2007-04-01 14:04:23 · 4 answers · asked by Jonathan W 1 in Travel ➔ Asia Pacific ➔ Taiwan
Who WAS Chiang Kai-shek? He is dead now, he died in April, 1975. He was the leader of the military/political group called the 'Guo Min Dang' ( KMT or Nationalists), which became the de facto government in China, once China had a revolution and became a republic in 1911. After the death of the founding father of the Chinese republic, Sun Yat-sen, he began to struggle for power, and in April 1927 he attacked his former allies in the KMT, who were communists. This was the beginning of a civil war that would last throughout the Second World War until 1949, when the Nationalists squandered the millions of dollars the Americans provided and barely held onto their cities while Mao Zedong and the Communists grew to such strength in the countryside that they were finally able to defeat the KMT militarily and politically in October of 1949. Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT had to flee to Formosa, later Taiwan, and falsely claimed to be "Free China" with a one-party dictatorship. Just before CKS died, he cried because he knew his dreams of "retaking the mainland" would never come true. He handed power to his son, Chiang Ching-guo, and after 40 years of martial law, then allowing opposition parties, the Republic of China came into being democratic. Today in Taiwan, the legacy of CKS remains, but is slowly being dismantled in favour of a more democratic and open society.
p.s. Wade - Sun Yat-sen was the founding father, CKS was the dictator, please don't compare George Washington to a dictator who idolised the Nazis for their "organisation" skills.
2007-04-01 15:06:46 · answer #1 · answered by WMD 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), political and military leader of 20th-century China, a pivotal figure in the country’s modern history. Chiang served as leader of the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party) after the death of its founder, Sun Yat-sen, in 1925. Chiang Kai-shek led the efforts to defeat the Chinese Communists and unify China during a period of civil war and to resist the Japanese in World War II (1939-1945). After the Communists gained control of the Chinese mainland in 1949, Chiang retreated to Taiwan, where he established a government in exile. He is also known as Jiang Jieshi.
hope this info wil help u..gud luck!
2007-04-02 08:44:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
"Chiang Kai-Shek"is ROC's first president, just like George Washington is American's Founding Father
2007-04-02 00:24:33 · answer #3 · answered by Wade 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
President of the Republic of China (pre-Communist)
2007-04-01 21:13:11 · answer #4 · answered by dBalcer 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋