Chinese Communist Revolution

In 1949 the Communist Party under Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalists and founded the People Republic of China.

Overview

The party survived near annihilation on the Long March of 1934 to 1935, building rural base areas on peasant land hunger and tax grievance. War with Japan from 1937 bled and discredited the Nationalists while the communists expanded behind Japanese lines. After 1945 civil war resumed; the communist armies won the Manchurian campaigns, Nationalist inflation destroyed the cities, and defections multiplied. Beijing surrendered peacefully in January 1949, and Mao proclaimed the People Republic on 1 October 1949 as Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan. Land reform, collectivization, and later the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution transformed and traumatized the world most populous country. The revolution made China the second great communist power and reshaped the Cold War.