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Free China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 中華民國自由地區 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 中华民国自由地区 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Free Area of the Republic of China (full form used only occasionally) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The term Free China,in the context of the Second Sino-Japanese War,refers to those areas of China not under the control of the Imperial Japanese Army or any of its puppet governments,such as Manchukuo,the Mengjiang government in Suiyuan and Chahar,or the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Beiping. The term came into more frequent use after the Battle of Nanking,when Chiang Kai-shek evacuated the government of the Republic of China to Chongqing.
In the final days of the Battle of Nanking,the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army helped to evacuate the Chiang Kai-shek government to Chongqing,which was declared the provisional capital of the Republic of China. The Japanese,following their victory at Nanjing,created yet another puppet government,the Reformed Government of the Republic of China,which was later merged with the Provisional Government of the Republic of China to create the Wang Jingwei Government. Many civilians from Japanese-controlled areas of China fled to Free China.
Conflict between the Communists and Kuomintang continued in the area of Free China,the most severe example being the New Fourth Army Incident. At the same time,Japanese action against the Communists and Nationalists continued;Chongqing was bombed 268 times,making it the most-frequently bombed city in all of World War II. The battlefront was largely static and stabilized since 1940 and continued for four years that way. In December 1944,the Japanese Operation Ichi-Go succeeded in taking control of Guangxi,giving them a continuous railway link between Manchukuo and Southeast Asia. The Japanese also proposed to invade Sichuan in an attempt to destroy the regime in Chongqing,but did not implemented it before the formal surrender. [1]
The term "Free area of the Republic of China" was later reused by the Nationalist government after their retreat to Taiwan to contrast their territory with that of the People's Republic of China.
Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese politician,revolutionary,and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Generalissimo of the National Revolutionary Army. He held these positions in mainland China from 1928 until 1949,when his nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party was defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—thereafter,he led the remnant of the ROC government on the island of Taiwan until his death.
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party,with armed conflict continuing intermittently from 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949,resulting in a Communist victory and subsequent control of mainland China.
Wang Zhaoming,widely known by his pen name Wang Jingwei,was a Chinese politician who was president of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China,a puppet state of Japan. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang,leading a government in Wuhan in opposition to the right-wing government in Nanjing,but later became increasingly anti-communist after his efforts to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party ended in political failure.
This article is concerned with the events that preceded World War II in Asia.
The Wang Jingwei regime,officially the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in eastern China. It existed alongside the Nationalist government of the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek,which was fighting Japan along with the other Allies of World War II. The country functioned as a dictatorship under Wang Jingwei,formerly a high-ranking official of the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT). The region it administered was initially seized by Japan during the late 1930s at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The January 28 incident or Shanghai incident was a conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. It took place in the Shanghai International Settlement which was under international control. Japanese army officers,defying higher authorities,had provoked anti-Japanese demonstrations in the International Settlement following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. The Japanese government sent a sect of militant ultranationalist Japanese Buddhist priests belonging to the Nichiren sect to Shanghai. The monks shouted anti-Chinese,pro-Japanese nationalist slogans in Shanghai,promoting Japanese rule over East Asia. In response,a Chinese mob formed killing one monk and injuring two. In response,the Japanese in Shanghai rioted and burned down a factory,killing two Chinese. Heavy fighting broke out,and China appealed with no success to the League of Nations. A truce was finally reached on May 5,calling for Japanese military withdrawal,and an end to Chinese boycotts of Japanese products.
Operation Ichi-Go was a campaign of a series of major battles between the Imperial Japanese Army forces and the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China,fought from April to December 1944. It consisted of three separate battles in the Chinese provinces of Henan,Hunan and Guangxi.
The proposed Japanese invasion of Sichuan was the Imperial Japanese Army's failed plan to destroy the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was to be a stepping stone for the Empire of Japan's final control of the Chinese mainland.
The Nationalist government,officially the National Government of the Republic of China,also known as the Second Republic of China or simply as the Republic of China,refers to the government of the Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948,led by the Kuomintang.
Sun Yuanliang was a Chinese military general of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. Sun was the last surviving member of the first graduating class of the Whampoa Military Academy,as well as the last surviving army-level commander of the Second Sino-Japanese War. His career spanned the January 28 Incident,Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.
The Provisional Government of the Republic of China was a Chinese puppet state of the Empire of Japan that existed from 1937 to 1940 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It had been formed largely on the initiative of Imperial Japanese Army commanders in north China,before securing approval from Japanese government authorities in Tokyo. Thus the Provisional Government had nominal authority in Japanese occupied zones in north China,while to the south the Central China Expeditionary Army established the Reformed Government of the Republic of China in 1938,which had authority in the Yangtze River area. Both essentially served as a local organ of the Japanese military authorities,due to the presence and extensive powers of Japanese advisors within the Provisional Government over native Chinese bureaucrats,and because it never made any attempt to secure international recognition,even from Japan.
The Second United Front was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to resist the Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War,which suspended the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1945.
The Presidential Palace in Nanjing,Jiangsu,China,housed the Office of the President of the Republic of China from 1927 until the capital was relocated to Taipei in 1949. It is now a museum called the China Modern History Museum. It is located at No.292 Changjiang Road,in the Xuanwu District of Nanjing.
The Soong Sisters is a 1997 Hong Kong historical drama film based on the lives of the Soong sisters from 1911 to 1949. The three sisters married the most important historical figures –Sun Yat-sen,Chiang Kai-shek and K'ung Hsiang-hsi –in the founding of the Republic of China,making their family the focal point of every major decision made in modern Chinese history. Directed by Mabel Cheung,the film starred Maggie Cheung,Michelle Yeoh and Vivian Wu as the sisters. The screenplay was written by Mabel Cheung's husband,Alex Law,whom she frequently collaborates with.
The Government of the Republic of China is the national government of the Republic of China (ROC) whose de facto territory currently consists of Taiwan,Penghu,Kinmen,Matsu,and other island groups in the "free area". Governed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2016,the president is the head of state. The government consists of the presidency and five branches (Yuan):the Executive Yuan,Legislative Yuan,Judicial Yuan,Examination Yuan,and Control Yuan.
After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912,China underwent a period of instability and disrupted economic activity. During the Nanjing decade (1927–1937),China advanced in a number of industrial sectors,in particular those related to the military,in an effort to catch up with the west and prepare for war with Japan. The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the following Chinese civil war caused the retreat of the Republic of China and formation of the People's Republic of China.
The Republic of China (ROC),commonly known simply as China,was a sovereign state based on mainland China from 1912 to 1949 prior to the Government of the Republic of China's relocation to Taiwan,where it continues to be based today. The ROC was established on 1 January 1912 during the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty. On 7 December 1949,the ROC's government ruled by the Kuomintang was moved from Nanjing to Taipei following the KMT's de facto defeat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The CCP-led People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in mainland China upon its official proclamation on 1 October 1949,while the ROC retains actual control over the Taiwan Area with the political status of Taiwan remaining in dispute to this day.
The Opening Campaign was the start of second phase of the Chinese Civil War,beginning at the end of World War II with the surrender of Japan. After the war ended,the Second United Front had no more meaning,and it disbanded. The generals of the nationalist and communist causes scrapped for territory,beginning the second chapter of the bloody conflict.
The retreat of the government of Republic of China to Taiwan,also known as the Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan or the Great Retreat in Taiwan,refers to the exodus of the remnants of the internationally recognized Kuomintang-ruled government of the Republic of China (ROC) to the island of Taiwan (Formosa) on December 7,1949,after losing the Chinese Civil War in the mainland. The Kuomintang,its officers,and approximately 2 million ROC troops took part in the retreat,in addition to many civilians and refugees,fleeing the advance of the People's Liberation Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The Chiang-Gui War was a military conflict between the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek against the warlord army of Guangxi that lasted from March until June 1929. A later conflict,the 2nd Chiang Gui-War,occurred between the two opposing factions in November and December of the same year.