Changes

* Chiang married into the wealthy  Song (Soong) family, 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.  

* Chiang married into the wealthy  Song (Soong) family, 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 December 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, two KMT generals, kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in Xi’an. This has since been referred to as the Xi’an Incident. At the beginning of the incident, the Communist leaders planned to kill Chiang but Stalinm intervened and forced the Communists to cooperate with him, in hopes a united China would tie down Japanese forces and thus reduce the threat to the Soviet Union.<ref>[http://en.epochtimes.com/news/4-12-13/24830.html ''On the Beginnings of the Chinese Communist Party''], The Epoch Times, Dec 13, 2004.</ref>  

In December 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, two KMT generals, kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in Xi’an. This has since been referred to as the Xi’an Incident.  

The Red Army was soon turned into the Eighth Route Army and grew bigger and more powerful than before.

 

At the beginning of the incident, the leaders of the CCP wanted to kill Chiang Kai-shek, At that time, the CCP had a very weak base in northern Shaanxi province, and had been in danger of being completely eliminated in a single battle. The CCP instigated Zhang and Yang to revolt.

 

In order to pin down the Japanese and prevent them from attacking the Soviet Union, <ref>[http://en.epochtimes.com/news/4-12-13/24830.html ''On the Beginnings of the Chinese Communist Party''], The Epoch Times, Dec 13, 2004.</ref> [[Stalin]] personally wrote to the Central Committee of the CCP, asking them not to kill Chiang Kai-shek, but to cooperate with him for a second time. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai realized that they could not destroy the KMT with the limited strength of the CCP; if they killed Chiang Kai-shek, they would be defeated and even eliminated by the avenging KMT army. The CCP changed its tone. The CCP forced Chiang Kai-shek to accept cooperation a second time in the name of joint resistance against the Japanese.

 

The Red Army was soon turned into the Eighth Route Army and grew bigger and more powerful than before.  

 

=== The Sino-Japanese War ===

=== The Sino-Japanese War ===