The Long Road to Power

THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY HAS BEEN IN CONTROL OF CHINA SINCE 1949, BUT THEIR PATH TO POWER WAS VEY LONG INDEED. IT STARTED WITH THE LONG DEMISE OF THE QING DYNASTY, WHICH LED TO THE CHINESE REVOLUTION IN 1911 AND DECADES OF TURMOIL FOLLOWED...

The Qing Dynasty

In 1398, the Ming dynasty started to rule over China for many decades, until 1644, when the second foreign power, the Manchus took over (Kort 29). The Manchu dynasty is also known as the Qing dynasty.

There were many factors for the demise of the Qing dynasty. One factor was the revolutionary ideas in the west (Kort 29-30). In China, people were still using the traditional Confucian method, which preferred memorisation of old ideas over critical thinking (Kort 30). Another factor was from the fifteenth century onwards, the population of China was massive, and the resources that China had couldn’t support all of the population (Kort 30). This led to a poor society (Kort 30). The rule over China became weak and corruption arose. All of this, led to this chain of events:

Chinese Revolution — 1911

In 1908, the last able empress of the Qing dynasty, Cixi died (Stewart 26). This was the main reason for the Chinese Revolution. The next emperor, Puyi was only a few years old and couldn’t lead the nation effectively (Stewart 27).

One cause for the revolution was the Qing dynasty losing money (Stewart 27). In 1910, heavy rains flooded the Yangtze, poverty increased and many people died (Stewart 27). There was nationalist backlash from the building of railways that were controlled by foreign powers (Stewart 27). Inefficient local companies attempted to take control of the building of the railway lines, the government wanted to nationalise the railways with money from foreign loans (Stewart 27-28). Nationalists thought that this was a conspiracy to remove the dynasty, this led to demonstrations and riots (Stewart 28).

In Hankou, which is now, with Wuchang, part of Wuhan, revolutionaries were building a bomb, which unexpectedly exploded early on the 9th October (Stewart 28). The next day, the local governor executed a few members of the group (Stewart 28). Troops in the city of Wuchang them began a mutiny and killed all of the Manchu rulers in the area (Stewart 28). Many of the new armies across the country did the same (Stewart 28). Puyi, who was panicking, requested that the former viceroy, Yuan Shikai, were to come back from retirement and save the dynasty (Stewart 28-29).

He was made leader in November (Stewart 29). In late December, Sun Yat-sen was voted in as provisional president (Stewart 29).

Republic of China — 1912-27

The person now in charge of the Qing dynasty, Yuan Shikai, was convinced to accept the republic in exchange for the position of president (Kort 40). The system was to be like the US congress (Stewart 35). Yat-sen created the GMD, which beat three other parties (Stewart 35). But, the elected president, Song Jiaroen from the GMD was assassinated on the way to the ceremony to become president (Stewart 35). This was thought to be a work from Yuan Shikai (Stewart 35). Shikai wanted to create a new dynasty with him as the new emperor (Stewart 35). Shikai died four years later and as there was no one powerful left in the government, the republic failed to control China (Stewart 36).

Warlord Era — 1917-26

After the Republic of China failed to keep control of the country, the country started to be controlled by warlords (Stewart 37-38). China fell into despair, with armies coming across the country, stealing and killing as they came (Kort 40). The peasants in the warlord areas were endlessly punished with extortionate taxes imposed by the warlords (Kort 40). The government couldn’t control the areas controlled by the Warlords (Kort 40). Sun Yat-sen had set up a rival government in Guangzhou. They also didn’t have any power (Kort 41).

World War I — 1915-18

In WW1, Japan took control of a German territory in China (Kort 41). Japan then signed agreements with Britain and France, to keep the territory after WWI (Kort 41). In 1915, Japan presented China with the ‘Twenty-one Demands’, in which Japan threatened to turn China into a Japanese colony (Kort 41). China then declared war on Germany in 1917 (Kort 41). They thought that they would get German concessions after WWI (Kort 41). In 1919, after Germany was defeated, China didn’t receive the German concessions that they had hoped too, instead Japan ended up receiving them (Kort 41-42). Protests against Japan, turned into the ‘May 4th Movement’ aka China’s Renaissance (Kort 42).

The CCP & GMD — Conflict

With support from the Soviet Union run Communist International, Chen Duxiu and Li Dayhao setup the Chinese Communist Party (aka CCP) (Stewart 40). At their first meeting, there were twelve delegates, including Mao Zedong (Stewart 40). The CCP were ordered by Communist International to form an alliance with the GMD (Kort 44). Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the GMD agreed to this because he needed to build an army (Kort 44). The First United Front was formed (Kort 44). Sun Yat-sen died two years later in 1925 (Kort 44). Chiang Kai-shek succeeded Yat-sen as leader of GMD, but he didn’t trust the communists (Kort 44).

The GMD wanted stability across China, but the CCP wanted a revolution (Kort 45). In 1926, the GMD started the ‘Northern Expedition’ to reclaim areas that were controlled by warlords (Kort 45). Over the next two years, many areas were taken control by the GMD, including Shanghai (Kort 45). Then the GMD started the ‘White Terror’, where thousands of communists were killed by the GMD (Kort 48-49). Only a few escaped, including Mao Zedong, who would later become the leader of the CCP and Zhou Enlai, who was the party’s second most important member (Kort 48-49). Chiang formed the nationalist government in Nanjing (Kort 49).

Conflict with Japan — 1931 onwards

In 1931, Japan took control of a large region in northern China called Manchuria (Kort 57-58). Japan constantly threatened to take control of more of China (Kort 58). Mao decided instead of the people being in constant fear of the army, the propel should want to help the their army (Kort 53). In 1946, the Red Army was renamed the People’s Liberation Army (aka PLA) (Kort 53).

Civil War - GMD vs CCP — 1945-49

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Works Cited

Chinese Revolution -- Britannica School. https://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/ article/Chinese-Revolution/82149. Accessed 12 Mar. 2020.

G. Kort, Michael. China under Communism. Accessed 19 Mar. 2020.
Milestones: 1899–1913 - Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/milestones/

1899-1913/chinese-rev. Accessed 13 Mar. 2020.
Stewart, Geoff. China: 1900-1976. Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2006.

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