The history of 19th century and 20th century China, leading up to the Chinese Revolutions, the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China.
This podcast was inspired by Mike Duncan's Revolutions. This podcast follows him by telling the stories leading to the Chinese Revolutions.
The episodes cover the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, foreign treaties and concessions bringing trade and Christianity to China, the Boxer Rebellion, China's 1911 Revolution, the Warlord Period, the KMT and the rise of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese United Fronts are discussed. Personalities like the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing emperors, Earl Li Hongzhang, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong are featured. The experiences of Chinese working overseas, including in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States of America are also brought to life. We have looked at stories from the late Qing Dynasty. Now we are looking at the stories of the Republic of China, the Communist International (Comintern)'s interest in exporting world revolution to China and the United Fronts, including the Second Sino-Japanese War.
For more information, sources and content see: https://chineserevolution.substack.com
Or enjoy The Chinese Revolution YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOjBYMNC_3xjQXKv6ab9YA?sub_confirmation=1
The Chinese Revolution podcast has charted as a top history podcast in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The Chinese Revolution podcast has been listened to in about 110 countries.
You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The history of 19th century and 20th century China, leading up to the Chinese Revolutions, the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China.
This podcast was inspired by Mike Duncan's Revolutions. This podcast follows him by telling the stories leading to the Chinese Revolutions.
The episodes cover the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, foreign treaties and concessions bringing trade and Christianity to China, the Boxer Rebellion, China's 1911 Revolution, the Warlord Period, the KMT and the rise of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese United Fronts are discussed. Personalities like the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing emperors, Earl Li Hongzhang, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong are featured. The experiences of Chinese working overseas, including in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States of America are also brought to life. We have looked at stories from the late Qing Dynasty. Now we are looking at the stories of the Republic of China, the Communist International (Comintern)'s interest in exporting world revolution to China and the United Fronts, including the Second Sino-Japanese War.
For more information, sources and content see: https://chineserevolution.substack.com
Or enjoy The Chinese Revolution YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOjBYMNC_3xjQXKv6ab9YA?sub_confirmation=1
The Chinese Revolution podcast has charted as a top history podcast in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The Chinese Revolution podcast has been listened to in about 110 countries.
You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mao had long desired revolution to peace. Even as a student, he wrote of his desire for the destruction of the old universe.
Thanks to his teacher Yang Changji, he met early leaders of the Communist Party, got a job as a junior librarian in Beijing and met his second wife. Yang Kaihui fell deeply in love with Mao and stayed loyal to him, even after Mao left her and took a new wife. She preferred to be executed than to renounce Mao.
Mao felt ignored by the urban intellectuals at Peking University. Later, those intellectuals and students who had travelled to France and Moscow, controlled the Communist Party of China. Many of them believed urban workers were key to the Chinese Revolution. They started putsches trying to capture key Chinese cities. Those efforts failed and even more urban communists were captured and eliminated.
Gu Shunzhang, head of the Communist Secret Service was arrested and chose to collaborate and revealed the names and locations of key Communists. Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam was arrested and deported. Others were killed, including the Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party. Li Lisan was blamed for this failures.
Mao Zedong survived in Jiangxi and Fujian provinces by leading Soviets there. He led investigations into local conditions, including in Xunwu, before land redistributions. Mao came to understand in detail the peasant situation, who were the revolutionary classes and who were the true counterrevolutionaries.
At times Mao and his group called other Communists counterrevolutionaries and engaged in purges. They were not alone. This was a challenging time for Communists.
They benefited from the KMT armies being distracted. First by the Central Plains War and then by Japan's invasion of Manchuria. Efforts by Chiang Kai-shek to eliminate the Communists would have to wait.
Image: "Burning up Land Deeds by Gu Yuan (1919-1996)" by lukenotskywalker60 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Note from the host: AI was used in this episode to dramatize some voices from quotes I selected using the sources listed in my sources section.
You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.