China After World War I:

Nationalism and Revolution

The Chinese Revolution

and Civil War
 Qing (Manchu) Dynasty at end
of 18th c. Western Scramble
for Chinese Land

1. Unequal treaties
2. Warlords held power in parts of
China
3. Resentment against foreigners
and Qing (Manchu) Dynasty
 By 1899, problems existed that would
lead to Revolution and collapse of the
Manchu dynasty.

Below: Emperor Guangxu Political Economic

(1875-1908)
Not able to -Poverty of
stand up to rural peasants
foreign -high taxes of
aggression provincial
(imperialism) warlords
-imperialism As China grows
weaker, imperialists
Social
take more advantage,
-anti-Western sentiment
-resistance to modernizing which in turn makes
rural, traditional China Qing (Manchu)
Dynasty even weaker!
 Sun Yat-Sen (Sun Yixian in textbook) “The Father of Modern China” led
The Chinese Revolution (1911)

Vision:

Make China follow pattern of Western Democracies

Platform: Three Principles

Cantonese peasant, educated in
Hawaii to be a doctor, returned to
“NATIONALISM, DEMOCRACY, LIVELIHOOD”
China but focused attentions on
strengthening China

Problems / Obstacles:
-no military support
-no political strength
-main support was from the small, but emerging urban middle class who wanted immediate Western
liberal democratic reforms
-country mostly rural peasants who did not support Sun’s party
 A Selection from the Revolutionary Alliance Program (1905, Tokyo)
By Sun Yat Sen

…we proclaim to the world outline of the present revolution and the fundamental plan for the
future administration of the nation.
1. Drive out the Tartars: The Manchus… conquered China and enslaved our Chinese people. The
extreme cruelties and tyrannies of the Manchu government have now reached their limit. With
the righteous army poised against them, we will overthrow that government, and restore our
sovereign rights…
2. Restore China: China is the China of the Chinese. The Chinese government should be in the
hands of the Chinese. After driving out the Tartars we must restore our national state.
3. Establish the Republic: Now our revolution is based on equality, in order to establish a
republican government. All our people are equal and all enjoy political rights. The president will
be publically chosen by the people of the country. The Parliament will be made up of members
publically chosen by the people of the country. A constitution of the Chinese Republic will be
enacted, and every person must abide by it.
4. Equalize land ownership: The good fortune of civilization is to be shared equally by all the
people of the nation. We should improve our social and economic organization, and assess the
value of all the land in the country. Its present price shall be received by the owner, but all
increases in value resulting from reform and social improvements after the revolution shall
belong to the state, to be shared by all the people, in order to create a socialist state, where
each family within the empire can be well supported, each person, satisfied, and no one fail to
secure employment.
What type of socio-political system does Sun Yat-Sen want for China?
How do you you think the US would respond to the ideas in point 4?
 Who becomes the leader after the collapse of dynasty?
Gen. Yuan Shikai Dies in 1916 leaving a
power vacuum
-military warlords seized local power and reigned destruction,
Military dictator corruption, misery, down on peasants
-fought for control of Beijing
-terror & murder
-destroyed
democratic
institutions
Unpopular
Traditionalist, reformers,
peasants hated him

Above: The warlords that wreaked havoc on Chinese peasants. Because of their
policies and actions, peasants were terrorized and exploited—rape, pillage,
plunder--forced to pay taxes up to 30 years in advance, for their “protection and
safety. Left: Gen. Yuan Shikai, (1911- 1916)
 What is China’s international standing in 1916?
Shantung Peninsula Treaty of Versailles
Manchuria
“Boycott “Down with
Japan!” European
imperialists!”

Shantung Peninsula

"When the news… reached us we were greatly shocked. We… awoke to the fact that foreign nations were
still selfish and militaristic… they were all great liars.”
China declared war on Germany in 1917 in order to gain a place at the post-war bargaining table. Wanted
to regain control over the vital Shantung Peninsula and to reassert its strength before Japan. At Versailles,
struggled bitterly to stake of their respective claims on the peninsula. Japan gave in on the racial-equality
clause in the treaty in return for control over Germany’s possessions. China got nothing. China refused to
sign it. A huge demonstration of professors and students was held in Tiananmen Square on May 4, 1919,
protesting the peace treaty.
 The Gradual slide into Civil War

Guomindang (GMD) Communist Party (CCP)

(Nationalists) (Comintern lead)
[Kuomintang = old spelling in textbook]

red for Han

yellow for Manchus
blue for Mongols
white for Huis and Uyghurs

black for Tibetans

“Five Races Under One
Union” Flag of CCP
(from 1912-1928)
Right: Comintern sent Mikhail
Borodin to organize the CCP
Leader: Sun Yat-Sen and assist the GMD

Sought help to unite and Formed in Shanghai in 1921, by young

strengthen country, but anti- radicals and several faculty/staff
imperialist position alienated members from Beijing U.
the West
Advised by Comintern, who told them to
Needed help link up with the Nationalists
 Nationalists and Communists
Cooperation with mutual suspicion
Nationalists Communists

Mobilized and
Agreed to an trained forces
alliance in 1923
in order to fight Helped plan
the warlords and the Northern
drive out the Expedition
imperialists Above: The National Revolutionary Party marches (1926)
north into British Territory
Northern Expedition:
-Marched into north from Canton and wrested power from warlords
-Within a year, controlled all of southern part of China and parts of Wuhan/Shanghai
-victories surprised everyone
The Changing of the Guard
Sun Yat-Sen dies in 1925

Above left: Sun Yat-Sen’s funeral train. Below left: Sun Yat-
Sen’s funeral in Nanjing. Above Right: Jiang Jieshi, Sun Yat-
Sen’s brother-in-law, became new leaders of the GMD. His
leadership as General during the Northern Expedition made
him the clear and expected successor.
 Nationalists and Communists
Alliance ends, civil war begins
Nationalists Communists

“The Japanese are a

disease of the skin, but the
Communists are a disease
of the heart.”

Leader: Jiang Jieshi

(Chiang Kai-Shek)
1927: Strikes against
1927: CCP falls back
CCP in Shanghai
into central China,
tries to stand ground
1928: founds new
republic in Nanjing
 Mao Zedong advocates for Chinese Communism
Mao Zedong, Report to the CCP Central Committee (1926)
During my recent visit to Hunan I made a firsthand investigation of conditions in five
countries. 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 [restraints] 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 comrade will be put to
the test, to be accepted or rejected as they decide…
The main targets of attack by the peasants are the local tyrants, the evil gentry and
the lawless landlords, but in passing they also hit out against patriarchal ideas and
institutions, against the corrupt officials, in the cities and against bad practices and
customs in the rural areas…
Every revolutionary comrade should know that the national revolution requires a
great change in the countryside. The Revolution of 1911 did not bring about this
change, hence its failure. This change is now taking place, and it is an important factor
for the completion of the revolution. Every revolutionary comrade must support it.
Who does Mao consider to be the support-base of the revolution? Why?
How does this contradict traditional Marxist theory?
 Jiang Jieshi’s Quest
Root out the Communist “disease of the heart”
 Jiang Jieshi’s Plan for a New China
Based on Sun Yat-Sen’s Three Principles
Jiang Jieshi’s program for “political tutelage (1928)
China… needs a republican government just as much
as a boy needs school. As a schoolboy must have
good teachers and helpful friends, so the Chinese
people, being for the first time under republican rule,
must have a farsighted revolutionary government for
their training. This calls for the period of political
tutelage, which is a necessary transitional stage from
monarchy to republicanism. Without this, disorder
will be unavoidable.
What are the problems of China in 1928?
What direction does Jiang Jieshi want to take the country in?
What actions do you think Jiang Jieshi needs to take to ensure this new China is
established?
 Increase in
modernization
reforms
Much gov’t support
went to urban areas
and the middle class
-roads and railroads
-established banking
and education system
Above: Chinese students learning to type Below: Above: Western medicine
Shanghai in the 1930s became more popular.
In 1937, Japan
Invaded China.
The Chinese
Communist and
Nationalist
parties tempo-
rarily ceased
hostilities to
fight the
Japanese.

China’s
political
future
would
have to
wait until
after
WW II.
Reluctant and distrustful allies, Jiang and Mao joined forces
to fight the Japanese. After WW II, their civil war resumed…
 Nationalists LOST (1949)
WHY???
• The KMT was corrupt, inefficient
• The KMT wasted $$ and supplies from allies (US &
Western Europe)
• The KMT ignored peasants and workers
• The CCP received support from USSR
• Communists supported the peasants
• The CCP’s army was better trained and more
disciplined
 Chinese Revolution 1949
• UNLIKE Russia: Nation instead of Class
• Not so much internal class warfare as anti-
imperialist war of national liberation
• Lot of emphasis on oppressed people
• Revolution began in countryside
• Model for revolution in Asia and Africa
• Head of the Communist Party: MAO ZEDONG
Celebration for the New Communists
 TAIWAN
• Communists drove Chiang
Kai-Shek out of mainland
China to his last stronghold:

TAIWAN
 TAIWAN AND THE U.S.
• Chiang Kai-Shek • U.S. had bases in
sets up his Taiwan and
national viewed the island
government in as a necessity in
Taiwan under the Cold War.
constant threat
from Communists
 Taiwan vs. Mainland
• The U.S. backed Taiwan
as the real Chinese
Government: “The
Republic of China”
• “The People’s Republic
of China” refers to the
Communist mainland
How did Mao change China?
 Progress under Mao
• Eliminated starvation, prostitution, female
infanticide, female foot binding, profiteering
• Kicked out corrupt foreigners
• Agriculture increased 4%/year
• Industrial production increased 11%
• “small is beautiful”
• Built dams, reclaimed land, etc.
COMMUNES
 Politics Under Chinese Communism
• One-party dictatorship. Relies on army and
secret police to assert authority
• After revolution, Communists executed
several million Chinese who were considered
counter-revolutionaries.
• Imprisoned people to be “reeducated” or
“brain-washed”
 Ideological Reform
• Drove out western schools, Christian
missionaries
• Propaganda to promote Communism
• Wean people away from CONFUCIANISM
• Communists instead stress that the primary
loyalty is to the state, NOT to the five
relationships.
 China and the Soviets
• Signed alliance treaty after the 1949 Revolution BUT…
• Border Disputes
• Soviets wanted to annex territory from sphere of influence
• World Leadership
• USSR claimed leadership of Communist countries yet China
claimed Soviets strayed from the path of true Communism. China
claimed it was supporting revolutionaries in the Third World
• Ideology
• Mao denied that there should be “peaceful coexistence” with the
west and wanted to support revolutionaries even if nuclear war
• Cambodia, Vietnam, Afghanistan (1970s and 1980s)
Repressed of the World Unite
Serve the People
Defend Socialism By Any Means
 Post Mao: Deng
• After Mao’s death in 1976:
Deng Xiaoping
• emphasis on Economic
Development
• some introduction of Free
Market economy, western
technology
• No corresponding Political
Freedoms
 U.S.-Chinese Relations
• Up to 1972: Serious Disputes in Korea, Vietnam, and
over Taiwan
• China’s split with the USSR softens relations with US
• 1972: President Nixon visits China and begins to
normalize relations and recognize China
• 1979: Full Diplomatic Relations
• Continued Disagreements over Human Rights
• Disagreements over Free Trade, Copyright
Nixon in China (1972)