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The declaration of the Republic of China in 1912 signalled an entirely new era. Not only did the revolution of 1911-1912 bring about the fall of the Qing dynasty: it also brought an end to the entire series of dynasties which had marked Chinese history for over two millennia. Radical reforms since 1901 had culminated in the ending of the political status quo and the rejection of the very idea of empire.
Drawing on the most recent historical research, Xavier Paulès provides a comprehensive account of the crucial but chaotic period that stretched from the founding of the Republic of China in 1912 to the civil war of 1945-49, which ended with the victory of the Chinese Communist Party and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Paulès challenges various common claims about this period. It is often assumed that the Chinese Communist Party was instrumental in bringing about key events by skilfully mobilizing the population to serve its ends. Paulès argues, by contrast, that the CCP took advantage of fortunate circumstances and that, even then, they were only in a position to challenge the supremacy of the Guomindang as late as 1944. His analysis takes a broad view by considering the importance of political actors both within and external to the revolutionary movement, enabling him to offer a balanced interpretation of the republican period which sheds new light on China’s political, cultural and economic development.
The Republic of China 1912 to 1949
by Paul¿s, Xavier; Lightfoot, LindsayEdition: 1st
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 2024-01-23
Publisher(s): Polity
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Summary
Author Biography
Xavier Paulès is Associate Professor in History at EHESS, Paris.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations and Maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: The 1911 Revolution
The flashpoint in Wuhan
The last dynasty’s unorthodox downfall 1912, the year of many possibilities
The years under Yuan Shikai (1913-1916)
The international context and the influence of the war in Europe
The fall of Yuan Shikai
Chapter 2: Cliques And Warlords (1916-1928)
The rivalry amongst North China's major cliques for control of the government
Who were the warlords?
The implausible identikit portrait
The driving forces behind junfa power Conflicts, alliances and viscosity
Was national unity in jeopardy?
The diplomatic context, May Fourth Movement (1919) and the rise of nationalism
Two decades of spectacular diplomatic recovery for China (1906-1926)
Disappointed expectations from the Versailles negotiations
A movement without precedent
The rise of the Guomindang (1917-1926) and the Canton decade
925: the death of Sun Yat-sen and its aftermath, the May Thirtieth Movement
The Northern Expedition
Phase 1: the defeat of Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang
Phase 2: the time of divisions
Phase 3: Zhang Zuolin’s defeat
Chapter 3: The Nanking Decade (1928-1937)
1928-1932: Troublesome former allies
The period of stabilisation: 1932-1935
The Guomindang’s achievement
The looming Japanese threat Warlords on the wane
The successful marginalization of the Chinese Communist Party
The successful marginalisation of the Chinese Communist Party
The run up to the Sino-Japanese war: 1935-1937
Chapter 4: The War Against Japan (1937-1945)
The war of movement: 1937-1939
Why did Chiang Kai-shek choose confrontation?
Japan’s first victories
The Second United Front and Soviet aid
938, the difficult conquest of the Middle Yangtze River basin
1939, settling in for a long war
The war of position (1940-1944)
Stabilisation of the front
Population movements
China and the Allies
1940: the beginning of the Guomindang state’s disintegration
The CCP, a new force
Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, the crossed paths of destiny
Occupied China and the collaborating governments
1944-1945: return to the war of movement
From the Ichig offensive to the surrender
The war's outcome
Chapter 5: Civil War (1945-1949)
A very favourable situation for the Guomindang
The political and symbolic dividends of victory
The economic rebound in the immediate post-war period
Immediately post-war: 1945-1946
The role of the USSR and the USA
Locking of horns for the first time
The Guomindang’s post-war failure
The military era: 1946-1949
Sclerosis of the Guomindang
The issue of corruption
Lack of renewal within the Guomindang
The impossible democratic transformation
The CCP's policy
A third force gone missing
The withdrawal to Taiwan, a victory for the Guomindang?
Chapter 6: Overview of the Chinese Economy
China in an international context
The financial and monetary system
The shortcomings of the financial system
Progress and crisis in the monetary system
The primary sector
The very slow evolution of the agricultural sector
Mining: the triumph of coal and emergence of oil
The secondary sector
Industry and the rise of Chinese capitalism
Maintaining cottage industries
The service sector
Transport
Traditional services
The effects of the 1937-1945 war and the civil war
Relocation and state control of the economy
The origins of Communist China's planned economy?
Chapter 7: Building the State
Political culture
Inventing a political culture
Continuities with the New Policies period
Continuity with an older political order
The Guomindang and the party-state model post 1928
Sun Yat-sen, a guiding light
Institutional structure
Cliques and clique struggles
The endless return of revolution
The question of fascism
The extension of the State's scope, a fundamental trend
The question of the relationship between the State and local elites
A plurality of State-building trajectories
Chapter 8: Changes in Society
The Population
Demographic
Data Migrations
Social groups
The proletariat
The urban middle classes
The recomposition of elites
Highly resilient intermediary bodies
Living standards and lifestyles
The issue of the impoverishment of Chinese peasants
Did the Guomindang lose interest in the countryside?
Endemic insecurity in the countryside ‘Problems’ in Chinese society
New leisure activities
Can we call it westernisation?
Women
Chapter 9: Cultural Renewal
The dissemination of ideas
The development of primary and secondary education
Higher education
The media
Passing influences
New interest in the non-Western world
The May Fourth Movement 1919 and that of the new culture (xin wenhua yundong )
Chinese Culture’s Western Crisis
A reinvented language
The wenti
The competition of 'isms’
Religious revivals
China's cultural influence
.
The undiminished prestige of classical culture
China as a conduit for knowledge from the West
Transmission of popular culture
Conclusion And Epitaph
Timeline
Appendixes
Sun Yat-sen’s Last Will (yizhu )
Comparison of China’s population with that of other major countries
Comparison of the length of China's rail network with that of other countries (in kilometres)
The Song family simplified family tree
Maps
Bibliography
Notes
Index
List of Illustrations and Maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: The 1911 Revolution
The flashpoint in Wuhan
The last dynasty’s unorthodox downfall 1912, the year of many possibilities
The years under Yuan Shikai (1913-1916)
The international context and the influence of the war in Europe
The fall of Yuan Shikai
Chapter 2: Cliques And Warlords (1916-1928)
The rivalry amongst North China's major cliques for control of the government
Who were the warlords?
The implausible identikit portrait
The driving forces behind junfa power Conflicts, alliances and viscosity
Was national unity in jeopardy?
The diplomatic context, May Fourth Movement (1919) and the rise of nationalism
Two decades of spectacular diplomatic recovery for China (1906-1926)
Disappointed expectations from the Versailles negotiations
A movement without precedent
The rise of the Guomindang (1917-1926) and the Canton decade
925: the death of Sun Yat-sen and its aftermath, the May Thirtieth Movement
The Northern Expedition
Phase 1: the defeat of Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang
Phase 2: the time of divisions
Phase 3: Zhang Zuolin’s defeat
Chapter 3: The Nanking Decade (1928-1937)
1928-1932: Troublesome former allies
The period of stabilisation: 1932-1935
The Guomindang’s achievement
The looming Japanese threat Warlords on the wane
The successful marginalization of the Chinese Communist Party
The successful marginalisation of the Chinese Communist Party
The run up to the Sino-Japanese war: 1935-1937
Chapter 4: The War Against Japan (1937-1945)
The war of movement: 1937-1939
Why did Chiang Kai-shek choose confrontation?
Japan’s first victories
The Second United Front and Soviet aid
938, the difficult conquest of the Middle Yangtze River basin
1939, settling in for a long war
The war of position (1940-1944)
Stabilisation of the front
Population movements
China and the Allies
1940: the beginning of the Guomindang state’s disintegration
The CCP, a new force
Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek, the crossed paths of destiny
Occupied China and the collaborating governments
1944-1945: return to the war of movement
From the Ichig offensive to the surrender
The war's outcome
Chapter 5: Civil War (1945-1949)
A very favourable situation for the Guomindang
The political and symbolic dividends of victory
The economic rebound in the immediate post-war period
Immediately post-war: 1945-1946
The role of the USSR and the USA
Locking of horns for the first time
The Guomindang’s post-war failure
The military era: 1946-1949
Sclerosis of the Guomindang
The issue of corruption
Lack of renewal within the Guomindang
The impossible democratic transformation
The CCP's policy
A third force gone missing
The withdrawal to Taiwan, a victory for the Guomindang?
Chapter 6: Overview of the Chinese Economy
China in an international context
The financial and monetary system
The shortcomings of the financial system
Progress and crisis in the monetary system
The primary sector
The very slow evolution of the agricultural sector
Mining: the triumph of coal and emergence of oil
The secondary sector
Industry and the rise of Chinese capitalism
Maintaining cottage industries
The service sector
Transport
Traditional services
The effects of the 1937-1945 war and the civil war
Relocation and state control of the economy
The origins of Communist China's planned economy?
Chapter 7: Building the State
Political culture
Inventing a political culture
Continuities with the New Policies period
Continuity with an older political order
The Guomindang and the party-state model post 1928
Sun Yat-sen, a guiding light
Institutional structure
Cliques and clique struggles
The endless return of revolution
The question of fascism
The extension of the State's scope, a fundamental trend
The question of the relationship between the State and local elites
A plurality of State-building trajectories
Chapter 8: Changes in Society
The Population
Demographic
Data Migrations
Social groups
The proletariat
The urban middle classes
The recomposition of elites
Highly resilient intermediary bodies
Living standards and lifestyles
The issue of the impoverishment of Chinese peasants
Did the Guomindang lose interest in the countryside?
Endemic insecurity in the countryside ‘Problems’ in Chinese society
New leisure activities
Can we call it westernisation?
Women
Chapter 9: Cultural Renewal
The dissemination of ideas
The development of primary and secondary education
Higher education
The media
Passing influences
New interest in the non-Western world
The May Fourth Movement 1919 and that of the new culture (xin wenhua yundong )
Chinese Culture’s Western Crisis
A reinvented language
The wenti
The competition of 'isms’
Religious revivals
China's cultural influence
.
The undiminished prestige of classical culture
China as a conduit for knowledge from the West
Transmission of popular culture
Conclusion And Epitaph
Timeline
Appendixes
Sun Yat-sen’s Last Will (yizhu )
Comparison of China’s population with that of other major countries
Comparison of the length of China's rail network with that of other countries (in kilometres)
The Song family simplified family tree
Maps
Bibliography
Notes
Index
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