Unit 4: Area of Study 1 - Causes of the Chinese Revolution

Question 1

Model to use when Responding to Area of Study 1

Answer 1

1. Cause
2. Effect
3. Significance

Question 2

Years that Caused the Revolution

Answer 2

1912-1949

Question 3

How Sun Yixian (Yat-sen) Contributed to the Revolution

Answer 3

Sun Yixian United different revolutionary groups in the Chinese Empire with the Three Principles of the People, which was an idea that he thought that the Chinese Revolution should create a Republic based on the Principles of a Democratic Government, Chinese Nationalism and the People’s Livelihood

Question 4

What effect Sun Yixian (Yat-sen) had on the Development of the Revolution

Answer 4

The ideals of three Principles of the People inspired Republican rebellions that broke out across China in October 1911. Sun returned to China from exile in late 1911 and on January 1, 1912, he convinced all of the rebels to unite to form a new Government; the Republic of China and was elected as the provisional President.

Question 5

The Significance Sun Yixian (Yat-sen) had on the Development of the Revolution

Answer 5

Sun succeeded in overthrowing the Chinese Empire and establishing a Republic but the method he used to do so did however compromise the Revolution as he handed down power to an Army General who would soon become a Dictator. The 1911 Revolution was considered a failure

Question 6

Years of Yuan Shikai’s Dictatorship

Answer 6

1912-1916

Question 7

Causes of Yuan Shikai’s Dictatorship

Answer 7

• Yuan agreed to hold national elections to the Republican’s demands, but was not committed to establishing a democracy. Sun Yixian established a political party called the Guomindang (Chinese National Party) who promises a Government that is based on the Three Principles of the People, which gives the. Overwhelming success in China’s first and only democratic elections that were held in this period. They won over 50% of ten seats in the 1912 National Assembly elections
• However, President Yuan Shikai was distrustful of democracy

Question 8

Effect of Yuan Shikai’s Dictatorship

Answer 8

Yuan suppressed the Guomindang and ruled it as a Military Dictator. He ordered the assassination of the GMD leader Song Jiaoren in March 1913. When the GMD denounced his emerging Dictatorship and called for a ‘Second Revolution’, he outlawed the Party and began arresting its leaders and executing them. Due to this, Sun was forced to flee China in July 1913. Yuan replaced the dismissed and dead GMD Leaders with loyal Generals of the Beiyang Army as Government Ministers and Provincial Governors. These Ministers and Governors later became Warlords who seized a particular party of China and ruled it as a little pity Dictatorship. Yuan dissolved the National Assembly in 1914 and declared himself the Emperor in 1916

Question 9

Significance of Yuan Shikai’s Dictatorship

Answer 9

These events had reinforced the idea that the 1911 Revolution failed as it didn’t achieve a Government based on the Three Principles of the People

Question 10

Years of Warlordism

Answer 10

1917-1927

Question 11

Cause of Warlordism

Answer 11

President Yuan died in 1916 and since he suppressed democracy and did not pick a suppressor, there was a power vacuum

Question 12

Effect of Warlordism

Answer 12

Yuan’s death led to the Warlord Decade (1917-1927) which was a period where China was ruled by a patchwork of corrupt and exploitative Dictatorships. His Army Generals of the Beiyang Army wanted to seize control of the presidency and fought a series of inconclusive Civil Wars for the control of Beijing. As a result of this, the Beijing Government had 28 Prime Ministers and 9 Presidents between 1916 and 1928. The Warlords encouraged the Opium Trade, levied punitive taxes and allowed their troops to loot, tale and pillage

Question 13

Significance of Warlordism

Answer 13

This further highlighted the failure of the 1911 Revolution and the need for revolutionary change

Question 14

Significance of Warlordism

Answer 14

This further highlighted the failure of the 1911 Revolution and the need for revolutionary change

Question 15

Years of the New Culture Movement

Answer 15

1915 Onwards

Question 16

Cause of the New Culture Movement

Answer 16

The New Culture Movement begins in 1915 and originates in places like Beijing University and Shanghai University as intellectuals debate the reasons for the failure of the 1911 Revolution and how China could be strengthened

Question 17

Effect of the New Culture Movement

Answer 17

The Dean of the Beijing University; Chen Dixiu established a journal called the ‘New Youth’ which began publishing essays on innovative new topics that they thought would help regenerate China, such as Marxism

Question 18

Effect of the New Culture Movement

Answer 18

The Dean of the Beijing University; Chen Dixiu established a journal called the ‘New Youth’ which began publishing essays on innovative new topics that they thought would help regenerate China, such as Marxism

Question 19

Signifcance of the New Culture Movement

Answer 19

The New Culture Movement laid the groundwork for the May 4th Protests and resulted in the growing popularity of Marxist ideas. More people started joining revolutionary Parties such as Guomindang and in 1921 the Chinese Communist Party, which Chen was the founding leader of

Question 20

Signifcance of the New Culture Movement

Answer 20

The New Culture Movement laid the groundwork for the May 4th Protests and resulted in the growing popularity of Marxist ideas. More people started joining revolutionary Parties such as Guomindang and in 1921 the Chinese Communist Party, which Chen was the founding leader of

Question 21

Date of the May 4th Movement

Answer 21

May 4, 1919

Question 22

Cause of the May 4th Movement

Answer 22

The Warlord President Duan Qirui made a secret deal to hand the German Territorial Concession in Shandong to Japan in exchange for Japanese loans to equip his Army. However, this did not work and Duan was kicked out of Beijing by another Warlord the following year

Question 23

Effect of the May 4th Movement

Answer 23

In 1919 when this deal became public, 3,000 Beijing University students protested in Tiananmen Square. This inspired a nationwide movement of strikes, protests and boycotts which denounced Warlordism and Imperialism

Question 24

Signficance of the May 4th Movement

Answer 24

The May 4th Movement dramatically intensified Chinese Nationalism. More Chinese joined Revolutionary Parties like the Guomindang and Chinese Communist Party

Question 25

Years of the First United Front

Answer 25

1924-1927

Question 26

Summary of Why the First United Front was Formed

Answer 26

The Soviet Comintern had little faith in the small CCP and forced it to ally with the GMD. It provided aid to both Parties

Question 27

Ideologies of the Guomindang (GMD)

Answer 27

The Three Principles of the People:

• Nationalism
• Democracy
• The People’s Livelihood

Question 28

Goals of the Guomindang (GMD)

Answer 28

• To defeat the Warlords
• Reunite China
• Create a strong, Democratic Government

Question 29

Methods of the Guomindang (GMD) in Achieving their Goals

Answer 29

Used Comintem aid to train a National Revolutionary Army to defeat the Warlords

Question 30

The Guomindang’s (GMD) Support Base

Answer 30

• Rich and poor Urban people

- Rural people

Question 31

Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Answer 31

Orthodox Marxism-Leninism

Question 32

Goal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Answer 32

To bring about a Socialist Revolution which will destroy Feudalism and Capitalism

Question 33

Method of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Achieving their Goal

Answer 33

Create Trade Unions to educate and organise workers for a Revolution

Question 34

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Support Base

Answer 34

Industrial Workers

Question 35

Date of the Northern Expedition

Answer 35

June 1926 - June 1928

Question 36

Cause of the Northern Expedition

Answer 36

Sun Yixian died in 1925, which created a power struggle within the Guomindang. The leader of the Guomindang’s National Revolutionary Army, Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) decided that the best way to win this power struggle was to prove that the Army was central to the Revolution, and got the permission of the Party to launch the Northern Expedition to unify China. His Army started in Guangzhou, marched north capturing one city at a time, defeating one Warlord at a time. Over 2 years, the Army made their way to Beijing

Question 37

Effect of the Northern Expedition

Answer 37

The Northern Expedition was a big success. The GMD’s Army was very effective as it was armed with modern Soviet weapons and was trained by Soviet advisors who had experience in the Russian Civil War at the Huangpu Military Academy. Many Warlords were bribed into joining the GMD as Jiang said if they were to bring their Army to the GMD, they would become a Governor or a Minister in the Government and they were able to keep their Army and pay their salaries. The Northern Expedition was a success due to the role of the Communists and the Communist Agitators who would go into cities that were under Warlord control and start protests and strikes to turn the population against them

Question 38

Significance of the Northern Expedition

Answer 38

• The Republic of China was reunified under the GMD. Jiang established a new capital in the city of Nanjing and declared himself Chairman of the Nanjing Government and ruled China from 1927-1949
• By Jiang bribing the Warlords into joining the GMD because even through Jiang was able to reunite China, he doesn’t directly control it and makes a law saying that it was up to the Warlord to run each of the provinces and it was up to the Warlord General to implement the law, or even if they chose to implement the law. Overall, it meant that the Northern Expedition created a Government that was based on corruption with huge levels of incompetence

Question 39

Date of the Shanghai Massacre

Answer 39

April 1927

Question 40

Cause of the Shanghai Massacre

Answer 40

During the Northern Expedition, Jiang Jeshi decided to eliminate his Communist allies before they grew powerful enough to oppose him

Question 41

Effect of the Shanghai Massacre

Answer 41

In April 1927, GMD forces began a purge in Shanghai and massacred 5,000-10,000 Communists and Trade Unionists. The purge then spread nationwide and Communist Party membership declined from 60,000 members to 10,000 members throughout the course of 1927. Not all of these Communists were killed, some tore up their membership cards and went into hiding

Question 42

Significance of the Shanghai Massacre

Answer 42

The White Terror ended the first iteration of the Chinese Communist Party and destroyed its urban support base as there were not enough workers in China to start a Worker’s Revolution. The CCP was forced to adapt which led to them shifting a focus from starting a Worker’s Revolution to starting a Peasant Revolution in the countryside. They also move away from the principles of Marxism-Leninism and instead focus on building an Army to fight by force because if they don’t have an Army, they can be destroyed by the Guomindang. This event not only marks the end of the alliance between the CCP and the GMD, but also the death and rebirth of the Communist Party in a new form

Question 43

Years of the Nationalist Decade

Answer 43

1928-1937

Question 44

Challenges for the Warlords During the Nationalist Decade

Answer 44

The rest of China is still governed by different Warlord Armies that aren’t directly under his control and would often ignore the things he said. Opium cultivation was suppressed in the Central Provinces, but in the Southern Provinces, Opium was still being grown everywhere and the local Warlord Troops would tax Peasants and take Opium from them. They were corrupt, disloyal and rebellions broke out

Question 45

Challenges for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) During the Nationalist Decade

Answer 45

Due to the Warlords not energetically following Jiang’s lead in crushing the Communists so Communist bases started springing up in border regions, between provinces and in mountains. The Communists started building up their own Armies and establishing rival Governments in the countryside

Question 46

Challenges for the Japanese Empire During the Nationalist Decade

Answer 46

The Japanese Empire invaded and occupied Manchuria in 1931. However, Jiang was so focused on crushing the Communists that he couldn’t do much about the Japanese and had to sign a peace treaty with them which stated that he acknowledges Japanese sovereignty over Manchuria. His argument was that even though China needed to be ready to go to War with Japan, they cannot do that yet because the GMD needed to crush the rebellious Warlords, modernise their control over their Army and spread their control over all of China

Question 47

Challenges for the Jiang’s National Revolutionary Army During the Nationalist Decade

Answer 47

This Army was not big enough to control all of China. Jiang only had control over 5 provinces in Central China around Nanjing and Shanghai

Question 48

Year that Mao Created Mao Zedong Thought

Answer 48

1927

Question 49

Cause of the Creation of Mao Zedong Thought

Answer 49

Mao was more of a local Provincial-level Leader that came up with plans to help the Communist Party adapt to the changing situation in China. Mao argued that Marxism-Leninism was not very suited to Chinese circumstances and that Communism should be adapted to Chinese circumstances

Question 50

Effect of the Creation of Mao Zedong Thought

Answer 50

In his Report on the Peasant Movement in Hunan in February 1927, Mao argued that Peasants were creative and intelligent and were not ignorant and were capable of building new revolutionary institutions. Mao believed that the CCP could take leadership of a Peasant Revolution

Question 51

Significance of the Creation of Mao Zedong Thought

Answer 51

Mao’s unorthodox focus on the Peasantry attracted a lot of criticism and demoted him from the Party leadership in 1932. However, even though other Party leaders thought he was straying away from the truth of Marxism-Leninism, it was by recruiting Peasant Party Members and Peasant soldiers that the CCP survived, adapted and grew. Eventually, it was a Peasant Army and a Peasant Party that seized power in 1949

Question 52

Year that Mao Created the Red Army

Answer 52

1928

Question 53

Cause of Mao Creating the Red Army

Answer 53

Mao Zedong helped to establish and expand the Red Army, the military wing of the Communist Party. After the Shanghai Massacre, Mao Zedong argued that Jiang Jeshi rose by grasping the gun and that all Communists must recognise the truth, which is that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”, which meant that the CCP needed an Army

Question 54

Effect of Mao Creating the Red Army

Answer 54

After a series of anti-Guomindang uprisings failed in 1927, Mao Zedong teamed up with General Zhu De to create the Red Army. It was a Peasant Guerrilla Army who was strictly disciplined

Question 55

Significance of Mao Creating the Red Army

Answer 55

The Red Army helped the CCP survive GMD attacks and begin rebuilding. By 1934, the Army had rebuilt to about 300,000 men and the Party had grown to about 400,000 men and women. The CCP’s Guerrilla resistance against the Japanese between 1937 and 1945 was key in gaining more support. Eventually, the Red Army grew into the People’s Liberation Army, which was the institution that overthrew the Guomindang during the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949)

Question 56

Years of the Jiangxi Soviet

Answer 56

1931-1934

Question 57

Cause of the Creation of the Jiangxi Soviet

Answer 57

As Mao Zedong’s Army grew, he discovered that feeding it and equipping it was a big job so he asked permission from the Party leadership to establish a government to provide a basis to support his Army. He established the Chinese Soviet Republic in Jiangxi. It was also known as the Jiangxi Soviet. Mao used this as a “social laboratory” to experiment on how to run a government

Question 58

Effect of the Creation of the Jiangxi Soviet

Answer 58

Mao implemented a series of progressive reforms to win the support of the Jiangxi Peasants. The most important reform that he implemented was Land Reform which was a process of redistributing wealth, which was seen as a Socialist policy and redistributed the land that was owned by the Landlords gave it to the poor Peasants, freeing the Peasants of the need to pay rent which made them grateful to the Communist Party and was willing to pay taxes to it and were willing to send their sons to join the Communist Party. There was a big focus on education and there were big efforts to improve people’s literacy and class consciousness because Mao’s thinking was that literate people could understand text, in particular, Communist Propaganda and join the Communist Party and spread its ideas. Mao Zedong had a curious brand of Feminism and knew that women were just as capable of bringing about a revolutionary change as men but China was a deeply patriarchal society. Mao’s government set quotas and wanted to have a quarter of all roles in local government filled by women, introduced reforms such as ‘No-Fault Divorce’, which allowed women to escape from arranged marriages and carried out campaigns against foot-binding, arguing that instead of decrying somebody as “big-footed” and “ugly”, they should be described as “natural-footed” and “empowered women

Question 59

Significance of the Creation of the Jiangxi Soviet

Answer 59

Mao showed the effectiveness of a Peasant Revolution and how this model would work for the CCP. Both the CCP and the Army grew. The Jiangxi Soviet was destroyed and a lot of Communists were killed, but this served as a model to rebuild the Party at the later Yan’an Soviet, by which Mao ultimately seized power at though the Guomindang (GMD) at the Chinese Civil War

Question 60

Years of the Long March and Encirclement Campaigns

Answer 60

1931-1935

Question 61

Cause of the Encirclement Campaigns

Answer 61

Between 1931-1934, Jiang Jeshi’s forces besieged and destroyed all Communist bases in Southern and Central China in a series of Encirclement Campaigns

Question 62

Years of the Long March

Answer 62

1934-1935

Question 63

Summary of the Long March

Answer 63

By 1934, the Communist Party leadership at the Jiangxi Soviet had to admit defeat. The CCP evacuated Jiangxi and other bases in the same year and embarked on the Long March which was a series of military evacuations. Early in the Long March in 1935, Mao assumed Party Leadership and the Leadership of the Long March at the Zunyi Conference. Marchers used Guerrilla Warfare and marched through rough terrain. 85,000 Marchers embarked but 7,000 survived

Question 64

Significance of the Long March

Answer 64

• The CCP was able to rebuild at the Yan’an Soviet
• Mao Zedong was credited with ‘saving’ the CCP and was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by the end of 1935

Question 65

Years of the Yan’an Soviet

Answer 65

1936-1947

Question 66

Cause of the Yan’an Soviet

Answer 66

At the Yan’an Soviet, Mao Zedong started rebuilding the Communist Party and the Red Army by following the basic model of the Jiangxi Soviet

Question 67

Effects of the Yan’an Soviet

Answer 67

• Mao still kept some things from the original Jiangxi Soviet such as rent reduction and Land Reform, education and women’s rights campaigns. However, Mao revised what he thinks Chinese Communism looks like and from here, his outlook was known as ‘Mao Zedong Thought’ due to his unique political beliefs and doctrines that are specifically directed towards the Chinese Revolution. Mao promoted the ‘Mass Line’ by which the CCP consulted the masses and established Peasant Associations. He established the slogan that he takes ideas “from the masses” and give policy “to the masses”
• Jiang tried to combat corruption with the New Life Movement back in 1934 but it didn’t work because it missed the point of why there was corruption in the Guomindang and the Warlords. Mao launched the Rectification Campaign in 1942 and ended in 1944 which helped indoctrinate all Communists in Mao Zedong Thought and if they failed to correctly “grasp” Mao Zedong Thought they were forced to write essays reflecting on their errors. This was also known as writing ‘self-criticisms. They were also forced to defend their beliefs in mass meetings where Mao’s supporters would struggle with them to debate what the correct interpretation of the Revolution was in ‘struggle sessions’

Question 68

Significance of the Yan’an Soviet

Answer 68

During this movement, 40,000 members were expelled from the Party. The CCP and the Red Army grew quickly at Yan’an and by 1945 the CCP had 1.2 million members and governed 100 million people. The Red Army had 800,000 soldiers Mao was able to create a totally united revolutionary movement which meant that even though the Communists were smaller than the Guomindang, they weren’t weakened by factional infighting and corruption

Question 69

Years of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Answer 69

1937-1945

Question 70

Cause of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Answer 70

Jiang was kidnapped by one of his Warlord Generals in the Xi’an Incident in 1936 and was pressured into going to War with Japan

Question 71

Effect of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Answer 71

In 1937, there was a diplomatic incident outside of Beijing in July 1937 when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded China. Jiang did not back down as he was the one who declared a national War of resistance. The Guomindang and the Communists formed the Second United Front in 1937 to resist the Japanese. Both the GMD and CCP agreed to put their own War on hold and agreed to band together to fight the Japanese. The Second United Front ended in 1941 when GMD forces massacred 7,000 Communists in the New Fourth Army Incident. The Japanese had a modernised, industrialised and mechanised Army and swept through Northern China in 6 months and by the end of 1937 captured Shanghai and Nanjing. They also drove inland to Wuhan and the Japanese Navy captured other coastal cities. The Guomindang was weakened by the invasion and lost control of China and evacuated to Chongqing and only controlled 3 Provinces for the rest of the War. The CCP expanded the Yan’an Soviet and set up bases in rural areas that the Japanese were not interested in. The CCP would send activists to set up bases behind Japanese lines in the ‘liberated areas.’

Question 72

Significance of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Answer 72

• The War revealed the corrupt and ineffectual nature of the Guomindang Regime which reduced their support, making it easier for them to be overthrown
• The War also provided an opportunity for the Communists to expand, recruit more supporters, set up bases in new areas and portray themselves as the nationalistic defenders of China

Question 73

The Guomindang (GMD) Responses to the Second Sino-Japanese War (List 3)

Answer 73

• The GMD fought a conventional war
• Since their Armies could not stand up to the Japanese, they developed a strategy and ‘traded land for time’ and staged a fighting retreat into China’s interior and waited for the Japanese to overextend themselves
• The strategy of ‘trading land for time’ left Chinese citizens seeing their Army run away from the battle and were left defenceless again the Japanese atrocities, such as the ‘Rape of Nanjing’ in December 1937 which killed 200,000 people
• The Guomindang also carried out brutal ‘Scorched-Earth’ tactics and tried to make the countryside inhospitable to the invading Army. In 1938, Jiang wanted to delay the Japanese long enough to evacuate his Government and Army. He ordered Army Engineers to blow up flood-control dykes on the Yellow River and according to his own Government estimate, he killed 800,000 people in 1938 in this flood that swept across and drowned entire villages in Henan. Overall, it did delay the Japanese and bought time for the Government to evacuate
• Jiang ordered local Army Generals to undertake unrestricted grain requisitioning which led to 3 million deaths in 1942 during the Henan Famine
• Jiang also tried to compensate for the low quality of his troops through mass conscription. Peasants were brutalised, terrorised, held at gunpoint, stripped naked, tied together and were not fed properly until they got to their Army bases. 20% of Guomindang conscripts died of dehydration, illness or starvation before they finished training and 40% deserted before training even began

Question 74

Years of the Chinese Civil War

Answer 74

1946-1949

Question 75

How the Guomindang’s (GMD) Army Contributed to their Defeat in the Civil War

Answer 75

This is a bigger Army compared to the Communists but they are mostly conscripts and are forced into the Army against their will. Soldiers had poor training and low morale. When it came to battle, they surrendered en masse, as soon as they think the battle is going against them

Question 76

How the Guomindang’s (GMD) Tactics Contributed to their Defeat in the Civil War

Answer 76

Jiang overextended his Armies beyond effective supply lines as he was concerned with controlling all of China rather than consolidating his power in the smaller areas that he could control. In the Manchuria Campaign (1947-1948), they lost 1 million men

Question 77

How the Guomindang’s (GMD) Support Base Contributed to their Defeat in the Civil War

Answer 77

The GMD relied on terror to secure support from the civilian population. They had a narrow support base consisting of the Warlords, Bourgeoisie and Landlords. The Guomindang alienated the broad mass of the Peasants through their heavy taxes and brutal methods. They also alienated the middle classes by destroying their savings via hyperinflation

Question 78

How the Communist’s (CCP) Army Contributed to their Defeat in the Civil War

Answer 78

This is a smaller Army that is made up of mostly volunteers. The Soldiers were thoroughly indoctrinated with Communist propaganda and had high morale and were more likely to take risks and take sacrifice for the good of the Army and the Revolution. They see themselves as undertaking a ‘historic Revolution’ that will liberate and transform China

Question 79

How the Communist’s (CCP) Tactics Contributed to their Defeat in the Civil War

Answer 79

They fought flexibly and abandoned territory when they needed to preserve their Armies. They besieged isolated garrisons, losing only 100,000 men in the Manchuria Campaign

Question 80

How the Communist’s (CCP) Support Base Contributed to their Defeat in the Civil War

Answer 80

The Communists relied on their promise of a Social Revolution to secure support. They were popular among the Peasantry as they carried out massive Land Reform campaigns. After seeing how repressive the GMD were, the Urban Working Class, Middle Class and Intellectuals welcomed the CCP and the idea of a Communist Revolution. By October 1949, the GMD Armies had been largely defeated and Jiang fled China in December 1949 to Taiwan. Whilst the fighting was still going on in 1949, Mao declared the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing and declared himself Chairman of the new Beijing Government