Leadership Change in

China

Satellite image of China

Satellite image of the Himalayas

Himalayas

Gobi Desert

Tibetan Plateau

Taklimakan Desert

Hwang Ho (Yellow River)

Yangtze River

China after the Emperors

• Puyi the last emperor abdicated the throne in 1912.

Sun Yat Sen, the leader & founder of the Nationalist Party became the first President of the new Republic of China.

He had campaigned for many years to rid China of its emperors and end the inequalities in China.

Yuan Shikai tried to take control of China from Sun Yat Sen & he succeeded in becoming President in 1914.

He tried to rule China as a dictator , and make himself emperor in 1915, but he was unable to control the many warlords who began to take control of areas of China.

He was also continuously battling Sun Yat Sen & the KMT for power.

The Warlords became the major rulers in China after Yuan Shikai’s death in 1916, and constantly fought for control with the Nationalists and with other Warlords.

The Warlords had more territory than the Nationalists but the Nationalists developed a strong army called the KMT and with help from the USA, began to defeat the Warlords.

They imposed high taxes, forced peasants to serve in their armies, and governed with great cruelty.

Conditions in China were worse when the warlords fought each other, and some of these civil wars involved up to 300,000 soldiers.

There were hundreds of Warlords and they were only interested in their own power & wealth.

Some of the main warlords…

Zhang ZuolinFeng Yuxiang

Yan Xishan

Sun Chuanfang

Tang Jiyao Wu Peifu

In 1930 Sun Yat Sen died without ever seeing. his dream of reuniting China under one democratic leader happen.

Chiang Kai Shek took his place as leader of the Nationalists (KMT).

In 1926 Chiang Kai Shek marched with his army to the north of China to fight the warlords with millions of Chinese who were sick of the warlords backing him.

Mao Tse Tung (Zedong) formed the Communist Party in 1921.

He was born in 1893 & died in 1976.

He wanted to improve the lives of peasants & make everyone equal.

He became leader of China in 1949 after a successful revolution to take control from the KMT. He was leader of China until his death.

What the peasants wanted• Food• Land they could farm• Jobs• Cheaper rent• Affordable education• Punishment of the warlords• Protection from the KMT

soldiers• Medicine• An improvement in their

lifestyle.

What the Communists offered• Give land to the peasants so

they could have jobs & farm their own land.

• Make schools free & educate all children not just the wealthy.

• Destroy the power of the rich & spread the wealth.

• Build an army that will protect not harm the peasants.

• Give free medicine & healthcare.

The Appeal of the Communists

• Mao began to raise an army of Communists to fight the KMT for control of China.

• They received a lot of support from the peasants.

• The KMT gathered all their troops & they outnumbered the Communists 10 to 1.

THE LEAD UP TO THE LONG MARCH

• Using their much larger forces, Chaing Kai-Shek & the KMT managed to surround the Communists in the Southern province of Fujian.

• The KMT used barbed wire & concrete blocks to build a fence around the Communists.

• Each day the KMT moved the fence in a few metres & before they knew it the Communists were trapped.