Changes

After the Japanese occupied the city of Shenyang (formerly Mukden in the [[Manchu]] language) in an event known as the [[Mukden Incident]] on Sept. 18, 1931, extending Japanese control over large areas in northeastern China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fought alongside Japanese invaders to defeat troops of the Republic of China (KMT).

After the Japanese occupied the city of Shenyang (formerly Mukden in the [[Manchu]] language) in an event known as the [[Mukden Incident]] on Sept. 18, 1931, extending Japanese control over large areas in northeastern China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) fought alongside Japanese invaders to defeat troops of the Republic of China (KMT).

====The Long March: 1934-36 ====

===The Nanjing decade: 1927-1937===

In 1934-35, the CCP fled the KMT with over 100,000 men and women.They divided into several armies, marched 6,000 miles inland through a brutal terrain of frigid mountain passes, freezing rivers and marshes in search of a sanctuary to continue their revolution. Only 7000 survived the march.<ref>John M. Glionna, "China's reality check on Long March," [https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-longmarch16jan16,0,3463382.story?coll=la-home-center ''Los Angeles Times, Jan. 16, 2008]</ref>

[[Chiang Kai-shek]], who become Nationalist leader following Sun's death, defeated the Beiyang warlords and moved to central government to Nanjing in 1927. A warlord revolt was defeated in a brief but bloody war in 1930. Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, and in 1937 invaded all of China, defeating the government armies, seizing the coast, the major cities, and setting up a puppet government that controlled most of the population. China's resistance was ineffective.<ref>Spence, ''Search for Modern China'' (1990) ch 14-16</ref>

 

The Long March became the heroic memory of the CCP, and virtually all the Communist leaders of the next 70 years were marchers or their children.<ref>Sun Shuyun, ''The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth'' (2007)</ref>

===World War II: 1937-1945===

===World War II: 1937-1945===