Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (b. 31 Oct. 1887, d. 5 Apr. 1975). President of the Republic of China (Taiwan since 1949) 1928–49, 1950–75 Born at Feng Hwa (Chekiang) as the son of a poor salt merchant, he attended the Chinese Imperial Military Academy and later lived in Japan, where he received military training. He returned to China in 1911 as a supporter of Sun Yat-sen. He became Sun's loyal lieutenant, and was entrusted with running the Military Academy at Whampoa on 3 May 1924. The academy was to play a vital role for the Guomindang and the National Revolutionary Army, and Chiang recruited from it his favoured officers. In 1926 he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army, and launched the successful Northern Expedition (1926–8) to unify the country. His National Government, established in Nanjing (Nanking) in 1928, lasted until 1937 and succeeded in unifying much of China. Financial reforms were carried out, and communications and education improved. A New Life Movement tried to reassert traditional Confucian values to combat Communist ideas. At the same time, he was forced to accept the loss of Manchuria to the Japanese (Manchukuo), and he failed to come to a lasting arrangement with the Communist movement, despite his attempts at ruthless suppression. His government was constantly at war with provincial warlords, with the Japanese, and with the Communists in their rural bases. Kidnapped at Xi'an by Chang Hsüeh-liang in 1936, he agreed to co-operate with the Communists against the Japanese in the United Front.

In the ensuing Sino-Japanese War, Nanjing was lost in 1937, and he lost control of the coastal regions and most of the major cities, retiring from Nanjing to Chongqing (Chungking). Encouraged by his wife Soong Mei-ling (who became well-known abroad), his prestige was at its peak towards the end of the war in 1945. He attended the Cairo Conference, and achieved a place for the Republic of China as a permanent member of the UN Security Council in 1945. This explains his refusal to come to an agreement with Mao Zedong, and resume his old fight against the Communists. Despite generous US aid he lost the Chinese Civil War, largely because of his strategic cautiousness, and his inability to contain indiscipline and corruption within his own army.

In 1949, he retreated to Taiwan, where he ruled as the head of the Republic of China until his death. He remained in firm control of the party, which he frequently purged, and continued his habit of appointing those who were politically trustworthy over those with outstanding ability. By the late 1950s, he probably gave up his hope of reconquering mainland China, hoping to defeat it ideologically instead, through the introduction of capitalism. He left behind an economically advanced and dynamic society, though it remained to his successor and son, Chiang Ching-kuo, to establish social and political consensus.

Song Qingling