Landmarks in the Chinese Revolution

1919: May 4th, movement. Countrywide protests against the Versailles Treaty after World War I which handed over to Japan Germany's holdings in China. The May 4 movement marked the beginning of the modern nationalist movement.

1921: Chinese Communist Party founded. First Congress held in Shanghai. Mao Zedong participates. Zhou Enlai and others form Communist Youth League in Paris.

1922: Kuomintang leader Sun Yat Sen agrees to accept Soviet aid and form united front with Communist Party; on this basis Communists could hold joint membership in Kuomintang.

1924: First Congress of Kuomintang approves admission of Communists. Mao Zedong elected alternative member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.

1925: Mao Zedong stays in Hunan, organising peasant movement for national liberation. Prepares his first major work: Analysis of Classes in Chinese Society.

1927: In April Chiang Kai Shek launches anti-Communist coup. Massacres communists in Shanghai. Party goes underground. Mao Zedong leads peasant uprising in Hunan in August. It fails and he retreats to the mountainous areas of Ching King Shang. Other uprisings by communists in Nanchang and Canton fail.

1927-37 -- Civil War between Kuomintang and Communists

1928: Chiang Kai Shek establishes control through national government of Kuomintang. First Red Army of China formed by Mao Zedong and Zhu De.

1930: Chiang Kai Shek launches major offensive against communist forces.

1931: All China Congress of Chinese Soviets convened in Juichen which elects Mao Zedong as the Chairman of the All China Soviet government and Zhu De as military commander.

1932: Japan attacks Shanghai; Chiang Kai Shek steps up attack on the communist bases.

1934: Communist forces launch attack on Kuomintang armies; suffers reverses. Main armed forces and cadres begin Long March in October 1934.

1935: Polit Bureau meets in Tsunyi, in Kweichow province in January. Elects Mao Zedong as the effective leader of the Party and the army during the Long March to North-West China. Main Red Army reaches new bases in North-West China, after one year of continuous march over a distance of 6,000 miles.

Anti Japanese Liberation War and United Front (1937-45)

1937: Japan invades China in July. A the call of the Communist Party, agreement signed between Kuomintang government and the Communists for joint war of resistance.

1938-39: Communists organise partisan war behind Japanese lines. Mao Zedong outlines basis of United Front tactics.

1940-41: Communists-Nationalists cooperation disrupted; Chiang Kai Shek attacks Red Army. Communists expand guerilla base areas steadily.

1943: Communist Party and liberated areas expand rapidly. Party membership reaches 800,000. Red Army has half a million troops and militia forces. Liberated areas cover a population of 100 million. Kuomintang relies on US aid to combat the communist forces.

1945: Second Congress of Chinese Communist Party in April. Communist Party demands coalition government and an end to Kuomintang dictatorship. Communist forces take over main part of North China and Manchuria.

Second Phase of Communist-Kuomintang Civil War (1946-49)

1946: Communists call for war of liberation