Chinese Revolution (1911-1949)

Since the 19th century, Britain and France had commercial interests in China and this led to the various opium wars. At the beginning of the 20th century, China and Japan faced each other militarily and the Chinese were defeated. On the other hand, the Manchu dynasty that ruled the country generated deep popular unrest.

After the Revolution Russian 1917, the ideology communist roots among intellectuals the Chinese peasantry. All these aspects were very present in the development of the Chinese Revolution.

The revolutionary process lasted for more than three decades

In 1911 the Qing dynasty left power after an army uprising. In the following years, convulsive periods were experienced throughout the territory national and even attempts were made to reinstate a new imperial dynasty. In this context, the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang emerged, led by Yuan Shikai and later by Chiang Kai-shek.

The purpose of this formation was to definitively pacify the country, since at that time different military leaders (the so-called warlords) occupied a large part of the Chinese territory. In 1927 a war started

civil internal between the nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek and the communists led by Mao Tse Tung.

During the period of World War II, both opposing groups joined forces to fight the Japanese, but at the end of the war, nationalists and communists returned to armed confrontation. Throughout these years the communists were gaining popular sympathies, since by militarily occupying a new territory they distributed the lands among the peasants.

On the other hand, the Communists had been key in the military victory against the Japanese. One of the famous episodes of the Chinese Revolution was the so-called "Long March", in which the communist army had to move more than 12,000 km fleeing from the nationalist troops. This episode is considered key to the creation of the myth of Mao as the great Leader from China.

The end of the revolutionary process

In October 1949 Mao's communist troops entered Beijing and the long period of warfare came to an end.

As a consequence, the Republic People's China based on communist ideology and since then the country is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. The leader of the Nationalists, Chiang Kai-shek, went into exile on the island of Taiwan where he established a dictatorship military man who remained in power until 1991.

From today's perspective

The Chinese communist regime and the figure of Mao have served as inspiration to other revolutionary movements around the world. From other ideological evaluations, the Chinese model is considered a dictatorship with totalitarian and bloodthirsty overtones.

At present, China is a country in which two apparently opposite models coexist: a government led by the Chinese Communist Party and a politics economic capitalist type.

Photos: Fotolia - jorisvo / tribalium81

Themes in Chinese Revolution (1911-1949)