Republic of China - 1912 to 1949

The declaration of the Republic of China in 1912 signalled an entirely new era. Not only did the revolution of 1911-12 bring about the fall of the Qing dynasty: it also brought an end to the entire series of dynasties that 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 1945-9, which ended with the victory of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Paulès challenges various common claims about this period. It is often assumed that the CCP 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, it was 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.

List 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
 

About the author

Xavier Paulès is Associate Professor in History at EHESS, Paris.

Report

'All too often the Chinese Republic is overlooked as a wretched interlude between imperial collapse and communist victories. Yet its contribution to a Chinese modernity that a century later is still in the making was essential. Paulès' nuanced and erudite synthesis introduces us to the paradoxes of these creative and dramatic decades like no other book I know of.'
Pierre-Etienne Will, Collège de France
 
'The Republic was a short but transformative period for China. Xavier Paulès shows its importance as a time of political possibility, covering conflict, economics and culture with flair and precision.'
Rana Mitter, University of Oxford
 
'Paulès presents a fascinating account of the decades that followed the collapse of China's imperial order, highlighting the effects of political fragmentation, imperialism, industrialization, domestic and international migration, and world war. This lively book analyses current debates about the politics and personalities of the era, arguing that the decades before 1949 demonstrate the fluidity and resilience of Chinese culture.'
Kristin Stapleton, University at Buffalo

Product details

• Authors: Xavier Paules
• Assisted by: Lindsay Lightfoot (Translation)
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.11.2023
• EAN: 9781509552573
• ISBN: 978-1-5095-5257-3
• No. of pages: 368
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Geschichte, Politikwissenschaft, Politik, History, Political Science, Asian Politics, Politik / Asien, Geschichte u. Zeitgeschichte des 20./21. Jahrhunderts, Twentieth Century & Contemporary History, Geschichte / Asien u. Australasien, Asian & Australasian History, China /Geschichte, Asien /Geschichte