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The history of 19th century and 20th century China, leading up to the Chinese Revolutions, the Republic of China and then the People’s Republic of China.
This podcast was inspired by Mike Duncan’s Revolutions. This podcast follows him by telling the stories leading to the Chinese Revolutions.
The episodes cover the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, foreign treaties and concessions bringing trade and Christianity to China, the Boxer Rebellion, China’s 1911 Revolution, the Warlord Period, the KMT and the rise of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese United Fronts are discussed. Personalities like the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing emperors, Earl Li Hongzhang, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong are featured. The experiences of Chinese working overseas, including in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States of America are also brought to life. We have looked at stories from the late Qing Dynasty. Now we are looking at the stories of the Republic of China, the Communist International (Comintern)’s interest in exporting world revolution to China and the United Fronts, including the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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The Chinese Revolution podcast has been listened to in about 110 countries.
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The podcast The Chinese Revolution is created by Paul Hesse. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
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 China would ever gain allies against Japan, all contributed to his decision to set up an alternative Republic of China puppet government in Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
He died in 1944, but his successor was executed after the war for treason. Today, Wang is remembered as a hanjian (a traitor to the Han nation) and a kuilei (a puppet).
The Wang Jingwei Regime complicated China's remembrance of the Sino-Japanese War. Until 1982, the Communist Party of China didn't distinguish between Wang Jingwei's Regime in Nanjing under Japanese occupation and Chiang Kai-shek's government in Chongqing resisting Japanese aggression.
Over 200 million Chinese faced difficult decisions in deciding whether to flee their hometowns during the war, or to stay under Japanese occupation and puppet regimes.
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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 Penghu Islands and Manchuria would be part of the Republic of China after Japan's defeat.
The Kwantung Army created the puppet state of Manchukuo, with Emperor Puyi as figurehead. Its Unit 731 did biological weapons testing and medical experiments on locals. Opium laced cigarettes were also sold to unsuspecting Chinese. Japanese farmers relocated to Manchuria. Industry and mining flourished.
Around 200,000 Chinese women were exploited as Comfort Women, with harrowing stories.
Puppet regimes were also established in North China, Inner Mongolia and at Nanjing. The Japanese military, really in control, found benefit in having Chinese figureheads, like Wang Kemin and Wang Jingwei, maintaining appearances of Chinese led local governments.
Image: "Japanese HK Occupation Poster 1" by greggman is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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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 Mao Zedong Thought was first introduced and a cult of personality built around Chairman Mao. Mao became the ideological leader of the Chinese Communists. Wang Ming and the 28 Bolsheviks were criticized for Factionalism. Wang Shiwei was purged and executed for criticizing Mao and the "big men" in Yan'an. Intense self-criticism and public criticism sessions re-educated Communists to rebuild them into loyal, obedient Communists with a fighting spirit. This was the first Rectification Campaign, but it was not the last.
Major source: Gao, Hua. (2018). How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan’an Rectification Movement, 1930–1945. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Image source: "In Memory of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Publication of Chairman Mao's Splendid “Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art” (纪念毛主席的光辉著作《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》发表三十周年)" by Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, UofT is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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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 that the Japanese could be stalled and stopped. Robert Capra came to Wuhan to film the heroic defence. Dr. Norman Bethune brought medical care to the Eighth Route Army. W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood visited and wrote a book about the war zone. General Han Fuju was executed for giving up Shandong without a fight.
But the Chinese underestimated Japanese combined arms and amphibious attacks. The forts they built to defend against the Japanese Navy moving up the Yangzi River were vulnerable to land based attacks. The Chinese Nationalist Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War suffered similar defeats to the Qing defenders during the Opium War.
With the fall of Hankou came an end to the freedom and optimism of Wuhan in 1938. Chiang Kaishek lost 80% of his officers and over a million soldiers dead or injured. The Japanese attackers also suffered their worst losses of the war and stopped their assault on the Yangzi River and instead turned their focus to north China.
The internationalist wing of the Communist Party of China also had their final moment with the fall of Hankou. Soon, Mao Zedong's supremacy from rural Yanan would become dominant.
Major sources:
MacKinnon, Stephen. (1996). The Tragedy of Wuhan, 1938. Modern Asian Studies , Oct., 1996, Vol. 30, No. 4, Special Issue: War in Modern China (Oct., 1996), pp. 931-943. Cambridge University Press
and
Wu, D. (2022). The cult of geography: Chinese riverine defence during the Battle of Wuhan, 1937-1938. War in History, 29(1), 185-204.
Image: "Joris Ivens, John Fernhout en Robert Capa aan het werk in Hankow, China, RP-F-2012-139.jpg" by Rijksmuseum is marked with CC0 1.0.
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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 antiquities from the National Palace Museum survived the Sino-Japanese War. This is the story of China's survival during the war.
Topics like wartime inflation, the Chinese victory at Taierzhuang and the government decision to breach the Yellow River dikes and to flood Chinese land are also discussed.
Image Source: National Palace Museum
Main Source: Brookes, Adam. (2022). Fragile Cargo: The World War II Race to Save the Treasures of China's Forbidden City. Atria Books
Secondary Source: Bloch, Kurt. Far Eastern War Inflation. Pacific Affairs , Sep., 1940, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1940), pp. 320-343. Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia
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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 during an amphibious landing. But the Japanese eventually captured China's largest port city and turned their attention to the national capital of Nanjing, after sacking the historic, cultural city of Suzhou.
Chiang Kai-shek ordered Nanjing to be both defended and evacuated. Treasures from the Forbidden City were moved west, along with government officials. Soldiers were brought in and they fortified in anticipation of the attack. Refugees streamed west, including some to Nanjing. Trapped between the attacking columns and the Yangzi River, only a small number were able to evacuate once the battle was lost. Those who were not able to find refuge in the Nanjing Safety Zone were most often killed or raped and murdered. The Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was one of the worst war crimes in human history.
John Rabe, a Nazi, helped save thousands, perhaps even two hundred thousand lives as he led the Nanjing Safety Zone. He used his Nazi armband to get Japanese soldiers to leave the Chinese alone. He reported Japanese abuses to German officials, including Hitler, but in Germany, after being transferred back to Berlin, he was taken and interrogated by the Gestapo.
Robert Wilson, a surgeon, refused to leave and gave medical care day and night for free, at the cost of his own health.
Minnie Vautrin gave up food, took beatings and had her life threatened for protecting Chinese in the Safety Zone, which the Japanese did not recognize. Her efforts to save Chinese lives and spirits cost her life. She told the Chinese that China would not perish and that Japan would fail in the end.
It did and War Criminals were tried and executed, both in Tokyo and in Nanjing, for acts during the Nanjing occupation.
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall is today a place of remembrance and of education.
Image: "Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall" by kevin dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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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 other Chinese cities began protesting against the Japanese and against politicians that they perceived as being too friendly to Japan. It was a reminder of earlier demonstrations against Japan like the May Fourth movement of 1919.
The Communist Party and Comintern supported these student protests against Japan. The Soviet Union was very concerned by Japan’s aggression and the fact that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had signed an anti-Comintern pact in late 1936. Stalin wanted either an anti-Japanese China, or alternatively, a Communist controlled buffer state between it and Japan.
Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government in Nanjing was prioritizing pacifying internal enemies before resisting foreign aggression. Chiang was not against resisting Japan. He had done so when Japan had attacked Shanghai and at other times, but Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was clear-cut. First, eliminate the internal threat posed by the Chinese Communists, then turn attention towards the aggressive expansion of Japan.
His subordinates, especially Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng had other ideas.
They then kidnapped Chiang Kai shek and placed him under house arrest in Xi'an. Negotiations ensued. Madame Chiang Kai Shek and Zhou Enlai both travelled to Xi'an. Eventually Chiang was released and Zhang Xueliang volunteered to travel with him back to Nanjing.
Zhang was then put under house arrest for 5 decades.
This ended the encirclement of the Chinese Communists and started the Second United Front. This time, they would focus on resisting Japanese expansion into China. But Japan was furious by this development and the Xian Incident helped cause the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Image: "1937 China Nanking Chiang Kai-Shek" by manhhai is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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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 quickly and often at night on The Long March. They reached northern Guizhou, close to the base of the Second Red Army, and rested.
At the Zunyi Conference, the 28 Bolsheviks lost their previous influence over the Communist Party of China and Mao Zedong began his rise to power. Mobile and guerilla warfare again became military policy.
The destination for the Long March changed at this point and instead of staying in Guizhou, the First Red Army tried to cross north into Sichuan. Faced with defensive resistance and at risk of annihilation, the First Red Army crossed the Chishui River four times. They escaped destruction, but now chose to move west and then north through Yunnan. They reached western, rather than eastern Sichuan.
The Long Marchers faced Snowy Mountains and a treacherous bog.
The First Red Army finally met up with the leader of the Fourth Red Army, Zhang Guotao, but couldn't reach agreement on a destination. Zhang preferred that they all settle around Sichuan, where he already had built a base and had the strongest Red Army.
Mao preferred to continue travelling to northern Shaanxi. His column arrived there in late 1935 and in 1936, moved within northern Shaanxi to Yenan.
It is said they crossed 18 mountain ranges and 24 rivers to reach there. Early on, Mao saw the Long March's myth-making potential and used it to turn this military retreat into a story of the Communists trip through the wilderness to a new land. It was symbolic of the journey from the old China to the new promised China.
Zhang Guotao's column was soon defeated and, having lost his military strength, Zhang also lost power in the Communist Party and after a trial and self-criticism, went over to the Guomindang.
Chiang Kai-shek might have allowed the Communists to retreat westward in order to follow them and take greater control over autonomous provinces like Guangxi and Sichuan. Because of the Long March, he was able to influence Sichuan for the first time and later made its then city of Chongqing his capital during World War II.
The Communist Party leadership survived because of the Long March, but most ordinary soldiers did not. Mao's wife gave birth painfully along the way. Of the approximately 80,000 troops who left the Central Soviet, only about 7,000 arrived in northern Shaanxi, and that was with recruitment along the way. Yet much had changed, including greater autonomy of the Chinese Communists from Moscow.
Image: "Map of the Long March 1934-1935-en" by Chinese_civil_war_map_03.jpg: User:Guimard derivative work: Rowanwindwhistler (talk) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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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 peasants. But what they didn't change was the limited amount of land to divide among a huge rural population. The result was that basically everyone would farm at the subsistence level.
Chiang Kai-shek was preparing for the Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Chinese Soviets. This time it would be Seven Parts Political and Three Parts Military. His wife and he advocated for the New Life Movement. The Chinese people should live according to the four virtues.
He also carefully prepared for the military campaign by supervising the construction of roads in Jiangxi and block houses. The Chinese Soviets would be blockaded and logistics and supplies improved.
Otto Braun, Comintern Representative and Communist military strategist, through out the previously successful strategy of Luring the Enemy In Deep and guerrilla warfare and copied the KMT's blockhouse strategy. This time, the Communists would defend the territory of the Chinese Soviet Republic and only commit to Short, Swift Thrusts. Soviet territory was stripped bare to commit the resources for the new blockhouses and supplies for the Red Army defences.
It was a disaster for the Red Army and for the Chinese Soviets. The armies were wiped out by conventional warfare against a numerically and economically superior opponent. Residents, especially "class enemies" began to defect to the KMT. Eventually, even soldiers and Communist officials defected too.
The Fifth Encirclement Campaign was a great success for the Nationalists. The Chinese Soviet Republic was defeated, and this time, the Chinese people supported the KMT. Mao Zedong would blame the defeat on the Communists on Wang Ming and the 28 Bolsheviks. Mao would further rise to power. But first, would come The Long March.
Image: "Map of the Northeast Jiangxi Soviet" by SilverStar54 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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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 Executive and then Emperor of Manchuguo. Few states other than Japan recognized the new State.
China increased tariffs on Japan complained to the League of Nations, which investigated and requested that Japan withdrew its troops. Instead, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations.
Zhang Xueliang, the Young Marshal, did not resist the Japanese takeover of his territory. But over 200,000 provincial army soldiers and long-time bandits did. Railcars were attacked and railways torn up. The Japanese responded by bombing hideouts and killing civilians in the process.
Then Japan's naval marines attacked the Chinese controlled part of Shanghai, in further unprovoked aggression following some anti-Japanese protests resulting from Japan's moves in Manchuria. China's 19th Army and Chiang's 5th Army under the command of the 19th Army, resisted Japan fiercely. For 33 days they fought a modern urban warfare battle and then Chinese soldiers defended against combined arms attacks in the river delta outside Shanghai. Japan's Navy couldn't win and needed help from its Army. Still, the Chinese resisted and Japan had to bring in more and more soldiers and equipment to save face. A negotiated settlement resulted in Japanese troops withdrawing and China demilitarizing Shanghai.
Japan had begun a new period of aggression against China and a 14 year war was beginning. The Nationalist government now was faced with a new threat. Not only did it have to face internal challenges like warlords, strong provincial governors and Communists committed to overthrowing the government. It also battled an aggressive and powerful country to its east that was beginning its invasions.
Image: "25126-Changchun" by xiquinhosilva is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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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. Later, those intellectuals and students who had travelled to France and Moscow, controlled the Communist Party of China. Many of them believed urban workers were key to the Chinese Revolution. They started putsches trying to capture key Chinese cities. Those efforts failed and even more urban communists were captured and eliminated.
Gu Shunzhang, head of the Communist Secret Service was arrested and chose to collaborate and revealed the names and locations of key Communists. Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam was arrested and deported. Others were killed, including the Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party. Li Lisan was blamed for this failures.
Mao Zedong survived in Jiangxi and Fujian provinces by leading Soviets there. He led investigations into local conditions, including in Xunwu, before land redistributions. Mao came to understand in detail the peasant situation, who were the revolutionary classes and who were the true counterrevolutionaries.
At times Mao and his group called other Communists counterrevolutionaries and engaged in purges. They were not alone. This was a challenging time for Communists.
They benefited from the KMT armies being distracted. First by the Central Plains War and then by Japan's invasion of Manchuria. Efforts by Chiang Kai-shek to eliminate the Communists would have to wait.
Image: "Burning up Land Deeds by Gu Yuan (1919-1996)" by lukenotskywalker60 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Note from the host: AI was used in this episode to dramatize some voices from quotes I selected using the sources listed in my sources section.
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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, gained control over Chinese tariffs and negotiated the return of some Boxer Indemnity funds. But he made Japan his enemy and annoyed Chiang by pushing back against the constant demands for more money for the KMT's armies. He was forced out in favour of his brother-in-law H.H. Kung, who understood his job as Finance Minister was to provide Chiang with money for the military regardless of the cost.
Deng Yanda and the Provisional Action Committee of the Guomindang offered an alternative to Chiang's leadership. It sought mass appeal by organizing students, peasants and workers. It also gained supporters who had graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy. An insurrection was planned and Commander Chen Cheng appeared ready to bring Deng to power. But instead he was arrested and executed.
This was the final straw for Song Qingling, the widow of Sun Yat-sen and sister of T.V. Soong. She had already supported the USSR when it invaded Manchuria in a dispute over the China Eastern Railway. Now she asked a Comintern representative to join the Communist Party. They preferred her to be outside the party, criticizing the Nationalists as a disgruntled ex-KMT member. But she received secret agent training and was loyal to the Communist Party of China until her death, when she was rewarded with a party membership on her deathbed.
Note from the host: AI was used in this episode to dramatize some voices from quotes I selected using the sources listed in my sources section.
Image: "File:Teng-Jan-dah - (Deng Yanda ) 1927.jpg" by Chinarail2 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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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 and support the Canton Commune, instead they headed south east to Shantou, along the coast. The hoped for resupply ship from Russia never arrived and the Red Army troops were scattered.
Zhu De, future Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army, survived by assuming a fake name and briefly joining the Nationalist Army again and pretending to be loyal. Then he and his troops escaped north and formed Soviets and burned villages under orders of the Communist Party. He then joined forces with Mao Zedong.
Mao had already been in the Ridge of Wells area along with the remainder of troops from the unsuccessful Autumn Hills Uprising. Mao had joined forces with bandits and then taken over those gangs and absorbed them. His forces were raiding and looting from "the rich", which included farmers with a few hens.
Mao and Zhu and 3000 troops then moved in 1929 before Chiang Kai-shek's troops could capture them. These early days for the Red Army and for Mao's leadership in the countryside held plenty of lessons. They were surviving and learning.
Image: "People's Liberation Army" by Kent Wang is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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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 Li Zongren from taking the underdefended Wuhan. They then got between his columns and interrupted his supply lines. This allowed the KMT to win the southern campaign and to move troops north to then push Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang back.
Over 1 million soldiers fought in the war and the casualties were about 300,000 dead, injured or captured. Chiang Kai-shek was able to overcome a three front war and emerge dominant, better able to turn his attention from Warlords to the Communists and to Japan.
Image: "File:Central Plains War.png" by SY is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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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 democracy.
The KMT had to face multiple issues, including strong provincial and regional governors who controlled the most important land tax and who all had local armies.
Chinese spoke many different local tongues and a national speech project was pursued.
The Soong family, all of whom had studied in the USA, became close with the Nanjing government. Many became leading cabinet ministers. Meiling married Chiang Kai-shek.
But the middle sister Qingling, also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, publicly resigned from the KMT and chose exile in Moscow. While the business minded siblings appreciated Chiang's rejection of communism, Qingling thought it was subverting the principles of her late husband.
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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 Chiang's funding and role as Commander-in-Chief.
Chiang supported a purge of Communists in his territories and the crackdown on Communism in Shanghai and other cities caused a split in the Guomindang. Two rival capitals and governments were set up. One in Wuhan was allied with the Communists and Soviets. Chiang's in Nanjing was anti-Communist.
Warlords joined in and the Manchurian General had Li Dazhao killed when the Soviet Embassy was raided. Zhou Enlai barely escaped Shanghai.
The Wuhan administration pushed the military campaign north towards Beijing while trying to stop the peasants from "excesses" in the countryside. Then Wuhan and the Soviet's ally, the Christian Warlord Feng Yuxiang, turned on the Communists and insisted that the Wuhan government purge itself of Communists. The first United Front was over and the split in the Guomindang ended. The crackdown on Communists and the social revolution intensified.
Chiang and his allies were then able to push north and capture Beijing. The Northern Expedition had been a military success. The Nationalists had achieved their long held goal of forming a national government.
Mao Zedong was a survivor of the anti-communist violence and led a small group of rebels in the countryside. They would need to relocate to a mountain hideout. Mao learned a few things during the Northern Expedition. "Political power is obtained from the barrel of the gun." He also realized that taking land from independent cultivators who neither paid rent nor received rent, was a mistake. They were the "swing voters" of the rural revolution. By 1928, he realized he needed those middle peasants as allies.
Chiang Kai-shek had won the battles of the Northern Expedition. But would he win the peace?
Image: "Chiang Kai-shek in 1927" by quinet is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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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 Christian Warlord and the atheist Soviets formed an awkward alliance. It wouldn't work out for the Communists, but Feng would end up helping Chiang's Northern Expedition. Chiang needed all the help he could get. The Nationalist's Army was only one-tenth the size of the combined forces of the other armies on the eve of the Northern Expedition.
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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 his children to study in the USA. One of his daughters had married Sun Yat-sen at age 21. The youngest would later marry Chiang Kai-shek and become China's First Lady.
With Sun's passing, Wang Jingwei became KMT leader. He had the support of his party's left and the Communists. After an assassination of a KMT executive member and some unsuccessful manuevers by the KMT right, the Communists were more important than ever in the KMT. Mao Zedong was in an important role in propaganda for the KMT.
But just when Mikhail Borodin (Grusenberg) thought that Soviet interests were managed, he left Guangzhou and a coup resulted. Communist Party members of the KMT were weakened and the party was re-organized. Chiang Kai-shek went from being Director of the Whampoa Military Academy to Commander-In-Chief. He confused the Soviets and avoided their blame for the coup. He was well positioned, with Soviet and Communist support, to launch the Northern Expedition that Sun Yat-sen had long dreamed of.
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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 the KMT and the Communist Party's outreach in Guangdong. Students went to the people and organized the peasants and began class struggle in rural Guangdong. Sun helped turn a labour strike in Guangzhou into a nationalist victory.
The Whampoa Military Academy and the KMT and Communist Party were now able to train revolutionary soldiers. Borodin thought he had the perfect unpolitical soldier in its Director, Chiang Kai-shek.
The corrupt Cao Kun, leader of the Zhili Clique, was ousted as President in a coup and Sun hoped to assume the national presidency and unite China. But he was dying of cancer and Duan Qirui had more support in the north and with the Japanese.
What would happen after Sun's death?
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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.
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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 railway workers and call for a General Strike. Meanwhile, the Seamen's Union in Guangzhou had more success.
What was the best way forward for the Communists in China?
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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.
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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 encouraged by Cai Yuanpei, the Republic of China's first Minister of Education who was then Rector of Peking University. In particular, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were two intellectuals very active in the lead up to the First Congress of the Communist Party of China. Each was elected at that important first meeting. Chen became the party's first Secretary-General and Li became responsible for propaganda. A Dutch communist, Henk Sneevliet, was present on behalf of the Comintern. A 28 year old Mao Zedong was also there before returning to Hunan province.
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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.
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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.
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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 his Fengtian Clique and the Zhili Group.
Wu Peifu showed himself to be the better commander in 1922 and Zhang had to lick his wounds and regroup in Manchuria. He waited for a chance to exact revenge.
Image: "Zhang Zuolin, former warlord of Manchuria 1927" by quinet is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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A look at taxes, inflation, bandits, offshore funds and roving armies during China's Warlord Period.
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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 initial losses, Wu Peifu helps to defeat the Anfu Clique in battle. Duan Qirui resigns and a new administration is set up by the Zhili and Fengtian Cliques.
Meanwhile, the people are suffering from warlords, taxes, duties and destruction. Banditry is often the last resort of the unemployed. But the difference between soldiers and bandits is less than first appears.
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Image: "Wu Peifu with sword" by Unknown authorUnknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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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 intellectuals, businesses and workers. There was even a general strike in Shanghai. The seeds of Chinese Communism were being planted two years before the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
Behind the scenes, provincial warlords and officials supported the May Fourth Movement as a way of undermining Duan Qirui and his Anhui Clique. They could genuinely use patriotism to criticize Duan's betrayal of China to Japan.
These tensions among warlords would soon reach a boil.
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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 the Queue, used that tension to invade Beijing with his 500 soldier Pigtail Army, and restore the teenage Pu Yi as Qing Emperor.
Duan Qirui quickly retook Beijing and assumed power in China. China entered the war on the same side as Japan, Great Britain, France and Russia. China contributed 140,000 labourers through the Chinese Labour Corps and the Corps de Travailleurs Chinois. Some stayed in France after the war.
By being on the winning side in the war, Chinese expected that their country would regain control of the former German concessions. But Duan Qirui had signed those over to Japan in exchange for loans that helped bring him to power. He also agreed that Japanese troops could be stationed along the Chinese frontier with Russia.
Chinese opinion was strongly against Duan when these secret agreements came out. What role would mass mobilization have on Duan?
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Chinese feminists and revolutionaries were active before and during China's 1911 Revolution. Qiu Jin wore men's clothing, was ahead of her time by writing in Standard Chinese instead of Classical Chinese and in making speeches to engage all ages in the struggle for women's rights and women's education. These women believed that women had to seek their own rights, rather than depend on men.
Wu Shuqing imagined and then created the Women's Revolutionary Army, which fought at Hankou and Nanjing during the 1911 Revolution.
Films and plays have been made about Qiu Jin. But more should be known about Wu Shuqing whose life after the revolution is not really known.
Women's rights and education have improved since then. And women have led the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan. But on the mainland, the Chinese Communist Party is currently run exclusively by 24 men and no women. Qiu might be disappointed.
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Yuan Shikai consolidates power as President of the Republic of China. His greatest threats now come from outside China. Russia eyes Mongolia and Britain takes interest in Tibet. The First World War changes the dynamic and Japan seizes Germany's concessions in Shandong. Then Japan issues Twenty-One Demands on China. Yuan negotiates and softens the blow, but suffers from the humiliation.
Yuan Shikai's son and others push for a new monarchy and Yuan goes along. The Grand Constitutional Monarchy is founded, but only lasts for 83 days. Rebellions and opposition start almost immediately and provinces break away. Beiyang Army Generals oppose Yuan and some accept help from Japan. The civil war is only ended when Yuan Shikai dies of natural causes and both sides agree to Li Yuanhong succeeding him as President of the Republic of China.
China has fractured. Can it heal?
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Yuan Shikai promised to respect China's constitutional republic. A mutiny by unpaid members of the Beiyang Army causes riots in Beijing and other cities. Yuan avoids moving to Nanjing. He de-mobilizes provincial troops and wins a power struggle with the Chinese Premiers. Yuan Shikai puts his own men in important positions.
The Guomindang (KMT) is founded and wins the first election after the 1911 Revolution. Song Jiaoren, KMT's leader, expects to be the new Premier. Instead, he is assassinated. Yuan's followers are implicated and the KMT blames Yuan himself.
Yuan moves troops into strategic locations, uses a new foreign loan to pay troops loyal to him and replaces KMT provincial governors. When they resist with the 1913 revolution, Yuan is ready and his troops quickly suppress the insurrection.
Yuan Shikai consolidates power further in bloody repressions. The KMT is banned and even elected representatives are killed in the crackdown. Yuan Shikai, with loyal troops looking on, is elected President of China by the remaining members of Congress after midnight, on a third ballot. Yuan's power seems supreme. But within 3 years, he will be almost without support.
"Kuomintang of China" by Kautsmenhal is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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An update on the Chinese Revolution series made in July 2023.
Image: "Revolution of 1911" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0.
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Yuan Shikai's New Army becomes a national model and military reforms spread throughout China. The death of the Empress Dowager brings Zaifeng in as regent to Pu Yi, the three year old emperor. Yuan is sacked and briefly fears for his life. He quietly retires for over two years. A Qing railway reorganization in Sichuan leads to rebellion. Imperial troops are moved south and the remaining Wuchang Garrison launches a mutiny. The 1911 Revolution has begun and the Qing Court appoints Yuan as Governor General to suppress the rebels. Many see the Qing cause as hopeless. Shikai leads troops that gain control of the north bank of the Yangtze River, but after deadly urban combat. Negotiations take months, but eventually lead to a generous abdication package for Pu Yi and an imperial edict ends the Qing Dynasty and proclaims the Republic of China. 2000 years of imperial dynasties end with an almost bloodless struggle. Yuan becomes President as China celebrates the end of Manchu rule. But the honeymoon period will not last long.
"Revolution of 1911" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0.
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Part 2 of a look at Yuan Shikai. Yuan resigned as Imperial Commissioner to Korea and served as a logistics officer during the Sino-Japanese war. Following China's defeat to Japan, Yuan wrote a 13,000 word memo to the emperor outlining his ideas for military reform. Yuan Shikai was then appointed and became the father of China's New Army. He was then promoted to Governor of Shandong and then Zhili provinces. He had to deal with the Boxer Rebellion underway and navigate foreign concessions and the invasion of Tianjin and the capital during the Boxer Rebellion. He was a supporter of reforms, the Qing Court and the Dowager Empress, except when she asked him to do battle with the foreign invaders. He improved Shandong and Zhili provinces and showed himself to be a capable reformer.
Image: "Yuan Shikai, 1859-1916, Militärgouverneur in Shantung" by Siegfried Weiß is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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This episode looks at the early life of Yuan Shikai, future president of the Republic of China.
Born to a concubine in a leading gentry family in Henan province, Yuan was adopted by his uncle at age 5. He studied the Confucian classics, learned boxing, martial arts and horseback riding. He took over managing the family assets as a teenager and was already working for the empire. He never passed any of the imperial examinations, but rose quickly in the army.
A chance military assignment in Korea launched Shikai's meteoric ascent. He rescued the Korean king and became Imperial Commissioner to Korea. We was able to stop Japanese maneuvers there once, but failed to prevent the Sino-Japanese war in 1894. He left Korea for China two weeks before war was declared. Yuan's work for the Qing Empire was quickly undone as Japan shocked China with its strong military advance.
Image: "Yuan Shikai, 1859-1916, Militärgouverneur in Shantung" by Siegfried Weiß is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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In this third and final part, Sun Yat-sen's comeback from failed revolutionary is examined. He goes on the offensive against the reformers in Hawaii and in the world's Chinatowns. He builds on contacts with the French to gain weapons and workers for uprisings near the French Indochina border. He helps found the Revolutionary Alliance and becomes its President. More and more revolts are planned and the Wuchang Uprising finally succeeds. A garrison takes control. Organizers from the Revolutionary Alliance then take the revolution to Shanghai. Provinces there secede from the Qing and 14 provinces are soon outside of the Qing Empire. Sun Yat-sen argues with foreign bankers to cut off the Qing and receives permission to return through British ports. He returns to China to a warm welcome. He refuses to head a separatist government in Guangdong and travels to Shanghai and Nanjing, where he is elected as the first President of the Republic of China. Tensions and internal struggles are immediate. The baby emperor abdicates. Sun decides for the greater good, to step down as President and to hand it over to General Yuan Shikai, He wants a united China and hopes for the best.
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Sun Yat-sen leaves London and lives in Japan for 3 years. He gains Japanese supporters and is considered their Chinese Hero. They fund him, his efforts and newspapers, as well as arming guerillas in the Philippines. Kang Youwei considers Sun to be an uneducated bandit and they compete for followers. An uprising near Huizhou in Guangdong province starts well, but gets distracted and falls apart. Key allies die as a result. Sun has yet another failed uprising to his name. Can he stage a comeback?
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Dr. Sun Yat sen is a legend in mainland China, on Taiwan and in the Chinatowns of the world. This revolutionary's picture can be found at Tiananmen Square in Beijing and in the Legislative Chamber in Taipei.
Few people are recognized as heroes by both the Chinese Communist Party and the KMT. Dr. Sun Yat-sen is one of them.
This episode explores his early life and education in Cuiheng Village, in Honolulu, in Guangzhou and in Hong Kong. Against his older brother's wishes, he is baptized and converts to Christianity. He tries to work for Earl Li Hongzhang, but then starts a revolutionary movement with the Revive China Society and launches his first insurrection in Guangzhou. He is then banished and is kidnapped in London and becomes a media darling. This peasant's son is fast becoming a revolutionary hero.
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A discussion of Kang Youwei, the famous Chinese scholar, writer, reformer and speaker. His early years, Buddhist meditations, success passing through the Qing examinations system and activism are considered. His exile following the 100 days of Reform to the Chinatowns of Canada and southeast Asia are described, including the founding of the Society to Protect the Emperor. It achieved, at least initially, much more popularity than Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement. Kang also lived in India and met Mahatma Gandhi and discussed the caste system and religion. After the 1911 Chinese revolution, Kang returned to China and failed in a coup to restore Pu Yi as emperor. After his death in 1927, his utopian The Book of Great Unity was published. It describes a world without rulers, races, religions, marriage or families.
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A discussion with Anthony Vernon about Daoism, Confucianism, Kang Youwei, the Boxer Rebellion and the end of the Qing Dynasty.
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A deep dive into anti-Christian riots in Tianjin in 1870. Stories of kidnapped, blinded and dead children are investigated. What are these new Christians up to? An official from the Forbidden City is sent to get to the truth. Who is to blame?
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This is the third part of the discussion with Lauren Schill about Cixi. We discuss her takeover from her adopted son the Emperor Guangxu following the 100 days of Reform and her role arming the Boxer Rebellion. Cixi and the Emperor flee to Xian and then return to Beijing. Cixi starts a charm offensive, institutes further reforms including for women's education and to end foot binding. She and the Emperor Guangxu die within a day of each other, him with high levels of arsenic. Within 3 years of her death, the Puyi Emperor abdicates and the Qing Dynasty ends. Qixi rules China for decades without ever stepping in the front part of the Forbidden City, which was off limits to women.
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This is the second part of the discussion about Cixi and we discuss her son Emperor Tongzhi's marriage, nighttime escapades, death from smallpox and Cixi's adoption of her nephew Emperor Guangxu and relegation of Prince Chun. Cixi deals with the Russians in Xinjiang, the French in Vietnam and the Japanese over Korea. The Dowager Empress builds up the Chinese navy, only to have it cut back by her successors. She is brought out of retirement again during the Sino-Japanese war and Emperor Guangxu signs a devastating peace treaty for China which begins a western scramble for further concessions.
Image: "China - The Empress Dowager of China - Bà Từ Hi Thái hậu" by manhhai is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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A discussion with Lauren Schill, Host of the Well Behaved Women podcast, about Empress Dowager Cixi. This is the first part of the discussion about Cixi and discuss her childhood, family background, as well as becoming a concubine and rising through the ranks. The coup that takes her to power follows the Second Opium War and her husband's death at the Imperial Hunting Lodge. Cixi and Cian rule from behind the silk curtain and begin modernization of China, while facing resistance from conservative forces.
Image: "China - The Empress Dowager of China - Bà Từ Hi Thái hậu" by manhhai is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Meiji Japan learns from the West and builds its economy, its army and the Japanese Imperial Navy. Japan begins its own gunboat diplomacy and takes control of the Ryukyu Islands. It defeats China in the Sino-Japanese War and gains Penghu and Taiwan, as well as control over Korea. Russian and Japanese tensions build. Great Britain allies with Japan and the Japanese Imperial Navy launches a sneak attack on Port Arthur (Dalian). Japan destroys two Russian fleets and Teddy Roosevelt negotiates the peace treaty. Asian and Chinese nationalists take heart in the Asian victory over a European power.
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Choshu rebels attack foreign ships and suffer the consequences. Choshu and Satsuma reach a secret alliance. The Bakufu plans a punitive expedition against Choshu but is out-maneuvered. The sudden death of the Emperor and a coup in the Imperial Court leads to Choshu receiving an amnesty. Choshu and Satsuma use the Imperial Pennants to defeat the Bakufu. The Tokugawa era ends in Japan with the final shoguns of Japan. The Meiji Restoration ends 265 years of Tokugawa rule in Japan.
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The Tokugawa shogunate in Japan prohibited ocean going vessels or travel between Japan and most countries. Japan rejected offers to commence trade with the West. Commodore Perry forced a first treaty on a reluctant Japan. The Samurai and country wanted to resist, but instead Japan began to open up and build a navy and build up a more western military. American desires for a new trade treaty uncover fractures among the Bakufu and with the Imperial Court.
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During the 19th century, there were far more Chinese men abroad than women. Mui Tsai women were bonded to affluent Chinese families as maidservants or concubines. Amahs worked as paid domestic servants overseas. Some lived in collective sisterhoods and refused to couple with men. China Mary was a pioneer woman in Sitka, Alaska. Oei Hui-lan was the daughter of a Javanese sugar merchant and married the future Chinese Ambassador to Great Britain and the United States. Chinese women overseas had influence and made their mark on their new communities, including in Malaya and Singapore.
Image: "Portrait of a smiling, elderly Chinese woman" by simpleinsomnia is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Increased shipping in the Chinese treaty ports leads to Chinese migration abroad. Workers flock to Old Gold Mountain near San Francisco and Gold Mountain near Melbourne, Australia. The Chinese do better when they can work freely rather than as indentured coolies. Abuses and racism greet them worldwide. The Chinese learn non-violent resistance with Gandhi and self-advocacy in English speaking democracies. A national re-awakening accompanies remittances from abroad.
Image: "Local Villager Mining for Gold and Gems in Thailand" by Captain Kimo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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The Taiping take some steps towards modernizing China. More provincial armies are formed and a Taiping warlord faces off against Qing allied warlords and the Ever Victorious Army. Nanjing falls and the Heavenly Kingdom with it. The Young Monarch is hunted and killed. The remaining Taiping ally with the Nian rebels, but are also exterminated. Some lessons for the future can be learned from this unsuccessful rebellion.
Image: "Monument to American Soldier of Fortune Fredrick Townsend Ward, Organizer of 'Ever Victorious Army'" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0.1.0.
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The Taiping defeat a besieging army. Assassinations rock the Heavenly Capital. First, Yang Xiuqing, the East King, is assassinated and then the North King. The Taiping lose central strategic leadership and Taiping commanders begin to operate autonomously. The Hunan Provincial Army advances along the Yangtze River. The British are not amused with the Taiping Rebellion.
Image: "Sunset on the Yangtze River" by Stanley Zimny (Thank You for 52 Million views) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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Yang Xiuqing consolidates his position among the Taiping and organizes a Northern Expedition and a Western Expedition. The gentry organize to oppose the Taiping and Zeng Guofan founds a provincial army to counterattack. The Taiping reach their high-water mark as they control central China and the Yangtze River.
Map of the Northern Expedition.
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The newly proclaimed Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace marches north towards the Yangtze River. This Taiping movement grows among the poor and discontented, but has trouble sieging cities. A local corps gives the Taiping its first defeat. The Taiping then gain strength after reaching the Yangtze and is able to sail downstream and capture cities along the way to Nanjing. The Taiping rename the city Tianjing: the Heavenly Capital. The West King and other original followers die and are replaced by many new adherents.
Find the map of the Taiping's march to Nanjing here .
Image: "Chapters in Modern China" by Eastenhuh is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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In this episode, the background to the Taiping Rebellion is described, as well as its founders, leaders and religious inspiration. Hong Xiuquan considered himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Influenced by Christian missionaries in Guangzhou, he and his followers found the God Worshippers Society. It grows, especially among Hakka Villages, into the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace.
Image: "Hakka Tulou, Chuxi" by Hayden Opie is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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In this episode, the Treaty of Nanjing and the other Unequal Treaties are discussed, as well as the growth of foreign concessions in China. During the Second Opium War, also known as the Anglo-French Expedition to China, the Imperial Summer Palace is looted and burned. China losses vast territories to Russia. These events were humiliating to China but the treaties freed its resources to battle the many rebellions growing in Qing Dynasty China.
Image: "China ChengDe - Qing Summer Report & Palace" by Toby Simkin is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
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In this episode, Henry Pottinger takes over as British Superintendent of Trade. The British retake Zhoushan Island, which had been abandoned by Charles Elliott and advances up the Yangtze River. Negotiations conclude the Opium War with the Treaty of Nanjing. It is now remembered as the first unequal treaty and the beginning of a century of humiliations for China.
Image: Kongma, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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The British capture Chinese forts and take Guangzhou. British trade returns to southern China. Rural peasants self-organize against the British invaders. Charles Elliott is replaced by British authorities in London.
Image: "19th Century Cannon" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0.
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Lin Zexu's destruction of British opium causes debate in London. But the Whig government has plenty of other crises. Lord Palmerston makes demands of China and sends warships in spite of reluctance at home. Opposition to a war with China is debated in Parliament.
The British use newly seized Hong Kong as a base, battle with the Chinese by Guangzhou and bombard and then make an amphibious assault on Zhoushan Island by Shanghai. The sail as far as Tianjin. The Daoguang Emperor receives Lord Palmerston's letter and replaces Lin Zexu. The British are wined and dined and sail back south to see if Palmerston's demands are met.
Here is a map showing highlights from the original Opium War between Great Britain and the Qing Dynasty of China.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1avTI5eEAq5yBQoW4ZFg7FnUmEM6Og_c&usp=sharing
Image: "National Portrait Gallery - Lord Palmerston - Harry Redknapp's Grandad" by Gareth1953 All Right Now is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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An introduction to the Opium War between Great Britain and the Qing Empire, including introductions of major characters. The Opium War was considered the beginning of China's Century of Humiliations. Lu Kun and William Napier do battle outside Guangzhou. Lin Zexu seizes 20,000 chests of British opium and destroys them. The British seize Hong Kong and Lin then cuts off British food and water. War is coming.
Image: "The Opium War Museum Humen Dongguan" by dcmaster is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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An introductory episode about the Examination System and corruption of officials during the Qing Dynasty. The three sets of examinations required before entry into Chinese government leadership were grueling. Candidates rarely passed the examinations. The Manchu elite benefited from an alternative, easier examination system. Unsuccessful examination candidates often began rebellions. As a result, corruption, patronage and resentment were part of the Qing Empire.
Image: "Qing Court Return, The Emperess Dowerger [1902] George E. Morrison [RESTORED]" by ralphrepo is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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In this introductory episode, the disruption of silver coins to the Qing Dynasty is discussed. The Qing collected taxes in silver but did not control silver supply or minting. As a result, Latin American revolutions impacted silver coins, changed trade flows and created economic disturbances in the Qing Dynasty just before the Opium War.
Image: "BOLIVIA, 1855 ---HALF DOLLAR SIZED SILVER COIN,UNSURE OF DENOMINATION b" by woody1778a is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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An introduction to the Great Qing State. The Qing replaced the Great Ming and ruled from 1644 until 1911. The vast empire ruled over 400 million subjects under Manchu leadership.
When the Qing met the Europeans arriving by sea, they saw no reason to change. But owing to a focus on Confucius and classical education, Qing officials were developing more slowly than the new arrivals. This became clear with the Opium War and the reverberations then spread throughout the Qing territories. When the Qing Dynasty fell, it was not replaced by a new dynasty, but by the Republic of China.
"Map of Qing dynasty 18c.svg" by Samhanin is marked with CC0 1.0.
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Welcome to the first episode of the Chinese Revolution podcast.
This is a podcast series for those who believe that understanding China and its history is important. This show is about the Chinese Revolutions and the events leading up to them.
I was inspired by Mike Duncan’s excellent podcast series called Revolutions. A big thank you to him. Mike’s final revolution was the Russian Revolution. Since he did not continue his series, this podcast is meant to follow Revolutions with a detailed look at Chinese history and the Chinese Revolution. The Russian Revolution was of course a major contributor towards the Chinese Revolution…but not a straight line.
Thanks for listening.
Cover art: "Mao Zedong. 1893-1976" by josephbergen is licensed under CC BY-NC-N
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Recorded at the end of April, 2023, this recording summarizes the episodes to date and what to expect in the coming episodes as we transition from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.
Image: "File:Consorts of Tongzhi and Guangxu.jpg" by Anonymous Court Photographer is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.