Full-scale civil war resumes

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...

Japanese troops captured Nanjing, followed by mass killing, sexual violence, and looting. The massacre remains central to Chinese public memory of imperial aggression and wartime suffering. Historical...

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...

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...

The PRC and Soviet Union signed a treaty and associated agreements on alliance, aid, and economic cooperation. Soviet technical and industrial assistance supported early state-building, but the...

The PRC’s first marriage law took effect, prohibiting arranged and coerced marriage and affirming women’s legal equality in marriage. Its implementation challenged patriarchal practices, though...

The PRC enacted the Agrarian Reform Law, formalizing redistribution of land from landlords to rural households. It transformed property relations and expanded the new state’s reach in the countryside,...