In 1938, after the Battle of Wuhan, Wang Jingwei left Chongqing and the Republic of China team in Chongqing for Hanoi. He negotiated with Japanese officials and eventually set up a puppet regime know as the Wang Jingwei Regime and also as the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China. It was almost totally under Japanese domination, with little autonomy. Wang Jingwei's background, including his studies in Japan as a youth, his pessimism towards Japan and his lack of faith that Chi...
Jun 30, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Japan controlled Taiwan as a colony from 1895 to 1945. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese language education and publications stopped and the Imperial Subject Movement tried to Japanize residents of Taiwan. The Baojia system was helpful in controlling the locals and confiscating grain during the war. The Taiwanese were mobilized to support the Japanese War Effort and experienced conscription, bombing and the Comfort Women system. The Cairo Declaration in 1943 announced that Taiwan, the...
May 27, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 61
By the early 1940s, the Communists in Yan’an were feeling relatively secure. The Japanese advance in north China had not reached that area. The Sino-Japanese War and the United Front meant that Chiang Kai-shek’s main concern had been Japan and not the Communist Party. The Nationalist Government in China even funded the Communists in Yan’an. Thousands of recruits flocked to Yan'an. Chairman Mao Zedong used this opportunity to consolidate his leadership of the Communist Party of China. The term Ma...
Apr 07, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 60
For ten months in 1938, Hankou in Wuhan was the center of China's Second United Front and defense against the Japanese invasion. Artistic expression, political parties and free speech all blossomed. Neither the KMT nor the Communist Party fully controlled the city and a variety of generals, thinkers and artists came together to defend against Japanese aggression. Wuhan was under the control of Generals Li Zongren and Bai Zhongxi, heroes of the Chinese victory at Taierzhuang. There was optimism t...
Mar 03, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 59
The treasures of the National Palace Museum, originally the Forbidden City, followed China's path. They escaped the invading Japanese by leaving Beijing, first for Shanghai, then Nanjing and then followed southern, central and northern routes to Sichuan and safety. The Chinese government followed a similar path, as did countless Chinese individuals and families. Japanese bombers followed these refugees west, devastating China. But the Chinese people, Chinese government, Chinese culture and the a...
Feb 12, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 58
On July 7, 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. It is also known as the Lugou Bridge Incident. Within days of the small skirmish with 100 Chinese garrison troops, the Japanese had brought in 180,000 troops. After that, the fighting between the Chinese and the Japanese did not stop until 1945. Japan then attacked Shanghai. Nationalist troops resisted for three months, including with hidden artillery that killed the Japanese Empress' cousin...
Jan 15, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 57
After the Long March, the Chinese Communists were mostly in northern Shaanxi, wanting a breather. Japan had continued its aggression in China after it set up the puppet state of Manchukuo under Emperor Pu Yi. It manufactured incident after incident and had expanded its army’s reach into northern and northeast China. It was trying to influence Inner Mongolia and Hebei, around Beijing. It looked to set up warlords as puppet leaders under Japanese control. Students and intellectuals in Beijing and ...
Jan 07, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Zhou Enlai planned in secret the details of the Chinese Communist's escape from the encirclement of the Central Soviet. He identified a Guangdong warlord who preferred to save his troops rather than fight the Red Army. The First Red Army was able to pass through a number of blockhouses, before reaching the last of Chiang Kai-shek's fortifications near the Xiang River and suffering major casualties. They lost their heavy weapons and almost half their troops at that battle. Then the Red Army moved...
Dec 25, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Mao Zedong had been chosen as President of the Chinese Soviet Republic, but he never controlled its Red Army. Wang Ming and the 28 Bolsheviks had more control, including over land policy and preparations to defend against the Fifth Encirclement Campaign. On land, the Communist Party of China officials didn't want land redistribution to result in a countryside of middle peasants holding private property. With the Land Investigation Movement, they wanted to root out any hidden landlords or rich pe...
Dec 10, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 54
In September 1931, junior officer's of Japan's Kwantung Army in Manchuria set off explosives to make it look like a Chinese attack on Japanese interests along the South Manchuria Railway. This is often called the Mukden Incident or named after the nearby Liutiao Lake. The Kwantung Army then attacked Zhang Xueliang's nearby garrison and, with Japanese reinforcements, moved into the rest of Manchuria. In 1932, the puppet state of Manchukuo was formed, with Puyi, the last Qing Emperor, as Chief Exe...
Dec 04, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Mao had long desired revolution to peace. Even as a student, he wrote of his desire for the destruction of the old universe. Thanks to his teacher Yang Changji, he met early leaders of the Communist Party, got a job as a junior librarian in Beijing and met his second wife. Yang Kaihui fell deeply in love with Mao and stayed loyal to him, even after Mao left her and took a new wife. She preferred to be executed than to renounce Mao. Mao felt ignored by the urban intellectuals at Peking University...
Nov 27, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Chiang Kai-shek used strong-armed tactics to fundraise for his army and government. Kidnapping, ransoms and execution were part of his tactics. He allied with the Green Gang of Shanghai, as did the French authorities. Shanghai businessmen were kidnapped and held for ransom unless they bought Nanjing's bonds during the Northern Expedition. T.V. Soong found a better way to sell Chinese bonds. He increased the interest rate. He also abolished the likin system in areas under Nationalist control, gai...
Nov 16, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 51
After the Northern Expedition, the Guomindang (KMT) ejected Communists from the Nationalist Party. The Communist Party of China had no army. Zhou Enlai had inserted Communists into the Nationalists' Army and the Nanchang Uprising was a coup planned to carve a Red Army out from the Guomindang's troops. It succeeded and they briefly formed a Revolutionary Committee in Nanchang and He Long took command. They retreated before Zhang Fakui could attack them. While Moscow hoped they would march south a...
Nov 06, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) wanted to shrink the Chinese armies following the Northern Expedition. However, the warlords wouldn't agree without a fight. The result was the War of the Central Plains when Chiang defeated the warlords who had helped him win the Northern Expedition. One by one and then as a group they resisted his efforts to assert Nanjing's control over the provincial and regional armies. Thanks to the classic Chinese Empty Fortress Strategy, the Nationalists were able to deter ...
Nov 02, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Zhang Zuolin paid for his defeat by the Northern Expedition with his life. Japan assassinated their former Manchurian ally by detonating a bomb as his train passed. Manchuria was becoming chaotic as refugees arrived fleeing battles and famine in Shandong. Other former warlords also died as family members of their victims took revenge. The Nationalists suspended the Constitution and decreed that China had entered a period of tutelage when the KMT would guide China and, in theory, towards eventual...
Oct 22, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 48
The Nationalists' Northern Expedition began with doubts by their Communist allies. But it was a military success and quickly Henan and then Hebei provinces were captured. Mikhail Borodin then wanted the armies to move north along the Hankou-Beijing railway line. Instead, Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) preferred to follow the Yangzi River downstream and take the rich provinces controlled by the warlord Sun Chuanfang. That was slower going and the new KMT administration in Wuhan was threatening Ch...
Oct 15, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 47
In the lead up to Chiang Kai-shek's Northern Expedition, both the KMT's Hu Hanmin and the Christian General Feng Yuxiang were in Moscow. Hu sought admission by the KMT to the Comintern as China's representative. Feng was seeking weapons and engineers for his National People's Army. Both returned deeply skeptical about the Soviet Union and its intentions towards China. The USSR wanted an alliance with a northern warlord to bolster its interests in Mongolia and Manchuria. For two years, the Christ...
Oct 09, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Two funerals were held for Sun Yat-sen on the same day. One involved Christian rites by his family, to prove that Sun was not a Bolshevik. The other was organized by the Communist Party and involved the Soviet Ambassador and a loudspeaker playing Sun's message about nationalism. Already there was a fight to claim Sun's legacy. Sun's widow, Song Qingling, was from a family which had all studied in the United States. Her father had become a Methodist, then entered into business and paid for all hi...
Oct 04, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 45
The Communist Party of China and the KMT both needed organizing. The KMT and Sun Yat-sen were overly reliant on southern warlords. When they turned on Sun, that made the KMT homeless and risked the life of Sun and those close to him, like his wife Song Qingling. She suffered a miscarriage when Chen Jiongming attacked their house in Guangzhou. Never again would Madame Sun Yat-sen be able to bear children. Mikhail Borodin, born Mikhail Grusenberg, was valued by Sun and lead the re-organization of ...
Oct 01, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 44
A detailed look at China's internal divisions and its neighbours in 1921 when its Communist Party was founded. Image; Map of China and Asia in 1921 Created for the Chinese Revolution Podcast and Chinese Revolution YouTube series. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 24, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 43
The new Communist Party of China faced decisions on how to grow. Henk Sneevliet, representative of the Communist International (Comintern) to the Far East recommended allying with Sun Yat-sen and the KMT and forming a United Front. Communist Party members could join the KMT as individuals while the Communist Party criticized it and organized the workers and peasants for revolution. Henk faced resistance among the Chinese Communists who preferred to go a different way. They tried to organize rail...
Sep 10, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 42
A discussion with Anthony Vernon about atheism in China, both before and since Communism. The distinction between Chinese and foreign religions is featured, as well as how the Chinese Communist Party has changed its policies towards religions over time. Image: "Karl Marx, painted portrait _DDC2742" by Abode of Chaos is licensed under CC BY 2.0 You save and you support this podcast by using those links. Thank you! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 01, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Students were the first Chinese to pay attention to the Russian Revolution and the new Communist government there. The Communist International (or Comintern) founded in 1919, also actively promoted and sponsored revolution abroad. Gregory Voitinsky arrived in 1920 as part of the Soviet efforts in China. Chinese students in France (like Zhou Enlai) and professors at Peking University were quick to promote socialist and Marxist ideas and to form societies and launch publications. They were encoura...
Aug 28, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People inspired the KMT party and were implemented after his death in 1925. They also facilitated cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party of China during the periods of a United Front. This episode discusses those Three Principles as a prelude to a look at the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution Image: "Dr. Sun Yat-sen" by bfishadow is licens...
Aug 27, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 39
This podcast update looks forward to the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party, its United Front with the KMT, then the death of Sun Yat-sen, who is followed by Chiang Kai-shek. You’ll hear stories of the KMT’s successful Northern Expedition before turning its knives on the Communists and the beginning of the fighting between those two sides. There will also be another context episode with a guest soon. Image: "Revolution of 1911" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0. Hosted on Acas...
Aug 24, 2023•2 min
Zhang Zuolin, the Manchurian Warlord, was a streetfighter known as the Pimple who went from waiter to leader of China's north. He climbed from bandit, to soldier and then formed bonds with Japan, Qing officials and then Yuan Shikai. Step by step he grew his power first in Fengtian province, then all three Manchurian provinces and then virtually all of north China. But that was not enough and he craved complete control in Beijing too. The coalition government broke up and war was declared between...
Aug 19, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 38
A look at taxes, inflation, bandits, offshore funds and roving armies during China's Warlord Period. Image: "1920s Chinese coins" by renaissancechambara is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 15, 2023•9 min
A southern Chinese government is set up in Guangzhou. Sun Yat-sen is named Generalissimo. The First Fleet joins with 9 warships. The Anfu Clique wants to attack the south and fails to defeat rebels in Hunan. Then Wu Peifu is sent south and makes progress, but stops his advance and criticizes Duan Qirui for siding with Japan against his fellow Chinese. Wu then supports the May Fourth Movement and gains southern friends and northern enemies. War breaks out between the Anfu and Zhili Cliques. After...
Aug 14, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 37
The Chinese had high hopes for the negotiations in Versailles after the end of the First World War. Wellington Koo argued the Chinese case ably. China wanted to retake control of its Shandong Province, but instead Japan continued to control it because of agreements signed during the war. Then it became clear that Duan Qirui and his Anhui Clique had benefited from Japanese funds in exchange for signing away Shandong to Japan. The May Fourth Movement saw an eruption of student anger, supported by ...
Aug 06, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 36
The KMT had been active opposing Yuan Shikai and his monarchy project. It had strong support among overseas Chinese. After Yuan Shikai's death, Li Yuanhong became President and Duan Qirui became Premier. KMT hopes for an effective republic quickly faded. Li and Duan disagreed about whether China should enter the First World War. Li, his Vice-President and Congress all opposed the war. Only Duan wanted to enter the war. He was dismissed following a vote by Congress. Zhang Xun, the General with th...
Jul 28, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 35
