Kuomintang

views updated Jun 08 2018

Kuomintang Nationalist Party in China, the major political force during and after the creation of a republic in 1911. It was first led by Sun Yat-sen. It cooperated with the Communist Party until 1927, when Sun's successor, Chiang Kai-shek, turned against the communists, initiating a civil war. Cooperation was renewed in order to repel the Japanese (1937–45), after which the civil war was resumed. With the communists victorious, Chiang set up a rump state on the island of Taiwan, where the Kuomintang survives.

Kuomintang

views updated May 23 2018

Kuomintang a nationalist party founded in China under Sun Yat-sen in 1912, and led by Chiang Kai-shek from 1925. It held power from 1928 until the Communist Party took power in October 1949 and subsequently formed the central administration of Taiwan.