Republican China

EARLY DAYS OF THE REPUBLIC

The Provisional Republican Government was set up on 10 October 1911 by Sun Yatsen (1866-1925). Educated in Hawaii and Hong Kong, a Christian and trained medical practitioner, Sun developed a political programme based on the 'Three Principles of the People': nationalism, popular sovereignty and livelihood. In 1895 his 'Revive China Society' initiated one of the country's first republican uprisings, after which Sun fled to Japan and on to Europe.

Determined to arrest and execute him, Qing authorities hunted Sun down in London, where they kidnapped him and held him in the Chinese embassy. Sun managed to sneak out a message to one of his teachers who, in turn, alerted the British Govern- ment. The Chinese embassy was forced to release their prisoner.

Sun went on to build backing tor the revolution he dreamt for China. Supporters from Chinese communities abroad, as well as among disaf- fected members of the Qing army, grew in number. When his revo- lutionist followers began their campaign for victory in Wuhan, Sun watched from abroad. It wasn't until the meeting in Nanjing and the establishment of the Provisional Republic of China that Sun returned to his homeland to be named president.

Lacking the power to force a Manchu abdication, Sun had no choice but to call on the assistance of Yuan Shikai, the head of the imperial army, and the same man that the Manchu had called on to put down the republican uprisings. The republicans promised Yuan Shikai the presidency if he could negotiate the abdication of the emperor, which he achieved. The favour cost the republicans dearly. Yuan Shikai placed himself at the head of the republican movement and forced Sun Yatsen to stand down.

Yuan lost no time in dissolving the Provisional Republican Govern- ment and amending the constitution to make himself president for life, When this met with regional opposition, he took the natural next step in 1915 of pronouncing himself China's latest emperor. Yunnan seceded, taking Guangxi, Guizhou and much of the rest of the south with it.

Forces were sent to bring the breakaway provinces back into the imperial ambit,and in the midst of it all, Yuan died.

Between 1916 and 1927 the government in Beijing lost power over the far- tlung provinces and China was effectively fragmented into semi-autonomous regions governed by warlords. Nevertheless, Sun's labour had not been in vain. On 4 May 1919 large demonstrations took place outside the Gate of Heavenly Peace (p106) in Beijing following the decision of the Allies to pass defeated Germany's rights in Shandong over to Japan. This surge of nation- alist sentiment in China began a movement that was rooted in Sun's earlier revolution and paved the way for the changes that were to come.

KUOMINTANG & COMMUNISTS

By 1920 the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party), had emerged as the dominant political force in eastern China. Its main opposition was the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), made up of Chinese Marxist groups who had joined together in 1921. While the two groups were on far from

friendly terms, it was decided that it was in their best interests to unite against the Japanese who looked poised to expand into northeastern China.

The union was short-lived. After Sun Yatsen's death in 1925 a power struggle emerged in the Kuomintang between those sympathetic to the communists and those who favoured a capitalist state supported by a military dictatorship. The latter group was headed by Chiang Kaishek(1887-1975).

In 1926 Chiang Kaishek attempted to grind the growing influence of communists to a halt by expanding his own power base. He attempted this first through a Northern Expedition that set out to wring power from the remaining warlords. The following year he took more direct action, ordering the massacre of over 5000 Shanghai communists and trade union representatives.

By the middle of 1928 the Northern Expedition had reached Beijing, and a national government was established with Chiang holding both military and political leadership. Nevertheless, only about half of the country was under the direct control of the Kuomintang; the rest was still ruled by local warlords.

At this time China was heavily laden with social problems: child slave labour in factories; domestic slavery and prostitution; the destitute starving in the streets; and strikes ruthlessly suppressed by foreign and Chinese factory owners. The communists proposed solutions to these problems, namely the removal of the Kuomintang. Not surprisingly, Chiang became obsessed with stamping out the influence of the communists.

Grassroots Rebellion

After the massacre of 1927, the communists became divided in their views of where to base their rebellion - on large urban centres or in the countryside. After costly defeats in Nanchang and Changsha, the tide of opinion started to shift towards Mao Zedong (1893-1976, p483), who advocated rural-based revolt.

Communist-led uprisings in other parts of the country met with some success; however, the communist armies remained small and hampered by limited resources. It wasn't until 1930 that the ragged communist forces had turned into an army of perhaps 40,000, which presented such a serious challenge to the Kuomintang that Chiang waged extermination campaigns against them. He was defeated each time, and the communist army continued to expand its territory.

The Long March(es)

Chiang's fifth extermination campaign began in October 1933. Many of the communist troupes had begun disregarding Mao's authority and instead took the advice of those who advocated meeting Chiang's troops in pitched battles. This strategy proved disastrous. By October 1934 the communists had suffered heavy losses and were hemmed into a small area in Jiangxi. On the brink of defeat, the communists decided to retreat from Jiangxi and march north to Shaanxi to join up with other com- munist armies in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.

Rather than one long march, there were several, as various communist armies in the south made their way to Shaanxi. The most famous (and commonly referred to as the Long March) was from Jiangxi prov- ince. Beginning in October 1934, it took a year to complete and covered 8000km over some of the world's most inhospitable terrain. On the way the communists confiscated the property of officials, landlords and tax- collectors, and redistributed land to the peasants whom they armed by the thousands with weapons captured from the Kuomintang. Soldiers were left behind to organise guerrilla groups to harass the enemy. Of the 90,000 people who started out in Jiangxi, only 20,000 made it to Shaanxi. Fatigue, sickness, exposure, enemy attacks and desertion all took their toll.

The march brought together many people who held top positions after1949, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Lin Biao, Deng Xiao- ping and Liu Shaoqi. It also established Mao as the paramount leader of the Chinese communist movement. En route, the posse took a breather in Zunyi (p628), Guizhou; if you're in the neighbourhood, you can take in some of the sights. Serious Long March history buffs might also check out Luding (p738) in Sichuan.

Japanese Invasion

All the internal upheaval going on in China gave the Japanese the mo- ment they'd been waiting for. In September 1931 they invaded and oc- cupied Manchuria, setting up a puppet state with Puyi, the last Manchu emperor. (Check out his digs and one of the settings for Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor in Changchun, p365.) Chiang, still obsessed with the threat of the communists, did nothing to resist Japan's invasion and instead focused on his fifth extermination drive. The Kuomintang was bitterly criticised for not defending against the Japanese.

In particular, Manchurian General Zhang Xueliang (1898-2001) was not impressed. In 1936 he kidnapped President Chiang Kaishek and forced him to agree to a Second United Front with the CCP to resist Japan. Zhang, hero of the hour, later surrendered to the Kuomintang and spent the next half-century under house arrest in China and then in Tai- wan. He was eventually released after Chiang Kaishek's death in 1975.

The rest of China was invaded by Japan in the middle of 1937. The Nanjing massacre of 1937, human experiments in biological warfare factories in Haerbin (p381) and burn all, loot all, kill all' campaigns quickly made it one of the most brutal occupations of the 20th century. China experienced massive internal migrations, and was subjected to a process of divide and rule through the establishment of puppet governments.

The Kuomintang was forced into retreat by the Japanese occupation. Its wartime capital was Chongqing, a higgledy-piggledy town piled up on mountains in the upper reaches of Yangzi River. The city was subjected to heavy Japanese bombardments, but logistical difficulties prevented it from being approached by land.

Civil War

Following Japan's defeat and the end of WWII, the USA attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement between the CCP and the Kuomintang. The CCP had expanded enormously during the war years, filling a vacuum in local government in vast areas behind and beyond Japanese lines, and creating a base from which it would successfully chal- lenge the Kuomintang's claims to legitimacy.

Civil war broke out in 1946. While their base at Yan'an was destroyed by the Nationalists, Communist forces managed to out- manoeuvre the Kuomintang on the battle ground of Manchuria. Three great battles were fought in 1948 and 1949 in which the Kuomintang were not only defeated, but thousands of Kuomintang troops defected to the communists.

In Beijing on 1 October 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC, Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo). Chiang Kaishek fled to the island of Taiwan, taking with him the entire gold reserves of the country, and what was left of his air force and navy.