Background
Throughout the many years of Civil wars, internal conflict and change of ideologies, it has brought about change mostly for the good of China. The whole concept of revolution to end monarchy started simply with reformers but eventually became the work of radicals. That caused problems at first but they were gradually amended to make China the world power it is today.
The entirety of the revolution actually happened through the span of nearly 100 years to form the political stability that is China today. It boasts more than a billion people, a wide and diverse economy producing more than $US8 trillion each year, considerable technological prowess and innovation, and one of the most imposing military forces in the world. However, China’s strength today conceals the fact that it was actually a comparative latecomer to the modern world. The first revolution occurred during 1900 when China was sought after heavily by western imperialist nations and in turn exploited. Unfortunately, the Chinese government and society was too mired in conservatism, feudal monarchy, internal divisions and peasantry to withstand foreign imperialism, shrug off its medieval political values or modernize the economy. This ultimately resulted in one of the longest and most complicated revolutions in history. Prior to the revolution the Chinese were ruled under a single monarch and in essence the entirety of China rested on one person. This system worked out fine for many years as the single leader was generally the victor of the competition of hundreds of not thousands of clans. It was a history filled with bloodshed but ultimately maintained China’s status amongst the world by being led by competent emperors such as Shun Zhi (順治 ), Kang Xi (康熙 ), Yong Zheng (雍正 ) and Qian Long (乾隆). The early Chinese system was survival of the fittest in a nutshell. However, this system crumbled once there were no longer such great leaders and no rivals. This caused an era of complacency and ultimately resulted in the rife of corruption. With the aid of the western imperials invading and bringing in the temptations of Opium, the Chinese government collapsed and ultimately China became extremely weak, almost non-existent. The fall of the flawed monarch system was imminent so In exile abroad, nationalists like Sun Yat-sen formed groups like the Tongmenghui to plot the overthrow of the Qing and plan for a new republican China. Through a series of complications amongst the higher ranks of China, Sun Yat Sen ultimately aimed to re-unify China once more as it had completely cracked open with different Warlords all fighting for power following the fall of the Qing dynasty. Ultimately, he aimed to do this with the aid of the Guomindang. Unfortunately, formerly an Ally, the CCP was betrayed and Sun Yat Sen and the Guomindang tried frantically to eradicate them. This was broken up by the Sino-Japanese war but resumed afterwards. With control of China up for grabs, the Guomindang and the communists soon fell into another civil war. In 1949 Mao and the CCP emerged victorious, declaring the foundation of the People’s Republic of China; Chiang Kai-shek and his cohort fled to the island province of Taiwan, still claiming to be the rightful rulers of China. |