A Political and Economic History of China, Part 27: Chiang Kai-shek Rises to Power

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5 MIN READ - The Cautious Optimism Correspondent for Economic Affairs and Other Egghead Stuff continues with a history of China, this time explaining the succession of Nationalist Party leadership from Sun Yat-sen to Chiang Kai-shek.

Photo: Nationalist Party left-faction leader Wang Jingwei (left) and right-faction leader Chiang Kai-shek (right).

Let’s broadly revisit the circumstances that led up to what would soon be the Chinese Republican era’s violent climax in 1926-1928.

Revolutionary politician Sun Yat-sen’s work to overthrow the Qing dynasty teetered as the country broke down into warlord fiefdoms that often controlled weak central Beijing governments.

During the “warlord era,” Japan and the USSR in particular attempted to gain influence over China: Japan by taking territory, the Soviets by offering aid under the condition that Sun’s Nationalist Party (aka. Guomindang or KMT) accept the small, fledgling Chinese Communist Party into its ranks. The Soviets intended to eventually order the Communists to subvert the KMT from within, assume power, and transform China into both a communist state and Soviet ally on Russia’s large eastern border.

Sun, revolutionary and intelligent but too trusting and often politically naïve, had no reservations about letting the Communists into the Guomindang, but his young lieutenant Chiang Kai-shek saw danger in the Communist/Nationalist alliance.

CHIANG KAI-SHEK

As China careened into the chaotic warlord era, Sun Yat-sen decided his 1911 anti-Qing revolution had gone astray and must be righted. Instead of a united, republican, modern China the country had split into squabbling fiefdoms run by greedy, corrupt warlords.

By the early 1920’s Sun was convinced his revolution needed a strong military branch to defeat the warlords and unify the country by force. He founded Whampoa Military Academy in 1924 to train party officers for both an upcoming armed campaign of unification and later to serve in the military defense of the new China.

Sun appointed Chiang Kai-shek as the academy’s commandant.

But before we get into Chiang’s Nationalist military career we should establish a little about the man himself.

First there’s the question of his name. “Chiang Kai-shek” is Chiang’s Cantonese name. Although well known in the west, you will hear China’s one billion non-Cantonese speakers refer to Chiang by his Mandarin name: Jiang Jieshi, pronounced Jee-ahng (one syllable) Jee-eh (one syllable) Shuh.

However given that his Cantonese name has been publicized in the west for nearly a century, we’ll continue to refer to “Chiang Kai-shek” in the CO China series, just as modern day history books use it even as those same books generally use the Mandarin nomenclature format.

There are a few holes in the history of Chiang’s early life. However we know he was born in 1887 in Zhejiang province, bordering Shanghai. Like many Chinese men during the time, he became anti-Qing and highly nationalistic at an early age.

Wanting to rid China of the old corrupt dynasty and create a new modern country, Chiang decided early on a military career. He enrolled in the Baoding military academy in Beijing but transferred one year later (1907) to the Tokyo Shinbu Gakko military academy for Chinese students in Japan.

In Japan Chiang met several revolutionary anti-Qing students who were determined to overthrow the dynasty and he cut off his queue, a common act of anti-Qing disobedience. He then served in the Imperial Japanese Army (1909-1911) during which time he met Sun Yat-sen and joined Sun’s Tongmenghui anti-Qing society.

After the Qing was overthrown Chiang returned to China, working within the sometimes legitimate, sometimes not business world of Shanghai to finance KMT revolutionary activities. It was here that Chiang was mentored by Chen Qimei, fellow revolutionary and leader of the notorious Green Gang, a former anti-Qing society that raised money for the KMT through the opium trade and other lucrative vices.

Chiang’s Green Gang tutelage made him a much shrewder judge of political treachery than Sun, and the gang will come up later in the story as Chiang always maintained a relationship with his old business associates.

Finally we resume our story in 1923 when Chiang moved to Guangdong, Southern China, now the KMT’s power base although Nationalist territory was isolated, surrounded by warlord fiefdoms that controlled the rest of China.

Chiang was now one of Sun’s top lieutenants, placed in charge of developing the KMT’s new revolutionary army to defeat the warlords and reunify China. Sun sent Chiang to Moscow for three months to study Soviet military tactics where he even met Leon Trotsky. However what Chiang saw in Russia convinced him neither the Soviet system nor communism itself were suitable for China. He returned home distrustful of both, his time in Russia informing his anti-communist views.

THE CHIANG/WANG SPLIT

Meanwhile the KMT’s plans were derailed by unexpected news. In 1925 Sun Yat-sen was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer and died suddenly at the early age of 58. Without Sun Chinese reunification would have to wait until the question of new leadership was resolved.

There were a few lieutenants positioned to take over Sun’s office, but the two most powerful were Chiang, who represented the “right wing” of the party, and Wang Jingwei who represented the “left wing.” Chiang was in charge of the KMT military while Wang ran ideological and propaganda affairs.

Leaning left but not fully communist and backed by the Soviets, Wang appeared the favorite to gain control of the KMT.

Fortunately for Chiang, Wang Jingwei was a fairly weak rival. In 1926, while Wang was out of the country, Chiang announced the “discovery” of a communist plot against him and forced many of Wang’s allies out of power, even arresting some officials including a few Soviet advisors. Chiang also shut down trade union organizations and strike organizers.

All that Wang could muster in response was a few words of protest before announcing his retirement from politics and moving to France, although he would reappear a few more times over the years in failed attempts to reestablish power.

Chiang then “apologized” to the Soviets and freed their officials, but retained solid leadership of the party apparatus. He had pulled off a virtually bloodless coup and assumed full control of the KMT, even preserving a cordial relationship with and continued support from the USSR.

Meanwhile moderate KMT officials were concerned about Chiang’s heavy-handed power grab, but most remained silent since he had usurped communist leadership which they had secretly wanted ever since Sun signed the KMT-Soviet alliance in 1923.

Now in full control, Chiang set out to begin the military reunification the late Sun had coveted. He would launch it from Guangdong, southern China, historically the birthplace of so many Chinese revolutions of the past. His campaign to march north and reunite the country under a single government began in July 1926 and would become known as the Northern Expedition, a subject we’ll focus on in the next chapter.