By 1911, the Chinese emperor had lost his political power.

By 1911, China had become a republic.

Tired of foreign domination, ineffective emperors, and the poverty of the peasants, the Chinese rebelled.

Led by Sun Yixian (Dr. Sun Yat-sen), Chinese nationalists tried to create a republican government.

Believing in “The Three Principles of the People”, Dr. Sun Yixian advocated nationalism, democracy, and socialism.

When Dr. Sun Yixian died in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek became the next leader of the KMT or Nationalist Party.

Unlike Dr. Sun Yixian, Chiang Kai-shek purged communists from the Nationalist party.

The Chinese Communists were forced to retreat on a march known as The Long March.

Many communists died on The Long March.

But with the Japanese invasion of China, the Nationalists and Communists stopped fighting.

Japanese soldiers committed terrible atrocities in China and the Chinese were united in their struggle to oust the imperialists.

But after the defeat of Japan at the end of the Second World War, the Chinese civil war resumed.

The Communists gained the respect and support of the peasants.

With the support of the peasants and the corruption of nationalist leaders, the Communists achieved victory In 1949.

As leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong became the first dictator of Communist China.

Mao quickly set about to destroy the old ways. He abolished private property and nationalized state industries.

Like Stalin, Mao sought to quickly industrialize China.

His “Great Leap Forward” (1958- 1959) tried to greatly increase factory production. However, it failed to achieve its goals.

Famine occurred as agriculture was collectivized.

As the years passed, Mao was worried that the revolutionary values were not being fully embraced.

To revive revolutionary ideals, Mao implemented the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Red Guards or students devoted to Mao violently removed the “Four Olds”: old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs.

The Red Guards violently punished counterrevolutionaries or people opposed to the revolution.

Red Guards memorized the Little Red Book or a collection of the sayings of Chairman Mao.

By 1976, Mao had died but China was forever changed.