Changes

'''Jiang Jieshi''' (Chiang Kai-shek) (1887-1975) was the autocratic military leader of the [[Guomindang]] from 1925 following the death of [[Sun Yixian]] (Sun Yat-sen), and from 1928 until his death in 1975 was the paramount leader and (with brief interruptions) President of the [[Republic of China]].  

'''Jiang Jieshi''' (Chiang Kai-shek) (1887-1975) was the autocratic military leader of the [[Guomindang]] from 1925 following the death of [[Sun Yixian]] (Sun Yat-sen), and from 1928 until his death in 1975 was the paramount leader and (with brief interruptions) President of the [[Republic of China]].  

=== Early life ===

=== Early life ===

=== Northern Expedition ===

=== Northern Expedition ===

As commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy, Jiang had to work closely with Soviet advisors and [[Chinese Communist Party]] officials (the Guomindang and the CCP had formed a 'united front' as a result of the Sun-Joffe Agreement, the CCP existing as 'bloc within' the Guomindang). [[Zhou Enlai]] (Wade-Giles: Chou En-lai) was a senior political commissar at the academy. However, Jiang was very suspicious of his Communist allies. Following the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925, Jiang became the most powerful individual Guomindang leader, and on March 11 1926 launched a limited purge of communists in Guangzhou (the so-called 'Canton Coup'), as a result of which all his Soviet advisors were expelled. However, he did not dissolve the united front, and the CCP, under orders from Moscow, also continued to maintain the status quo.

As commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy, Jiang had to work closely with Soviet advisors and [[Chinese Communist Party]] officials (the Guomindang and the CCP had formed a '[[united front]]' as a result of the Sun-Joffe Agreement, the CCP existing as 'bloc within' the Guomindang). [[Zhou Enlai]] (Wade-Giles: Chou En-lai) was a senior political commissar at the academy. However, Jiang was very suspicious of his Communist allies. Following the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925, Jiang became the most powerful individual Guomindang leader, and on March 11 1926 launched a limited purge of communists in Guangzhou (the so-called 'Canton Coup'), as a result of which all his Soviet advisors were expelled. However, he did not dissolve the united front, and the CCP, under orders from Moscow, also continued to maintain the status quo.

On July 1, 1926, Jiang launched the Northern Expedition. Guomindang armies marched north from Guangzhou in a bid to free China from the warring warlord factions which had been the sole fluctuating authority in the country since the death of [[Yuan Shikai]] in 1916, and to unify the country under Guomindang rule. However, Jiang was aided by the 'Guangxi Clique' of nationally-minded warlords; and the northern progress of the expedition was aided by carefully-timed popular uprisings planned by the CCP against local warlords. By September 1926 the Guomindang had captured [[Wuhan]] on the middle [[Yangtse]], and a Guomindang government was established there. Instead of continuing to press north, Jiang turned east and in March 1927 occupied [[Nanjing]], which was to become the Nationalist's capital city, and [[Shanghai]].

On July 1, 1926, Jiang launched the Northern Expedition. Guomindang armies marched north from Guangzhou in a bid to free China from the warring warlord factions which had been the sole fluctuating authority in the country since the death of [[Yuan Shikai]] in 1916, and to unify the country under Guomindang rule. However, Jiang was aided by the 'Guangxi Clique' of nationally-minded warlords; and the northern progress of the expedition was aided by carefully-timed popular uprisings planned by the CCP against local warlords. By September 1926 the Guomindang had captured [[Wuhan]] on the middle [[Yangtse]], and a Guomindang government was established there. Instead of continuing to press north, Jiang turned east and in March 1927 occupied [[Nanjing]], which was to become the Nationalist's capital city, and [[Shanghai]].

The period of the 'Nanjing Republic' (1928-37)  was too short and too troubled to enable a full assessment of what established Guomindang rule might have brought China. Jiang was faced by a series of serious internal and external problems:

The period of the 'Nanjing Republic' (1928-37)  was too short and too troubled to enable a full assessment of what established Guomindang rule might have brought China. Jiang was faced by a series of serious internal and external problems:

* Although President of China, his direct rule only extended to the lower Yangtse provinces; the rest of China continued to be ruled by warlords expressing greater or lesser degrees of loyalty to Jiang. In 1929-30 his erstwhile allies Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan rebelled against him and his rule was saved by the intervention of Zhang Xueliang.

* Although President of China, his direct rule only extended to the lower Yangtse provinces; the rest of China continued to be ruled by warlords expressing greater or lesser degrees of loyalty to Jiang. In 1929-30 his erstwhile allies Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan rebelled against him and his rule was saved by the intervention of Zhang Xueliang.

* The communists, defeated in April 1927 and in a number of ill-planned urban uprisings later that year, had regrouped in the countryside and established a number of 'base areas' (most notably that of [[Mao Zedong]] in southern [[Jiangxi]] province). These bases were expanding, and efforts to eliminate the Jiangxi Soviet in a series of 'encirclement campaigns' in the early 1930s had failed. The fifth encirclement campaign of 1933-34 succeeded in destroying the Jiangxi base, but not the communist Red Army, which broke thorough government lines and embarked on the [[Long March]].  

* The communists, defeated in April 1927 and in a number of ill-planned urban uprisings later that year, had regrouped in the countryside and established a number of 'base areas' (most notably that of [[Mao Zedong]] in southern [[Jiangxi]] province). These bases were expanding, and efforts to eliminate the Jiangxi Soviet in a series of 'encirclement campaigns' in the early 1930s had failed. The fifth encirclement campaign of 1933-34 succeeded in destroying the Jiangxi base, and the communist Red Army went into retreat on the [[Long March]].  

* China was increasingly threatened by Japanese expansionism in this period. Jiang had backed down from confrontation with Japan during the 1928 [[Jinan]] incident; he forbade resistance to Japan during the Japanese occupation of [[Manchuria]] in 1931. In 1932 the armed resistance in [[Shanghai]] to Japanese aggression took place against his orders; in 1933 he acquiesced in the Japanese occupation of [[Rehe]]. While Jiang expressed the view that 'communism was a disease of the internal organs, the Japanese a disease of the skin', and that to build a strong China it was necessary to defeat communism first, to an increasing number of Chinese his attitude appeared capitulationist and unpatriotic.

* When the [[Japan]]ese invaded [[Manchuria]] in 1931, Jiang gave precedence to defeating the internal threat posed by the Chinese communists over resisting the Japanese invasion. Jiang expressed the view that 'communism was a disease of the internal organs, the Japanese a disease of the skin', and that to build a strong China it was necessary to defeat communism first, to an increasing number of Chinese his attitude appeared capitulationist and unpatriotic.

* Jiang became increasingly distanced from the Guomindang and increasingly autocratic. He became reliant on a small clique of wealthy supporters, particularly the Song (Soong)family, into which he had married (his wife, Song Meiling (1897-2003), was the sister of Sun Yat-sen's leftist widow, Song Qingling (1892-1981)). One brother in law, T.V. Soong, was his Finance Minister. In 1932 Jiang founded a quasi-fascistic 'Blue Shirts' organisation, and in 1934 Jiang launched the 'New Life Movement', emulating fascist developments in Italy and Germany. this sought to make China strong by stressing traditional virtues, banning spitting, and so on; in the face of Japanese aggression and rampant corruption it seemed a ludicrous distraction and was widely derided where it was not ignored.

* Jiang became increasingly distanced from the Guomindang and increasingly autocratic. He became reliant on a small clique of wealthy supporters, particularly the Song (Soong)family, into which he had married (his wife, Song Meiling (1897-2003), was the sister of Sun Yat-sen's leftist widow, Song Qingling (1892-1981)). One brother in law, T.V. Soong, was his Finance Minister. In 1932 Jiang founded a quasi-fascistic 'Blue Shirts' organisation, and in 1934 Jiang launched the 'New Life Movement', emulating fascist developments in Italy and Germany.  

=== The Xi'an Incident and the Second United Front ===

=== The Xi'an Incident and the Second United Front ===

The [[U.S. War Department]] however, had more realistic and clearer view of the situation. In July 1945, a memorandum entitled, ''The Chinese Communist Movement'', gave a depiction of the true nature of the Communist movement.  The report stated the Maoists were more rigidly controlled than the KMT, allowed no opposition groups to exist in their areas (in contrast to the KMT), and were part of the [[international Communist]] movement. <ref>Anne W. Carroll, [http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/FR89102.TXT ''Who Lost China''], 1996. Retrieved from www.ewtn com/library/ August 16, 2007.</ref>

The [[U.S. War Department]] however, had more realistic and clearer view of the situation. In July 1945, a memorandum entitled, ''The Chinese Communist Movement'', gave a depiction of the true nature of the Communist movement.  The report stated the Maoists were more rigidly controlled than the KMT, allowed no opposition groups to exist in their areas (in contrast to the KMT), and were part of the [[international Communist]] movement. <ref>Anne W. Carroll, [http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/FR89102.TXT ''Who Lost China''], 1996. Retrieved from www.ewtn com/library/ August 16, 2007.</ref>

Jiang ostensibly converted to [[Christianity]] (specifically, to [[Methodism]]) on his marriage to [[Song Meiling]] and was a fierce opponent of [[Communism]].  

Subsequent to [[World War II]], the resurgence of Communism under [[Mao Zedong]] resulted in civil war, and Jiang had to depart the Chinese mainland for the island of [[Taiwan]] in 1949, where he resumed his position as president, albeit of a massively reduced territory.  

== Poetry ==

== Poetry ==