View source for Chinese Civil War

{{Short description|1927–1949 civil war in China}}
{{Other uses|Chinese Civil War (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-pc|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Chinese Civil War
| partof            = the [[interwar period]], the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] and the [[Cold War in Asia]]
| image             = {{multiple image|border=infobox|perrow=2/2/2|total_width=300
| image1 = Battle of Siping03.jpg
| image2 = Shangtang.jpg
| image3 = Su Yu at MengLiangGu Battle 1947.jpg
| image4 = 1945 Chiang Kai-shek inspected Chinese soldiers with shoes made of straw.jpg
| image5 = 1930s Mao Zedong (cropped).jpg
| image6 = Members_of_the_Republic_of_China_Army_board_a_ship_bound_for_Taiwan_in_1949.jpg
}}
Clockwise from top left:{{hlist
| Communist troops at the [[Battle of Siping]]
| [[National Revolutionary Army]] troops during the [[Shangdang Campaign]]
| [[Chiang Kai-shek]] inspecting soldiers
| [[Republic of China Army|ROCA]] members boarding a ship during [[Retreat of the government of Republic of China to Taiwan|the retreat to Taiwan]] in 1949
| [[Mao Zedong]] in the 1930s
| CCP general [[Su Yu]] inspecting troops shortly before the [[Menglianggu campaign]]
}}
| date              = {{ubli
| [[Nanchang uprising|1 August 1927]]{{snd}}[[Xi'an Incident|26 December 1936]] {{nwr|(First phase)}}<ref name="Li2012">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhPyvsdymU8C&pg=PA295 |title=China at War: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-598-84415-3 |page=295 |via=Google Books}}</ref><br>{{nwr|({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=8|day1=1|year1=1927|month2=12|day2=26|year2=1936}})}}
| [[Opening Campaign|10 August 1945]]{{snd}}[[Wanshan Archipelago Campaign|7 August 1950]] {{nwr|(Second phase)}}<br>{{nwr|({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=8|day1=10|year1=1945|month2=8|day2=7|year2=1950}})}}
| 7 August 1950{{snd}}[[campaign at the China–Burma border|9 February 1961]] {{nwr|(Third phase)}}<br>{{nwr|({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=8|day1=7|year1=1950|month2=2|day2=9|year2=1961}})}}
}}
| place             = [[Mainland China]] (including [[Hainan]]) and its coast, [[1960–61 campaign at the China–Burma border|China–Burma border]]
| territory         = * [[Chinese Communist Party]] control of [[mainland China]], including [[Hainan]]
* [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China]] in Mainland China
* [[Government of the Republic of China]] [[Republic of China retreat to Taiwan|evacuates]] to the [[Geography of Taiwan|Island of Taiwan]]
* Nationalists occupy parts of the [[China-Burma border]]
| result            = {{ublist|[[Chinese Communist Party]] victory}}
* Major combat ended, but no [[armistice]] or [[peace treaty]] signed
* The [[Kuomintang Islamic insurgency]] against the People's Republic of China's rule continued in the provinces of [[Gansu]], [[Qinghai]], [[Ningxia]], [[Xinjiang]], [[Yunnan]] until 1958.
* [[Campaign at the China–Burma border]]
* ''De facto'' existence of [[two Chinas]] and beginning of the [[Cross-Strait relations|Cross-Strait conflict]]
* Four major escalations in [[Cross-Strait relations|Cross-Strait conflict]]:
** 1954: [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis]]
** 1958: [[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis]]
** 1996: [[Third Taiwan Strait Crisis]]
** 2022: [[Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis]]
| combatant1        = ; 1927–1936
{{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Kuomintang]]{{blist
 | {{flag country|Nationalist government}}
 | {{Armed forces|Nationalist government}}
}}
| combatant2        = ; 1927–1936
{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Chinese Communist Party]]{{blist
 | {{flag|Chinese Soviet Republic}} {{nwr|(1931–1937)}}
 | {{flag|Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet}} {{nwr|(1931–1934)}}
 | {{flag|Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army}} (1927–1937)
 }}
: {{Flagicon image|Flag of Minxi Communist Government.png}} {{ill|Minxi Soviet Government|zh|闽西革命根据地}} (1929–1931)
: {{flag|Fujian People's Government}} (1933–1934)
: {{Flagicon image|Flag of Qiongya Soviet.svg}} {{ill|Qiongya Soviet Government|zh|琼崖苏维埃政府}} (1928–1934)
| combatant1a       = ; 1945–1950:
{{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Kuomintang]]
: {{Flagicon|Republic of China (1912–1949)}} [[Nationalist government|Republic of China]]{{blist
 | {{Armed forces|Republic of China}}
}}
| combatant2a       = ; 1945–1950:
{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Chinese Communist Party]]
: {{Flagicon image|National Flag of Chinese Soviet Republic.svg}} [[Yan'an Soviet]] (1937–1950)
:[[Communist-controlled China (1927–1949)|Pre-PLA troops]] and [[Militia (China)|militia]]
: {{flag|Inner Mongolian People's Republic}} (1945–1945)
: {{flag|China|name=People's Republic of China}} (1949){{blist
  | {{Armed forces|China}}
}}
| combatant1b       = '''1950–1961:'''<br>{{Flag|Republic of China}}
* {{Flagicon image|Republic of China Army Flag.svg}} [[Nationalist]] loyalists
| combatant2b       = '''1950–1961:'''<br>{{Flag|China|name=People's Republic of China}}
* {{Flagicon image|People's Liberation Army Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg}} [[People's Liberation Army]]
| commander1        = {{ubli|
 | {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} '''[[Chiang Kai-shek]]'''<br>([[Chairman of the Kuomintang#Director-General (1938–1975)|Director-General of the Kuomintang]])
 | {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Bai Chongxi]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Chen Cheng]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Li Zongren]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Yan Xishan]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[He Yingqin]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Hu Zongnan]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Gu Zhutong]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Wei Lihuang]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Du Yuming]]{{surrendered}}
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Sun Li-jen]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Fu Zuoyi]]{{surrendered}}
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Liu Zhi (ROC)|Liu Zhi]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Xue Yue]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Wang Yaowu]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Tang Enbo]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Huang Baitao]]{{KIA}}
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Zhang Lingfu]]{{KIA}}
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Zhang Xueliang]]
| {{Flagicon image|Naval Jack of the Republic of China.svg}} [[Feng Yuxiang]]
(until 1930)
}}
| commander2        = {{ubli
 | {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} '''[[Mao Zedong]]'''<br>([[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]])
 | {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Zhou Enlai]]
 | {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Zhu De]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Peng Dehuai]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Lin Biao]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Liu Bocheng]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[He Long]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Chen Yi (marshal)|Chen Yi]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Luo Ronghuan]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Xu Xiangqian]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Nie Rongzhen]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Ye Jianying]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Deng Xiaoping]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Su Yu]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Chen Geng]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Wang Jiaxiang]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Ye Ting]]{{KIA}}
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Bo Gu]]{{KIA}}
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Otto Braun (communist)|Li De]]
| {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Chinese Communist Party (Pre-1996).svg}} [[Zhang Guotao]]
(until 1936)
}}
| strength1         = {{ubli
 | 2 million regular troops
 | 2.3 million militia {{nwr|(August 1948)}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svBt-hzD53AC |title=A History of the Modern Chinese Army |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-813-17224-8}}</ref><ref name="Hsiung1992">{{Cite book |last=Hsiung |first=James C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Yt6TTRdUzwC |title=China's Bitter Victory: The War With Japan, 1937–1945 |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |year=1992 |isbn=1-563-24246-X}}</ref><ref name="Sarker1994">{{Cite book |last=Sarker |first=Sunil Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rGf2b1nsn9cC |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism |publisher=Atlantic |year=1994 |isbn=978-8-171-56515-3}}</ref>
}}
| strength2         = {{ubli
 | 1.2 million regular troops
 | 2.6 million militia {{nwr|(July 1945)}}<ref name="Hsiung1992" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cao |first=Qianfa |author-mask=Cao Qianfa (曹前发) |script-title=zh:毛泽东的独创：＂兵民是胜利之本＂ |url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/big5/n1/2017/0622/c85037-29355018.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029065431/http://dangshi.people.com.cn/big5/n1/2017/0622/c85037-29355018.html |archive-date=29 October 2020 |access-date=26 October 2020 |website=People's Daily |language=zh}}</ref>
}}
| casualties1       = {{ubli
 | 370,000 killed<ref name="Ho">{{Cite book |last=Ho |title=Studies in the Population of China |page=253}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Matthew |title=Atrocities |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-393-08192-3 |page=381}}</ref>
 | 1.5–1.7 million total {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref name="Lynch2010">{{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=Michael |title=The Chinese Civil War 1945–49 |publisher=Osprey |year=2010}}</ref><ref name="Sarker1994" /><ref name="Ho"/>
}}
| casualties2       = {{ubli
 | 263,800 killed
 | 190,000 missing
 | 850,000 wounded {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref name="PLA1983">''The History of the Chinese People's Liberation Army''. Beijing: People's Liberation Army Press. 1983.</ref><ref name="Lynch2010" />
 | over 1.3 million total {{nwr|(second phase)}}
}}
| casualties3       = {{ubli|
 | {{est.}} 7 million {{nwr|(first phase)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls |url=http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Nationalist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305175626/http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Nationalist |archive-date=5 March 2011 |access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref>
| {{est.}} 2.5 million {{nwr|(second phase)}} <ref>{{Cite web |title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls |url=http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Chinese |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305175626/http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Chinese |archive-date=5 March 2011 |access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref>
 | up to 6 million total {{nwr|(second phase)}}<ref name="Lynch2010" />
}}
}}
{{Campaignbox Chinese Civil War|state=expanded}}
{{Infobox Chinese|collapse = no
| t = 國共內戰
| s = 国共内战
| p = Guó-Gòng Nèizhàn
| wuu = Koh-gon-ne-tsoe
| j = Gwok3 gung6 noi6 zin3
| poj = Kok-kiōng lāi-chiàn
| l = Kuomintang–Communist civil war
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|g|uo|2|.|g|ong|4|-|n|ei|4|.|zh|an|4}}
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|gw|ok|3|-|g|ung|6|-|n|oi|6|-|z|in|3}}
| w = {{tonesup|Kuo2-Kung4 Nei4-chan4}}
| tp = Guó-Gòng Nèi-jhàn
| bpmf = {{bpmfsp|ㄍㄨㄛˊ|ㄍㄨㄥˋ|ㄋㄟˋ|ㄓㄢˋ}}
}}
{{Chinese Communist Revolution sidebar}}

The '''Chinese Civil War''' was fought between the [[Kuomintang]]-led [[Nationalist government|government]] of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] and the forces of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermittently from 1 August 1927 until Communist victory resulted in their total control over [[mainland China]] on 10 December 1949.

The war is generally divided into two phases with an interlude: from August 1927 to 1937, the [[First United Front]] alliance of the KMT and CCP collapsed during the [[Northern Expedition]], and the Nationalists controlled most of China. From 1937 to 1945, hostilities were mostly put on hold as the [[Second United Front]] fought the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese invasion of China]] with eventual help from the [[Allies of World War II]]. However, armed clashes between the groups remained common. Exacerbating the divisions within China further was the formation of the [[Wang Jingwei regime]], a Japan-sponsored puppet government led by [[Wang Jingwei]], which was established to nominally govern the regions of China that came under Japanese occupation.

The civil war resumed as soon as it became apparent that [[Surrender of Japan|Japanese defeat]] was imminent, with the communists gaining the upper hand in the second phase of the war from 1945 to 1949, generally referred to as the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]]. The Communists gained control of mainland China and [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|proclaimed the People's Republic of China]] in 1949, forcing the leadership of the [[Republic of China]] to [[Republic of China retreat to Taiwan|retreat to the island of Taiwan]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite thesis |last=Mitchell |first=James Alexander |title=Surrender? What surrender? : Yan Xishan’s reconsolidation of power in Taiyuan July - August, 1945 |date=1995 |publisher=University of British Columbia |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0086952 |language=en}}</ref> Starting in the 1950s, a lasting political and military stand-off between the two sides of the [[Taiwan Strait]] has ensued, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC on the mainland [[One-China policy|both claiming]] to be the legitimate government of all China. After the [[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis]], both tacitly ceased to engage in open conflict in 1979; however, no [[armistice]] or [[peace treaty]] has ever been signed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |first1=Amy |last1=King |first2=Sherzod |last2=Muminov |date=2022-09-02 |title='Japan Still Has Cadres Remaining': Japanese in the USSR and Mainland China, 1945–1956 |url=https://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article/24/3/200/112900/Japan-Still-Has-Cadres-Remaining-Japanese-in-the |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |language=en |volume=24 |issue=3 |doi=10.1162/jcw |issn=1520-3972 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250512145137/https://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article/24/3/200/112900/Japan-Still-Has-Cadres-Remaining-Japanese-in-the |archive-date=2025-05-12}}</ref>

== Background ==
{{History of the Republic of China}}
Following the collapse of the [[Qing dynasty]] and the [[1911 Revolution]], [[Sun Yat-sen]] assumed the [[President of the Republic of China|presidency]] of the newly formed Republic of China, and was shortly thereafter succeeded by [[Yuan Shikai]].<ref name="Greenwood2001">{{cite book |date=2001 |editor1-last=So |editor1-first=Alvin Y. |editor2-last=Lin |editor2-first=Nan |editor2-link=Nan Lin |editor3-last=Poston |editor3-first=Dudley |editor3-link=Dudley L. Poston Jr. |title=The Chinese Triangle of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: Comparative Institutional Analyses |series=Contributions in Sociology |volume=133 |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0-313-30869-7 |issn=0084-9278 |oclc=45248282}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2020}} Yuan failed in a [[National Protection War|short-lived attempt]] to declare himself [[Empire of China (1915–1916)|emperor]], and China fell into [[Warlord Era|power struggle]] after his death in 1916.

The [[Kuomintang]] (KMT), led by Sun Yat-sen, created a new government in [[Guangzhou]] to rival the warlords who ruled over large swathes of China and prevented the formation of a solid central government.<ref name="history.state.gov">{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1945–1952 – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/chinese-rev |access-date=2021-10-28 |website=history.state.gov |archive-date=19 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519004017/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/chinese-rev |url-status=live}}</ref> After Sun's efforts to obtain aid from Western countries were ignored, he turned to the [[Soviet Union]]. In 1923, Sun and Soviet representative [[Adolph Joffe]] in [[Shanghai]] pledged Soviet assistance to China's unification in the [[Sun–Joffe Manifesto]], a declaration of cooperation among the [[Comintern]], KMT, and the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP).<ref name="March1996" /> Comintern agent [[Mikhail Borodin]] arrived in 1923 to aid in the reorganization and consolidation of both the Chinese communist party and the Kuomintang along the lines of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. The CCP, which was initially a study group, and the KMT jointly formed the [[First United Front]].<ref name="history.state.gov" /><ref name="March1996">March, G. Patrick. ''Eastern Destiny: Russia in Asia and the North Pacific''. (1996). Greenwood. {{ISBN|0-275-95566-4}}. p. 205.</ref>

In 1923, Sun sent [[Chiang Kai-shek]], one of his lieutenants, for several months of military and political study in Moscow.<ref name="Chang1944">H. H. Chang, ''Chiang Kai Shek: Asia's Man of Destiny'' (Doubleday, 1944; reprint 2007 {{ISBN|1-4067-5818-3}}). p.&nbsp;126.</ref> Chiang then became the head of the [[Whampoa Military Academy]] that trained the next generation of military leaders. The Soviets provided the academy with teaching material, organization, and equipment, including munitions.<ref name="Chang1944" /> They also provided education in many of the techniques for mass mobilization. With this aid, Sun raised a dedicated "army of the party", with which he hoped to defeat the warlords militarily. CCP members were also present in the academy, and many of them became instructors, including [[Zhou Enlai]], who was made a political instructor.<ref>Ho, Alfred Kuo-liang. (2004). ''China's Reforms and Reformers''. Greenwood. {{ISBN|0-275-96080-3}}. p. 7.</ref>

Communist members were allowed to join the KMT on an individual basis.<ref name="March1996" /> The CCP itself was still small at the time, having a membership of 300 in 1922 and only 1,500 by 1925.<ref name="Fairbank">Fairbank, John King. (1994). ''China: A New History''. Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|0-674-11673-9}}.</ref> As of 1923, the KMT had 50,000 members.<ref name="Fairbank" />

However, after Sun died in 1925, the KMT split into left- and right-wing movements. KMT members worried that the Soviets were trying to destroy the KMT from inside using the CCP. The CCP then began movements in opposition of the [[Northern Expedition]], passing a resolution against it at a party meeting.

Then, in March 1927, the KMT held its second party meeting where the Soviets helped pass resolutions against the Expedition and curbing Chiang's power. Soon, the KMT would be clearly divided.

Throughout this time, the Soviet Union sent money and spies to support the CCP. Without their support, the CCP likely would have failed. This is evidenced by documents showing other communist parties in China at the time, one with as many as 10,000 members, which all failed without support from the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The man who changed China: the life and legacy of Jiang Zemin |last=Kuhn |first=Robert |publisher=Crown |year=2005}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=July 2023}}

=== Shanghai massacre and Northern Expedition (1927) ===
In early 1927, the KMT–CCP rivalry led to a split in the revolutionary ranks. The CCP and the left wing of the KMT decided to move the seat of the KMT government from Guangzhou to [[Wuhan]], where communist influence was strong.<ref name="Fairbank" /> However, Chiang and [[Li Zongren]], whose armies defeated the warlord [[Sun Chuanfang]], moved eastward toward [[Jiangxi]]. The leftists rejected Chiang's demand to eliminate Communist influence within KMT, and Chiang denounced them for betraying Sun Yat-sen's [[Three Principles of the People]] by taking orders from the Soviet Union. According to [[Mao Zedong]], Chiang's tolerance of the CCP in the KMT camp decreased as his power increased.<ref>Zedong, Mao. Thompson, Roger R. (1990). Report from Xunwu. Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-2182-3}}.</ref>

On 7 April, Chiang and several other KMT leaders held a meeting, during which they proposed that Communist activities were socially and economically disruptive and had to be undone for the Nationalist revolution to proceed. On 12 April, many communists within the KMT were purged in Shanghai through hundreds of arrests and executions on the orders of General [[Bai Chongxi]].<ref name="history.state.gov" /><ref>Brune, Lester H. Dean Burns, Richard Dean Burns. (2003). Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-93914-3}}.</ref> The CCP referred to this as the ''12 April Incident'', the [[Shanghai massacre of 1927|Shanghai massacre]], and the beginning of the [[White Terror (China)|White Terror]].<ref>Zhao, Suisheng. (2004). A Nation-state by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism. Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-5001-7}}.</ref> This incident widened the rift between Chiang and [[Wang Jingwei]], the leader of the left wing faction of the KMT. The left wing of the KMT also expelled CCP members from the [[Wuhan Nationalist Government|Wuhan Government]], which in turn was toppled by Chiang Kai-shek. The KMT resumed its campaign against the warlords and captured Beijing in June 1928.<ref>Guo, Xuezhi. (2002). The Ideal Chinese Political Leader: A Historical and Cultural Perspective. Greenwood. {{ISBN|0-275-97259-3}}.</ref> Soon, most of [[East China|eastern China]] was under the control of the Nanjing central government, which received prompt international recognition as the sole legitimate government of China. The KMT government announced, in conformity with Sun Yat-sen, the formula for the three stages of revolution: military unification, political tutelage, and constitutional democracy.<ref>Theodore De Bary, William. Bloom, Irene. Chan, Wing-tsit. Adler, Joseph. Lufrano Richard. Lufrano, John. (1999). ''Sources of Chinese Tradition''. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-10938-5}}. p.&nbsp;328.</ref>

== Communist insurgency (1927–1937) ==
{{see also|Encirclement Campaigns}}
{{Infobox
| title            = Communist insurgency (1927–1937)
| data1            = {{Infobox Chinese
|child=yes
|l = Second National Revolutionary War
|s = 第二次国内革命战争
|t = 第二次國內革命戰爭
|p = Dìèrcì guónèi gémìng zhànzhēng
}}
}}

On 1 August 1927, the CCP launched an [[Nanchang uprising|uprising in Nanchang]] against the Nationalist government in [[Wuhan]]. This conflict led to the creation of the [[Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]].<ref name="Li2012" /><ref name="Lee1986">Lee, Lai to. ''Trade Unions in China: 1949 To the Present''. (1986). National University of Singapore Press. {{ISBN|9971-69-093-4}}.</ref> On 4 August, the main forces of the Red Army left Nanchang and headed southwards for an assault on Guangdong. Nationalist forces quickly reoccupied Nanchang while the remaining members of the CCP in Nanchang went into hiding.<ref name="Li2012" /> A CCP meeting on 7 August confirmed the objective of the party was to seize political power by force, but the CCP was quickly suppressed the next day by the Nationalist government in Wuhan, led by Wang Jingwei. On 14 August, Chiang Kai-shek announced his temporary retirement, as the Wuhan faction and Nanjing faction of the Kuomintang were allied once again with common goal of suppressing the CCP after the earlier split. Wang Jingwei took the leadership of KMT after Chiang.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

Attempts were later made by the CCP to take the cities of [[Changsha]], [[Shantou]] and Guangzhou. The Red Army consisting of mutinous former National Revolutionary Army (NRA) soldiers as well as armed peasants established control over several areas in [[southern China]].<ref name="Lee1986" /> KMT forces continued to attempt to suppress the rebellions.<ref name="Lee1986" /> Then, in September, Wang Jingwei was forced out of Wuhan. September also saw an unsuccessful armed rural insurrection, known as the [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]], led by Mao Zedong.<ref>Blasko, Dennis J. (2006). ''The Chinese Army Today: Tradition and Transformation for the 21st Century''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-77003-3}}.</ref> Borodin then returned to the Soviet Union in October via Mongolia. In November, Chiang Kai-shek went to Shanghai and invited Wang to join him. On 11 December, the CCP started the [[Guangzhou Uprising]], establishing a soviet there the next day, but lost the city by 13 December to a counter-attack under the orders of General [[Zhang Fakui]]. On 16 December, Wang Jingwei fled to France. There were now three capitals in China: the internationally recognized republic capital in [[Beijing]], the CCP and [[left-wing]] KMT at Wuhan and the right-wing KMT regime at [[Nanjing]], which would remain the KMT capital for the next decade.<ref>Esherick, Joseph. (2000). ''Remaking the Chinese City: Modernity and National Identity, 1900–1950''. University of Hawaii Press. {{ISBN|0-8248-2518-7}}.</ref><ref>Clark, Anne, Klein, Donald. eds. (1971). ''Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism'' (Harvard University Press), p.&nbsp;134.</ref>

This marked the beginning of a ten-year armed struggle, known in mainland China as the "Ten-Year Civil War" (十年内战) which ended with the [[Xi'an Incident]], when Chiang Kai-shek was forced to form the [[Second United Front (China)|Second United Front]] against invading forces from the [[Empire of Japan]]. In 1930, the [[Central Plains War]] broke out as an internal conflict of the KMT; launched by [[Feng Yuxiang]], [[Yan Xishan]], and Wang Jingwei. The attention was turned to root out remaining pockets of CCP activity in a series of five [[Encirclement Campaigns|encirclement campaigns]].<ref>Lynch, Michael. Clausen, Søren. (2003). ''Mao''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-21577-3}}.</ref> The [[First encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|first]] and [[Second encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|second]] campaigns failed, and the [[Third encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|third]] was aborted due to the [[Mukden Incident]]. The [[Fourth encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|fourth campaign]] (1932–1933) achieved some early successes, but Chiang's armies were badly mauled when they tried to penetrate into the heart of Mao's [[Soviet Chinese Republic]]. During these campaigns, KMT columns struck swiftly into CCP areas, but were easily engulfed by the vast countryside and were not able to consolidate their foothold.

Finally, in late 1934, Chiang launched a [[Fifth Encirclement Campaign against Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet|fifth campaign]] that involved the systematic encirclement of the [[Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet|Jiangxi Soviet]] region with fortified [[blockhouse]]s.<ref name="Manwaring2000">Manwaring, Max G. Joes, Anthony James. (2000). ''Beyond Declaring Victory and Coming Home: The Challenges of Peace and Stability operations''. Greenwood. {{ISBN|0-275-96768-9}}. p.&nbsp;58.</ref> The blockhouse strategy was devised and implemented in part by newly hired [[Nazism|Nazi]] advisors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |title=Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world: a concise history |year=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |location=Durham, NC |page=46}}</ref> Unlike previous campaigns in which they penetrated deeply in a single strike, this time the KMT troops patiently built blockhouses, each separated by about {{convert|5|mi|km|0|order=flip|abbr=off|spell=on}}, to surround the Communist areas and cut off their supplies and food sources.<ref name="Manwaring2000" /><blockquote>If China were to fall to imperialism, we might still exist as a subjugated people. But if it were to fall to the Communists, we would be denied even the status of slaves.

</blockquote>—Chiang Kai-shek, telegram to [[Zhang Xueliang]], Nanchang, 22 August 1931<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=蒋中正 - 维基语录，自由的名人名言录 |url=https://zh.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E8%92%8B%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A3 |access-date=2025-12-25 |website=zh.wikiquote.org |language=zh}}</ref>

===The Long March===
{{Main|Long March}}

In October 1934, the CCP took advantage of gaps in the ring of blockhouses (manned by the forces of a warlord ally of Chiang Kai-shek's, rather than regular KMT troops) and broke out of the encirclement. The warlord armies were reluctant to challenge Communist forces for fear of losing their own men and did not pursue the CCP with much fervor. In addition, the main KMT forces were preoccupied with annihilating [[Zhang Guotao]]'s army, which was much larger than Mao's. The massive military retreat of Communist forces lasted a year and covered what Mao estimated as 12,500&nbsp;km (25,000 [[Li (unit)|Li]]); it became known as the [[Long March]].<ref name="Zhang2002">Zhang, Chunhou. Vaughan, C. Edwin. (2002). ''Mao Zedong as Poet and Revolutionary Leader: Social and Historical Perspectives''. Lexington books. {{ISBN|0-7391-0406-3}}. pp.&nbsp;58,&nbsp;65.</ref>

This military retreat was undertaken by the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, to evade the pursuit or attack of the Kuomintang army. It consisted of a series of marches, during which numerous Communist armies in the south escaped to the north and west. Over the course of the march from Jiangxi the First Front Army, led by an inexperienced military commission, was on the brink of annihilation by Chiang Kai-Shek's troops as their stronghold was in Jiangxi. The Communists, under the command of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, "escaped in a circling retreat to the west and north, which reportedly traversed over 9,000 kilometers over 370 days." The route passed through some of the most difficult terrain of western China by traveling west, and then northwards towards Shaanxi. "In November 1935, shortly after settling in northern Shaanxi, Mao officially took over Zhou Enlai's leading position in the Red Army. Following a major reshuffling of official roles, Mao became the chairman of the Military Commission, with Zhou and Deng Xiaoping as vice-chairmen." This marked Mao's position as the preeminent leader of the CCP, with Zhou in second position to him.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

The march ended when the CCP reached the interior of [[Shaanxi]]. [[Zhang Guotao]]'s army (Red 4th Front Army), which took a different route through northwest China, was largely destroyed by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and his [[Hui people|Chinese Muslim]] allies, the [[Ma clique]]. Along the way, the Communist army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and the poor, solidifying its appeal to the masses. Of the 90,000–100,000 people who began the Long March from the Soviet Chinese Republic, only around 7,000–8,000 made it to Shaanxi.<ref>[[Lucien Bianco|Bianco, Lucien]]. Bell, Muriel. (1971). ''Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915–1949''. Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-0827-4}}. p.&nbsp;68.</ref> The remnants of Zhang's forces eventually joined Mao in Shaanxi, but with his army destroyed, Zhang, even as a founding member of the CCP, was never able to challenge Mao's authority. Essentially, the great retreat made Mao the undisputed leader of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Kuomintang used [[Kham]]pa troops{{snd}}who were former bandits{{snd}}to battle the Communist Red Army as it advanced and to undermine local warlords who often refused to fight Communist forces to conserve their own strength. The KMT enlisted 300 "Khampa bandits" into its Consolatory Commission military in Sichuan, where they were part of the effort of the central government to penetrate and destabilize local Han warlords such as [[Liu Wenhui]]. The government was seeking to exert full control over frontier areas against the warlords. Liu had refused to battle the Communists in order to conserve his army. The Consolatory Commission forces were used to battle the Red Army, but they were defeated when their religious leader was captured by the Communists.<ref>{{cite book |access-date=27 December 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC&q=force+of+about+300+soldiers+was+organized+and+augmented+by+recruiting+local+Khampa+bandits+into+the+army&pg=PA52 |title=Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Kourney to the West |author1-link=Lin Hsiao-ting |first=Hsiao-ting |last=Lin |year=2010 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |edition=Illustrated |volume=67 |series=Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia |page=52 |quote=A force of about 300 soldiers was organized and augmented by recruiting local Khampa bandits into the army. The relationship between the Consolatory Commission and Liu Wenhui seriously deteriorated in early 1936, when the Norla Hutuktu |isbn=978-0-415-58264-3}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Nationalist China 1929 - 1937.PNG|The situation in China in 1929: After the [[Northern Expedition]], the KMT had direct control over east and central China, while the rest of China proper as well as Manchuria was under the control of warlords loyal to the Nationalist government.
File:China Soviet Zones.png|Map showing the communist-controlled Soviet Zones of China during and after the encirclement campaigns
File:The Long March 1934 - 1935.PNG|Route(s) taken by Communist forces during the Long March
File:Long-march.jpg|A Communist leader addressing survivors of the Long March
File:Chiang1926.jpg|[[Generalissimo]] [[Chiang Kai-shek]], Commander-in-Chief of the [[National Revolutionary Army]], emerged from the [[Northern Expedition]] as the leader of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]
File:National Revolutionary Army troops.png|NRA soldiers marching
File:National Revolutionary Army artillery.png|NRA troops firing artillery at Communist forces
</gallery>

=== Japanese expansionism and united front negotiations ===

In 1931, the [[Empire of Japan]] [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]]. Although the Japanese expansionism in China posed a clear threat to both sides of the civil war, at first it did not lead to a cessation of hostilities.{{sfn|Yang|2020|pp=55–56}} Rather, Chiang believed that "The Japanese are a disease of the skin. The Communists are a disease of the heart."{{sfn|Kolko|1990|p=205}} He ordered his general in Manchuria not to resist the Japanese advance and instead focused on continuing the encirclement campaigns in the south.{{sfn|Mitter|2000|p=73}} He called this policy "first internal pacification, then external resistance."{{efn|{{lang-zh|t=先安內，後攘外。|p=Xiān ānnèi, hòu rǎngwài.}}}}{{sfn|Coble|1991|pp=56–57}}{{sfn|van de Ven|2003|p=172}} The CCP in turn reacted with disdain to Chiang's policy of nonresistance, viewing him as a pawn of the Japanese. They saw fighting the Nationalist government as an essential part of resistance to Japan and called for "Resisting Japan and Opposing Chiang".{{sfn|Yang|2020|pp=56,59}}{{sfn|Sheng|1992|pp=153–155}}

Nonetheless, prosecuting the civil war while also resisting Japan became increasingly impractical for the CCP in particular. Already by late 1932, Communist guerilla groups in Manchuria had begun to cooperate with Nationalist guerillas against the Japanese occupiers.{{sfn|Yang|2020|p=57}}{{sfn|Gao|2018|pp=80, 123}} The CCP also began to come under pressure from the [[Soviet Union]] to negotiate an end to the civil war. The USSR was concerned with events in Europe—especially [[Hitler's rise to power]]—and wanted Communist parties to form [[united front]]s with moderates to resist fascist aggression.{{efn|A united China was of particular importance to the USSR because it could be an important ally if Japan invaded the [[Russian Far East]].}} This policy was formally adopted by the [[7th World Congress of the Comintern]] in the summer of 1935.{{sfn|Pantsov|2012|p=291}} The CCP delegation at the Congress, headed by [[Wang Ming]], published the "[[August 1 Declaration]]" describing how a united front could be created in China. They recommended a [[National unity government|government of national defense]] including all parties in China that wanted to resist Japanese imperialism.{{sfn|Gao|2018|p=124}}{{sfn|Pantsov|2023|p=220}}{{sfn|Yang|2020|pp=60–61}} Importantly, because they still considered Chiang to be a "running dog" of the Japanese, they did not extend this offer to the [[Nationalist government]].{{sfn|Sheng|1992|p=153}}

The CCP itself was in the middle of the Long March during the Comintern Congress and was cut off from radio communication with Moscow. Its leaders learned of the Congress's decisions in November 1935.{{sfn|Yang|2020|pp=60–61}} The following month, they held a conference at [[Wayaobu Subdistrict|Wayaobu]] to discuss the implications of this new Comintern policy. The [[Wayaobu Manifesto]] that they published was a significant retreat from the hardline positions they had held during the early civil war. It called for "the most broad national united front" to resist Japan, and announced that the CCP was willing to suspend class conflict in the interests of cross-class collaboration.{{sfn|Yang|1990|pp=182–184}} However, they did not intend for the [[Chinese Red Army]] to surrender or submit to the Nationalists. On the contrary, their plan to resist the Japanese centered on expanding the Red Army to 1 million men and dramatically increasing the land area covered by the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]].{{sfn|Yang|1990|p=184}}

In late 1935 relations between Nanjing and Tokyo took a sharp downturn as Japan stepped up its expansionist policies in [[north China]].{{sfn|Coble|1991|pp=251–252}}{{sfn|So|2002|p=237}} Chiang Kai-shek feared that a full-scale invasion of China was imminent, and wanted to secure the material and diplomatic support of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Yang|2020|p=58}} He also faced growing public pressure to actively resist Japan; on 9 December 1935, for example, [[December 9th Movement|a major student protest]] broke out in Beiping.{{sfn|Coble|1991|pp=76–77}}{{sfn|Garver|1988|p=5}}{{sfn|Ienaga|1978|p=88}} In January, Chiang Kai-shek sent emissaries to Moscow to negotiate a military mutual assistance treaty.{{sfn|Sheng|1992|pp=153–154}} However, as a precondition for a treaty, Chiang wanted the Soviet Union to order the CCP to submit to the Nationalist Government. The Soviet ambassador told Chiang that while the USSR hoped the CCP would agree to a unified command under the Nationalists, Chiang would have to negotiate directly with the CCP.{{sfn|Yang|2020|p=62}} This upset Chiang, who worried that if the USSR was unwilling to order the CCP to stop, they might be willing to support further revolutionary actions by the CCP if a ceasefire broke down. Progress halted, and after news leaked to the press that Chiang was contemplating a treaty with the USSR, he called off negotiations.{{sfn|Yang|2020|p=63}}

[[File:China before the Xi'an Incident.svg|right|thumb|320px|Map of eastern China in December 1936, on the eve of the [[Xi'an Incident]]:
{{legend|#FF4D4D|Held by the [[Chinese Communist Party]]}}
{{legend|#7A9FFF|Held by the central [[Nationalist Government]]}}
{{legend|#B0C6FF|Semi-autonomous areas aligned with the Nationalist Government}}
{{legend|#B0C660|Held by the Northeastern Army, Northwestern Army, or allies}}
{{legend|#C2986D|Held by the [[Empire of Japan]]}}]]

Meanwhile, the CCP opened up separate negotiations with the Nationalist forces besieging them in northwest China. They managed to sign secret ceasefire agreements with [[Zhang Xueliang]], leader of the [[Northeastern Army]], and [[Yang Hucheng]], leader of the Northwestern Army.{{sfn|van de Ven|2003|p=179}} These generals were frustrated that Chiang' was prioritizing Civil War over resistance to Japan.{{sfn|Coble|1991|pp=224–225}}{{sfn|Itoh|2016|p=108}} Yan Xishan, another neighboring warlord, also signed a secret agreement with the Communists, although he was not as closely aligned with them as Zhang or Yang.{{sfn|Gillin|1967|p=232}} The members of this northwestern alliance were united by their desire to resist Japan, but they differed over the details of how this could best be accomplished.{{sfn|van de Ven|2003|p=179}} The Communists supported a plan to use Soviet support to take over [[Shaanxi]], [[Gansu]], [[Ningxia]], [[Qinghai]], and [[Xinjiang]] and turn northwest China into a base under Zhang's command to resist Japan and oppose Chiang.{{sfn|Yang|2020|p=64}} Zhang, Yang, and Yan were still committed to convincing Chiang to lead the anti-Japanese resistance.{{sfn|van de Ven|2003|p=179}} As they continued to negotiate, they kept their alliance secret and even staged fake military battles to allay the suspicions of the Nanjing government.{{sfn|Barnouin|Yu|2006|p=65}}{{sfn|van de Ven|2003|p=179}}

Negotiations between Chiang and the CCP began in earnest in late 1936.{{sfn|Sheng|1992|p=158}} Chiang continued to try to resolve the civil war militarily; he continued to consider a negotiated settlement with the CCP to be a last resort.{{sfn|Chen|2024|pp=161–162}} He was encouraged by the results of the Ningxia campaign in mid-to-late October. In that campaign, the Second and Fourth Corps of the Red Army marched north to pick up supplies dropped in Mongolia by the Soviet Union, but found themselves trapped on the wrong side of the Yellow River.{{sfn|Yang|2020|p=65}} They were cut to pieces by the [[Hui people|Hui]] cavalry allied with the Nationalists.{{sfn|Watt|2014|pp=111–112}} Chiang began making preparations for a sixth encirclement campaign, and instructed Zhang and Yang to participate.{{sfn|Itoh|2016|pp=129–130}} In early November, Chen Lifu presented Pan Hannian with a set of extremely harsh conditions for a deal.{{efn|The terms called for, among other things, reducing the Red Army to 3,000 men and sending all of its senior officers into exile.{{sfn|Peng|2023|p=476}}{{sfn|Sheng|1992|p=163}}}} Pan balked, calling them "conditions for surrender".{{sfn|Chen|2024|p=161}} In late November, Chiang ordered the Northeastern Army and forces from the central Nationalist Army, [[Hu Zongnan]]'s Right Route Army, to attack towards the Communist capital at [[Zhidan County|Bao'an]]. At the resulting Battle of Shanchengbao, the Northeastern Army withheld most of its forces from the attack. This allowed the Red Army to ambush and nearly wipe out Hu's 78th regiment.{{sfn|Dillon|2020|p=102}}{{sfn|Yang|1990|p=223}} This reversed the diplomatic situation: Chen Lifu moderated his conditions, but the CCP recalled Pan Hannian from Nanjing on December 10.{{sfn|Dillon|2020|pp=101–102}}{{sfn|Peng|2023|pp=476–477}}

In late 1936, Zhang Xueliang decided that his repeated attempts to persuade Chiang to create a united front with the Communists were not going to be enough. To Zhang, Chiang appeared dead-set on continuing the Civil War even as the threat of Japanese invasion loomed ever larger. Following Yang Hucheng's advice, he decided to resort to drastic measures.{{sfn|Pantsov|2023|pp=241–242}}{{sfn|Pantsov|2012|p=302}} On 12 December 1936, the disgruntled Zhang and Yang conspired to kidnap Chiang and force him into a truce with the CCP. The incident became known as the [[Xi'an Incident]].<ref name="Ye2003">Ye, Zhaoyan Ye; Berry, Michael (2003). ''Nanjing 1937: A Love Story''. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-12754-5}}.</ref> Both parties suspended fighting to form a [[Second United Front]] to focus their energies and fight the Japanese.<ref name="Ye2003" />

== Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) ==
{{Main|Second Sino-Japanese War}}

[[File:Situation at the End of World War Two.PNG|thumb|Japanese occupation (red) of eastern China near the end of the war, and Communist bases (striped)]]

In 1937, Japan launched its full-scale invasion of China and its well-equipped troops overran KMT defenders in northern and coastal China.[[File:Photo 03 in Nanjing Massacre (Itou Kaneo's Album).png|left|thumb|On 13 December 1937, after the KMT Government withdrew from Nanjing, Japanese Navy during [[Nanjing Massacre]]]]The alliance of CCP and KMT was in name only.<ref name="Buss1972">Buss, Claude Albert. (1972). Stanford Alumni Association. ''The People's Republic of China and Richard Nixon. United States''.</ref> Unlike the KMT forces, CCP troops shunned [[conventional warfare]] and instead waged [[guerrilla warfare]] against the Japanese. The level of actual cooperation and coordination between the CCP and KMT during [[World War II]] was minimal.<ref name="Buss1972" /> In the midst of the Second United Front, the CCP and the KMT were still vying for territorial advantage in "[[Free China (Second Sino-Japanese War)|Free China]]" (i.e., areas not occupied by the Japanese or ruled by Japanese [[Puppet state|puppet governments]] such as Manchukuo and the [[Reorganized National Government of China]]).<ref name="Buss1972" />

The situation came to a head in late 1940 and early 1941 when clashes between Communist and KMT forces intensified. Chiang demanded in December 1940 that the CCP's [[New Fourth Army]] evacuate [[Anhui]] and [[Jiangsu]] Provinces, due to its provocation and harassment of KMT forces in this area. Under intense pressure, the New Fourth Army commanders complied. The following year they were [[New Fourth Army incident|ambushed]] by KMT forces during their evacuation, which led to several thousand deaths.<ref name="Schoppa2000">Schoppa, R. Keith. (2000). ''The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History''. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-11276-9}}.</ref> It also ended the Second United Front, formed earlier to fight the Japanese.<ref name="Schoppa2000" />

As clashes between the CCP and KMT intensified, countries such as the United States and the Soviet Union attempted to prevent a disastrous civil war. After the New Fourth Army incident, US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] sent [[special envoy]] [[Lauchlin Currie]] to talk with Chiang Kai-shek and KMT party leaders to express their concern regarding the hostility between the two parties, with Currie stating that the only ones to benefit from a civil war would be the Japanese. The Soviet Union, allied more closely with the CCP, sent an imperative telegram to Mao in 1941, warning that civil war would also make the situation easier for the Japanese military. Due to the international community's efforts, there was a temporary and superficial peace. Chiang criticized the CCP in 1943 with the propaganda piece ''China's Destiny'', which questioned the CCP's power after the war, while the CCP strongly opposed Chiang's leadership and referred to his regime as fascist in an attempt to generate a negative public image. Both leaders knew that a deadly battle had begun between themselves.<ref>Chen, Jian. (2001). ''Mao's China and the Cold War''. The University of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|0-807-84932-4}}.</ref>

In general, developments in the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] were to the advantage of the CCP, as its guerrilla war tactics had won them popular support within the Japanese-occupied areas. In occupied areas, the Communists established military and political bases from which it carried out guerilla warfare.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Xiaobing |title=The Cold War in East Asia |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-138-65179-1 |location=Abingdon, Oxon}}</ref>{{Rp|page=35}} The Communists built popular support in these areas, returning land to poor peasants, reducing peasant's rent, and arming the people.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=35}} By Spring 1945, there were 19 Communist-governed areas in China in which 95 million people lived.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=36}} In Fall 1945, the Communist armies had 1.27 million men and were supported by 2.68 million militia members.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=36}} The KMT had to defend the country against the main Japanese campaigns, since it was the legal Chinese government, a factor which proved costly to Chiang Kai-shek and his troops. Japan launched its last major offensive against the KMT, [[Operation Ichi-Go]], in 1944, which resulted in the severe weakening of Chiang's forces.<ref>Lary, Diana. (2007). ''China's Republic''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-84256-5}}.</ref> The CCP also suffered fewer losses through its guerrilla tactics.{{Clarify|date=August 2025|reason= confusing whether it is meant that CCP forces also suffered significant losses, or they suffered few losses, as in very few losses compared to KMT forces}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lovell |first=Julia |title=Maoism: A Global History |year=2019 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |isbn=978-0-525-65605-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kx1-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT41 31] |quote=Though it is also worth pointing out that, in practice, Mao's recipe for guerrilla manoeuvres played a limited role in Chinese revolutionary wars during the 1930s and '40s. Nationalist armies carried most of the resistance to the Japanese during the Second World War, and Chinese Communist victory in the final years of the civil war up to 1949 was won through field battles that the Soviets taught the CCP how to fight. |author-link=Julia Lovell}}</ref>

== Immediate post-war clashes (1945–1946) ==
[[File:Manchuria Operation map-en.svg|thumb|The Soviet [[Red Army]] [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]] in August 1945.]]
[[File:重慶會談 蔣介石與毛澤東.jpg|thumb|Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong met in Chongqing in 1945.]]

Under the terms of the Japanese [[unconditional surrender]] dictated by the Allies, Japanese troops were to surrender to KMT troops but not to the CCP, which was present in some of the occupied areas as well.<ref name="Zarrow2005">Zarrow, Peter Gue. (2005). ''China in War and Revolution, 1895–1949''. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-36447-7}}. p.&nbsp;338.</ref> In [[Manchuria]], however, where the KMT had no forces, the Japanese surrendered to the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-shek reminded Japanese troops to remain at their posts to receive the KMT, but Communist forces soon began taking surrenders from the Japanese and fighting those who resisted.<ref name="Zarrow2005" /> [[Albert Coady Wedemeyer|General Wedemeyer]] of the United States Army became alarmed at these developments and wanted seven American divisions to be sent to China, but [[George C. Marshall|General Marshall]] replied that it should not be given priority over Japan and Korea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spector |first1=Ronald H. |title=In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia |publisher=Random House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibEQxK_ypsQC&pg=PA38 |year=2007 |location=New York |isbn=978-0-375-50915-5 |pages=38–39}}</ref>

In July 1944, the Chinese theater of the Second Sino-Japanese War was undergoing significant strain as Japanese forces launched ''[[Operation Ichi-Go]]'', resulting in major territorial losses for the Nationalist government. During the same period, relations between the Nationalist government and the United States became increasingly strained over questions of military command and wartime coordination.

The United States, which by then provided the majority of China’s external military assistance, pressed for extensive reorganization of Chinese forces and sought greater operational authority through General [[Joseph Stilwell]], the U.S. commander in the China-Burma-India Theater. These demands coincided with internal debates within the Nationalist government over sovereignty and control of military operations. At the same time, U.S. officials initiated exploratory contacts with the Chinese Communist Party through the Dixie Mission, reflecting a broader reassessment of American policy toward China. These developments unfolded alongside worsening battlefield conditions and mounting economic pressures within Nationalist-controlled areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vinegar Joe and the Generalissimo |url=https://www.hoover.org/research/vinegar-joe-and-generalissimo |access-date=2025-12-25 |website=Hoover Institution |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Changfa |date=1996-01-01 |title=The conflicts between Chang Kai-shek and Joseph Stilwell during World War Two |url=https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/1956 |journal=Theses, Dissertations and Capstones}}</ref><blockquote>The course of the War of Resistance has now come under such pressure from the United States as I could never have imagined even in my worst expectations. That American imperialism should play such ruthless moves, to such an extreme degree, is something still more beyond all anticipation.</blockquote>—Chiang Kai-shek, 16 July 1944<ref name=":4" />

The first post-war peace negotiation, attended by both Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, was in [[Chongqing]] from 28 August to 10 October 1945. Chiang entered the meeting at an advantage because he had recently signed a [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance|friendly treaty]] with the Soviet Union while the Communists were still forcing the Japanese to surrender in some places. Mao was accompanied by American ambassador [[Patrick J. Hurley]], who was devoted to Chiang but also wanted to ensure Mao's safety in light of the past history between the two Chinese leaders.{{sfn|Spector|2007}} It concluded with the signing of the [[Double Tenth Agreement]].<ref name="Xu2001">Xu, Guangqiu. (2001). ''War Wings: The United States and Chinese Military Aviation, 1929–1949''. Greenwood. {{ISBN|0-313-32004-7}}. p.&nbsp;201.</ref> Both sides stressed the importance of a peaceful reconstruction, but the conference did not produce any concrete results.<ref name="Xu2001" /> Battles between the two sides continued even as peace negotiations were in progress, until the agreement was reached in January 1946. However, large campaigns and full-scale confrontations between the CCP and Chiang's troops were temporarily avoided. On 26 November 1945, Hurley resigned, viewing Chiang as having gone against his agreement with the Communists.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=53}} In December 1945, Hurley's former position was filled by Marshall.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=54}}
[[File:April 1946年4月， Shang Zhen, who took office as the head of the Chinese military delegation to Japan..png|thumb|[[Shang Zhen]] (商震), who took office as the head of the Chinese military delegation to Japan in April 1946.]]
In the last month of World War II in East Asia, Soviet forces launched the huge [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation]] against the Japanese [[Kwantung Army]] in Manchuria and along the Chinese-Mongolian border.<ref>Bright, Richard Carl. (2007). ''Pain and Purpose in the Pacific: True Reports of War''. Trafford Publishing. {{ISBN|1-4251-2544-1}}.</ref> This operation destroyed the Kwantung Army in just three weeks and left the USSR occupying all of Manchuria by the end of the war in a total power vacuum of local Chinese forces. Consequently, the 700,000 Japanese troops stationed in the region surrendered. Later in the year Chiang Kai-shek realized that he lacked the resources to prevent a CCP takeover of Manchuria following the scheduled Soviet departure.<ref name="Lilley2004">Lilley, James. ''China hands: nine decades of adventure, espionage, and diplomacy in Asia''. PublicAffairs, New York, 2004</ref> He therefore made a deal with the Soviets to delay their withdrawal until he had moved enough of his best-trained men and modern [[materiel]] into the region. However, the Soviets refused permission for the Nationalist troops to traverse its territory and spent the extra time systematically dismantling the extensive Manchurian industrial base (worth up to $2&nbsp;billion) and shipping it back to their war-ravaged country.<ref name="Lilley2004" /> KMT troops were then airlifted by the US to occupy key cities in North China, while the countryside was already dominated by the CCP. On 15 November 1945, the KMT began a campaign to prevent the CCP from strengthening its already strong base.<ref name="Jessup1989">{{cite book |last=Jessup |first=John E. |title=A Chronology of Conflict and Resolution, 1945–1985 |publisher=Greenwood |year=1989 |isbn=0-313-24308-5 |location=New York}}</ref> At the same time, however, the return of the KMT also brought widespread graft and corruption, with an [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] officer remarking that the only winners were the Communists.{{sfn|Spector|2007|p=61}}

In the winter of 1945–1946, [[Joseph Stalin]] commanded Marshal [[Rodion Malinovsky]] to give Mao Zedong most [[Imperial Japanese Army]] weapons that were captured.<ref>{{cite web |author=Yang Kuisong |url=http://book.sina.com.cn/excerpt/sz/rw/2011-11-24/0951293044_2.shtml |script-title=zh:杨奎松《读史求实》: 苏联给了林彪东北野战军多少现代武器 |website=Sina |date=24 November 2011 |access-date=17 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926184147/http://book.sina.com.cn/excerpt/sz/rw/2011-11-24/0951293044_2.shtml |archive-date=26 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Chiang Kai-shek's forces pushed as far as [[Jinzhou]] by 26 November 1945, meeting with little resistance. This was followed by a Communist offensive on the [[Shandong Peninsula]] that was largely successful, as all of the peninsula, except what was controlled by the US, fell to the Communists.<ref name="Jessup1989"/> The truce fell apart in June 1946 when full-scale war between CCP and KMT forces broke out on 26 June 1946. China then entered a state of civil war that lasted more than three years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hu |first=Jubin |title=Projecting a Nation: Chinese National Cinema Before 1949 |date=2003 |publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]] |isbn=978-988-220-258-0 |doi=10.1515/9789882202580 |jstor=j.ctt2jbzvf}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2025}}

<gallery widths="200" heights="160">
File:Chinese Communist troops marched north(1945) 03.jpg|Chinese Communist soldiers march north to occupy rural [[Manchuria]], 1945.
File:Shangtang.jpg|[[Shangdang Campaign]], September–October 1945
</gallery>

== Nationwide civil war (1946–1949) ==
{{further|Chinese Communist Revolution}}

=== Background and disposition of forces ===
{{Infobox
| title            = Resumed fighting (1946–1949)
| data1            = {{Infobox Chinese|child = yes
|name1 = Name in mainland China
|l = Third National Revolutionary War
|s = 第三次国内革命战争
|t = 第三次國內革命戰爭
|p = Dì-Sān Cì Guónèi Gémìng Zhànzhēng
|altname = Second name in mainland China
|l2 = War of Liberation
|t2 = 解放戰爭
|s2 = 解放战争
|p2 = Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng
|wuu2 = Chia-fhon-tsan-zen
|j2 = Gaai2 fong3 zin3 zang1
|poj2 = Kái-hòng chiàn-cheng
|altname3 = Third name in mainland China
|l3 = Chinese People's Liberation War
|s3 = 中国人民解放战争
|t3 = 中國人民解放戰爭
|p3 = Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng
|altname4 = Name in Taiwan
|l4 = Anti-Communist Rebellion Suppression War
|t4 = 反共戡亂戰爭
|s4 = 反共戡乱战争
|p4 = Fǎngòng kānluàn zhànzhēng
|altname5 = Alternative name
|l5 = Second Kuomintang–Communist civil war
|t5 = 第二次國共內戰
|s5 = 第二次国共内战
|p5 = Dì-Èr Cì Guó-Gòng Nèizhàn
}}
}}

<blockquote>Having examined the actions of the Soviet Communist Party, the situation in Manchuria, and the broader international context, I have repeatedly reflected upon the matter and have found no viable path to a peaceful compromise. Should there be even the slightest chance of a turning point, I would not willingly hazard such grave dangers or subject the people once again to the suffering of war. Yet given the present condition of the domestic economy and the currency system, any renewed cycle of warfare would inevitably provoke social instability, which the Communist insurgents would then exploit to incite disorder.</blockquote>—Chiang Kai-shek, 9 November 1945<ref name=":4" />

By the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the power of the Chinese Communist Party grew considerably. Their main force grew to 1.2&nbsp;million troops, backed with additional militia of 2&nbsp;million, totalling 3.2&nbsp;million troops.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=36}} Their "Liberated Zone" in 1945 contained 19 base areas,<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=36}} including one-quarter of the country's territory and one-third of its population; this included many important towns and cities. Moreover, the Soviet Union turned over all of its captured Japanese weapons and a substantial amount of their own supplies to the Communists, who received Northeastern China from the Soviets as well.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002">{{cite book |title=Lịch sử thế giới hiện đại |last=Nguyễn Anh Thái |author2=Nguyễn Quốc Hùng |author3=Vũ Ngọc Oanh |author4=Trần Thị Vinh |author5=Đặng Thanh Toán |author6=Đỗ Thanh Bình |year=2002 |publisher=Giáo Dục |location=Ho Chi Minh City |id=8934980082317 |pages=320–322 |language=vi}}{{Better source needed|date=August 2025}}</ref>

In March 1946, despite repeated requests from Chiang, the [[Soviet Red Army]] under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky continued to delay pulling out of Manchuria, while Malinovsky secretly told the CCP forces to move in behind them, which led to full-scale war for the control of the Northeast. These favorable conditions also facilitated many changes inside the Communist leadership: the more radical hard-line faction who wanted a complete military take-over of China finally gained the upper hand and defeated the careful opportunists.<ref>Michael M Sheng, ''Battling Western Imperialism'', Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 132–135</ref> Before giving control to Communist leaders, on 27 March, Soviet diplomats requested a joint venture of industrial development with the Nationalist Party in Manchuria.<ref>{{cite book |last=Liu |first=Shiao Tang |title=Min Kuo Ta Shih Jih Chih |volume=2 |year=1978 |publisher=Zhuan Chi Wen Shuan |location=Taipei |page=735 |language=zh}}</ref>
[[File:Good Luck Dewey19.JPEG|left|thumb|In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek supported Dewey in the US election. A team of more than 20 people cheered for Dewey in Peiping, holding a parade outside the Forbidden City with the words "Good Luck Dewey!" written on it.]]
Although [[George Marshall|General Marshall]] stated that he knew of no evidence that the CCP was being supplied by the Soviet Union, the CCP was able to utilize a large number of weapons abandoned by the Japanese, including some tanks. When large numbers of well-trained KMT troops began to defect to the Communist forces, the CCP was finally able to achieve material superiority.<ref>''The New York Times'', 12 January 1947, p. 44.</ref><ref>Zeng Kelin, ''Zeng Kelin jianjun zishu'' (General Zeng Kelin Tells His Story), Liaoning renmin chubanshe, Shenyang, 1997. pp. 112–113</ref> The CCP's most effective political reform was its land reform policy. This drew the massive number of landless and starving peasants in the countryside into the Communist cause.<ref>[[Ray Huang]], ''cong dalishi jiaodu du Jiang Jieshi riji'' (Reading Chiang Kai-shek's diary from a macro-history perspective), China Times Publishing Press, Taipei, 1994, pp. 441–443</ref> This strategy enabled the CCP to access an extensive supply of manpower for both combat and logistical purposes; despite suffering heavy casualties throughout many of the war's campaigns, manpower continued to grow. For example, during the [[Huaihai Campaign]] alone the CCP was able to mobilize 5,430,000 peasants to fight against the KMT forces.<ref>[[Lung Ying-tai]], ''dajiang dahai 1949'', Commonwealth Publishing Press, Taipei, 2009, p. 184</ref>

[[File:National Revolutionary Army planes.png|thumb|Nationalist warplanes being prepared for an air raid on Communist bases]]

After the war with the Japanese ended, Chiang Kai-shek quickly moved KMT troops to newly liberated areas to prevent Communist forces from receiving the Japanese surrender.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002"/> The US airlifted many KMT troops from central China to the [[Northeast China|Northeast]] (Manchuria). President [[Harry S. Truman]] was very clear about what he described as "using the Japanese to hold off the Communists". In his memoirs he writes:

{{blockquote|It was perfectly clear to us that if we told the Japanese to lay down their arms immediately and march to the seaboard, the entire country would be taken over by the Communists. We therefore had to take the unusual step of using the enemy as a garrison until we could airlift Chinese National troops to South China and send [[United States Marine Corps|Marines]] to guard the seaports. |sign = President Truman<ref>Harry S Truman, ''Memoirs'', Vol. Two: "Years of Trial and Hope, 1946–1953" (Great Britain 1956), p. 66</ref>}}

Using the pretext of "receiving the Japanese surrender", business interests within the KMT government occupied most of the banks, factories and commercial properties, which had previously been seized by the Imperial Japanese Army.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" /> They also conscripted troops at an accelerated pace from the civilian population and hoarded supplies, preparing for a resumption of war with the Communists. These hasty and harsh preparations caused great hardship for the residents of cities such as Shanghai, where the unemployment rate rose dramatically to 37.5%.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" />

Differently, Yan Xishan successfully persuaded the surrendered Japanese troops to serve under his command. As news of this arrangement spread to other parts of North China, additional Japanese soldiers from those regions began traveling to Taiyuan to serve in his government and army. By doing so, he not only retained control over the extensive industrial areas around Taiyuan, but also preserved nearly all of the managerial and technical personnel previously employed by the Japanese military. At its peak, Yan’s Japanese “special forces” numbered approximately 15,000 soldiers, supplemented by a separate corps of Japanese officers dispersed throughout Yan’s forces. 

Following active efforts by the United States to repatriate Japanese personnel, which achieved partial success, the size of this force was reduced to around 10,000. During much of the subsequent Chinese Civil War, Yan’s Japanese troops loyally assisted him in maintaining control over large parts of northern Shanxi and prevent it, as an important industrial and political area of the KMT at that time, from falling under the control of the Communist Party, until the capture of Taiyuan a day after Nanjing.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

[[Hyperinflation]] meant those employed in the Kuomintang forces lost the purchasing power of their pay.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}} This resulted in corruption and the embezzlement of supplies which disappeared into the barter economy.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}} Ordinary Kuomintang soldiers were often malnourished and desertion was common.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}}

The US strongly supported the Kuomintang forces. About 50,000 US soldiers were sent to guard strategic sites in Hebei and Shandong in [[Operation Beleaguer]]. The US equipped and trained KMT troops, and transported Japanese and Koreans back to help KMT forces to occupy liberated zones as well as to contain Communist-controlled areas.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" /> According to [[William Blum]], American aid included substantial amounts of mostly surplus military supplies, and loans were made to the KMT.<ref>p. 23, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, William Blum, Zed Books 2004 London.</ref> Within less than two years after the Sino-Japanese War, the KMT had received $4.43&nbsp;billion from the US{{snd}}most of which was military aid.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" /> Highlighting the aid provided by the US to the KMT, the Communists' position was that the US was stirring domestic warfare and characterized the civil war as both a national revolution against the KMT and a revolution against US colonization and aggression.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Hongshan |title=Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.–China Relations in the Cold War |year=2024 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-20705-8 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|14}}

=== Outbreak of war ===
<gallery widths=200 heights=200>
File:Chaing Kai-shek's Strategy 1947.PNG|Situation in 1947
File:North China Areas of Politico-military Control, 15 August 1947 - DPLA - 1e624ff873a62c9c3c18bc0f50c38da0.jpg|North China areas of politico-military control in August 1947
File:Communist Offensives September through November 1948.PNG|Situation in the fall of 1948
File:Lost Horizon? (1948).jpg|Map of the Far East from the ''Time'' magazine showing the situation of the Chinese Civil War in late 1948
File:Communist Offensives November 1948 - January 1949.PNG|Situation in the winter of 1948 and 1949
File:Communist Offensives April - October 1949.PNG|Situation in April to October 1949
File:ROC_Retreat_to_Taiwan.svg|The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost [[Nanjing]] they next moved to [[Guangzhou]], then to [[Chongqing]], [[Chengdu]] and finally, [[Xichang]] before arriving [[Taipei]] in 1949.
</gallery>
[[File:PLA Enters Peking.jpg|thumb|The PLA enters Beiping in the [[Pingjin Campaign]]]]
[[File:Renault FT-17 in ROC.jpg|thumb|[[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] FT tanks]]

As postwar negotiations between the Nationalist government and the CCP failed, the civil war between these two parties resumed. This stage of war is referred to in CCP historiography as the "War of Liberation" ({{zh |s = 解放战争 |p = Jiěfàng Zhànzhēng |links = no }}). On 20 July 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale assault on Communist territory in [[North China]] with 113 brigades (a total of 1.6&nbsp;million troops).<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" />

Knowing their disadvantages in manpower and equipment, the CCP executed a "passive defense" strategy. It avoided the strong points of the KMT army and was prepared to abandon territory in order to preserve its forces. In most cases the surrounding countryside and small towns had come under Communist influence long before the cities. The CCP also attempted to wear out the KMT forces as much as possible. This tactic seemed to be successful; after a year, the power balance became more favorable to the CCP. They wiped out 1.12&nbsp;million KMT troops, while their strength grew to about two million men.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" />

In March 1947, the KMT achieved a symbolic victory by seizing Yan'an, the capital of the [[Yan'an Soviet]].<ref>Lilley, James R. ''China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia''. {{ISBN|1-58648-136-3}}.</ref> The Communists counterattacked soon afterwards. With KMT efforts for an all-out offensive failing, the Nationalists changed strategy from broad assaults to concentrating on key targets, including Communist-controlled areas in Shandong and Shaanxi.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=56}} This approach also failed.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=56}}

On 20 May 1947, in his inaugural address, Chiang Kai-shek presented the Nationalist government’s war effort as a defense of constitutionalism, the rule of law, and democratic governance against Communist expansion, which he portrayed as incompatible with political pluralism and constitutional government.<blockquote>

We must respect the Constitution, implement it in practice, and thereby establish the foundations of the rule of law. At the same time, it is essential that all citizens come to understand the true meaning of democracy and learn from genuine democratic practice.

Democracy must be recognized as a way of life. It is manifested not only in the political realm, but also in economic and social life, as well as in the conduct of all professions. Citizens of a democratic state never relinquish their rights, nor do they shirk their responsibilities. Democracy requires that the minority submit to the majority; yet it does not permit the majority to oppress the minority, nor does it allow a minority to hold the majority hostage.

Every citizen must possess a sense of self-respect, enjoy the opportunity to express just and fair opinions, and cultivate the capacity to accept criticism and to sacrifice personal interests for the common good.</blockquote>—Chiang Kai-shek, inaugural address as the first President of the Republic of China, 20 May 1947.<ref name=":4" />[[File:1967-10 辽沈战役后第四野战军攻入山海关.jpg|thumb|In October 1948, in the Liaoshen Campaign, the Fourth Field Army of CCP invaded [[Shanhai Pass|Shanhai]] [[Shanhai Pass|Pass]]|left]]From June to September 1947, the Communists launched offensives and Nationalist-controlled areas became the primary battlefields.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=56}} On 30 June 1947, CCP troops crossed the Yellow River and moved to the [[Dabie Mountains]] area, restored and developed the [[Central Plain (China)|Central Plain]]. The crossing ruined the Nationalists' plans to use the river as a defense line.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Torigian |first=Joseph |title=The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping |date=2025 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=9781503634756 |location=Stanford, California}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=84}} At the same time, Communist forces also began to counterattack in Northeastern China, North China and East China.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002" />
The period of August 1948 through October 1949 included the three most significant Communist military campaigns of the civil war: the [[Liaoshen campaign|Liaoshen Campaign]] (northeast China), [[Huaihai campaign|Huaihai Campaign]] (east China), and [[Pingjin campaign|Pingjin Campaign]] (Beijing-Tianjin).<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}}

The Liaoshen campaign was launched on 12 September 1948 and led by [[Lin Biao]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} The main focus of the campaign was Jinzhou.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} On 14 October, the Communists launched an all-out assault and captured the city in 24 hours.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} Most of the 90,000 Nationalists casualties in this battle were incorporated into the Communist ranks.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} The [[siege of Changchun]] ended on 19 October when the Nationalist garrison surrendered.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} On 1 November, the Communists captured [[Shenyang]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} By late 1948, the CCP had taken control of the Northeast through the decisive Liaoshen Campaign.<ref name="Westad2003">Westad, Odd Arne. (2003). ''Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950''. Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|0-8047-4484-X}}. pp. 192–193.</ref> 

The capture of large KMT units provided the CCP with the tanks, heavy artillery and other combined-arms assets needed to execute offensive operations south of the Great Wall. By April 1948, the city of Luoyang fell, cutting the KMT army off from Xi'an.<ref name="Elleman">Elleman, Bruce A. Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795–1989. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-21473-4}}.</ref> Following a fierce battle, the CCP captured [[Jinan]] and Shandong province on 24 September 1948. During this period, [[Battle of Weixian]] took place, which was an important battle for the CCP to liberate Shandong. Through the Weixian Campaign, the CCP controlled the Jiaoji Railway and cut off the connection between Jinan and Qingdao. 
[[File:淮海战役期间李弥与部下一起用餐以示同甘共苦.jpg|thumb|Photograged during the Huaihai Campaign, KMT general Li Mi dined with his subordinates.|left]]
The Huaihai Campaign of late 1948 and early 1949 secured east-central China for the CCP.<ref name="Westad2003" /> It was the largest military operation of the civil war.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=57}} A large number of KMT troops deserted and changed sides in these conflicts.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|204}} The outcome of these encounters were decisive for the military outcome of the civil war.<ref name="Westad2003" />

The [[Pingjin Campaign|Pingjin campaign]] lasted 64 days, from 21 November 1948 to 31 January 1949.<ref name="Finkelstein">Finkelstein, David Michael. Ryan, Mark A. McDevitt, Michael. (2003). ''Chinese Warfighting: The PLA Experience Since 1949''. M. E. Sharpe. China. {{ISBN|0-7656-1088-4}}. p. 63.</ref> The PLA suffered heavy casualties while securing [[Zhangjiakou]], Tianjin along with its port and garrison at [[Taku Forts|Dagu]] and [[Beijing|Beiping]].<ref name="Finkelstein" /> The CCP brought 890,000 troops from the northeast to oppose some 600,000 KMT troops.<ref name="Elleman" /> There were 40,000 CCP casualties at Zhangjiakou alone. They in turn killed, wounded or captured some 520,000 KMT troops during the campaign.<ref name="Finkelstein" />In January 1949, Beiping changed hands through a negotiated settlement, as Nationalist forces under Fu Zuoyi surrendered the city without engaging in warfare. The KMT's defeat in the Pingjin campaign ended its ability to be an effective large-scale fighting force on the mainland.<ref name=":02" />{{RP|page=58}}

After achieving decisive victory through the Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin campaigns, the CCP destroyed 144 regular and 29 irregular KMT divisions, including 1.54&nbsp;million [[veteran]] KMT troops.<ref name="Đỗ Thanh Bình2002"/><ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=58}}
=== North’s closing chapter ===
[[File:1949 taiyuan battle 2.jpg|thumb|In March 1949, the troops of the 19th CCP Corps were on their march towards Taiyuan.]]
In January 1949, the Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin Compaign ended successfully for CCP. While the Communists achieved decisive victories in the final stages of the war, Nationalist forces continued to resist in a number of key cities and strongholds. At this time, there were still more than 100,000 KMT defenders in [[Taiyuan]], capital of [[Shanxi|Shanxi Province]], who were directly controlled by the direct subordinates of then Premier [[Yan Xishan]], though himself evacuated to the south, desperately resisting and refused to surrender. By 1949, sustained casualties had also reduced the number of Japanese soldiers under his command to approximately 3,000.
[[File:1949 kongtou taiyuan.jpg|thumb|In 1949, the Republic of China Air Force airdropped supplies to the defenders of the Taiyuan National Army.]]
In April 1949, the PLA launched the final general attack on the Taiyuan defenders in [[Taiyuan campaign|Taiyuan Campaign]], culminating in the capture of the provincial capital, the last isolated land in the North after a prolonged siege. The battle for Taiyuan lasted more than six months and is regarded by Chinese Communist Party's official historical record as the longest, largest, most intense, and most costly urban siege battle of the Chinese Civil War, in terms of duration, number of combatants, intensity of fighting, and casualties.
In the early morning of April 24, with the support of more than 1,300 artillery pieces that continuously bombarded the Taiyuan city wall, the 20th Corps first broke through the city wall, and the 18th and 19th Corps also successively entered the city and started street fighting with the defenders. By 9:30 AM, the PLA occupied the Shanxi Governor's Mansion. By 10:00, the Taiyuan defenders were completely wiped out. CCP records stated that more than 130,000 KMT defenders were killed, 45,000 CCP soldiers fell in battle, and more than 3,400 cannons, more than 32,000 guns, and a large amount of military supplies were seized.<ref>{{Cite web |title=太原战役：解放华北的最后一战--党史-中国共产党新闻网 |url=https://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2023/0925/c443712-40084536.html |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=cpc.people.com.cn}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=太原战役 |url=http://www.handandangshi.gov.cn/dianxingzhanyi/834.html#:~:text=%E5%A4%AA%E5%8E%9F%E6%88%98%E5%BD%B9%EF%BC%8C%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E5%86%9B%E4%BC%A4%E4%BA%A14.5%E4%B8%87%E4%BA%BA%EF%BC%8C%E6%AD%BC%E7%81%AD%E5%9B%BD%E6%B0%91%E5%85%9A%E5%86%9B1%E4%B8%AA%E2%80%9C%E7%BB%A5%E9%9D%96%E2%80%9D%E5%85%AC%E7%BD%B2%E3%80%812%E4%B8%AA%E5%85%B5%E5%9B%A2%E9%83%A8%E3%80%816%E4%B8%AA%E5%86%9B%E9%83%A8%E3%80%8120%E4%B8%AA%E5%B8%88%EF%BC%8C%E5%85%B1%E6%AF%99%E4%BC%A4%E4%BF%9813.5%E4%B8%87%E4%BD%99%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%82%20%E6%8B%94%E9%99%A4%E4%BA%86%E5%9B%BD%E6%B0%91%E5%85%9A%E5%8F%8D%E5%8A%A8%E7%BB%9F%E6%B2%BB%E5%9C%A8%E5%8D%8E%E5%8C%97%E7%9A%84%E6%9C%80%E5%90%8E%E5%A0%A1%E5%9E%92%E3%80%82%20%E6%B5%B4%E8%A1%80%E5%A5%8B%E6%88%986%E4%B8%AA%E5%A4%9A%E6%9C%88%EF%BC%8C%E4%BB%A54.5%E4%B8%87%E4%BA%BA%E4%BC%A4%E4%BA%A1%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%A3%E4%BB%B7%E7%9A%84%E5%A4%AA%E5%8E%9F%E6%88%98%E5%BD%B9%E6%98%AF%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E6%88%98%E4%BA%89%E4%B8%AD%E5%8E%86%E6%97%B6%E6%9C%80%E9%95%BF%E3%80%81%E6%88%98%E6%96%97%E6%9C%80%E6%BF%80%E7%83%88%E3%80%81%E4%BB%98%E5%87%BA%E4%BB%A3%E4%BB%B7%E6%9C%80%E5%A4%A7%E7%9A%84%E5%9F%8E%E5%B8%82%E6%94%BB%E5%9D%9A%E6%88%98%E3%80%82%20%E5%A4%AA%E5%8E%9F%E7%9A%84%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%EF%BC%8C%E6%A0%87%E5%BF%97%E7%9D%80%E5%8D%8E%E5%8C%97%E5%9C%B0%E5%8C%BA%E7%9A%84%E5%BD%BB%E5%BA%95%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%EF%BC%8C%E6%8E%A8%E5%8A%A8%E4%BA%86%E5%85%A8%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E6%88%98%E4%BA%89%E7%9A%84%E8%BF%9B%E7%A8%8B%E3%80%82%20%E5%A4%AA%E5%8E%9F%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E5%90%8E%EF%BC%8C%E5%A4%A7%E5%90%8C%E5%92%8C%E5%B9%B3%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E3%80%82%20%E8%87%B3%E6%AD%A4%EF%BC%8C%E5%B1%B1%E8%A5%BF%E5%85%A8%E7%9C%81%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E3%80%82 |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=www.handandangshi.gov.cn}}</ref>[[File:Taiyuan Campaign2.jpg|thumb|When the PLA was preparing to break into the Shanxi Governor's Mansion (山西省政府兼太原綏靖公署) after the city of Taiyuan was breached.]]In the final moments before the city completely fell, a group of senior Nationalist military and civilian officials carried out a mass suicide, including [[Liang Huazhi]], the Acting Governor of Shanxi and Yan Huiqing, close cousin of the Premier Yan, who was regarded within the family as a younger sister, and the commander of Yan’s Japanese troops, [[Imamura Hosaku|Imamura Hōsaku]]. Xu Duan, Director of the Statistics Bureau of the Shanxi Provincial Government and commander of the Special Gendarmerie, and Yin Zundang, Administrative Inspector of Shanxi’s First District, led their subordinates in resistance and, after their positions were overrun, collectively took poison and burned the building, destroying their bodies. Shi Zecheng, Chief of the Taiyuan Municipal Police Bureau, fought with his forces before killing his wife and children and then taking his own life. Zhao Liankui, commander of the Special Service Battalion of the Taiyuan Pacification Headquarters, led a final defense; after exhausting all resistance, his unit destroyed its weapons and committed collective suicide with hand grenades.<ref>{{Cite web |title=臺灣記憶 Taiwan Memory |url=https://tm.ncl.edu.tw/article?u=014_001_0000000392 |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=tm.ncl.edu.tw}}</ref> 

On the eve of Yan Huiqing's suicide by poisoning, she drafted the “Last Farewell Telegram.” After being refined by Wu Shaozhi, Secretary-General of the Shanxi Provincial Government, it was transmitted to Yan Xishan and KMT central government. The full text reads:<blockquote>For days the cannon fire has thundered like rolling storms, deafening to the ears; shells fly like rain, striking terror into the heart. Outside, smoke and flames spread everywhere, a vast sea of fire; inside, darkness and deathly stillness prevail, and all thoughts are extinguished. The overall situation is lost, and street fighting can no longer be sustained. Xu Duan has gone to his death; Dunhou has perished with the city. Soldiers and civilians without number bathe the streets in blood; five hundred colleagues achieve righteousness in the flames.

Though I am but a woman, my resolve to die is already fixed. Having witnessed jade shatter, how could I dare remain whole like tile? Living, I have been unable to turn the nation’s disastrous course even by the slightest margin; in death, I shall obey instructions so that my remains will not fall into enemy hands.

At this message’s end, words cannot fully express my feelings. This life is already finished; our parting is forever. If there is a next life, may reunion not be an empty illusion. At the moment I send this message, I am still among the living; by the time elder brother reads it, we shall already be separated by life and death. Flames rise before the buildings; collapse comes from the hills behind. Death presses upon my brow, yet my heart has turned calm. Alas—is this Heaven’s summons? Or is it the compassion of our ancestors?

— Yan Huiqing, Director of the Shanxi Branch of the Wartime Child Care Association<ref>{{Cite web |title=阎锡山的“五妹子”阎慧卿--党史频道-人民网 |url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/n/2013/1024/c85037-23315823.html |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=dangshi.people.com.cn}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=永訣電 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆 |url=https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B8%E8%A8%A3%E9%9B%BB |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=zh.wikisource.org |language=zh}}</ref></blockquote>The fall of Taiyuan effectively ended the last heavily fortified and fiercely defended Nationalist resistance and removed the last KMT-controlled urban center in North China.<ref>{{Cite web |last=巨 |first=文辉 |title=关于太原解放要讲清三个问题 (Regarding the liberation of Taiyuan, three issues need to be clarified.) |url=https://www.dswxyjy.org.cn/n1/2019/0711/c398751-31228318.html |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=中共中央党史和文献研究院 (Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the CCP)}}</ref>The mass suicide in Taiyuan Campaign later became known as the “Taiyuan Five Hundred Martyrs” (太原五百完人), a commemorative designation by the central government of Republic of China. 20th century mainland Chinese historiography identifies only about 46 government officials as suicides that can be substantiated by evidence, and treats higher figures, including the claim of “five hundred,” as Nationalist (KMT) propaganda fabrications rather than historical fact. Republic of China official records, however, including draft chronicle manuscripts from the Chiang Kai-shek Presidential Papers held at the Academia Historica, report contemporaneous estimates by Shanxi provincial officials of approximately 120–130 individuals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=蔣中正總統檔案：事略稿本(79)民國38年2月至4月  - 國史館【Academia Historica】 |url=https://www.drnh.gov.tw/p/404-1003-13087.php?Lang=zh-tw |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250414182253/https://www.drnh.gov.tw/p/404-1003-13087.php?Lang=zh-tw |archive-date=2025-04-14 |access-date=2025-12-28 |website=www.drnh.gov.tw |language=zh-tw}}</ref> Separately, a portion of the remaining, unverified names may refer to pseudonymous Japanese soldiers who also committed suicide. Overall, Disputes over the actual number have also been widely debated in official narratives, public discourse, and popular memory. <ref>{{Cite web |title=中華民國史事紀要民國38年1至6月(絕版)  - 國史館【Academia Historica】 |url=https://www.drnh.gov.tw/p/404-1003-13361.php?Lang=zh-tw |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123111942/https://www.drnh.gov.tw/p/404-1003-13361.php?Lang=zh-tw |archive-date=2022-01-23 |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=www.drnh.gov.tw |language=zh-tw}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=文化部文化資產局--國家文化資產網 |url=https://nchdb.boch.gov.tw/assets/overview/historicalBuilding/20090326000001 |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=nchdb.boch.gov.tw}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=閻錫山 |title=太原五百完人成仁紀念碑拓本 |url=https://collections.culture.tw/th_collectionsweb/collection.aspx?GID=M8M6MRMLMD |website=中華民國文化部國史館臺灣文獻館 (National History Museum, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China - Taiwan Literature Collection)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=國民革命忠烈祠>祠區文物導覽>烈士塑像 |url=https://afrc.mnd.gov.tw/faith_martyr/Unit.aspx?ID=&MenuID=438&ListID=1173 |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=afrc.mnd.gov.tw}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=對全國各界紀念太原五百完人二十週年大會書面致詞 {{!}} 中正文教基金會 |url=http://www.ccfd.org.tw/ccef001/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1041:0005-154&catid=422&Itemid=256 |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=www.ccfd.org.tw}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=楊 |first=孟軒 |year=2023 |title=逃離中國──現代臺灣的創傷、記憶與認同 |url=https://press.ntu.edu.tw/tw/publish/show.php?act=book&refer=ntup_book01314 |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=國立臺灣大學出版中心 |language=zh-tw}}</ref>

Following with the complete military collapse of the KMT position in northern China, Stalin initially favored a [[coalition government]] in postwar China, and tried to persuade Mao to stop the CCP from crossing the Yangtze and attacking the KMT positions south of the river.<ref>Donggil Kim, "Stalin and the Chinese Civil War." ''Cold War History'' 10.2 (2010): 185–202.</ref> Mao rejected Stalin's position and on 21 April, began the [[Yangtze River Crossing Campaign]]. On 23 April, they captured the KMT's capital, Nanjing.<ref name="Zhang2002" /> The KMT government retreated to Canton (Guangzhou) until 15 October, [[Chongqing]] until 25 November, and then Chengdu before [[Chinese Nationalist Party retreat to Taiwan|retreating to Taiwan]] on 7 December. By late 1949, the People's Liberation Army was pursuing remnants of KMT forces southwards in southern China, and only [[Tibet]] was left. A Chinese Muslim [[Hui people|Hui]] cavalry regiment, the 14th [[Dungan people|Tungan]] Cavalry, was sent by the Kuomintang to attack Mongol and Soviet positions along the border during the [[Pei-ta-shan Incident]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&q=warlords+and+muslims |title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911–1949 |first=Andrew D. W. |last=Forbes |year=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-25514-7 |pages=215, 225 |access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref>

The Kuomintang made several last-ditch attempts to use [[Kham]]pa troops against the Communists in southwest China. The Kuomintang formulated a plan in which three Khampa divisions would be assisted by the [[Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama|Panchen Lama]] to oppose the Communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Lin|2010|p=117}}: "China's far northwest. A simultaneous proposal suggested that, with the support of the new Panchen Lama and his entourage, at least three army divisions of anti-Communist Khampa Tibetans could be mustered in southwest China."</ref> Kuomintang intelligence reported that some Tibetan tusi chiefs and the Khampa Su Yonghe controlled 80,000 troops in Sichuan, Qinghai and Tibet. They hoped to use them against the Communist army.{{sfn|Lin|2010|p=xxi}}

=== Pushing south ===
{{See also|Proclamation of the People's Republic of China}}
[[File:Hainan Island Campaign.png|thumb|Communist [[Battle of Hainan Island|conquest of Hainan Island]] in mid 1950]]
[[File:PLA general in Su Temple.jpg|thumb|1950, PLA general photographed in Su Temple after they successfully occupied Hainan]]
On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|officially proclaimed the People's Republic of China]] with its capital at Beiping, which was returned to the former name Beijing. Chiang Kai-shek and approximately two million Nationalist soldiers [[Chinese Nationalist Party retreat to Taiwan|retreated from mainland China]] to the [[Geography of Taiwan|island of Taiwan]] in December after the PLA advanced into Sichuan province. Isolated Nationalist pockets of resistance remained in the area, but the majority of the resistance collapsed after the [[Chengdu Campaign|fall of Chengdu]] on 10 December 1949, with some resistance continuing in the far south.<ref>Cook, Chris Cook. Stevenson, John. (2005). ''The Routledge Companion to World History Since 1914.'' Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-34584-7}}. p. 376.</ref>

A PRC attempt to take the ROC-controlled island of [[Kinmen|Quemoy]] was thwarted in the [[Battle of Guningtou|Battle of Kuningtou]], halting the PLA advance towards Taiwan.<ref>Qi, Bangyuan. Wang, Dewei. Wang, David Der-wei. (2003). ''The Last of the Whampoa Breed: Stories of the Chinese Diaspora''. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-13002-3}}. p. 2.</ref> In December 1949, Chiang proclaimed Taipei the [[temporary capital]] of the [[Taiwan|Republic of China]] and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority in China.<blockquote>Let everything of the past be regarded as dead as of yesterday; let everything that follows be regarded as newly born as of today. Over the past year, Party affairs, politics, the economy, the military, diplomacy, and education have all ended in complete failure, and I have been driven to despair.

—Chiang Kai-shek, 25 December 1949.<ref name=":4" /></blockquote>The Communists' other amphibious operations of 1950 were more successful: they led to the [[Landing Operation on Hainan Island|Communist conquest of Hainan Island]] in April 1950, the [[Wanshan Archipelago Campaign|Wanshan Islands]] off the Guangdong coast (May–August 1950), and [[Zhoushan Island]] off Zhejiang (May 1950).<ref>MacFarquhar, Roderick. Fairbank, John K. Twitchett, Denis C. (1991). ''The Cambridge History of China''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-24337-8}}. p. 820.</ref>

== Aftermath ==
{{Main|Cross-strait relations|Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan}}

{{See also|Political status of Taiwan|Two Chinas}}
[[File:Guèrra Civila Chinesa (1946-1950).png|thumb|left|upright=1.1|Map of the Chinese Civil War (1946–1949, and 1950)]]

Most observers expected Chiang's government to eventually fall to the imminent invasion of Taiwan by the People's Liberation Army, and the US was initially reluctant in offering full support for Chiang in their final stand. US President [[Harry S. Truman]] announced on 5 January 1950 that the United States would not engage in any dispute involving the Taiwan Strait, and that he would not intervene in the event of an attack by the PRC.<ref>{{cite web |title=Harry S Truman, 'Statement on Formosa', January 5, 1950 |url=https://china.usc.edu/node/20299 |publisher=[[University of Southern California]] |access-date=7 May 2017}}</ref> Truman, seeking to exploit the possibility of a Titoist-style [[Sino-Soviet split]], announced in his United States Policy toward Formosa that the US would obey the [[1943 Cairo Declaration|Cairo Declaration's]] designation of Taiwan as Chinese territory and would not assist the Nationalists. However, the Communist leadership was not aware of this change of policy, instead becoming increasingly hostile to the US.<ref>{{cite book |first=Yafeng |last=Xia |title=Negotiating with the Enemy: U.S.–China Talks during the Cold War, 1949–1972 |year=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-11237-8 |page=38}}</ref> The situation quickly changed after the sudden onset of the [[Korean War]] in June 1950. This led to changing political climate in the US, and President Truman ordered the [[United States Seventh Fleet]] to sail to the [[Taiwan Strait]] as part of the [[containment]] policy against potential Communist advance.<ref>Bush, Richard C. (2005). ''Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait''. Brookings Institution Press. {{ISBN|0-8157-1288-X}}</ref>

[[File:Wuwangzaiju.JPG|thumb|"Forget not that you are in [[Ju (city)|Jǔ]]" – a [[Wu-Wang-Zai-Ju Inscribed Rock|rock in Jinhu, Kinmen]] with Chiang Kai-shek's calligraphy signifying the retaking of one's homeland]]

In June 1949, the ROC declared a "closure" of all mainland China ports and its navy attempted to intercept all foreign ships. The closure was from a point north of the mouth of [[Min River (Fujian)|Min River]] in [[Fujian]] to the mouth of the [[Liao River]] in [[Liaoning]].<ref name="Tsang2006">Tsang, Steve Yui-Sang Tsang. ''The Cold War's Odd Couple: The Unintended Partnership Between the Republic of China and the UK'', 1950–1958. (2006). I. B. Tauris. {{ISBN|1-85043-842-0}}. pp. 155, 115–120, 139–145</ref> Since mainland China's railroad network was underdeveloped, north–south trade depended heavily on sea lanes. ROC naval activity also caused severe hardship for mainland China fishermen.

During [[Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan|the retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan]], KMT troops, who could not retreat to Taiwan, were left behind to fight a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against the Communists. These [[Kuomintang|KMT remnants]] were eliminated in what the PRC called the [[Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries]] and the [[:Category:Campaigns to Suppress Bandits|Campaigns to Suppress Bandits.]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yang |first=Kuisong |date=March 2008 |title=Reconsidering the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries |journal=The China Quarterly |issue=193 |pages=102–121 |jstor=20192166}}</ref> According to official statistics from the CCP in 1954, during the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, at least 2.6 million people were arrested, some 1.29 million people were [[Imprisonment|imprisoned]], and 712,000 people were executed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guo |first=Xuezhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7_lfNx76GcC&pg=PA62 |title=China's Security State: Philosophy, Evolution, and Politics |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-02323-9 |page=62 |quote=Among them, 712.000 counterrevolutionaries were executed, 1.29 million were imprisoned, and 1.2 million were subject to control at various times. |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref> Most of those killed were former Kuomintang officials, businessmen, former employees of Western companies and intellectuals whose loyalty was suspect.<ref>Steven W. Mosher. ''China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality.'' [[Basic Books]], 1992. {{ISBN|0-465-09813-4}} p. 73</ref>
[[File:歷史建築太原五百完人紀念建築群-享堂.jpg|thumb|The memorial hall completed in Taiwan in 1951 to commemorate the "Five Hundred Martyrs" in Taiyuan Compaign<ref>{{Cite web |title=太原五百完人紀念建築群 (Taiyuan Five Hundred Martyrs Memorial Complex) |url=https://nchdb.boch.gov.tw/assets/overview/historicalBuilding/20090326000001 |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=中华民国文化部文化資產局 (Cultural Heritage Bureau, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China)}}</ref>]]
Winning China proper in 1950, also after [[Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China|annexation of Tibet]], the CCP controlled the entire mainland in late 1951 (excluding [[Kinmen]] and [[Matsu Islands]]). But a group of approximately [[Kuomintang in Burma|3,000 KMT Central soldiers]] retreated to [[Union of Burma (1948–1962)|Burma]] and continued launching guerrilla attacks into south China during the [[Kuomintang Islamic insurgency in China (1950–1958)|Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950–1958)]] and [[1960–61 campaign at the China–Burma border|Campaign at the China–Burma Border]]. Their leader, [[Li Mi (ROC general)|Li Mi]], was paid a salary by the ROC government and given the nominal title of Governor of [[Yunnan]]. Initially, the US-supported these remnants and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] provided them with military aid. After the Burmese government appealed to the [[United Nations]] in 1953, the US began pressuring the ROC to withdraw its loyalists. By the end of 1954 nearly 6,000 soldiers had left Burma and Li declared his army disbanded. However, thousands remained, and the ROC continued to supply and command them, even secretly supplying reinforcements at times to maintain a base close to China.

Following World War II, [[civil conflicts in Vietnam (1945–1949)|civil conflicts erupted in Vietnam]]. With victory in the civil war and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese communists supported the communist [[Viet Minh]] guerrillas [[First Indochina War|against France]]. The PRC recognized the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] (DRV) in January 1950 and began supplying military equipment in accordance with the agreement of April 1, 1950. By the end of that year, the Viet Minh had secured control over remote regions in northern Vietnam and along the Sino-Vietnamese border, and the communists had consolidated their positions in Laos and Cambodia. This territorial control enabled the flow of supplies and weapons into Vietnam and facilitated the establishment of training camps and base areas. Chinese military aid played a key role in the Viet Minh's victory at the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] in 1954.{{sfn|Tucker|2011|p=199}}{{sfn|Tucker|2011|p=1242}}<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Marsha E. |editor-last1=Ackermann |editor-first2=Michael J. |editor-last2=Schroeder |editor-first3=Janice J. |editor-last3=Terry |editor-first4=Jiu-Hwa |editor-last4=Lo |editor-first5=Mark F. |editor-last5=Whitters |title=Encyclopedia of World History. |chapter=Indochina War (First and Second) |volume=6 |publisher=Facts On File, Inc. |year=2008 |page= 204 |isbn=978-0-8160-6386-4 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofworldhistoryvol6/page/n246/mode/1up}}</ref> The recognition of the DRV by the PRC and other [[Eastern Bloc]] countries also prompted the [[United States]] and the Western Bloc to recognize the [[State of Vietnam]] as a counterweight to the communists. As Chinese communist troops neared complete victory in December 1949, Vietnamese nationalist revolutionary [[Vũ Hồng Khanh]] moved from China to lead a force of Vietnamese, upland minorities, and Kuomintang soldiers toward [[Lạng Sơn]] to attack the Viet Minh and the French. Defeated by both, he crossed over to the State of Vietnam. Some Kuomintang soldiers were sent to [[Phú Quốc]] for temporary internment and repatriation, but by the late 1950s they were still farming pepper while directing the island militias.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reilly |first1=Brett |title=The Sovereign States of Vietnam, 1945–1955 |journal=[[Journal of Vietnamese Studies]] |date=2016 |volume=11 |issue=3–4 |pages=126–127 |doi=10.1525/jvs.2016.11.3-4.103}}</ref>

After the ROC complained to the United Nations against the Soviet Union for violating the [[Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance]] to support the CCP, the [[UN General Assembly Resolution 505]] was adopted on 1 February 1952, condemning the Soviet Union.

In the end, the Communist military forces suffered 1.3&nbsp;million combat casualties in the 1945–1949 phase of the war: 260,000 killed, 190,000 missing, and 850,000 wounded, discounting irregulars. Nationalist casualties in the same phase were recorded after the war by the PRC: 5,452,700 regulars and 2,258,800 irregulars.<ref name="PLA1983"/>{{Page needed|date=May 2024}}

After the formation of the PRC, the PRC government named the Western nations, led by the U.S., as the biggest threat to its national security.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Jian |title=China's Road to the Korean War: The Making of the Sino-American Confrontation |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0231100250 |location=New York |page=26}}</ref> Basing this judgment on multiple factors, including the idea of a Chinese [[century of humiliation]] at the hands of Western powers beginning in the mid-19th century,{{Sfn|Chen|1994|p=22}} U.S. support for the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War,{{Sfn|Chen|1994|p=41}} and the ideological struggles between revolutionaries and reactionaries,{{Sfn|Chen|1994|p=21}} the PRC leadership believed that China would become a critical battleground in the U.S.'s crusade against Communism.{{Sfn|Chen|1994|p=19}} As a countermeasure and to elevate China's standing among the worldwide Communist movements, the PRC leadership adopted a foreign policy that actively promoted Communist revolutions throughout territories on China's periphery.{{Sfn|Chen|1994|pp=25–26, 93}}<blockquote>

European communism will collapse by around 1990; the Chinese Communist regime, however, will follow somewhat later.</blockquote>—Chiang Kai-shek, in a conversation with former South Korean prime minister [[Chung Il-kwon]], Taipei, 1972.<ref name=":4" />[[File:Yangtze Crossing Monument - detail - P1070673.JPG|thumb|Monument in memory of the crossing of the Yangtze in Nanjing]]

===Taiwan Strait tensions===
Though viewed as a military liability by the US, the ROC viewed its remaining islands in [[Fujian Province, Republic of China|Fujian]] as vital for any future campaign to defeat the PRC and retake mainland China. On 3 September 1954, the [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis]] started, with the PRC shelling [[Kinmen]].<ref name="Tsang2006" /> The PRC [[Battle of Yijiangshan Islands|captured the Yijiangshan Islands]] on 19 January 1955, leading to the ROC abandoning the [[Dachen Islands]] the following month.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McCauley |first1=Kevin |title=PLA Yijiangshan Joint Amphibious Operation: Past is Prologue |url=https://jamestown.org/program/pla-yijiangshan-joint-amphibious-operation-past-is-prologue/ |date=13 September 2016 |access-date=12 April 2024 |archive-date=17 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717104204/https://jamestown.org/program/pla-yijiangshan-joint-amphibious-operation-past-is-prologue/ |url-status=live}}</ref> On 24 January 1955, the [[United States Congress]] passed the [[Formosa Resolution of 1955|Formosa Resolution]] authorizing the President to defend the ROC's offshore islands. The First Taiwan Straits crisis ended in March 1955 when the PLA ceased its bombardment. The crisis ended during the [[Asian–African Conference|Bandung conference]].<ref name="Tsang2006" />

The [[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis]] began on 23 August 1958 with air and naval engagements between PRC and ROC forces, leading to intense artillery bombardment of Kinmen by the PRC and [[Xiamen]] by the ROC, and ended on November of the same year.<ref name="Tsang2006" /> PLA patrol boats blockaded the islands from ROC supply ships. Though the US rejected Chiang Kai-shek's proposal to bomb mainland China artillery batteries, it quickly moved to supply fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles to the ROC. It also provided [[Amphibious warfare|amphibious assault]] ships to land supplies, as a sunken ROC naval vessel was blocking the harbor. On 7 September, the US escorted a convoy of ROC supply ships and the PRC refrained from firing.

The [[Third Taiwan Strait Crisis|third crisis]] occurred in 1995–96. The PRC responded to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's visit to the United States, and the U.S. recognition of Lee as a representative of Taiwan, with military exercises. The exercises were also meant to deter Taiwanese voters from supporting Lee in the 1996 election; Lee won the election. Two U.S. aircraft carriers were deployed during the crisis; they were not attacked and deescalation followed.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Kuhn |first1=Anthony |last2=Feng |first2=Emily |date=August 2, 2022 |title=What 3 past Taiwan Strait crises can teach us about U.S.–China tensions today |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/08/02/1115234980/what-3-past-taiwan-strait-crises-can-teach-us-about-u-s-china-tensions-today |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803204936/https://www.npr.org/2022/08/02/1115234980/what-3-past-taiwan-strait-crises-can-teach-us-about-u-s-china-tensions-today |url-status=live |work=[[Morning Edition]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=August 3, 2022}}</ref>

The [[Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis|fourth crisis]] began in 2022.<ref name="4th Taiwan Strait Crisis">Sources describing the situation as a "Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis" include:
* {{cite web|title=Series: The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis|url=https://chinapower.csis.org/series-fourth-taiwan-strait-crisis/|publisher=[[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]|date=5 November 2024|access-date=31 December 2025}}
* {{cite web|last1=Lin|first1=Bonny|last2=Hart|first2=Brian|last3=Funaiole|first3=Matthew P.|last4=Lu|first4=Samantha|last5=Price|first5=Hannah|last6=Kaufman|first6=Nicholas|title=Tracking the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis|url=https://chinapower.csis.org/tracking-the-fourth-taiwan-strait-crisis/|publisher=[[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]|date=8 November 2023|access-date=31 December 2025}}
* {{cite web|last=Twomey|first=Christopher P.|date=22 August 2022|title=The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis Is Just Starting|url=https://warontherocks.com/2022/08/the-fourth-taiwan-strait-crisis-is-just-starting/|publisher=War on the Rocks|access-date=31 December 2025}}
* {{cite web|last1=Suorsa|first1=Olli Pekka|last2=U-Jin|first2=Adrian Ang|date=17 August 2022|title=Crossing the Line: The Makings of the 4th Taiwan Strait Crisis?|url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/08/crossing-the-line-the-makings-of-the-4th-taiwan-strait-crisis/|publisher=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]]|access-date=31 December 2024}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Chen|first=David|date=12 August 2022|title=Learning from the First Phase of the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis|url=https://jamestown.org/learning-from-the-first-phase-of-the-fourth-taiwan-strait-crisis/|magazine=[[China Brief]]|volume=22|issue=15|publisher=[[Jamestown Foundation]]|access-date=31 December 2025}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Lee|first=James|title=Introduction: The Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis is Here|url=https://www.globalasia.org/v17no3/cover/introduction-the-fourth-taiwan-strait-crisis-is-here_john-delury-stephan-haggardjames-lee|magazine=[[Global Asia]]|volume=17|issue=3|location=[[South Korea]]|publisher=East Asia Foundation|date=September 2022|access-date=31 December 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> US Speaker of the House [[Nancy Pelosi]]'s [[2022 United States congressional delegation visit to Taiwan|visit to Taiwan]] in August 2022 triggered [[2022 Chinese military exercises around Taiwan|PRC military exercises]] across the Taiwan Strait. She originally intended to travel to Taiwan in April 2022,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pollard |first=Martin Quin |date=2022-04-07 |title=China warns U.S. against House Speaker Pelosi visiting Taiwan |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-warns-strong-measures-if-us-speaker-pelosi-visits-taiwan-2022-04-07/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803051619/https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-warns-strong-measures-if-us-speaker-pelosi-visits-taiwan-2022-04-07/ |url-status=live}}</ref> but was delayed due to [[COVID-19]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chiacu |first=Doina |date=2022-04-08 |title=U.S. House Speaker Pelosi is latest U.S. official to test positive for COVID |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-speaker-pelosi-tests-positive-covid-spokesman-2022-04-07/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803051619/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-speaker-pelosi-tests-positive-covid-spokesman-2022-04-07/ |url-status=live}}</ref> She rescheduled the trip to August as part of a wider Asian trip. The White House was reported to have been initially divided over the appropriateness of the trip but later affirmed Pelosi's right to visit Taiwan.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mason |first1=Jeff |last2=Martina |first2=Michael |date=August 1, 2022 |title=White House: U.S. will not be intimidated by China; Pelosi has right to visit Taiwan |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/white-house-says-pelosi-has-right-visit-taiwan-2022-08-01 |work=Reuters |url-access=registration |access-date=6 August 2022 |archive-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804001906/https://www.reuters./ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nancy Pelosi's plan to visit Taiwan prompts outrage from China |url=https://www.ft.com/content/09669099-1565-4723-86c9-84e0ca465825 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/09669099-1565-4723-86c9-84e0ca465825 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |agency=Financial Times |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |script-title=uk:Китай-Тайвань: на тлі можливого візиту Пелосі зростає напруження |trans-title=China-Taiwan: Tensions rise amid possible Pelosi visit |language=uk |newspaper=BBC News Україна |url=https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-62389913 |access-date=2022-08-02 |archive-date=2022-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802164200/https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-62389913 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |script-title=uk:Ненсі Пелосі летить на Тайвань: що потрібно знати про кризу між США і Китаєм |trans-title=Nancy Pelosi flies to Taiwan: what you need to know about the crisis between the USA and China |url=https://www.unian.ua/world/nensi-pelosi-letit-na-tayvan-shcho-potribno-znati-pro-krizu-mizh-ssha-i-kitayem-novini-svitu-11925576.html |access-date=2022-08-02 |website=unian.ua |date=August 2022 |language=uk |archive-date=2022-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801182653/https://www.unian.ua/world/nensi-pelosi-letit-na-tayvan-shcho-potribno-znati-pro-krizu-mizh-ssha-i-kitayem-novini-svitu-11925576.html |url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, the PLA announced four days of unprecedented military live-fire drills,<ref>{{cite web |last=Zheng |first=Sarah |date=2022-08-02 |title=China Plans Four Days of Military Drills in Areas Encircling Taiwan |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-02/china-announces-military-drills-encircling-taiwan-from-aug-4-7-l6cc5ljn |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref> in six zones that encircle the island on the busiest international waterways and aviation routes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davidson |first1=Helen |last2=Ni |first2=Vincent |date=2022-08-03 |title=China to begin series of unprecedented live-fire drills off Taiwan coast |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/03/china-to-begin-series-unprecedented-live-fire-drills-off-coast-of-taiwan |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=the Guardian |archive-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804035722/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/03/china-to-begin-series-unprecedented-live-fire-drills-off-coast-of-taiwan |url-status=live}}</ref> In response to the announcement, ROC officials complained that the PRC's live-fire drills were an invasion of Taiwan's territorial space and a direct challenge to free air and sea navigation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Yimou |date=2022-08-04 |title=China begins 'illegitimate, irresponsible' live-fire military drills – Taiwan |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/suspected-drones-over-taiwan-cyber-attacks-after-pelosi-visit-2022-08-04/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |archive-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804044456/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/suspected-drones-over-taiwan-cyber-attacks-after-pelosi-visit-2022-08-04/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Political fallout ===
{{Main|China and the United Nations|United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758}}

[[File:U2China.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lockheed U-2]] wreckage (pilot [[Chang Liyi]]) on display at the [[Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution|Museum]] in Beijing]]
On 25 October 1971, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] admitted the PRC and [[China and the United Nations|expelled the ROC]], which had been a founding member of the [[United Nations]] and was one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. Representatives of Chiang Kai-shek refused to recognise their accreditations as representatives of China and left the assembly. Recognition for the People's Republic of China soon followed from most other member nations, including the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/oct-25-1971-peoples-republic-of-china-in-taiwan-out-at-un/ |title=People's Republic of China In, Taiwan Out, at U.N. |date=25 October 2011 |website=The Learning Network |access-date=20 May 2018 |archive-date=13 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813021518/https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/oct-25-1971-peoples-republic-of-china-in-taiwan-out-at-un/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

By 1984, PRC and ROC began to de-escalate their hostilities through diplomatic relations with each other, and cross-straits trade and investment has been growing ever since. The state of war was officially declared over by the ROC in 1991.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taiwan flashpoint |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/asia_pac/04/taiwan_flashpoint/html/chinas_stance.stm |website=BBC News |access-date=20 October 2017 |archive-date=18 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218121434/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/asia_pac/04/taiwan_flashpoint/html/chinas_stance.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite the end of the hostilities, the two sides have never signed any agreement or treaty to officially end the war. According to Mao Zedong, there were three ways of "staving off imperialist intervention in the short term" during the continuation of the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]]. The first was through a rapid completion of the military takeover of the country, and through showing determination and strength against "foreign attempts at challenging the new regime along its borders". The second was by "formalising a comprehensive military alliance with the Soviet Union", which would dedicate Soviet power to directly defending China against its enemies; this aspect became extensively significant given the backdrop of the start of the Cold War. And finally, the regime had to "root out its domestic opponents: the heads of secret societies, religious sects, independent unions, or tribal and ethnic organisations". By destroying the basis of domestic reaction, Mao believed a safer world for the Chinese Communist Revolution to spread in would come into existence.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jbcoecrg5nec&q=chinese+civil+war.&pg=pr11 ''Decisive Encounters'']{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} By Westad, Odd Arne. Stanford University Press, 21 Mar pp. 292–297 2003 (Google Books).</ref>

Under the new ROC president [[Lee Teng-hui]], the [[Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion]] was renounced in May 1991, thus ending the chances of the Kuomintang's quest to retake the mainland. In July 1999, Lee announced a "special diplomatic relationship". China was furious again, but the military drills were stopped by the [[1999 Jiji earthquake|921 earthquakes]]. It was the last tense moment of this civil war.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=zh:历次台海危机内幕及其背后大国之间的博弈(图) |url=https://news.ifeng.com/history/2/shidian/200803/0313_2666_439865_9.shtml |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804104748/https://news.ifeng.com/history/2/shidian/200803/0313_2666_439865_9.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref>

With the election in 2000 of [[Democratic Progressive Party]] candidate [[Chen Shui-bian]], a party other than the KMT gained the presidency for the first time in Taiwan. The new president did not share the Chinese nationalist ideology of the KMT and CCP. This led to tension between the two sides, although trade and other ties such as the [[2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China|2005 Pan-Blue visit]] continued to increase.

With the election of pro-mainland President [[Ma Ying-jeou]] (KMT) in 2008, significant warming of relations resumed between Taipei and Beijing, with high-level exchanges between the semi-official diplomatic organizations of both states such as the [[Chen-Chiang summit]] series. Although the [[Taiwan Strait]] remains a potential flash point, regular direct air links were established in 2009.<ref name="Greenwood2001" />{{Page needed|date=January 2020}}

== Analysis ==
The Communist victory over the Nationalists is regarded as one of the most impressive twentieth century insurgent victories.<ref name="Opper2020">{{Cite book |last=Opper |first=Marc |title=People's Wars in China, Malaya, and Vietnam |year=2020 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-90125-8 |location=Ann Arbor |doi=10.3998/mpub.11413902 |s2cid=211359950 |url=https://www.doabooks.org/doab?func=search&query=rid:38954 }}</ref>{{Rp|1}} Historians and political scientists cite a number of factors, including the CCP's success at mobilizing mass support and the shortcomings of the Nationalist government.<ref name="Opper2020" />{{Rp|1}}

=== Ineffective governance by the Nationalists ===
{{See also|Chinese hyperinflation}}
Almost all studies of the failure of the Nationalist government identify [[Chinese hyperinflation|hyperinflation]] as a major factor in the government's collapse.<ref name="Coble2023">{{Cite book |last=Coble |first=Parks M. |title=The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War |year=2023 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-29761-5 |author-link=Parks M. Coble}}</ref>{{Rp|5}} The Nationalist military and the government's civilian employees were most impacted by hyperinflation which in turn prompted widespread corruption and pilfering.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|5}} Little funding reached enlisted soldiers, who were typically malnourished and poorly equipped.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|9}} Desertion was common.<ref name="Coble2023" />{{Rp|9}}

The historian [[Rana Mitter]] writes that a lack of trust in the Nationalist government developed, as it was increasingly seen as "corrupt, vindictive, and with no overall vision of what China under its rule should look like".<ref name="Mitter2020">{{Cite book |last=Mitter |first=Rana |title=China's good war: how World War II is shaping a new nationalism |year=2020 |publisher=Belknap |isbn=978-0-674-98426-4 |location=Cambridge, MA |page=54 |oclc=1141442704 }}</ref> Chiang wrote in his diary in June 1948: "After the fall of Kaifeng our conditions worsened and became more serious. I now realized that the main reason our nation has collapsed, time after time throughout our history, was not because of superior power used by our external enemies, but because of disintegration and rot from within."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Trei |first=Lisa |date=9 March 2005 |title=Hoover's new archival acquisitions shed light on Chinese history |url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/march9/chinese-030905.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711184425/https://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/march9/chinese-030905.html |archive-date=11 July 2019 |access-date=11 July 2019 |work=Stanford University}}</ref>

Historian [[Odd Arne Westad]] says the Communists won the Civil War because they made fewer military mistakes than Chiang Kai-shek and also because in his search for a powerful centralized government, Chiang antagonized too many interest groups in China. Furthermore, his party was weakened in the war against the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Communists targeted different groups, such as peasants, and brought them to their side.<ref>Odd Arne Westad, ''Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750'' (2012) p.&nbsp;291.</ref> After 1945, the economy in the ROC areas collapsed because of hyperinflation and the failure of [[price controls]] by the ROC government and financial reforms; the Gold Yuan depreciated sharply in late 1948<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:金圓券相關史料 – 財政部財政史料陳列室 |url=http://www.mof.gov.tw/museum/ct.asp?xItem=3682&ctNode=34 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102062530/http://www.mof.gov.tw/museum/ct.asp?xItem=3682&ctNode=34 |archive-date=2 January 2015 |access-date=8 March 2014 |language=zh}}</ref> and resulted in the ROC government losing the support of the cities' [[middle class]]es.

United States Secretary of State [[Dean Acheson]] described the Nationalists as "corrupt, reactionary, and inefficient". He believed that the Nationalists had displayed both political inadequacy as well as "the grossest incompetence ever experienced by any military command," and that the Communists "did not create this condition", but skillfully exploited the opportunity it provided.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kissinger |first1=Henry |title=On China |year=2011 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9781594202711 |pages=117–118}}</ref>

=== Mass mobilization and cohesion of the Communists ===
The Communists developed their support and ability to mobilize villagers through their socioeconomic reforms.'''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Pan |first=Yihong |title=Not Just a Man's War: Chinese Women's Memories of the War of Resistance Against Japan, 1931-45 |publisher=[[University of British Columbia Press]] |year=2025 |isbn=9780774870368}}</ref>'''{{Reference page|page=22}} The Communists continued their land reform programs, winning the support of the population in the countryside. This was a decisive factor in the Communists' success.<ref name="Lin2006">{{Cite book |last=Lin |first=Chun |title=The Transformation of Chinese Socialism |year=2006 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-3785-0 |location=Durham, NC |page=43 |doi=10.1017/S1598240800003520 |s2cid=155992759}}</ref> Millions of peasants who obtained land through the movement joined the People's Liberation Army or assisted in its logistical networks.<ref name="Lin2006" /> According to historian Brian DeMare, land redistribution was a critical factor because it linked the interests of peasants in the north and northeast to the Communists' success.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DeMare |first=Brian James |title=Land Wars: the Story of China's Agrarian Revolution |year=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-0952-5}}</ref> Ultimately, the Communists obtained the greatest popular support of any insurgency in modern history.<ref name="Opper2020" />{{Rp|3}}

An important advantage of the Communists was the "extraordinary cohesion" within its top leadership. This cohesion not only secured it from defections during difficult times but also facilitated "communications and top level debates over tactics". The [[Charismatic authority|charismatic style of leadership]] of Mao Zedong created a "unity of purpose" and a "unity of command" which the KMT lacked. Apart from that, the CCP had mastered the manipulation of local politics to their benefit; this was also derived from their [[Propaganda in China|propaganda]] skills that had also been decentralised successfully by portraying their opponents as "enemies of all groups of Chinese" and itself as "defenders of the nation" and people (given the backdrop of the war with Japan).<ref>For quotes see {{cite book |first=Odd Arne |last=Westad |title=Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBCOecRg5nEC&pg=PA10 |year=2003 |publisher=Stanford University Press |pages=9–11 |isbn=978-0-8047-4484-3 |access-date=6 October 2019}}</ref>

=== International factors ===
After the Second Sino-Japanese War ended, the United States government provided economic and military support exclusively to the Nationalists.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=|pages=53–54}} As the United States increased aid to the Nationalists in 1947 and 1948, the Communists incorporated United States involvement into its political discourse and framed the conflict not as one between two Chinese sides, but between the Communists and "US imperialists and their puppets".<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=55}} Mao contended that the United States had provided US$5.9 billion to the Nationalists from 1945 to 1949 "to help Chiang Kai-shek slaughter several million Chinese".<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=55}}

Strong American support for the Nationalists was hedged with the failure of the [[Marshall Mission]], and then stopped completely mainly because of KMT corruption<ref>{{cite web |last=Sun |first=Tung-hsun |year=1982 |title=Some Recent American Interpretations of Sino-American Relations of the Late 1940s: An Assessment |url=http://www.ea.sinica.edu.tw/eu_file/12010586724.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205024030/https://www.ea.sinica.edu.tw/eu_file/12010586724.pdf |archive-date=5 December 2019 |access-date=22 November 2018 |website=Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica}}</ref> (such as the notorious Yangtze Development Corporation controlled by [[H. H. Kung]] and [[T. V. Soong]]'s family)<ref>[http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/soong_register.pdf T. V. Soong – A Register of His Papers in the Hoover Institution Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227195642/http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/soong_register.pdf|date=27 February 2015}} media.hoover.org</ref><ref>{{cite web |script-title=zh:轉載: 杜月笙的1931 (6) – 五湖煙景的日誌 – 倍可親 |url=http://big5.backchina.com/blog/323944/article-142137.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227190213/http://big5.backchina.com/blog/323944/article-142137.html |archive-date=27 February 2015 |access-date=23 November 2018 |website=big5.backchina.com |language=zh}}</ref> and KMT's military setback in Northeast China. Historians such as Jay Taylor, Robert Cowley, and Anne W. Carroll argue that the Nationalists' failure was largely caused by external reasons outside of the KMT's control, most notably the refusal of the Truman administration to support Chiang with the withdrawal of aid, the US armed embargo, the failed pursuit of a détente between the Nationalists and the communists, and the USSR's consistent support of the CCP in the Chinese Civil War.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jay |last=Taylor |title=The Generalissimo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUg2KGMQWHQC&q=describe%20peace |year=2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=102–103 |isbn=978-0-674-05471-4 |access-date=18 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://worldif.economist.com/article/12130/chiangs-china |title=Chiang's China |date=1 July 2015 |website=Worldif.economist.com |access-date=20 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719100737/https://worldif.economist.com/article/12130/chiangs-china |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uchronia.net/label/waldchinaw.html |title=China Without Tears: If Chiang Kai-Shek Hadn't Gambled in 1946 |website=Uchronia.net |access-date=2022-07-19 |archive-date=3 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003180407/http://www.uchronia.net/label/waldchinaw.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/who-lost-china-10801 |title=Who Lost China? &#124; EWTN |access-date=23 July 2022 |archive-date=23 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723190451/https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/who-lost-china-10801 |url-status=live}}</ref> The better-trained Communist army's support from the USSR helped counter the American aid that the Nationalists received.<ref name="Mitter2020" /> [[Chen Yun]] said: "They did their best to help us, we were backed by the Soviet Union and North Korea."<ref>{{cite web |script-title=ru:ГЛАВА 35 ГРАЖДАНСКАЯ ВОЙНА В КИТАЕ |url=http://www.xliby.ru/istorija/rossija_i_kitai_konflikty_i_sotrudnichestvo/p35.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127062850/http://www.xliby.ru/istorija/rossija_i_kitai_konflikty_i_sotrudnichestvo/p35.php |archive-date=27 January 2021 |access-date=13 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=青 |first1=山 |script-title=zh:苏联出兵之后中共对东北的争夺 |url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/68742/69118/69659/4731844.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506195325/https://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/68742/69118/69659/4731844.html |archive-date=6 May 2021 |access-date=17 March 2021 |website=中国共产党新闻网 |publisher=人民网}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=吕 |first1=明辉 |script-title=zh:朝鲜支援中国东北解放战争纪实 |url=https://wyxy.thnu.edu.cn/koreanps/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=176 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514072156/https://wyxy.thnu.edu.cn/koreanps/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=176 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |access-date=17 March 2021 |website=通化师范学院 |publisher=白山出版社}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=金 |first1=东吉 |script-title=zh:中国人民解放军中的朝鲜师回朝鲜问题新探 |url=http://ww2.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/PaperCollection/Details.aspx?id=6375 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113103846/http://ww2.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/PaperCollection/Details.aspx?id=6375 |archive-date=13 November 2021 |access-date=17 March 2021 |website=香港中文大學 |publisher=中國研究服務中心}}</ref>

== Atrocities ==
During the war, both the Nationalists and Communists carried out mass atrocities, with millions of non-combatants deliberately killed by both sides.<ref>Rummel, Rudolph (1994), ''Death by Government''.{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=April 2024}}</ref> 

=== Nationalist atrocities ===
Over several years after the 1927 [[Shanghai massacre]], the Kuomintang killed between 300,000 and one million people, primarily peasants, in anti-communist campaigns as part of the White Terror.<ref>Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NztlWQeXf2IC ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325202546/https://books.google.com/books?id=NztlWQeXf2IC |date=25 March 2017 }}. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. {{ISBN|962-996-280-2}}. Retrieved 12 November 2022. p. 38</ref><ref name="Karl2010">{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |title=Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world: a concise history |date=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |location=Durham, NC |pages=33}}</ref> During the White Terror, the Nationalists specifically targeted women with short hair who had not been subjected to [[foot binding]], on the presumption that such "non-traditional" women were radicals.<ref name="Karl2010" /> Nationalist forces cut off their breasts, shaved their heads, and displayed their mutilated bodies to intimidate the populace.<ref name="Karl2010" />

Torture, rape, and collective punishment were common Nationalist practices during its counter-insurgency campaigns.<ref name="Opper2020" />{{Rp|91–92}} The Nationalists uprooted and moved entire communities in an effort to more easily monitor Communist activities.<ref name="Opper2020" />{{Rp|92}}

From 1946 to 1949, the Nationalists arrested, tortured, and killed political dissidents via the Sino-American Cooperative Organization.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitter |first=Rana |title=China's good war: how World War II is shaping a new nationalism |year=2020 |publisher=Belknap |isbn=978-0-674-98426-4 |location=Cambridge, MA |page=179}}</ref>

===Communist atrocities===
{{main|Siege of Changchun|Chinese Land Reform#Mass killings of landlords}}

During the December 1930 [[Futian incident]], the communists executed 2,000 to 3,000 members of the Futian battalion after its leaders had mutinied against Mao Zedong.<ref>{{cite book |last=Feigon |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Feigon |title=Mao: A Reinterpretation |year=2002 |pages=51–53 |isbn=978-1566634588 |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |location=Chicago}}</ref>

Between 1931 and 1934 in the [[Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet]], the communist authorities engaged in a widespread campaign of violence against civilians to ensure compliance with its policies and to stop defection to the advancing KMT, including mass executions, land confiscation and forced labor.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Opper |first=Marc |date=2018 |title=Revolution Defeated: The Collapse of the Chinese Soviet Republic |journal=Twentieth-Century China |volume=43 |issue=1 |page=60 |doi=10.1353/tcc.2018.0003 |s2cid=148775889 |doi-access=free}}</ref> According to [[Li Weihan]], a high-ranking communist in Jiangxi at the time, in response to mass flight of civilians to KMT held areas, the local authorities would "usually to send armed squads after those attempting to flee and kill them on the spot, producing numerous [[mass grave]]s throughout the CSR [Chinese Soviet Republic in Jiangxi] that would later be uncovered by the KMT and its allies." [[Zhang Wentian]], another high-ranking communist, reported that "the policy of annihilating landlords as an exploiting class had degenerated into a massacre".<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Chinese Soviet Republic, 1931–1934 |title=People's Wars in China, Malaya, and Vietnam |first=Marc |last=Opper |year=2020 |page=58 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |doi=10.3998/mpub.11413902 |hdl=20.500.12657/23824 |isbn=978-0-472-13184-6 |s2cid=211359950 |url=https://www.doabooks.org/doab?func=search&query=rid:38954 }}</ref>

During the [[Siege of Changchun]], the [[People's Liberation Army]] implemented a military blockade on the KMT-held city of Changchun and prevented civilians from leaving the city during the blockade;<ref name="Koga2016"/> this blockade caused the starvation of tens<ref name="Koga2016">Koga, Yukiko (2016). ''Inheritance of Loss: China, Japan, and the Political Economy of Redemption After Empire''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|022641213X}}. {{page needed|date=April 2024}}</ref> to 150<ref>{{cite web |title=Pomfret, John (October 2, 2009). "Red Army Starved 150,000 Chinese Civilians, Books Says". Associated Press. ''The Seattle Times''. Archived from the original on October 2, 2009. Retrieved October 2, 2009. |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19901122/1105487/red-army-starved-150000-chinese-civilians-books-says |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025143728/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19901122&slug=1105487 |url-status=live |archive-date=25 October 2011}}</ref> thousand civilians. The PLA continued to use siege tactics throughout Northeast China.<ref>Lary, Diana (2015). ''China's Civil War''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|1107054672}}. {{page needed|date=April 2024}}</ref>

At the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in 1946, Mao Zedong began to push for a return to radical policies to mobilize China against the landlord class, but protected the rights of middle peasants and specified that rich peasants were not landlords.<ref>DeMare, Brian James (2019). ''Land Wars: The Story of China's Agrarian Revolution''. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. {{ISBN|978-1503609525}}. {{page needed|date=April 2024}}</ref> The 7 July Directive of 1946 set off eighteen months of fierce conflict in which all rich peasant and landlord property of all types was to be confiscated and redistributed to poor peasants. CCP work teams went quickly from village to village and divided the population into landlords, rich, middle, poor, and landless peasants. Because the work teams did not involve villagers in the process, however, rich and middle peasants quickly returned to power.{{sfnb|Tanner|2015|pp=134–135}} The Outline Land Law of October 1947 increased the pressure.<ref>Saich ''The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=w48YDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Outline+Land+Law%22+-wikipedia Outline Land Law of 1947] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406143614/https://books.google.com/books?id=w48YDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Outline+Land+Law%22+-wikipedia |date=6 April 2023 }}</ref> Those condemned as landlords were buried alive, dismembered, strangled and shot.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Scheidel |title=The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-691-16502-8 |url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10921.html |page=225 |access-date=25 November 2019}}</ref>
In response to the aforementioned land reform campaign, the Kuomintang helped establish the "Huanxiang Tuan" ({{zhi|t=還鄉團}}), or Homecoming Legion, which was composed of landlords who sought the return of their redistributed land and property from peasants and CCP guerrillas, as well as forcibly conscripted peasants and communist POWs.<ref name="Liu2002">{{cite book |last=Liu |first=Zaiyu |script-title=zh:第二次國共戰爭時期的還鄉團 |publisher=Twenty First Century Bimonthly |location=Hong Kong |year=2002 |url=http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/21c/media/articles/c071-200104044.pdf |access-date=25 November 2019 |archive-date=5 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205024025/http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/21c/media/articles/c071-200104044.pdf |language=zh |url-status=live}}</ref> The Homecoming legion conducted its guerrilla warfare campaign against CCP forces and purported collaborators up until the end of the civil war in 1949.<ref name="Liu2002"/>

== See also ==
{{Portal|China|Taiwan|Modern history}}
* [[Outline of the Chinese Civil War]]
* [[Timeline of the Chinese Civil War]]
* [[List of wars involving the People's Republic of China]]
* [[Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Eastern China]]
* [[Campaign to suppress bandits in northeast China]]
* [[Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Wuping]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
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* {{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Jian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bznEAAAQBAJ |title=Zhou Enlai: A Life |date=2024 |publisher=[[Belknap Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-29657-2 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Tanner |first=Harold Miles |title=Where Chiang Kai-Shek lost China: the Liao-Shen campaign, 1948 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-253-01692-8 |series=Twentieth-century battles |location=Bloomington}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuTNEAAAQBAJ |title=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History |publisher=[[ABC-Clio]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-85109-960-3 |edition=2nd |volume=I–IV |location=Santa Barbara, Calif.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Watt |first=John R. |date=2014 |editor-last=Dudbridge |editor-first=Glen |editor-last2=Pieke |editor-first2=Frank |title=Saving Lives in Wartime China: How Medical Reformers Built Modern Healthcare Systems Amid War and Epidemics, 1928–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfR0AQAAQBAJ |series=China Studies 26 |location=Leiden, Belgium |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-25645-3}}
* {{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Benjamin |title=From Revolution to Politics: Chinese Communists on the Long March |date=1990 |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |isbn=978-0-8133-7672-1 |location=Boulder, Colorado}}
* {{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Kuisong |title=A Short History of Sino-Soviet Relations, 1917–1991 |date=2020 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] and [[Social Sciences Academic Press]] |isbn=978-981-13-8641-1 |editor-last=Shen |editor-first=Zhihua |series=China connections |location=Singapore |translator-last=Xia |translator-first=Yafeng |chapter=Sino-Soviet Diplomacy Under the Threat of War |translator-last2=Li |translator-first2=Hongshan |translator-last3=Liu |translator-first3=Xiaohong}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gao |first1=Hua |title=How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan'an Rectification Movement |date=2018 |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press |isbn=9789629968229}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mitter |first=Rana |title=The Manchurian Myth: Nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China |date=2000 |publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{Cite book |last=van de Ven |first=Hans |title=War and Nationalism |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge|location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=So |first=Wai-Chor |date=2002 |title=The Making of the Guomindang's Japan Policy, 1932–1937: The Roles of Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Jingwei |journal=Modern China |publisher=Sage Publications |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=213–252 |doi=10.1177/009770040202800203 |jstor=3181354 |s2cid=143785141}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ienaga |first1=Saburo |title=Pacific War, 1931–1945: A Critical Perspective on Japan's Role in World War II |date=1978 |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last1=Garver|first1=John W.|title=Chinese-Soviet Relations, 1937–1945: The Diplomacy of Chinese Nationalism|date=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=0195363744}}

== Further reading ==
{{Library resources box}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Cheng |first=Victor Shiu Chiang |date=January 2005 |title=Imagining China's Madrid in Manchuria: The Communist Military Strategy at the Onset of the Chinese Civil War, 1945–1946 |journal=[[Modern China (journal)|Modern China]] |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=72–114 |doi=10.1177/0097700404270549 |issn=0097-7004}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chi |first=Hsi-sheng |title=Nationalist China at war: military defeats and political collapse, 1937–45 |date=1982 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-10018-7 |series=Michigan studies on China |location=Ann Arbor}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dreyer |first=Edward L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsWOAwAAQBAJ |title=China at War 1901–1949 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-89984-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gueniffey |first=Patrice |title=The military history of the Chinese Civil War |year=1969 |publisher=Watts |isbn=978-0-531-01252-9 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Eastman |first=Lloyd E. |date=December 1981 |title=Who Lost China? Chiang Kai-shek Testifies |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |volume=88 |pages=658–668 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000029416 |issn=0305-7410}}
* {{Cite book |last=Eastman |first=Lloyd E. |title=The Nationalist era in China: 1927–1949 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-521-38591-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fenby |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm52829166 |title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China he lost |year=2003 |publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]] |isbn=978-0-7432-3144-2 |location=London}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ferlanti |first=Federica |year=2012 |title=The New Life Movement at War: Wartime Mobilisation and State Control in Chongqing and Chengdu, 1938–1942 |url=https://ccposters.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Ferlanti.pdf |journal=European Journal of East Asian Studies |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=187–212 |doi=10.1163/15700615-20121104 |issn=1568-0584}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Jian |first=Chen |date=January 1997 |title=The Myth of America's 'Lost Chance' in China: A Chinese Persopective in Light of New Evidence |journal=[[Diplomatic History (journal)|Diplomatic History]] |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=77–86 |doi=10.1111/1467-7709.00052 |issn=0145-2096}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lary |first=Diana |title=China's Civil War: A Social History, 1945-1949 |year=2015 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-05467-7 |series=New approaches to Asian history}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Levine |first=Steven I. |date=October 1979 |title=A New Look at American Mediation in the Chinese Civil War: The Marshall Mission and Manchuria |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=349–376 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1979.tb00322.x |issn=0145-2096}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lew |first=Christopher R. |title=The Third Chinese Revolutionary Civil War, 1945–49: an analysis of communist strategy and leadership |year=2009 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-77730-8 |series=Asian states and empires |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |title=China at war: an encyclopedia |year=2012 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-59884-415-3 |editor-last=Li |editor-first=Xiaobing |location=Santa Barbara, CA}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05qHCwAAQBAJ |title=The Chinese Civil War 1945–49 |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4728-1025-0}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Mitter |first=Rana |date=January 2010 |title=Research Note Changed by War: The Changing Historiography Of Wartime China and New Interpretations Of Modern Chinese History |journal=[[The Chinese Historical Review]] |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=85–95 |doi=10.1179/tcr.2010.17.1.85 |issn=1547-402X}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Nasca |first=David S. |title=Western Influence on the Chinese National Revolutionary Army from 1925 to 1937 |date=19 April 2013 |degree=Master's |publisher=Marine Corps Command and Staff College |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA601601.pdf |place=Quantico, VA}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pepper |first=Suzanne |title=Civil war in China: the political struggle, 1945–1949 |date=1999 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-0-8476-9133-3 |edition=2nd |location=Lanham, MD}}
* {{Cite thesis |last=Reilly |first=Thomas P. |title=Mao Tse-Tung and Operational Art During the Chinese Civll War |date=21 May 1998 |publisher=[[School of Advanced Military Studies]] |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA357835.pdf}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Shen |first1=Zhi hua |title=Mao and the Sino-Soviet partnership, 1945–1959: a new history |last2=Xia |first2=Yafeng |date=2015 |publisher=Lexington |isbn=978-1-4985-1169-8 |series=The Harvard Cold War studies book series |location=Lanham, MD}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=Jeremy E. |last2=Huang |first2=Grace C. |date=January 2012 |title="Deep changes in interpretive currents"? Chiang Kai-shek studies in the post-cold war era |journal=[[International Journal of Asian Studies]] |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=99–121 |doi=10.1017/S1479591411000209 |issn=1479-5914}}
* {{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Jay |title=The generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the struggle for modern China |date=2009 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-03338-2 |location=Cambridge, MA}}
* {{Cite book |last=Van de Ven |first=Hans J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHCbDwAAQBAJ |title=China at war: triumph and tragedy in the emergence of the new China |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-674-98350-2 |location=Cambridge, MA}}
* {{Cite book |last=Westad |first=Odd Arne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBCOecRg5nEC&pg=PA10 |title=Decisive encounters: the Chinese civil war, 1946–1950 |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8047-4478-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Yick |first=Joseph K. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=651zCQAAQBAJ |title=Making Urban Revolution in China: The CCP-GMD Struggle for Beiping-Tianjin, 1945–49: The CCP-GMD Struggle for Beiping-Tianjin, 1945–49 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-46568-3}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://share.nanjing-school.com/dphistory/files/2014/09/Civil-War-1946-9-2i0pi2f.pdf Summary of Chinese Civil War 1946–1949] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117203347/http://share.nanjing-school.com/dphistory/files/2014/09/Civil-War-1946-9-2i0pi2f.pdf |date=17 November 2017 }}
* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/china/ Topographic maps of China Series L500, U.S. Army Map Service, 1954–]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090326011824/http://cgsc.leavenworth.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/bjorge_huai.pdf Operational Art in the Chinese PLA's Huai Hai Campaign]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081121142532/http://www.fvdes.com/stamps/chinaweb/china_education_stamps.htm Postal Stamps of the Chinese Post-Civil War Era]

{{China topics}}
{{Chinese Civil War}}
{{Cross-Strait relations}}
{{Cold War}}{{China–United States relations}}
{{Taiwan–United States relations}}
{{Taiwan topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Chinese Civil War| ]]
[[Category:20th-century conflicts]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II]]
[[Category:Civil wars in China]]
[[Category:Cross-strait conflict]]
[[Category:Interwar period]]
[[Category:Military history of the Republic of China (1912–1949)]]
[[Category:Proxy wars]]
[[Category:Revolutions in China]]
[[Category:Revolution-based civil wars]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Republic of China]]
[[Category:Wars involving the People's Republic of China]]