The Emergence of Modern China Geography 9B

What is Communism? Don’t forget to answer number 1 on your worksheet, “What is communism?” using the answer from your spark

The Nationalist People’s Party Emerged in China in the early 1900s They were influenced by Western ideas but did not like foreign powers in China Forced China’s emperor to abdicate (or give up) his throne in 1911 Declared China a republic Sun Yat-sen (soon yaht sen) was chosen as the country’s first president

Sun Yat-sen

The Nationalist People’s Party It had been easier for them to take control than it was to keep it The former army fought against the Nationalists Meanwhile local warlords took power in their own areas Warlords are regional leaders with their own armies

Zhang Zoulin, Chinese Warlord, 1927

The Nationalist People’s Party When Sun died, Chiang Kai-shek (chyahng ky shek) took control of the party He was a soldier, and quickly trained the Nationalist troops Within two years Chiang defeated one warlord after another and took control over much of China He became president by 1928

Chiang Kai-shek

The Long March In the 1920’s the Nationalist party began to split, as some members became fans of Karl Marx’s idea of communism They thought this would bring prosperity to China The Communists wanted to give power to the workers and give land to the peasants Chiang Kai-shek did not agree and in 1927 he ordered all Communists be killed

The Long March The Communists that survived were forced to flee to the south China province of Jianxi (jyahng shee) They built a stronghold here and their numbers grew In 1933 Chiang sent a huge army to hunt and destroy the communists He was scared they would try to challenge him and the government in the future

The Long March They fought for months, and the Nationalists began to win In 1934 the Communists left Jiangxi and started “The Long March” a journey to northern China that lasted a year They crossed 18 mountain ranges, more than 20 rivers March was 6,000 miles total

The Long March

The Long March 100,000 people left on The Long March, but only 8,000 survived They faced hunger, disease, and attacks by Nationalist troops Their goal was safety in one of China’s northern provinces They set up a new headquarters in a city called Yan’an (yahn ahn) under Mao Zedong’s (mow zhuh doong) leadership

The Long March

The Second Sino-Japanese War In the early 1930’s the Japanese invaded China They took advantage of the Chinese fighting amongst themselves They invaded the province of Manchuria and tried to take over other parts of China The Nationalists and Communists united to fight their common enemy

The Second Sino-Japanese War

Communists Take Over The war ended in 1945 and the two parties began to fight once more During the war the Communists had made powerful reforms in areas of their control This included lowering rent for the peasants Many peasants then joined the Communists and by 1949 the Nationalists were defeated

Communists Take Over Chiang Kai-shek was forced to flee to the island of Taiwan for safety He vowed to someday reconquer China On Oct. 1, 1949 Mao Zedong declared the establishment of a new Communist state: the People’s Republic of China

Mao Zedong