Since the 19th century, Great Britain and France had commercial interests in China, a fact that provoked the Opium Wars or Anglo-Chinese War. At the beginning of the 20th century, China and Japan confronted each other militarily and the Chinese were defeated. On the other hand, the Manchu dynasty that ruled the country generated deep popular unease. Chinese Revolution
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, communist ideology took root among intellectuals the Chinese peasantry. All these aspects were present in the development of the Chinese Revolution.
The revolutionary process continued for more than three decades
In 1911, the Qing dynasty left power after an army revolt. In the following years, turbulent periods were experienced throughout the country, including an attempt to re-establish a new imperial dynasty. In this context, the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang emerged, led by Yuan Shikai and later by Chiang Kai-shek.
The objective of this formation was to definitively pacify the country, since then several military caudillos (the so-called warlords) have occupied a large part of Chinese territory . In 1927, an internal civil war broke out between the Chiang Kai-shek nationalists and the communists led by Mao Tse Tung. Chinese Revolution
During the period of World War II the two rival groups united to fight the Japanese, but when the war ended, nationalists and communists faced each other again.
Over these years the communists gained popular sympathy, as by militarily occupying a new territory they divided the land between the peasants.
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On the other hand, the communists were instrumental in the military victory against the Japanese. One of the most illustrious episodes of the Chinese Revolution was the so-called “Long March”, in which the communist army had to travel more than 12,000 km to escape nationalist troops. This episode is considered key to the creation of the myth of Mao as the great leader of China. Chinese Revolution
The end of the revolutionary process
In October 1949, Mao’s Communist troops entered Beijing and a long period of military conflict came to an end.
As a result , the People’s Republic of China was founded, based on communist ideology and since then the country has been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. The leader of the nationalists, Chiang Kai-shek, was exiled to the island of Taiwan, establishing a military dictatorship that remained in power until 1991.
From the current perspective
The Chinese communist regime and the figure of Mao inspired other revolutionary movements around the world. From the point of view of other ideological assessments, the Chinese model is considered a totalitarian and bloody dictatorship.
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There are currently two apparently opposing models in China: a government led by the Chinese Communist Party and a capitalist-type economic policy .
