Nanjing falls to Japanese forces

Communist forces rebelled against the Nationalist government in Nanchang. Although militarily defeated, the uprising became a founding reference for the People’s Liberation Army and the Communist...

Communist representatives proclaimed a Soviet republic in Ruijin, Jiangxi, as Nationalist encirclement campaigns intensified. The experiment built institutions and mobilized rural constituencies,...

The Red Army began its strategic retreat from its base in Jiangxi after Nationalist encirclement campaigns. The march caused enormous losses but helped consolidate Mao’s leadership and became a...

Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng detained Chiang Kai-shek to press him to prioritize resistance to Japan. The crisis led to renewed cooperation between Nationalists and Communists, although...

A clash near Beijing escalated into full-scale war between China and Japan. Chinese resistance tied the national struggle to the wider anti-fascist war, while Japanese occupation brought mass...

Japan announced it would accept the Allied surrender terms, ending the Pacific War. In China, the end of Japanese occupation opened a struggle over political authority and control of territory;...

The UN Charter entered into force, establishing the postwar international organization in which the Republic of China held a permanent Security Council seat. China’s later representation dispute at...

Fighting between Nationalist and Communist forces escalated after the fragile postwar truce collapsed. The civil war determined who would govern mainland China and shaped the geopolitical division...

The Communist victory in northeast China gave its forces control of Manchuria’s industrial base and a large arsenal. It shifted the civil-war balance decisively and laid material foundations for the...

Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic in Beijing after the Communist victory in the civil war. The new state reunified most of mainland China under a central government and sought to end...