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→China joins the war: adding material from Jung Chang's book
=== China joins the war ===
=== China joins the war ===
Mao Zedong made up his mind to invade Korea in early May 1949 during a trip to Moscow. This was soon after his army had taken Nanjing, then the capital of China. The Chinese Civil War was winding down, leaving Mao in command of a huge victorious army. He was hoping to convince Stalin to provide more weapons and money by fighting America in Korea. Mao focused on the KMT in southern China until October 1949. His next target was the the French in northern Vietnam. It wasn't until late August 1950 that Mao began to move his forces north toward Korea to prepare his offensive.<ref name="Chang">Chang, Jung; Halliday, Jon. Mao: ''The Unknown Story.'' Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. "Why Mao and Stalin Started the Korean War." Chang had access to the Russian archive, which are ignored by most writers on this subject.</ref>
Kim and Stalin were reluctant to accept Chinese aid at this time. North Korean army dissolved after the Inchon landing on September 15, 1950 and Stalin authorized a Chinese offensive on October 1. This triggered an emergency meeting of the Communist leadership at Zhongnanhai in Beijing. The meeting went on for several days and concluded on October 6. The offensive was approved by "one and a half men," as Mao put it. The "half" was Zhou Enlai. The other party leaders, including Lin Biao, were opposed. The decision was always Mao's to make as he had exercised dictatorial authority since 1943.<ref name="Chang"/>
American forces crossed the 38th parallel on October 7, intent upon destroying the North Korean forces, and captured the North Korean capital [[Pyongyang]] in mid-October. China sent hundreds of thousands of well-motivated, veteran troops south from Manchuria, supported by Russian built [[MiG-15]] fighters that were superior to any UN aircraft then in-country. By November the UN offensive had been halted, and by December it was mostly retreat. In January the Chinese forces captured Seoul.
=== Stalemate ===
=== Stalemate ===