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173-762: The current form of the legal entity of the museum was established in 2003 by the merger of the two museums that had occupied the same building since 1959: the Museum of the Chinese Revolution in the northern wing (originating in the Office of the National Museum of the Revolution founded in 1950 to preserve the legacy of the 1949 revolution ) and the National Museum of Chinese History in the southern wing (with origins in both

346-447: A conference in Zunyi . Here, Mao Zedong denounced the party leadership for its dogmatic adherence to urban revolution in the face of repeated defeats. He also criticized Otto Braun's conventional tactics. Instead, Mao put forward a strategy based on rural guerilla warfare that prioritized winning peasant support. This was controversial because it conflicted with traditional party doctrine and

519-449: A delegation of five Executive Councillors to London, including Chung Sze-yuen , Lydia Dunn , and Roger Lobo . Chung presented their position on the sovereignty of Hong Kong to Thatcher, encouraging her to take into consideration the interests of the native Hong Kong population in her upcoming visit to China. In light of the increasing openness of the PRC government and economic reforms on

692-613: A special administrative region (SAR) of China . The central government in Beijing maintains control over Hong Kong's foreign affairs as well as the legal interpretation of the Basic Law. The latter has led democracy advocates and some Hong Kong residents to argue, after the fact, that the territory has yet to achieve universal suffrage as promised by the Basic Law , leading to mass demonstrations in 2014 . In 2019, demonstrations that started as

865-457: A "Chinese territory under Portuguese administration", this was only temporary. In fact, during informal exchanges between 1979 and 1981, the PRC had proposed a "Macau solution" in Hong Kong, under which it would remain under British administration at China's discretion. However, this had previously been rejected following the 1967 Leftist riots , with the then Governor, David Trench , claiming

1038-492: A 99-year lease for the New Territories . The date of the handover in 1997 marked the end of this lease. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration had set the conditions under which Hong Kong was to be transferred, with China agreeing to maintain existing structures of government and economy under a principle of " one country, two systems " for a period of 50 years. Hong Kong became China's first special administrative region; it

1211-572: A bloodless purge of hardline communists who were opposed to the proposed expedition from the Guangzhou administration and its military, known as the Canton Coup . The rapid replacement of leadership enabled Chiang to effectively end civilian oversight of the military. At the same time, Chiang made conciliatory moves toward the Soviet Union, and attempted to balance the need for Soviet and CCP assistance in

1384-497: A bulwark against the encroachment of the Soviet Union. Marshall drew both sides into negotiations which would drag on for more than a year. No significant agreements were reached, as both sides used the time to further prepare themselves for the ensuing conflict. By the time that Nationalist units had been able to arrive in the major cities of northeastern China, Communist forces commanded by Lin Biao were already in firm control of most of

1557-622: A continued British presence in the form of an administration post-handover. Two rounds of negotiations were held in October and November. On the sixth round of talks in November, Britain formally conceded its intentions of either maintaining a British administration in Hong Kong or seeking some form of co-administration with the PRC, and showed its sincerity in discussing PRC's proposal on the 1997 issue. Simon Keswick , chairman of Jardine Matheson & Co., said they were not pulling out of Hong Kong, but

1730-953: A guerrilla war behind Japanese lines. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, China became a battlefield in the Cold War . The Nationalists received military support from the United States and the Communists from the Soviet Union . Although the Nationalists at first held most of the country, sympathy for the Communists grew in urban areas suffering from high unemployment, runaway inflation, and rampant government corruption. The presence of American Marines in Chinese cities further inflammed anti-imperialist sentiment, especially among students. When peace talks between

1903-419: A large and rare inscribed Western Zhou dynasty bronze water pan, a gold-inlaid Qin dynasty bronze tally in the shape of a tiger, Han dynasty jade burial suits sewn with gold thread, and a comprehensive collection of Tang dynasty tri-colored glazed sancai and Song dynasty ceramics. The museum also has an important numismatic collection, including 15,000 coins donated by Luo Bozhao . The museum has

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2076-680: A long period of decline popularly known as the " century of humiliation ". Successive administrations within the imperial administration of the Qing dynasty failed to address the mounting problems of economic stagnation, official corruption, and military weakness. Massive peasant rebellions, most notably the Taiping Rebellion , cost millions of lives and ravaged the countryside. Japan and the Western powers forced China to accept unequal treaties that gave them territorial concessions and allowed them to exploit

2249-557: A membership of about 100,000, or one-quarter of the population of the entire county. Later that year, Peng worked with the KMT to establish a joint " Peasant Movement Training Institute " to train young idealists to work in rural areas, which slowly increased both parties' awareness of and engagement with the peasants and their issues. At the same time as CCP was developing in Shanghai, in Guangzhou

2422-476: A naval bombardment that left the city burning and at least forty people dead. He's forces arrived on 25 March, and on the next day, Cheng and He were finally able to put an end to the violence. Although it was a mix of both Nationalists and Communist soldiers within the army who had participated in the riots, Chiang Kai-shek's faction accused Lin Boqu of planning the unrest in order to turn international opinion against

2595-615: A new holding company would be established in Bermuda instead. The PRC took this as yet another plot by the British. The Hong Kong government explained that it had been informed about the move only a few days before the announcement. The government would not and could not stop the company from making a business decision. Just as the atmosphere of the talks was becoming cordial, members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong felt impatient at

2768-517: A permanent collection of 1,050,000 items, with many precious and rare artifacts not to be found in museums anywhere else in China or the rest of the world. Among the most important items in the National Museum of China are the " Houmuwu Ding " from the Shang dynasty (the heaviest piece of ancient bronzeware in the world, at 832.84 kg ), the square shaped Shang dynasty bronze zun decorated with four sheep heads,

2941-663: A permanent exhibition called The Road to Rejuvenation , which presents the recent history of China since the beginning of the First Opium War , with an emphasis on the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its political achievements. The exhibit hall addressing the life of Deng Xiaoping includes the Stetson hat he was given during at a rodeo during his 1979 visit to the United States . Pictures of Deng donning

3114-483: A protest against an extradition law also led to massive demonstrations (1.7 million on 11 and 18 August 2019), again demanding universal suffrage, but also the resignation of Carrie Lam (the then-Chief Executive). In December 2021, Beijing released a document titled "Hong Kong Democratic Progress Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems", the second such white paper on Hong Kong affairs since 2014. It stated that

3287-522: A reprieve. In 1931, the Japanese army had occupied Manchuria , which had nominally been under Chinese sovereignty. This triggered debates inside China on whether the Nationalist Government of Chiang Kai-shek, the administration with the strongest claim to national leadership at the time, should declare war on Japan. Chiang, despite popular disapproval, wanted to continue to focus on wiping out

3460-523: A request that the latter fly to Chongqing to negotiate. At first, Mao demanded that Chiang grant the CCP certain conditions, but sustained pressure from Joseph Stalin made him realize the extent of the CCP's international isolation. On August 23, Mao told the Politburo that without Soviet backing, the CCP would have to make concessions to Chiang. Meanwhile, military forces on all sides continued their maneuvers. On

3633-555: A semi-colonial nation. Historian Tony Saich wrote that the early Chinese Communists "were Bolsheviks before they were Marxists." Interest in the Bolsheviks led to an interest in Marxism. Students formed study groups to discuss Marx's ideas, including one at Peking University led by Li Dazhao . His study group included Chen Duxiu, who was now working as a dean at the university. As the editor of New Youth , Chen used his journal to publish

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3806-512: A series of Marxist articles, including an entire issue devoted to the subject in 1919. By 1920, Li and Chen had fully converted to Marxism, and Li founded the Peking Socialist Youth Corps in Beijing. Chen moved back to Shanghai, where he also founded a small Communist group. By 1920, "skepticism about [study groups'] suitability as vehicles for reform had become widespread." Instead, most Chinese Marxists had determined to follow

3979-418: A short distance from Shanghai, rural landlords operated essentially as feudal lords, paying for private armies, dominating local politics, and keeping numerous concubines . In the first decade of the twentieth century, young Chinese intellectuals such as Ma Junwu , Liang Qichao , and Zhao Bizhen were the first to translate and summarize socialist and Marxist ideas into Chinese. However, this happened on

4152-738: A symbolic victory by seizing Yan'an, the capital of the Yan'an Soviet. The Communists counterattacked soon afterwards; on 30 June 1947 CCP troops crossed the Yellow River and moved to the Dabie Mountains , restored and developed the Central Plain . At the same time, Communist forces also began to counterattack in Northeastern China, North China and East China . In late 1948, the CCP and the newly rechristened " People's Liberation Army " (PLA) launched

4325-514: A very small scale, and had no immediate impacts. This would change following the 1911 Revolution , which saw military and popular revolts overthrow the Qing Dynasty . The failure of the new Chinese Republic to improve social conditions or modernize the country led scholars to take a greater interest in Western ideas such as socialism. The New Culture Movement was especially strong in cities like Shanghai , where Chen Duxiu began to publish

4498-479: A village in north China: The land held by the landlords and rich peasants, while ample, was not enough in itself to make them the dominant group in the village. It served primarily as a solid foundation for other forms of open and concealed exploitation which taken together raised a handful of families far above the rest of the inhabitants economically and hence politically and socially as well. Landlords utilized forms of exploitation such as usury , corruption , and

4671-775: Is free to choose, but events will force you to make the choice quickly. After the capture of Wuhan, the Central Committee of the Kuomintang voted to move to their government to this more central location. Headed in Chiang's absence by Minister of Justice Xu Qian , the executive committee was a mix of liberals and conservatives who had not been subject to Chiang's purge of leftists. They included Minister of Finance Sun Fo , Minister for Foreign Affairs Eugene Chen , and banker and industrialist T. V. Soong . When they arrived in Wuhan on December 10,

4844-519: Is not recognized by the Chinese Government. Beijing claims neither the Qing dynasty exercised sovereignty over Hong Kong after ceding it, nor the British therefore did, and hence the transfer of sovereignty to China from Britain is not logically possible. As no consensus was reached on the sovereignty transfer, the Chinese stated "to recover the Hong Kong area" ( Chinese : 收回香港地區 ) and "to resume

5017-651: Is the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. Nonetheless, the Nationalist Government had not evacuated to Taiwan until December, and significant fighting (such as the conquest of Hainan ) continued well into 1950 and the takeover of Tibet in 1951. While never posing a serious threat to the People's Republic, the Kuomintang Islamic insurgency continued until as late as 1958 in

5190-662: Is the second-largest political party in the world. Many historians agree with the Chinese Communist Party official history that the Chinese Revolution dates to the founding of the Party in 1921. A few consider it to be the latter part of the Chinese Civil War , since it was only after the Second Sino-Japanese War that the tide turned decisively in favour of the Communists. That said, it is not entirely clear when

5363-427: The 2010 World Expo in Shanghai . A three-month exhibition of the luxury brand Louis Vuitton in 2011 led to some complaints of commercialism at the museum, with Peking University professor Xia Xueluan stating that as a state-level public museum, it "should in fact only be dedicating itself to non-profit cultural promotion." Yves Carcelle , chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton Malletier, defended

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5536-569: The COVID-19 pandemic , the museum was closed for a large part of 2020, and attendance plunged by 78 percent to 1,600,000. Nonetheless, in 2021 it was in second place in the list of most-visited art museums , after the Louvre Museum . The museum, covering Chinese history from the Yuanmou Man of 1.7 million years ago to the end of the Qing dynasty (the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history ), has

5709-536: The Leninist model, which they understood as organizing a vanguard party around a core group of professional revolutionaries. The Chinese Communist Party was founded on 23 July 1921 in Shanghai, at the 1st National Congress of the CCP . The dozen delegates resolved to affiliate with the Communist International (Comintern), although the CCP would only formally become a member at its second congress . Chen

5882-702: The One country, two systems principle agreed between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China, the socialist system of the People's Republic of China would not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. The Hong Kong Basic Law ensured, among other things, that Hong Kong will retain its legislative system , and people's rights and freedom for fifty years, as

6055-524: The Opium Wars . Consequently, the PRC recognised only the British administration in Hong Kong, but not British sovereignty. In the wake of Governor MacLehose's visit, Britain and the PRC established initial diplomatic contact for further discussions of the Hong Kong question, paving the way for Thatcher's first visit to the PRC in September 1982. Margaret Thatcher, in discussion with Deng Xiaoping, reiterated

6228-504: The Opium Wars : Despite the finite nature of the New Territories lease, this portion of the colony was developed just as rapidly as, and became highly integrated with, the rest of Hong Kong. As the end of the lease approached, and by the time of serious negotiations over the future status of Hong Kong in the 1980s, it was thought impractical to separate the ceded territories and return only the New Territories to China. In addition, with

6401-453: The Republic of China on the mainland , would recover the entirety of the New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. China considered treaties about Hong Kong as unequal and ultimately refused to accept any outcome that would indicate permanent loss of sovereignty over Hong Kong's area, whatever wording the former treaties had. During talks with Thatcher, China planned to seize Hong Kong if

6574-572: The Second World War , which included events such as the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse and the Fall of Singapore , as well as the subsequent Suez Crisis after the war. The transfer, which was marked by a handover ceremony attended by Charles III (then as Prince of Wales ) and broadcast around the world, is often considered to mark the definitive end of the British Empire . Following

6747-538: The United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution on removing Hong Kong and Macau from the official list of colonies. In March 1979 the Governor of Hong Kong , Murray MacLehose , paid his first official visit to the People's Republic of China (PRC), taking the initiative to raise the question of Hong Kong's sovereignty with CCP vice chairman Deng Xiaoping . Without clarifying and establishing

6920-570: The central government in Beijing increased after the passing of the Hong Kong national security law in 2020. Hong Kong had been a colony of the British Empire since 1841, except for four years of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945. After the First Opium War , its territory was expanded in 1860 with the addition of Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island , and in 1898, when Britain obtained

7093-510: The 1956 Sino-Soviet split . The People's Republic offered direct and indirect support to communist movements around the world, and inspired the growth of Maoist parties in a number of countries. Shock at the CCP's success and the emerging geopolitical domino theory postulating its spread across East Asia led the United States to stage successive military interventions in Korea and Southeast Asia . The CCP remains in government in mainland China, and

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7266-652: The 20th, the last Japanese units in Manchuria surrendered to the Soviet Red Army. On the 26th, the CCP authorized army units and cadres to begin infiltrating the Manchurian countryside (a move tolerated by the Soviets). CCP dominance in northern China seriously concerned Chiang, who was not in a position to stop the CCP from taking Beiping or Tianjin . Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Japanese troops to remain at their post to receive

7439-462: The 5th session of the 5th National People's Congress , the constitution was amended to include a new Article 31 which stated that the country might establish Special Administrative Regions (SARs) when necessary. The additional Article would hold tremendous significance in settling the question of Hong Kong and later Macau , putting into social consciousness the concept of " One country, two systems ". A few months after Thatcher's visit to Beijing,

7612-667: The Beijing National History Museum, founded in 1949, and the Preliminary Office of the National History Museum, founded in 1912, tasked to safeguard China's larger historical legacy). The building was completed in 1959 as one of the Ten Great Buildings celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It complements the opposing Great Hall of the People that

7785-494: The British concession at Hankou . Eugene Chen successfully negotiated its evacuation by the British and handover to the Chinese. The Wuhan administration gradually drifted away from Chiang, becoming a center of leftist power and seeking to reassert civilian control over the military. On 10 March, the Wuhan leadership nominally stripped Chiang of much of his military authority, though refrained from deposing him as commander-in-chief. At

7958-406: The British government must modify or give up its position or the PRC will announce its resolution of the issue of Hong Kong sovereignty unilaterally. In 1983, Typhoon Ellen ravaged Hong Kong, causing great amounts of damage to both life and property. The Hong Kong dollar plummeted on Black Saturday , and the Financial Secretary John Bremridge publicly associated the economic uncertainty with

8131-596: The British realised they could grow poppies at an incredible rate. These poppies could then be turned into opium, which the Chinese highly desired, but their laws prohibited. So the British plan was to grow poppies in India, convert it into opium, smuggle the opium into China and trade it for tea, and sell the tea back in Britain. The illegal opium trade was highly successful, and the drug was very profitably smuggled into China in extremely large volumes. The United Kingdom obtained control over portions of Hong Kong's territory through three treaties concluded with Qing China after

8304-444: The CCP entirely crushed, to command Marshal Rodion Malinovsky to give most captured Japanese weapons to the CCP. This was decisive; from this point onwards the Communist forces were no longer just an army of "millet plus rifles". In March 1946, despite repeated requests from Chiang Kai-shek, the Soviet Red Army under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky continued to delay pulling out of Manchuria, while Malinovsky secretly told

8477-566: The CCP forces to move in behind them. Mao quickly seized the opportunity, ordering Lin Biao and Zhu De to begin taking key cities, including Siping and Harbin . These favourable conditions also facilitated many changes inside the Communist leadership: the more radical faction who wanted a complete military take-over of China finally gained the upper hand and defeated the careful opportunists. By May 3, all Soviet troops had withdrawn, and fighting between local Communist and Nationalist forces had broken out in earnest. The conflict would escalate to

8650-407: The CCP in 1921. They created an alliance known as the First United Front with the much larger Kuomintang (KMT), having the shared goal of overthrowing the warlords governing China. During this period the CCP rapidly expanded its membership, organized a militant labor movement in several of China's major cities, and established rudimentary peasant associations in rural areas. Nonetheless, and despite

8823-500: The CCP's New Fourth Army , one of the Communist armies that had been placed under Nationalist command, for alleged insubordination. The New Fourth Army Incident effectively ended any substantive co-operation between the Nationalists and the Communists, although open fighting between the two sides remained sporadic throughout the war. The war with Japan and the Second United Front created an enormous opportunity to expand CCP influence. French historian Lucien Bianco argues that before

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8996-422: The CCP. The outcome of these encounters were decisive for the military outcome of the civil war. The Pingjin Campaign resulted in the Communist conquest of northern China. It lasted 64 days, from 21 November 1948 to 31 January 1949. The PLA suffered heavy casualties while securing Zhangjiakou , Tianjin along with its port and garrison at Taku and Beijing (then "Beiping"). The CCP brought 890,000 troops from

9169-455: The Central Military Band of the PLA) provided musical accompaniment which included the Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army and new national anthem of China, the March of the Volunteers . On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong officially proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square. Chiang Kai-shek, 600,000 Nationalist troops and about two million Nationalist-sympathizer refugees retreated to

9342-472: The Chinese Communist Party before moving on to Japan. In 1936, Chiang was arrested by two of his generals in Xi'an , who forced him to form a united front with the Communists against Japan. In return for the ceasefire, the Communists agreed to dissolve the Red Army and place their units under National Revolutionary Army command. This arrangement did not end tensions between the CCP and KMT. In January 1941, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Nationalist troops to ambush

9515-422: The Chinese Communist Revolution argue that these rents were often exorbitant and contributed to the extreme poverty of the peasantry. Agricultural economist John Lossing Buck disagreed, arguing that landlords' return on investment was not especially high in comparison to the standard rates of interest in China at the time. According to William H. Hinton , author of a case study on how the Revolution impacted

9688-427: The Chinese UN representative, Huang Hua , wrote to the United Nations Decolonization Committee to state the position of the Chinese government: The questions of Hong Kong and Macau belong to the category of questions resulting from the series of unequal treaties which the imperialists imposed on China. Hong Kong and Macau are part of Chinese territory occupied by the British and Portuguese authorities. The settlement of

9861-419: The Chinese economy. China had been turned into a "semi-colony" by the time of the Boxer Rebellion . Prior to the revolution, the majority of agricultural land in rural China was owned by a class of landlords and wealthy peasants, with between 50 and 65 percent of peasants owning little or no land and thus needing to rent additional land from landlords. This disparity in land ownership differed by region, and

10034-399: The Comintern began pressuring the CCP to conduct more "anti-rightist" actions and Li Lisan was promoted to propaganda chief. Li grew to become the effective paramount leader with support from Xiang and advocated for an immediate armed uprising in the cities. This was attempted in July 1930, but failed and again led to heavy losses. Under pressure from Zhou Enlai and many others in the party,

10207-543: The Comintern instructed the CCP to disband and join the KMT as individuals. This was justified in view of the " two-stage theory " of revolution, which postulated that "feudal" societies such as China's needed to undergo a period of capitalist development before they could experience a successful socialist revolution. Although the CCP did agree to allow members to join the KMT, it did not disband. Sun encouraged this decision by offering praise for Vladimir Lenin and calling his principle of livelihood "a form of communism". This

10380-406: The Comintern sent Soviet functionary Pavel Mif to replace Li Lisan and Xiang Zhongfa with members of the 28 Bolsheviks. Bo Gu became nominal party secretary while Wang Ming became the de facto paramount leader. Under the influence of Moscow, the strategy of direct confrontation with the KMT by organizing urban uprisings continued until 1933, when party leadership was finally forced to evacuate to

10553-443: The Communists had an army based on " millet plus rifles ." The international situation for the Communists was unfavorable in 1945. At Yalta , the Allies had agreed to recognize USSR claims in the Far East in exchange for a Soviet declaration of war on Japan . These claims included control of Port Arthur and joint control over the Chinese Eastern Railway , which Chiang reluctantly accepted in return for Soviet recognition of

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10726-439: The Communists undertook a campaign of ideological self-purification to solidify their allegiance to Mao and their new peasant-based strategy. Meanwhile, Japan had taken advantage of China's disunity to seize Manchuria and other Chinese territories. Chiang Kai-shek, prioritizing "first internal pacification, then external resistance", avoided confronting Japan. The Communists argued that the CCP and KMT should cooperate to fight

10899-434: The Communists. The Americans were anxious to have the Nationalists take over their duties, and so General Wedemeyer further ordered the airlifting of 100,000 Nationalist troops into Northern China. As Nationalist troops moved in to formerly occupied territories, looting and large-scale corruption were common. Under the pretext of "receiving the Japanese surrender," business interests within the KMT government occupied most of

11072-432: The First United Front's military successes, KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek ended the alliance in 1927 by initiating a purge of Communists . The Chinese Civil War between the Communists and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fundamentally changed the course of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Forced to flee into the remote countryside, semi-isolated CCP cadres began to experiment with land reform and other ways of appealing to

11245-451: The Japanese as possible, which would yield not just land, but also weapons and equipment from the defeated Japanese units. Although Chiang Kai-shek was confident that he was in a strong position to win a civil war against the CCP, he also knew that if the Communists gained control of Japanese materiel, the balance of power would change. In order to buy time, and under American pressure to negotiate, Chiang Kai-shek reached out to Mao Zedong with

11418-432: The Japanese surrendered, the Communists' "Liberated Zone" grew to contain 19 base areas (mostly in north China), making up one-quarter of the country's territory and one-third of its population. In the south, the New Fourth Army had recovered from the attempted massacre of its forces and established a serious Communist presence along the banks of the Yangtze . Nonetheless, the CCP's forces were still numerically inferior to

11591-429: The Japanese, an appeal to patriotism that won them broad sympathy. In 1936, Nationalist troops who had become sympathetic to the Communists kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek and forced him to begin ceasefire negotiations. The Second United Front was finalized when the Japanese launched a full-scale invasion of China the following year. The renewed alliance allowed the CCP to once again expand their areas of influence by waging

11764-418: The KMT as the sole legitimate government of China. In that way, the Communists appeared to have lost their most likely ally. The American Dixie Mission had investigated the possibility of American support for the Communists, but although its findings were favorable, cooperation was stubbornly blocked by American Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley . Hurley and the powerful pro-Nationalist China Lobby orchestrated

11937-417: The KMT forces. Now with tanks, heavy artillery, and other combined-arms assets, the PLA was prepared to execute offensive operations south of the Great Wall. In April 1948 the city of Luoyang fell, cutting the KMT army off from Xi'an. Following a fierce battle, the CCP captured Jinan and Shandong province on 24 September 1948. The Huaihai Campaign of late 1948 and early 1949 secured east-central China for

12110-432: The KMT government would continue, as would co-operation with the CCP. A fragile coalition between KMT rightists, centrists led by Chiang, KMT leftists, and the CCP managed to hold together, laying the groundwork for the Northern Expedition. By 1926, the Kuomintang (KMT) had solidified their control over Guangdong enough to rival the legitimacy of the Beiyang government based in Beijing . After purging his opponents in

12283-452: The KMT leadership, Chiang Kai-shek was appointed Generalissimo of the National Revolutionary Army and set out to defeat the warlords one at a time. The campaign saw massive success against Wu Peifu in Hunan , Hubei , and Henan . Sun Chuanfang put up a stronger resistance, but popular support for the KMT and opposition to the warlords helped the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) make inroads into Jiangxi , Fujian , and Zhejiang . As

12456-620: The KMT. Lin, a member of both the CCP and the KMT, had been serving as political commissar of the Sixth Army, part of the forces that captured Nanjing. Whatever was responsible, the Nanjing Incident represented the culmination of tensions within the First United Front. On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and his right-wing faction of the KMT ordered the massacre of the Communists in Shanghai. The White Terror spread nationwide and

12629-577: The KMT. In the two years following the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $ 4.43 billion from the US—most of which was military aid. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria , immediately altering the military situation in China. The Soviet invasion, among other contemporary developments, made Japan's defeat inevitable. Both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party immediately ordered their forces to take as much territory from

12802-480: The Kuomintang and not surrender their arms to the Communists. Chiang called on the Americans for assistance, and the United States landed more than 50,000 marines in northern China to occupy the major cities until the Nationalists could arrive. Although greeted with enthusiasm, incidents such as the rape of a Chinese student quickly turned the population against the Americans and contributed to growing support for

12975-583: The May Fourth Movement "marked a new stage in China's bourgeois-democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism...a powerful camp made its appearance in the bourgeois-democratic revolution, a camp consisting of the working class, the student masses and the new national bourgeoisie." Many political, and social leaders of the next five decades emerged at this time, including those of the Chinese Communist Party. The October Revolution in Russia attracted

13148-486: The NRA advanced, workers in the cities organized themselves into left-leaning trade unions : in Wuhan , for example, more than 300,000 had joined trade unions by the end of the year. The All-China Federation of Labor (ACFL), founded by the Communists in 1925, reached 2.8 million members by 1927. At the same time as workers organized in the cities, peasants rose up across the countryside of Hunan and Hubei provinces, appropriating

13321-607: The Nationalist ranks also were beginning to defect to the PLA in larger and larger numbers, drawn by the promise of land and much better treatment by Communist officers. The defection and capture of large numbers of well-trained KMT troops finally gave the PLA material superiority over the Nationalist army. Manpower continued to grow as well; during the Huaihai Campaign alone the CCP was able to mobilize 5,430,000 peasants to fight against

13494-537: The Nationalists found a city gripped by enthusiasm for the revolution. The rapidly-expanding, Communist-led labor movement staged near-constant demonstrations in Wuhan itself and across the nominally KMT-controlled territories. Although still prevented from participating in the KMT government, the CCP established parallel structures of administration in areas liberated by the NRA. The Wuhan government proved its competency when, in January 1927, violent protests broke out in

13667-732: The PRC government continued to call for the unification of all China. The last direct fighting between Nationalist and Communist forces ended with the Communist capture of Hainan Island in April 1950, though shelling and guerrilla raids continued for several years. In June 1950, the outbreak of the Korean War led the United States government to place the United States Seventh Fleet in the Taiwan Strait to prevent either side from attacking

13840-434: The PRC government had yet to open negotiations with the British government regarding the sovereignty of Hong Kong. Shortly before the initiation of sovereignty talks, Governor Youde declared his intention to represent the population of Hong Kong at the negotiations. This statement sparked a strong response from the PRC, prompting Deng Xiaoping to denounce talk of "the so-called 'three-legged stool", which implied that Hong Kong

14013-447: The PRC raised the curtain on the issue of Hong Kong's sovereignty: Britain was made aware of the PRC's intent to resume sovereignty over Hong Kong, and began to make arrangements accordingly to ensure the sustenance of her interests within the territory, as well as initiating the creation of a withdrawal plan in case of emergency. Three years later, Deng received the former British Prime Minister Edward Heath , who had been dispatched as

14186-650: The People's Liberation Army was pursuing remnants of KMT forces southwards in southern China, and only Tibet was left. A Chinese Muslim Hui cavalry regiment, the 14th Dungan Cavalry, was sent by the Chinese government to attack Mongol and Soviet positions along the border in the Battle of Baitag Bogd . The founding of the Central People's Government of China was formally proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949, at 3:00 pm in Tiananmen Square in Beijing,

14359-592: The People's Republic of China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island , Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997 and the United Kingdom Government declared that it would restore Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. In the document, the People's Republic of China Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong. In accordance with

14532-544: The Settlement, which was governed by the British and Americans. The Shanghai Municipal Police , largely operated by the British, opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators. This incident sparked outrage throughout China, culminating in the Canton–Hong Kong strike , which began on 18 June, and proved a fertile recruiting ground for the CCP. Membership was catapulted to over 20,000, almost ten times what it had been earlier in

14705-446: The Soviet Union. On August 20 Hu Hanmin 's far-right faction likely orchestrated Liao's assassination. Hu was arrested for his connections to the murderers, leaving Chiang and Wang Jingwei —Sun's former confidant and a leftist sympathizer—as the two main contenders for control of the party. Amidst this backdrop, Chiang began to consolidate power in preparation for an expedition against the northern warlords. On 20 March 1926, he launched

14878-598: The Soviet leadership to hold the CCP's 6th Party Congress there, rather than in China. With the help of the 28 Bolsheviks , Chinese students studying Marxism at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University , Xiang replaced Chen Duxiu as general secretary to the dismay of CCP leaders back in China. Upon his return to Shanghai, Xiang attempted several bureaucratic changes to consolidate centralized power, with mixed success. In 1930,

15051-617: The United Front collapsed. In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by Zhang Zuolin . That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and the CCP lost approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members. Only in Wuhan, where leftist sympathizer Wang Jingwei split from Chiang and proclaimed a rival nationalist government , were the Communists safe to hold their Fifth National Congress . However, under pressure from Chiang, Wang eventually purged Communists from his government and declared his loyalty to

15224-570: The Western allies , but also as a failure by the Chinese Republican government to properly defend the country against imperialism. In what became known as the May Fourth Movement , large protests erupted in major cities across China. Although led by students, these protests were significant because they included the first mass participation by those outside the traditional intellectual and cultural elites. Mao Zedong later reflected that

15397-463: The Yan'an Soviet. The outbreak of fighting in Manchuria (see next section) proved to Ambassador Hurley that negotiations had failed, and he resigned in disgust. He was replaced by General George Marshall , who arrived in China on 20 December 1945. The goal of the Marshall Mission was to bring both parties into a coalition government, with the hope that a strong, non-Communist China would act as

15570-425: The admiration of many of the organizers of the May Fourth Movement. Although exposure to Marxist theory was extremely limited in China at the time, Chinese radicals found Lenin's ideas about organizing a revolutionary movement to be readily applicable to their own context. Moreover, the Soviet Union (once established in 1922) offered a unique and compelling model of modernization and revolutionary social change in

15743-465: The advice of Otto Braun , they replaced cautious guerilla tactics with a more traditional military strategy. The subsequent fourth encirclement campaign was a disaster for the Communists, and forced them to abandon South China altogether. They began the Long March , a 9,000 kilometer retreat to Northern China, where Chiang Kai-shek's authority was weaker. In January 1935, the CCP paused the march to hold

15916-573: The banks, factories and commercial properties, which had previously been seized by the Imperial Japanese Army . They also conscripted troops at an accelerated pace from the civilian population and hoarded supplies, preparing for a resumption of war with the Communists. These harsh and unpopular measures caused great hardship for the residents of cities such as Shanghai, where the unemployment rate rose dramatically to 37.5%. The Communists abstained from trying to take and hold any major cities (with

16089-515: The central government will work with "all social groups, sectors and stakeholders towards the ultimate goal of election by universal suffrage of the chief executive" and the LegCo while also noting that the Chinese constitution and the Basic Law together "empower the HKSAR to exercise a high degree of autonomy and confirm the central authorities' right to supervise the exercise of this autonomy". The Basic Law

16262-467: The country's effort in alleviating poverty. Because of its central location in Tiananmen Square, the front of the museum has been used since the 1990s for the display of countdown clocks relating to occasions of national importance, including the 1997 transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong , the 1999 transfer of sovereignty over Macau , the beginning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics , and the opening of

16435-481: The countryside and surrounding areas, including the city of Jinzhou. On 15 November 1945, the Nationalists began a campaign to roll back these gains. Chiang Kai-shek's forces pushed as far as Jinzhou by 26 November 1945, meeting with little resistance. Rather than confront the advancing Nationalists head on, Lin Biao avoided decisive confrontations, and in doing so was able to preserve the strength of his army. The Nationalist advance also prompted Stalin, who did not want

16608-503: The countryside. They fled to Jiangxi, where Mao Zedong had had considerable success in setting up the Chinese Soviet Republic . Established in November 1931, the Soviet had helped expand CCP membership to over 300,000 and supported 100,000 Red Army soldiers. Mao's guerilla tactics had successfully repulsed three KMT encirclement campaigns . The CCP leadership quickly took over from Mao when they arrived from Shanghai. Following

16781-459: The decisive Liaoshen Campaign . The PLA finally captured for good the northern cities of Shenyang and Changchun and consolidated control of the Northeast. The New 1st Army , regarded as the best KMT army, was forced to surrender after the CCP conducted a brutal six-month siege of Changchun that resulted in more than 150,000 civilian deaths from starvation. The conscripted peasants who filled

16954-403: The edge of starvation. Periodic famines were common during both the Qing dynasty and the later Republic of China . Between 1900 and the end of WWII, China experienced no less than six major famines, costing tens of millions of lives. Depending on the system of tenancy, peasants renting land might have been expected to pay in kind or in cash, either as a fixed amount or as a proportion of

17127-601: The end of the Second World War , both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proposed "(China) to recover Hong Kong" ( Chinese : 中國收回香港 , Yue Chinese : 中國收返香港 ), which had since been the common descriptive statement in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan until the mid-1990s. " Reunification of Hong Kong " ( Chinese : 香港回歸 ) was used by a minority of pro-Beijing politicians, lawyers and newspapers during Sino-British negotiations in 1983 and 1984, and gradually became mainstream in Hong Kong by early 1997 at

17300-534: The exception of Jinzhou ), focusing instead on gaining control over the countryside. Nevertheless, as Mao left for negotiations he simultaneously ordered the Shangdang Campaign to defeat as many KMT units in Shanxi as possible and thereby gain a stronger hand at the negotiating table. During negotiations, Chiang's main offer was to move from the second stage of Sun Yat-Sen's stages of unification (KMT tutelage) to

17473-516: The exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong" ( Chinese : 對香港恢復行使主權 ) in the Sino-British Joint Declaration , while the British declared "(to) restore Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China" ( Chinese : 將香港交還給中華人民共和國 ). By the 1820s and 1830s, the British had conquered parts of India and had intentions of growing cotton in these lands to offset the amount of cotton they were buying from America. When this endeavour failed,

17646-472: The exhibit documented China's century of humiliation . The second half depicted China's virtues in overcoming that adversity, the Chinese Communist Revolution , and establishing the People's Republic of China. After touring the exhibit, Xi addressed the media, announcing, "Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese nation in modern times." Due to

17819-746: The exhibition by stating: "What's important is what you are going to discover. I think before money, there's history: 157 years of creativity and craftsmanship." Some critics have also alleged the museum's modern historiography tends to focus on the triumphs of the CCP, while minimizing or ignoring politically sensitive subjects such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution . 39°54′13″N 116°23′42″E  /  39.90361°N 116.39500°E  / 39.90361; 116.39500 Chinese Revolution (1949) [REDACTED] China portal The Chinese Communist Revolution

17992-428: The fight against the warlords with his concerns about growing communist influence within the KMT. In the aftermath of the coup, Chiang negotiated a compromise whereby hardline members of the rightist faction, such as Wu Tiecheng , were removed from their posts in compensation for the purged leftists. By doing so, Chiang was able to prove his usefulness to the CCP and their Soviet sponsor, Joseph Stalin . Soviet aid to

18165-401: The first British Prime Minister to set foot on the territory whilst in office. At a press conference, Thatcher re-emphasised the validity of the three treaties, asserting the need for countries to respect treaties on universal terms: "There are three treaties in existence; we stick by our treaties unless we decide on something else. At the moment, we stick by our treaties." At the same time, at

18338-405: The harvest . Where a share of the harvest was paid, as in much of north China, rates of 40%, 50%, and 60% were common. A system of sharecropping prevailed in much of Shanxi , where landlords owned all agricultural capital and expected 80% of the harvest as rent. The amount of fixed rents varied, but in most areas averaged about $ 4 a year per mu . Proponents of peasant exploitation as a cause of

18511-577: The hat became a famous image of the visit. On April 9, 2021, the exhibition "Field of Hope: A National Photographic Exhibition on 'Poverty Alleviation and Sharing a Moderately Prosperous Society ' " opened at the museum. The exhibition, hosted by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the National Museum of China and the China Photographers Association, features 180 photographs by nearly 150 different photographers, showcasing

18684-515: The instability of the political climate. In response, the PRC government condemned Britain through the press for "playing the economic card" in order to achieve their ends: to intimidate the PRC into conceding to British demands. At one point Deng made it clear that he had no intention of continuing any British administration in any part of Hong Kong. In regards to the treaties establishing British control over Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, Robert Cottrell of The Independent wrote "In practical terms,

18857-544: The island of Taiwan. After that, resistance to the Communists on the mainland was substantial but scattered, such as in the far south. An attempt to take the Nationalist-controlled island of Kinmen was thwarted in the Battle of Kuningtou . In December 1949 Chiang proclaimed Taipei , Taiwan the temporary capital of the Republic, and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority of all China, while

19030-487: The land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising the growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement. CCP leader Chen Duxiu was also upset, both from doubt in the peasants' revolutionary capabilities and fear that premature revolt would wreck the United Front. The KMT-CCP leadership dispatched prominent CCP cadre Mao Zedong to investigate and report on

19203-404: The last and most important cities under Sun Choufang's control: Nanjing and Shanghai. While two of Chiang's columns advanced on Shanghai, Sun was confronted with the defection of his navy and a communist general strike. On 22 March, NRA General Bai Chongxi 's forces marched into Shanghai victorious. But the strike continued until Bai ordered its end on 24 March. The general disorder caused by

19376-491: The latest. A similar phrase "return of Hong Kong to the motherland" ( Chinese : 香港回歸祖國 ) is also often used by Hong Kong and Chinese officials. Nevertheless, "Handover of Hong Kong" is still mainly used in the English-speaking world. "Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong" ( Chinese : 香港主權移交 ) is another description frequently used by Hong Kong officials and the media, as well as non-locals and academics, which

19549-475: The left-leaning journal New Youth in 1915. New Youth quickly became the most popular and widely distributed journal amongst the intelligentsia during this period. In May 1919, news reached China that the Versailles Peace Conference had decided to give German -occupied province of Shandong to Japan rather than returning it to China. The Chinese public saw this not only as a betrayal by

19722-451: The leftists' aim was to leave the UK without effective control, or "to Macau us". The conflict that arose at that point of the negotiations ended the possibility of further negotiation. During the reception of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath during his sixth visit to the PRC, Deng Xiaoping commented on the impossibility of exchanging sovereignty for administration, declaring an ultimatum:

19895-679: The line endorsed by the Comintern. But with the support of Zhou Enlai, Mao defeated the 28 Bolsheviks and Otto Braun, becoming chairman of the Politburo and de facto leader of the party. Although the party survived the Long March, it had lost about 90% of its membership and was on the brink of destruction. But the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War gave the Yan'an Soviet , the communists' new base,

20068-401: The long-running secrecy over the progress of Sino-British talks on the Hong Kong issue. A motion, tabled by legislator Roger Lobo , declared "This Council deems it essential that any proposals for the future of Hong Kong should be debated in this Council before agreement is reached", was passed unanimously. The PRC attacked the motion furiously, referring to it as "somebody's attempt to play

20241-450: The mainland, the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sought the PRC's agreement to a continued British presence in the territory. However, the PRC took a contrary position: not only did the PRC wish for the New Territories, on lease until 1997, to be placed under the PRC's jurisdiction, it also refused to recognise the onerous unequal treaties under which Hong Kong Island and Kowloon had been ceded to Britain in perpetuity after

20414-583: The nature of the unrest. Mao had returned from a previous visit to his rural home town Shaoshan personally convinced that the peasantry had revolutionary potential, and over the course of 1926 had established himself as an authority on rural issues while lecturing at the Peasant Movement Training Institute . Mao spent just over a month in Hunan and published his report in March. Rather than condemning

20587-421: The negotiations set off unrest in the colony. Thatcher later said that Deng told her bluntly that China could easily take Hong Kong by force, stating that "I could walk in and take the whole lot this afternoon", to which she replied that "there is nothing I could do to stop you, but the eyes of the world would now know what China is like". After her visit with Deng in Beijing, Thatcher was received in Hong Kong as

20760-685: The new capital. The new national flag of the People's Republic of China (the Five-starred Red Flag) was officially unveiled and hoisted to a 21-gun salute . The ceremony was followed by a PLA military parade. Commanded by Nie Rongzhen , the Commander of the Northern China Military Region and inspected by Zhu De, the Commander-in-Chief of the PLA, the parade involved around 16,000 PLA officers and personnel. The parade, which

20933-401: The northeast to oppose some 600,000 KMT troops. There were 40,000 PLA casualties at Zhangjiakou alone. They in turn killed, wounded or captured some 520,000 KMT during the campaign. After achieving decisive victory at Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin campaigns, the CCP wiped out 144 regular and 29 irregular KMT divisions, including 1.54 million veteran KMT troops, which significantly reduced

21106-408: The official position of the PRC government, the arranging of real estate leases and loans agreements in Hong Kong within the next 18 years would become difficult. In response to concerns over land leases in the New Territories, MacLehose proposed that British administration of the whole of Hong Kong, as opposed to sovereignty, be allowed to continue after 1997. He also proposed that contracts include

21279-681: The other as unreasonable. Chiang viewed the degree of local autonomy requested by the Communists as a regression to the Warlord Era, and was not willing to sacrifice his goal of reunification. The Communists, on the other hand, suspected they would be massacred if they laid down their arms. Both sides eventually signed the Double Tenth Agreement , but this was mostly for show and the major issues were left unresolved. Negotiations between Chiang and Zhou would continue in Nanjing , but Mao returned to

21452-740: The other. However, the CCP and Kuomintang kept clashing in Southeast Asia during the cold war . Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony , which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a special administrative region of China (SAR) for 27 years, maintaining its own economic and governing systems from those of mainland China during this time, although influence from

21625-455: The peasant movement, his now-famous Hunan Report made the case that a peasant-led revolution was not only justified, but practically possible and even inevitable. Mao predicted that: In a very short time, in China's central, southern and northern provinces, several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back. They will smash all

21798-506: The peasantry, and ultimately managed to consolidate his position during the Yan'an Rectification Movement . The impact of the war on the social and economics conditions of China had been brutal. An estimated 20 to 25 million Chinese were killed in fighting, massacres, and man-made or natural disasters. By 1946, Chinese industries operated at 20 percent capacity and had 25 percent of the output of pre-war China. The influx of cheap American goods forestalled any recovery. In order to coordinate

21971-459: The peasantry. One of the most successful local leaders was Mao Zedong , who turned the Jiangxi Soviet into a "state within a state". In 1935, the Communists were handed a major military defeat, and the survivors made the Long March to a new base in northwest China. During the Long March, Mao rose from a regional leader to undisputed leader of the entire CCP. After settling in their new base,

22144-485: The phrase "for so long as the Crown administers the territory". In fact, as early as the mid-1970s, Hong Kong had faced additional risks raising loans for large-scale infrastructure projects such as its Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system and a new airport. Caught unprepared, Deng asserted the necessity of Hong Kong's return to China, upon which Hong Kong would be given special status by the PRC government. MacLehose's visit to

22317-440: The poorer peasants. Communist cadres worked tirelessly to organize the local population in each new village they arrived, which had the dual benefits of spreading Communist ideas and allowing for more effective administration. In the eight years of war, the CCP membership rose from 40,000 to 1,200,000. According to historian Chalmers Johnson , by the end of the war the CCP had also won the support of perhaps 100 million peasants in

22490-503: The preceding century, termed the century of humiliation , the decline of the Qing dynasty and the rise of foreign imperialism caused escalating social, economic, and political problems in China. The Qing collapsed in 1912 and were replaced with the Republic of China , which had itself fallen into warring factions by 1917. A small group of urban intellectuals, inspired by the October Revolution and European socialist ideas, founded

22663-518: The previous exhibition space, and state of the art exhibition and storage facilities. It has a total floor space of nearly 200,000 m (2.2 million square feet) to display. The renovations were designed by the German firm Gerkan, Marg and Partners . The museum's "Road to Rejuvenation" exhibit was the site for Xi Jinping 's November 2012 articulation of the Chinese Dream political concept. The first half of

22836-549: The provinces of Gansu , Qinghai , Ningxia , Xinjiang , and Yunnan . ROC soldiers who had fled into the mountains of Burma and Thailand worked with the CIA and KMT to finance anti-Communist activities with drug trafficking well into the 1980s. No formal peace between the ROC and the PRC has ever been negotiated. During the final years of the Qianlong Emperor 's reign, China began

23009-534: The questions of Hong Kong and Macau is entirely within China's sovereign right and do not at all fall under the ordinary category of colonial territories. Consequently, they should not be included in the list of colonial territories covered by the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial territories and people. With regard to the questions of Hong Kong and Macau, the Chinese government has consistently held that they should be settled in an appropriate way when conditions are ripe. The same year, on 8 November,

23182-402: The recall or dismissal of American " China Hands " who favored cutting ties with the Nationalists or supporting the Communists, including John Service , Joseph Stilwell , and David Barrett . By mid-1945, the United States was firmly committed to supporting Chiang. According to William Blum , American aid included substantial amounts of mostly surplus military supplies, and loans were made to

23355-431: The regions where they had operated. The temporary truce with the Nationalists also made it possible for the Communists to once again target the urban proletariat, a policy advocated by the "internationalist" faction of the party. Led by Wang Ming , this faction advocated mobilizing labor not for revolution, but rather to support to Nationalists (at least until the war was won). Mao, in contrast, advocated continued focus on

23528-498: The rest of the NRA, which excluding the Communists counted around 4 million regulars and 1 million militia in its ranks. This was compounded by the Communists' lack of war material like trucks, artillery, and other heavy weaponry. For most of the war the Communists had operated in rural areas without factories or support from the Allies , which the Kuomintang received in abundance. As Mao Zedong said to an American Colonel David D. Barrett ,

23701-450: The right-wing government in Nanjing. In 1927, immediately after the collapse of Wang Jingwei's leftist Kuomintang government in Wuhan and Chiang Kai-shek's suppression of communists , the CCP attempted a series of uprisings and military mutinies in Guangzhou, Nanchang and Hunan . Despite initial success they were unable to withstand direct pressure from the NRA. The immediate effect

23874-537: The ruination of the Sino-British talks. The session concluded with Thatcher's writing of a letter addressed to the PRC Premier Zhao Ziyang . In the letter, she expressed Britain's willingness to explore arrangements optimising the future prospects of Hong Kong while utilising the PRC's proposals as a foundation. Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, she expressed Britain's concession on its position of

24047-520: The same time, the Communist Party became an equal partner in the Wuhan government, sharing power with the KMT leftists. Chiang Kai-shek declined to join the rest of the KMT in Wuhan, wary of the influence the CCP had there. Instead, he stayed at his military headquarters in Nanchang and began to rally anti-Communist elements in the KMT and NRA around him. In February 1927, he launched an offensive on

24220-432: The scale of a nation-wide civil war over the summer, as Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale assault on Communist territory in north China with 113 brigades (a total of 1.6 million troops). Knowing their disadvantages in manpower and equipment, the CCP adopted a "passive defence" strategy. It avoided the strong points of the KMT army and was prepared to abandon territory in order to preserve its forces. In most cases

24393-648: The scarcity of land and natural resources in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, large-scale infrastructure investments had been made in the New Territories, with break-evens lying well past 30 June 1997. When the People's Republic of China obtained its seat in the United Nations as a result of the UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971, it began to act diplomatically on its previously lost sovereignty over both Hong Kong and Macau . In March 1972,

24566-540: The seasoned revolutionary Sun Yat-sen was building the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT). Although not a communist, Sun admired the success of the Russian Revolution and sought help from the Soviet Union. The Sun–Joffe Manifesto issued in January 1923 formalized cooperation between the KMT and the Soviet Union. The CCP's Third Party Congress was held in Guangzhou later that year, and

24739-551: The second half of the civil war began. The earliest possible date would be the end of the Second United Front in January 1941, when Nationalist forces ambushed and destroyed the New Fourth Army. Another possible date is the surrender of Japan on August 10, 1945, which began a scramble by Communist and Nationalist forces to seize the equipment and territory left behind by the Japanese. However, full-scale warfare between

24912-412: The special envoy of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to establish an understanding of the PRC's plans with regards to the retrocession of Hong Kong; during their meeting, Deng outlined his plans to make the territory a special economic zone, which would retain its capitalist system under Chinese sovereignty. In the same year, Edward Youde , who succeeded MacLehose as the 26th Governor of Hong Kong, led

25085-669: The strength of Nationalist forces. Stalin initially favored a coalition government in postwar China, and tried to persuade Mao to stop the CCP from crossing the Yangtze and attacking the KMT positions south of the river. Mao rejected Stalin's position and on 21 April, began the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign . On 23 April they captured the KMT's capital, Nanjing. The KMT government retreated to Canton (Guangzhou) until 15 October, Chongqing until 25 November, and then Chengdu before retreating to Taiwan on 7 December. By late 1949

25258-547: The strike is said to have resulted in the deaths of 322 people, with 2,000 wounded, contributing to KMT feelings of unease with its rising Communist allies. The same day the Shanghai strike ended, nationalist forces entered Nanjing. Almost immediately after arrival of the NRA, mass anti-foreigner riots broke out in the city, in an event that came to be known as the Nanjing Incident . British and American naval forces were sent to evacuate their respective citizens, resulting in

25431-405: The surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Communist influence long before the cities. The CCP also attempted to wear out the KMT forces as much as possible. This tactic seemed to be successful; after a year, the power balance became more favorable to the CCP. They wiped out 1.12 million KMT troops, while their strength grew to about two million men. In March 1947 the KMT achieved

25604-447: The take on the Japanese, while the Communists willingly adopted the rhetoric of national resistance against imperialism. Using their experience in rural guerilla warfare, the Communists were able to operate behind the front lines and gain influence among the numerous peasant resistance groups set-up to fight the Japanese. In contrast with the Nationalists, the Communists undertook moderate land reform that made them extremely popular among

25777-442: The theft of public funds to enrich themselves and their families. They ran side businesses with the profits from farming to shore up their finances and isolate themselves from the effects of bad harvests. On holidays, funerals, and other important events, landlords had the right to demand their tenants act as servants, reinforcing the social divide and engendering resentment from the peasants. Agnes Smedley observed how even within

25950-415: The third stage (constitutional government). Mao and Zhou Enlai, on the other hand, were willing to recognize Chiang as de jure President of China in return for de facto autonomy in the provinces of Shanxi, Shandong , Hebei , Rehe , and Chahar . They would be willing to join and support a KMT-led coalition government, but wanted to maintain separate armed forces in their provinces. Both sides criticized

26123-466: The three-legged stool trick again". At length, the PRC and Britain initiated the Joint Declaration on the question of Hong Kong's future in Beijing. Zhou Nan , the then PRC Deputy Foreign Minister and leader of the negotiation team, and Sir Richard Evans , British Ambassador to Beijing and leader of the team, signed respectively on behalf of the two governments. The Sino-British Joint Declaration

26296-493: The trammels that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation. They will sweep all the imperialists, warlords, corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry into their graves. Every revolutionary party and every revolutionary comrade will be put to the test, to be accepted or rejected as they decide. There are three alternatives. To march at their head and lead them. To trail behind them, gesticulating and criticizing. Or to stand in their way and oppose them. Every Chinese

26469-471: The treaties were worthless, sovereignty would be China's in due course, and any row about it would certainly damage Hong Kong in the short term whatever the eventual outcome." Governor Youde with nine members of the Hong Kong Executive Council travelled to London to discuss with Thatcher the crisis of confidence – the problem with morale among the people of Hong Kong arising from

26642-464: The two sides did not truly recommence until June 26, 1946, when Chiang Kai-shek launched a major offensive against Communist bases in Manchuria. This article is focused on the political and social developments that contributed to the Revolution, rather than the military events of the Civil War, so it begins with the founding of the Communist party. The most common date used for the end of the Revolution

26815-452: The two sides floundered, the Civil War resumed. The Communists' newly-formed People's Liberation Army launched a successful series of campaigns that defeated the Nationalists and forced them to retreat to Taiwan . The Communist victory had a major impact on the global balance of power: China became the largest socialist state by population, as well as a third force in the Cold War following

26988-629: The validity of an extension of the lease of Hong Kong territory, particularly in light of binding treaties, including the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, the Convention of Peking in 1856, and the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory signed in 1890. In response, Deng Xiaoping cited the lack of room for compromise on the question of sovereignty over Hong Kong; the PRC, as the successor of Qing dynasty and

27161-435: The war effort, the Nationalist government had taken over more than 70% of Chinese industry, a dramatic increase from the 15% it owned before the war. This consolidation of wealth in the regime's hands contributed to the pervasive problem of corruption. The Nationalist currency had been undergoing hyperinflation since the beginning of the war. By 1945, retail market prices had reached 3,000% of their 1937 levels. This problem

27334-403: The war, the peasantry had not been ready for revolution; economic reasons were not enough to mobilize them. But the nationalism caused by the war changed the situation: "It was the war that brought the Chinese peasantry and China to revolution; at the very least, it considerably accelerated the rise of the CCP to power." The Nationalists' image had been tarnished by Chiang's original reluctance to

27507-409: The year prior had spent three months in the Soviet Union, was appointed commandant of the new National Revolutionary Army (NRA). On 30 May 1925, Chinese students gathered at the Shanghai International Settlement , and held the May Thirtieth Movement in opposition to foreign interference in China. Specifically, with the support of the KMT, they called for the boycott of foreign goods and an end to

27680-427: The year. Concerns about the rising power of the leftist faction, and the effect of the strike on the Guangzhou government's ability to raise funds, which was largely dependent on foreign trade, led to increasing tensions within the United Front. When Sun Yat-sen had died on 12 March, his immediate successor as chairman was the moderate Liao Zhongkai , who supported the United Front and the KMT's close relationship with

27853-414: Was Chiang's base of support. The power of the CCP had grown considerably by the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army —officially still part of the NRA, but in reality under independent Communist command—counted between 1.2 and 1.27 million men. An additional 1.8 to 2.68 million militia brought the total Communist forces to between 3 million and 4 million. When

28026-416: Was a social revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which afterwards became the ruling party of China. The revolution resulted in major social changes within China and has been looked at as a model by revolutionary Communist movements in other countries. During

28199-400: Was a party to talks on its future, alongside Beijing and London. At the preliminary stage of the talks, the British government proposed an exchange of sovereignty for administration and the implementation of a British administration post-handover. The PRC government refused, contending that the notions of sovereignty and administration were inseparable, and although it recognised Macau as

28372-408: Was approved in June 1949, was the first large-scale and modern Chinese military parade, with the country having never done a public review of troops before under previous governments. Liu Bocheng proposed to parade directors Yang Chengwu and Tang Yanjie be organized in the Soviet format, having personally witnessed a military parade on Red Square in Moscow. The Northern Military Region Band (now

28545-402: Was built at the same time. The structure sits on 6.5 hectares (16 acres) and has a frontal length of 313 metres (1,027 ft), a height of four stories totaling 40 metres (130 ft), and a width of 149 metres (489 ft). The front displays ten square pillars at its center. After four years of renovation, the museum reopened on March 17, 2011, with 28 new exhibition halls, more than triple

28718-415: Was compounded by the presence of numerous other currencies printed by the Japanese, Communists, and other local authorities. The Nationalist Government failed to curb inflation after the Japanese surrender and continued to print more currency to pay for the civil war. Hyperinflation reduced the real wages of peasants, workers, and especially soldiers, and destroyed the savings of the upper-middle class that

28891-414: Was elected in absentia to be the first General Secretary . The Chinese Communist Party grew slowly in its first few years. The party had 50 members at the beginning of 1921, 200 in 1922, and 2,428 in 1925. In contrast, the Kuomintang had 50,000 members already in 1923. The CCP continued to be dominated by students and urban intellectuals living in China's large cities, where exposure to Marxist ideas

29064-442: Was followed by Macau after its transfer from Portugal in 1999 under similar arrangements. With a 1997 population of about 6.5 million, Hong Kong constituted 97 percent of the total population of all British Dependent Territories at the time and was one of the United Kingdom's last significant colonial territories. Its handover marked the end of British colonial prestige in the Asia-Pacific region where it had never recovered from

29237-447: Was more extreme in southern China where the commercialization of agriculture was more developed. For example, in Guangdong more than half the rural population owned no land at all. Poor peasants owned an average of only 0.87 mu (about 0.14 acres) and so spent most of their time working rented land. Even in north China, where most peasants owned at least some land, the plots they owned were so small and infertile that they remained on

29410-416: Was signed by Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhao Ziyang and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher on 19 December 1984 in Beijing. The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985 and was registered by the People's Republic of China and United Kingdom governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration,

29583-405: Was strongest: three of the first four party congresses were held in Shanghai, the other in Guangzhou . One exception was Peng Pai , who became the first CCP leader to seriously engage with the peasants. In Haifeng County in rural Guangdong, he organized a powerful peasant association that campaigned for lower rents, led anti-landlord boycotts, and organized welfare activities. By 1923, it claimed

29756-471: Was the basis of the First United Front , which in effect turned the CCP into the left-wing of the larger KMT. The KMT ratified this United Front at its First National Congress in 1924. The Soviets began sending the support the KMT needed for its planned expansion out of Guangdong. Military advisers Mikhail Borodin and Vasily Blyukher arrived in May to oversee the construction of the Whampoa Military Academy , financed with Soviet funds. Chiang Kai-shek, who

29929-406: Was to make it clear to CCP leaders that a formal military apparatus was needed, and during the flight from Nanchang they founded the Chinese Red Army . The defeat left an opening for machinations within the party leadership. In late 1927, Xiang Zhongfa was sent as the CCP's representative to celebrations of the Bolshevik Revolution's 10th Anniversary. While in Moscow, Xiang was able to convince

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