soviet May Day parades that year, Chiang's portrait was to be carried along with
17228-576: The next county town to the south. On the following morning the Battle of Huichang pitted brother officers, graduates of the Huangpu ( Whampoa) Military Academy , against one another in close combat. Ye Ting's 11th Army arrived late and He Long's 20th bore the brunt. The Nanchang Mutineers took nearly a thousand casualties, half of them dead. The Right-Kuomintang evacuated the town under cover of night. The Left would not pursue them; their route lay east, over
17374-519: The next fifteen years or so, Chiang was known as Chiang Chih-ch‘ing Chinese : 蔣志清 ; pinyin : Jiang Zhīqīng ; Wade–Giles : Chiang Chih -ch‘ing . This is the name by which Sun Yat-sen knew him when Chiang joined the republicans in Kwangtung in the 1910s. In 1912, when Chiang was in Japan, he started to use the name Chiang Kai-shek ( Chinese : 蔣介石 ; pinyin : Jiǎng Jièshí ; Wade–Giles : Chiang Chieh -shih ) as
17520-419: The nominal titles that Wang had offered, Chiang agreed to provide Feng with 2.5 million yuan monthly from July 1927 to cover military expenditures, and did not demand that he sever ties with the Wuhan government. Feng was immensely satisfied, and said that he wished he could have met Chiang earlier. After the meeting, Feng wired a message to Wuhan in the name of both himself and Chiang, and demanded that
17666-521: The phrase "bureaucratic capitalism" is too simplistic to adequately characterize this phenomenon. Instead, he says, the regime weakened all social forces so that the government could pursue policies without being responsible nor responsive to any outside political groups. By defeating any potential challenge to its power, government officials could amass sizable fortunes. With that motive, Chiang cracked down pro-communist worker and peasant organizations, as well as rich Shanghai capitalists. Chiang also continued
17812-459: The popular support for the communists in Guangdong was merely a fraction of what they enjoyed among the peasantry in Hunan , the province where he had thrived by brigandage since 1913. Resupply and local enlistment were assured. Why should the new base not be established somewhere in its vast border regions? He Long's suggestion was vetoed—Guangzhou, springboard of the Northern Expedition , was
17958-477: The portraits of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and other Communist leaders. The United States consulate and other Westerners in Shanghai were concerned about the approach of "Red General" Chiang as his army was seizing control of large areas of the country in the Northern Expedition. Having gained control of China, Chiang's party remained surrounded by defeated warlords who remained relatively autonomous within their own regions. On 10 October 1928, Chiang
18104-655: The precepts of Christianity. He read the copy of the Bible that May-ling had given him twice before making up his mind to become a Christian, and three years after his marriage he was baptized in the Soong's Methodist church. Although some observers felt that he adopted Christianity as a political move, studies of his recently opened diaries suggest that his faith was strong and sincere and that he felt that Christianity reinforced Confucian moral teachings. Upon reaching Beijing, Chiang paid homage to Sun Yat-sen and had his body moved to
18250-510: The purge. The NRA formed by the KMT swept through southern and central China until it was checked in Shandong , where confrontations with the Japanese garrison escalated into armed conflict. The conflicts were collectively known as the Jinan incident of 1928. Now with an established national government in Nanjing, and supported by conservative allies including Hu Hanmin, Chiang's expulsion of
18396-590: The quarrel by hiding in a hospital, but Chiang discovered him there. Chen dispatched assassins. Chiang may not have taken part in the assassination, but would later assume responsibility to help Chen avoid trouble. Chen valued Chiang despite Chiang's already legendary temper, regarding such bellicosity as useful in a military leader. Chiang's friendship with Chen Qimei signaled an association with Shanghai's criminal syndicate (the Green Gang headed by Du Yuesheng and Huang Jinrong ). During Chiang's time in Shanghai,
18542-723: The rout at Fengshun included Liu Bocheng, who hooked up with communist sympathisers and was eventually sent to Moscow for military training. Lin Biao , incommunicado for a time, returned to the surviving uprising force in flight from hostile locals. Guo Moruo sailed to Japan. [REDACTED] Communist Party / [REDACTED] Soviet Republic ( [REDACTED] Red Army ) → Liberated Area ( [REDACTED] 8th Route Army , New Fourth Army , etc. → [REDACTED] People's Liberation Army ) → [REDACTED] People's Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975)
18688-682: The rural countryside, where the KMT was less powerful. In the year after April 1927, over 300,000 people died across China in the anti-communist suppression campaigns, executed by the KMT. One of the most famous quotes from Chiang (during that time) was, that he would rather mistakenly kill 1,000 innocent people, than allow one Communist to escape. Some estimates claim the White Terror in China took millions of lives, most of them in rural areas. No concrete number can be verified. Chiang allowed Soviet agent and advisor Mikhail Borodin and Soviet general Vasily Blücher (Galens) to "escape" to safety after
18834-505: The same day of the formation of the Nanjing government, during a public rally in Wuhan, Wang delivered a speech in which he severely condemned Chiang Kai-shek. The Nanjing and Wuhan governments were thus officially split. To prevent the Wuhan government from sending forces against the Nanjing government, Guangxi warlord Li Zongren and his subordinate Ying Yuhan went to Jiangxi and Wuhan respectively, to lobby Wang and other armed forces in Wuhan. They managed to convince both sides to continue
18980-419: The small Communist Party to merge with the Kuomintang to bring about a bourgeois revolution before attempting to bring about a Soviet-style working class revolution. Stalin funded the KMT during the Northern Expedition to reunify China. Stalin said that NRA commander-in-chief Chiang Kai-shek was the only one capable of defeating the imperialists, and that his forces were to be squeezed for all usefulness like
19126-672: The small fishing port of Tiazugang but soon also arrived in Hong Kong. They were made to write reports on the Nanchang Uprising —in Li's case this was preparatory to his taking the blame for the entire episode. Disguised as businessmen, they took a passenger liner to Shanghai, there to be held in a safe house on Chungking (Chongqing) Road. Eventually they, along with Zhou, were expelled from the Politburo. He Long went home alone after
19272-574: The spirit of public sanitation that Japan had. Chiang decided to pursue a military career. He began his military training at the Baoding Military Academy in 1906, the same year Japan left its bimetallic currency standard, devaluing the Japanese yen . He left for Tokyo Shinbu Gakko , a preparatory school for the Imperial Japanese Army Academy intended for Chinese students, in 1907. There, he came under
19418-580: The target set by the Comintern. Accordingly, on August 5 the 25,000 Left-Kuomintang troops began the 600 km march to the South China Sea coast. The Communists would pay a hefty price for their obeisance two months later in the rout known as the Battle of Shantou . By the 8th, only three days out, a third of the Uprising troops had deserted. On the 19th, the column entered Ruijin . Reconnaissance had found Right-Kuomintang forces at Huichang ,
19564-529: The west was the returned Wang Jingwei, who led a column to take Wuhan ; Bai Chongxi 's column went east to take Shanghai; Chiang himself led in the middle route, planning to take Nanjing before pressing ahead to capture Beijing . However, in January 1927, Wang Jingwei and his KMT leftist allies took the city of Wuhan amid much popular mobilization and fanfare. Allied with a number of Chinese Communists and advised by Soviet agent Mikhail Borodin , Wang declared
19710-900: The widespread problems that corruption was creating and so he undertook several anti-corruption campaigns before and after World War II with varying success. Before the war, both campaigns, the Nanjing Decade Cleanup of 1927–1930 and the Wartime Reform Movement of 1944–1947, failed. After the World War II and the Civil War, both campaigns, the Kuomintang Reconstruction of 1950–1952 and the Governmental Rejuvenation of 1969–1973, succeeded. Chiang, who viewed all of
19856-495: Was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and military commander who was the leader of the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party and commander-in-chief and Generalissimo of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) from 1926, and leader of the Republic of China (ROC) in mainland China from 1928. After Chiang was defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, he continued to lead
20002-582: Was a native Wu speaker ) became known by Westerners under the Cantonese romanisation of his courtesy name, while the family name as known in English seems to be the Mandarin pronunciation of his Chinese family name, transliterated in Wade–Giles. "Kai-shek" soon became Chiang's courtesy name ( 字 ). Some think the name was chosen from the classic Chinese book the I Ching ; "介于石" ; '[he who is] firm as
20148-419: Was costly in terms of men and material. The Central Plains War alone nearly bankrupted the Nationalist government and caused almost 250,000 casualties on both sides. In 1931, Hu Hanmin, an old supporter of Chiang, publicly voiced a popular concern that Chiang's position as both premier and president flew in the face of the democratic ideals of the Nationalist government. Chiang had Hu put under house arrest, but Hu
20294-579: Was located. By the time the government moved to Wuhan with its left-leaning leadership including Sun Fo , Xu Qian , T. V. Soong , the peasant and labor movement led by communists and leftists of Kuomintang was in full swing in Hunan and Hubei . It was during this period that Mao Zedong prepared his Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan that severely criticized Party leadership. Chiang Kai-shek, who had been leader of
20440-409: Was married. In deference to tradition, family members did not use the register name in conversation with people outside of the family. The concept of a "real" or original name is/was not as clear-cut in China as it is in the Western world. In honor of tradition, Chinese families waited a number of years before officially naming their children. In the meantime, they used a " milk name " ( 乳名 ), given to
20586-406: Was named "Chung Cheng Memorial Hall" in Chinese. In Singapore, Chung Cheng High School was named after him. His name is also written in the free area of the Republic of China as "The Late President Honorable Chiang" ( 先總統 蔣公 ), where the one-character-wide space in front of his name known as Nuo tai shows respect. He is often called Honorable Chiang . The "Chiang Kai-shek" in this article
20732-473: Was named director of the State Council, the equivalent to President of the country, in addition to his other titles. As with his predecessor Sun Yat-sen, the Western media dubbed him "generalissimo". According to Sun Yat-sen's plans, the KMT was to rebuild China in three steps: military rule , political tutelage , and constitutional rule . The ultimate goal of the KMT revolution was democracy, which
20878-469: Was not considered to be feasible in China's fragmented state. Since the KMT had completed the first step of revolution through seizure of power in 1928, Chiang's rule thus began a period of what his party considered to be "political tutelage" in Sun Yat-sen's name. During this so-called Republican Era, many features of a modern, functional Chinese state emerged and developed. From 1928 to 1937, known as
21024-633: Was not suitable for China. Chiang later sent his eldest son, Chiang Ching-Kuo , to study in Russia. After his father's split from the First United Front in 1927, Ching-Kuo was retained there, as a hostage until 1937. Chiang wrote in his diary, "It is not worth it to sacrifice the interest of the country for the sake of my son." When Chiang returned in 1924 Sun appointed him Commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy . Chiang resigned after one month in disagreement with Sun's close cooperation with
21170-627: Was released after national condemnation. Hu then left Nanjing and supported a rival government in Canton. The split resulted in a military conflict between Hu's Guangdong government and Chiang's Nationalist government. Throughout his rule, complete eradication of the Communists remained Chiang's dream. After he had assembled his forces in Jiangxi , Chiang led his armies against the newly established Chinese Soviet Republic . With help from foreign military advisers such as Max Bauer and Alexander von Falkenhausen , Chiang's Fifth Campaign finally surrounded
21316-514: Was succeeded by his son Chiang Ching-kuo , who became president in 1978. Like Mao, Chiang is a controversial figure. Supporters credit him with unifying the nation and ending the Century of Humiliation , leading the resistance against Japan, and economic development in mainland China and Taiwan. Critics portray him as a brutal right-wing dictator and head of a corrupt authoritarian regime which massacred civilians and suppressed political dissent. He
#945054