Chiang Kai-shek
«jyahng ky SHEHK», (1887-1975), was
the political and military leader of the Nationalist Chinese government on
Taiwan from 1949 until his death in 1975. He took command of the Kuomintang
Party in the 1920's. This was the Nationalist Party that had overthrown the
Manchu dynasty and proclaimed a republic in 1912. Chiang was the decisive power
in China from the mid-1920's until 1949, when Communists took control. He then
fled to Taiwan and established his government there.
Chiang was born in
the Zhejiang Province. He received a military education in China and in Tokyo,
Japan. In Tokyo he met Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary leader, and joined
Sun's revolutionary organization. Sun sent Chiang to the Soviet Union in 1923.
When Chiang returned to China, Sun appointed him president of the Whampoa
Military Academy. Sun died in 1925, and the next year Chiang took command of the
Nationalist Army. See Sun Yat-sen.
Nationalist victory. In
1926, Nationalist forces, aided by Communist organizers, left Canton on a
campaign against warlords in the north. The warlords were defeated and the
Nationalists became the strongest force in China. Soviet advisers tried but
failed to seize political power at Hankou and Shanghai. The Soviets were
expelled from China. In 1927, Chiang established a capital at Nanjing. That
year, he married Soong Mei-ling (see Chiang Soong Mei-ling). He later
became a Christian. The National Government of China was created in 1928.
From 1928 to 1937, Chiang improved economic and political institutions
in China. However, political consolidations proved difficult. The Japanese
military and Chinese Communists continually sabotaged his regime.
The
Japanese attack on China in 1937 made it necessary for the Nationalists to form
a united front with the Communists. Chiang assumed full military power in this
union as generalissimo. After the Japanese captured Nanjing later that year, he
made the city of Chongqing his wartime capital. Chiang led China to victory in
1945.
Communist triumph. Near the end of World War II, when
Japanese surrender became inevitable, fighting between the Nationalists and the
Communists resumed. Chiang issued a new constitution and called for a popular
election. In 1948, Chiang was elected president of China. Li Tsung-jen became
vice president. But these popular measures failed to ensure political stability.
The Communists were winning the civil war. Chiang's resignation and Li's
assumption of the presidency did not save the situation. By the end of 1949, the
Communists had driven Chiang and his armies from the Chinese mainland to the
island of Taiwan, which lies off China's coast in the China Sea. See
China (Civil war).
On Taiwan, Chiang took full military and civil
authority. He established Taipei as the capital of his government. Chiang was
reelected president in 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1972.
______________ Contributor: • Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, Ph.D., Professor of History, University of
California, Santa Barbara.
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Immanuel C. Y. Hsu,
"Chiang Kai-shek," World Book Online Americas Edition,
