May Thirtieth Movement begins

The Wuchang Uprising began the Xinhai Revolution, bringing down the Qing dynasty and ending imperial rule. The republic that followed faced regional militarization, foreign concessions, and uneven...

Sun Yat-sen took office as provisional president in Nanjing as the republic replaced the Qing imperial system. Republican leaders sought national unity and sovereignty, but warlordism, foreign...

Japan delivered demands seeking expanded rights and influence in China, including in Shandong and Manchuria. The episode intensified Chinese nationalism and highlighted how imperial rivalry threatened...

Students in Beijing protested the Versailles settlement’s transfer of former German rights in Shandong to Japan and criticized Chinese diplomacy. The movement spread into a broader cultural and...

Delegates convened in Shanghai (and later moved to Jiaxing) for the founding congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The party’s later victory reshaped China’s state and its position in the world....

Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and allied groups violently suppressed Communist and labor organizations in Shanghai. The purge ended the first United Front and drove the Chinese Communist Party toward armed...

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...