Abstract
On 10 October 1911 the Qing dynasty, which had ruled China since 1644, collapsed as a result of the seemingly innocuous Wuchang Uprising. The boy emperor, Puyi, abdicated, leaving behing him a power vacuum. The next four decades were characterised by successive attempts to fill this vacuum culminating in the inauguration of a communist regime in Beijing in October 1949. At the turn of the century such an outcome would have seemed impossible as, on the surface at least, the political system had appeared relatively stable. Yet the imperial regime was to find itself confronting several problems which were eventually to sweep it away. Three interrelated reasons combined to bring about the collapse of the system: first, the incredible stability of the political system had produced a rigidity incapable of adapting to new factors. Secondly, pressures on the internal economic system had increased. Thirdly, the system had been shaken by the effects of Western intervention both directly, through invasion, and indirectly, through the infiltration of new ideas.
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References
See E. Balazs, Chinese Civilisation and Bureaucracy (Yale University Press, 1977),
and M. Elvin, The Pattern of the Chinese Past (Eyre Methuen, 1973).
Ho Ping-ti, Studies on the Population of China (Harvard University Press, 1959), p. 270.
Hsiao Kung-chuan, Rural China (University of Washington Press, 1960), p. 380.
J. Levenson, Confucian China and its Modern Fate (University of California Press, 1965).
B. Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power, Yen Fu and the West (Harvard University Press, 1964), p. 42.
See B. Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power.
Contrary to the practice employed elsewhere in the book I have not adopted the Pinyin romanisation of Sun Yat-sen’s name, Sun Zhongshan, because of the widespread usage of the other form. The Alliance Society was the precursor of the Guomindang. The Guomindang deliberately traced its history to the revolutionaries who had fought to overthrow the dynasty. In so doing it attributed a far greater role to Sun and the Alliance Society in overthrowing the emperor than had actually been the case.
Following China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–5) Yuan Shikai was given the task of organising an army along Western lines. Yuan created the Beiyang Army and it became China’s most modern and efficient fighting force. After the October 1911 up-rising Yuan was summoned to lead the Beiyang Army to put down the rebels. However, Yuan delayed and demanded almost full powers to handle the situation while, at the same time, negotiating with the revolutionaries. The revolutionaries offered Yuan the Presidency of the Republic if he would renounce his allegiance to the dynasty. In February 1912 the Qing dynasty published a decree of abdication, and a month later Yuan assumed the Presidency.
See M. Meisner, Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism (Harvard University Press, 1967).
J. Chesneaux, F. Le Barbier and M.-C. Bergère, China from the 1911 Revolution to Liberation (Harvester Press, 1977), p. 86.
Mating, alias H. Sneevliet, was a Dutchman who was a minor Comintern functionary. Maring was the Comintern delegate to the CCP’s first Party Congress. Before this he had worked with the communists in the Dutch Indies and had taught them how to operate the united front policy. It was Maring who ordered the actual entry of the Communists into the Guomindang.
L. Eastman, The Abortive Revolution (Harvard University Press, 1974), pp. 7–8.
Ibid., p. 8
Ibid., p. 40
G. Alitto, ‘Rural Reconstruction During the Nanking Decade: Confucian Collectivism in Shantung’ in China Quarterly (CQ), no. 66 (June 1976), p. 213.
Peng Pai had already established a base area in Guangdong province at Haifeng and Lufeng. The base area was crushed by the GMD early in 1928.
Li Lisan gained effective control of the Party at the Sixth Congress. Prior to this power had been in the hands of Qu Qiubai, who was blamed for the failure of the policy of ‘continuous uprisings’ at the end of 1927. Qu had replaced Chen Duxiu, who was blamed for the failure of the united front policy because of his programme of capitulation.
See Mao Zedong, ‘Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan’ in Selected Works (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1966), vol. 1, pp. 23–58.
See G. Benton, ‘The Second Wang Ming Line’ in CQ, no. 61 (March 1975), pp. 61–94.
Zhang Xueliang was the commander of the North-eastern Army that was sent to crush the communists at the end of 1935. Yang Hucheng was a former warlord in the north-west who, at this time, was the pacification commissioner for Shaanxi.
These were the principles of Sun Yat-sen put forward in his book The Three Principles of the People. They were the principle of Nationalism, the principle of People’s Democrary and the principle of the People’s Livelihood.
Yanan is situated in the province of Shaanxi in the north-west of China.
See Mao’s lecture, ‘Reform in Learning, the Party, and Literature’ in Boyd Compton, Mao’s China Party Reform Documents 1942–44 (University of Washington Press, 1966), pp. 9–32. A cadre is any person who holds a formal leadership position.
Mao Zedong, ‘Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership’ in Selected Works, vol. 3, p. 119. The concept of the mass-line is considered in greater detail in chapter 4.
For example, ‘Better Troops and Simpler Administration’, 1941–3, ‘Campaign for Reduction of Rent and Interest’, 1942–4 and ‘Campaign for Mutual-Aid-Teams and Cooperativisation’, 1942–4.
C. Johnson, Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power: The Emergence of Revolutionary China 1937–1945 (Stanford University Press, 1961).
L. Bianco, Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915–1949 (Stanford University Press, 1971).
Deng Xiaoping, ‘Report on the Current Situation and Tasks’ in Summary of World Broadcasts: the Far East 6363.
Selected further reading
L. Bianco, Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915–1949, trans. from French by Muriel Bell. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1971).
C. Brandt, B. Schwartz and J. Fairbank (eds.), A Documentary History of Chinese Communism (New York: Atheneum, 1967).
Chow Tse-tsung, The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution in Modern China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960).
L. Eastman, The Abortive Revolution, China Under Nationalist Rule, 1929–1937 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974).
J. Guillermaz, A History of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921–1949 (New York: Random House, 1972).
J. P. Harrison, The Long March to Power: A History of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921–1972 (New York: Praeger, 1972).
C. Johnson, Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power: The Emergence of Revolutionary China, 1937–1945 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961).
M. Meisner, Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967).
B. Schwartz, Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao (New York: Harper & Row, 1967).
B. Schwartz, In Search of Wealth and Power, Yen Fu and the West (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964).
M. Selden, The Yenan Way in Revolutionary China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971).
M. C. Wright, China in Revolution: The First Phase, 1900–1913 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968).
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© 1981 Tony Saich
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Saich, T. (1981). From revolution to liberation: the emergence and triumph of the Chinese Communist Party. In: China: Politics and Government. China in Focus series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16590-2_1
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