Andrew Schlosser

9-28-10 UN1001

HW#2 Option-B

Chinese Revolution

China has undergone many changes throughout its lifespan both political and

cultural. During the period of 1911-1949 China undertook some serious changes in

its political standings which separated the country and the people.

The initial revolution started to brew as the Qing Dynasty was coming to an

inevitable end. Many factors led to this stage of China's government collapse.

Corruption is always a problem in government and at this stage it plagued China

and its people. Heavy taxes were imposed on the citizens in order to pay for

administrative monetary gifts. Government wasn't the only thing causing problems

during this period. The Qing dynasty had experienced a time of peace before the

collapse of the system, which led to over population and a shortage of crops and

other food resources. All of these factors contributed to the separation of the

provinces in 1911.(Woo, Philip)

After the separation in 1911 many warlords ruled parts of China constantly

battling for control in major cities. It wasn't until 1917 that Sun Yat-sen would gain

power in the southern parts of China and attempt to join these parts back into one

unit. He turned to the Soviets on 1920 to try and achieve unity between the South

and the North. The Soviets attempted to merge the CCP and Sun Yat-sen's party

and form a national unification in the country. After Sun's death in 1925 his

successor, Chaing Kai-shek, started an expedition to forcefully achieve unification of

China by fighting the remaining Northern warlords. Chaing Kai-shek's faction was

slowly dividing itself back into two parties. In 1927 Kai-shek's party had finally split
and each formed their own governments which consisted of the Kuomintang

(Chaing's party) in Nanjing and the CCP, led by Mao Zedong, in Wuhan. For the CCP

this was a long trek through a mountainous terrain. Only 30,000 people out of the

initial 100,000 survived. (Kampen, Thomas)

Japan's interest in China grew as the need for raw materials in its thriving

market. In 1931 Japan issued a seizure of Manchuria. Initially China had let Japan

attack without much resistance since it was focusing on internal unity. Resistance

grew after the 1937 incident in Nanjing which was a Japanese massacre of hundreds

of civilians. Japan started to capture many more territories in China. The CCP party

also grew in size and power. Eventually the Chinese Nationalist party would be

forced to relocate to the Island of Taiwan.(China: A century in Revolution)

The Communist takeover in China is due to a series of events leading up to

the Final Victory and the removal of the Chinese Nationalist Party from the country.

Since the Japanese attacks in China both parties became somewhat unstable. The

Nationalists took most of the damage Japan had incurred due to the location of

cities. This lead to a decline in power for the Nationalists. The Communist Party on

the other hand was somewhat protected geographically from Japanese attacks. The

Chinese Communist Party was quickly gaining in numbers and international support,

mostly Soviet aid, which also provided more power against the Nationalists. The

Nationalists were losing support and resources because of the constant Japanese

attacks which weakened them greatly. The Nationalist areas that were lost were

regained quickly by the advancing CCP . What was left of the Nationalist Party

declined and governmental problems like inflation and corruption became common.

After many years of ill fate the Chinese Nationalist Party retreated to the island of
Taiwan to reconsolidate what was left of the dismantled government. (China: A

century in Revolution)

Works Cited

China: A century in Revolution, documentary DVD, Directed by Sue Williams,

Zeitgeist Films, July 10, 2007.

Kampen, Thomas. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and the Evolution of the Chinese
Communist Leadership. NIAS Press, 1999.

Woo, Philip. "The Chinese Revolution of 1911." thecorner.org 1980. Web. 25 Sep.
2010.

http://www.thecorner.org/hist/china/chin-revo.htm