TERMS AND GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR FILM

CHINA IN REVOLUTION: BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

 

Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan) (1866-1925): anti-Qing revolutionary, political theorist and nationalist “George Washington” figure, who founded the Nationalist Party (KMT) and launched the rebellion that would culminate in the 1911 Revolution.

 

Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) (1887-1975): close ally of Sun Yat-sen and prominent leader of the KMT after Sun’s death.  Chiang became leader of China after the Shanghai Massacre (1927) that split the National-Communist alliance. Chiang would eventually retreat to Taiwan after the Communist victory in 1949.

 

Northern Expedition (1926-1927): military undertaking under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek that would defeat warlord opposition in China and unite the country under one government located in Nanjing.

 

Mao Zedong (1893-1976): Marxist theorist, guerilla tactician, and foremost Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader after the Long March.

 

 

Zhou Enlai (1898-76): A leading member of CCP political leadership, Mao's "right-hand man," and the frequent diplomatic representative of the CCP.

 

Jiangxi Soviet (1928-1934): an experimental Communist government established by Mao in a remote southern region of China.  Nationalist forces eventually crushed this government and the region’s inhabitants fled on a long 6,000-mile retreat that would eventually be given the name The Long March (1934-1935). During the Long March at the Conference at Zunyi (Guizhou) on January 5, 1935, Mao was recognized as leader of the Chinese Communist Movement.

 

Zhang Xueliang (1898–2001): Chinese warlord, who took over in 1928 as the KMT military governor of Manchuria. Zhang was driven out of Manchuria by the Japanese in 1931. In December 1936, with the help of Chinese Communists, he ordered Chiang Kai-shek be kidnapped in Xian to cause the KMT and the CCCP to join forces in a war against Japan .

 

 

 

#1. What was the political situation in China in the early 20th century?  Why were foreigners referred to as “foreign devils”?  Why do you think that foreign nations were interested in dividing up China?

 

#2. Who participated in the Northern Expedition?  What was the unexpected outcome of the campaign?

 

#3. What specific programs did the Nationalist government implement to modernize China in the late 1930’s?  In what ways did these programs benefit the people?

 

#4.  Why did Chiang Kai-shek consider the Communists to be a bigger threat to his power than Japan?  Why did Chiang decide not to resist the Japanese invasion?  What was the impact of his decision?

 

#5. Why did Mao want the Communists to unite with the Nationalists against Japan?  What might he gain by such a union?