Chiang Kai-shek


Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887- April 5, 1975),
in short by the Americans as "Gimo", was the leader of the Kuomintang
(KMT) (or Nationalist Party of China). He was President of the Republic of
China from 1948 until his death.

Born Chiang Chou-tai (???), also called Chiang Chung-cheng (???), in Fenghua
County (???), Zhejiang to Chiang Zhaocong (???) and Wang Caiyu (???).
"Kai-shek" is his courtesy name in a Cantonese Romanization. He was first
married to Mao Fumei (???), an arranged marriage. After primary education in
China he spent two years at a Japanese military academy (1908-1910). Chiang
returned to China in 1910 and became prominent in the movement to overthrow
the Qing Dynasty.

A disciple and brother-in-law of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang and his new wife, Soong
May-ling, commonly referred to as "Madame Chiang Kai-shek", held the
unwavering support of the United States China Lobby during and after World
War II which saw in them the hope of a Christian and democratic China.
Chiang Kai-shek's policies were far from Christian or democratic, but this
remained unknown to the US public due to strong state-imposed censorship in
China and self-imposed censorship in the US during the war years and after.
The US supported Chiang Kai-shek against the Japanese invaders in WWII and
afterwards against the Communist Party of China Red Army led by Mao Zedong
in the civil war for control of China.

Rise to power

After the takeover of the Republican government by Yuan Shikai, Chiang
became Sun Yat-sen's protˇgˇ and divided his time between exile in Japan and
haven in Shanghai's foreign concession areas. In Shanghai, Chiang also
cultivated ties with the criminal underworld dominated by the notorious
Green Gang and later served as an officer in the army of the Cantonese
Warlord, Ch'en Chiung-ming. In 1923 Sun Yat-sen moved his base of operations
to Guangzhou, and, with the help of the Comintern, undertook a reform of the
Kuomintang and established a revolutionary government. That same year, Sun
sent Chiang Kai-shek to spend three months in Moscow studying the Soviet
political and military system. Chiang returned to Guangzhou and in 1924 was
made Commandant of the Whampoa Military Academy. The early years at Whampoa
allowed Chiang to cultivate a cadre of young officers loyal to him and by
1925 Chiang's proto-army was scoring victories against local rivals in
Guangdong province.

After Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925 Chiang was embroiled in a power struggle
with left-leaning elements of the KMT over Sun's legacy.

Chiang's political maneuvering led him to become Commander-in-Chief of the
National Revolutionary Forces. In July 1926, Chiang launched the successful
Northern Expedition, a military campaign to defeat the warlords controlling
northern China and unify the country under the KMT. Chiang Kai-Shek gained
nominal control of China, but his party was "too weak to lead and too strong
to overthrow".

In January 1927, allied with the Chinese Communists and Soviet Agent Michael
Borodin, KMT leftists moved the civilian government from Guangzhou to Wuhan
in central China. After conquering Shanghai and Nanjing in March, Chiang
decided to break with the leftists. On April 12 Chiang began a swift and
brutal attack on thousands of suspected Communists in the area he
controlled. He then established his own KMT government in Nanjing, supported
by his conservatives allies. The communists and other leftists were purged
from the KMT.

Wartime leader of China

In 1928, having consolidated power, Chiang was named "Chairman of the
National Government," a post he held until 1932 and later from 1943 until
1948, when, under a new Constitution passed in 1947, he was elected by the
National Assembly to be President.

Chiang's strategy during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) (a theatre of
World War II) opposed the strategies of both Mao Zedong and the United
States. The US regarded Chiang as an important ally able to help shorten the
war by engaging the Japanese occupiers in China. Chiang, in contrast, used
powerful associates such as H. H. Kung in Hong Kong to build the ROC army
for certain conflict with the communist forces after the end of WWII. This
fact was not understood well in the US. The US liaison officer, General
Joseph Stilwell, correctly apprehended Chiang's strategy was to accumulate
munitions for future civil war rather than fight the Japanese, but Stilwell
was unable to convince Roosevelt of this and precious Lend-Lease armaments
continued to be allocated to the Kuomintang.

Chiang resigned as President (and Vice President Li Tsung-jen became Acting
President) on January 21, 1949, as KMT forces suffered massive losses
against the communists in the Chinese Civil War. On early morning December
10, 1949, CPC troops laid siege to last KMT occupied city in mainland China
of Chengdu where Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-Kuo directed the
defense at the Chengdu Central Military Academy. The aeroplane May-ling
evacuated them to Taiwan on the same day; they would never return to
mainland China.

Presidency in Taiwan

Chiang moved his government to Taipei, Taiwan where he resumed his duties as
president on March 1, 1950. Chiang was reelected President of the ROC on May
20, 1954 and later on in 1960, 1966, and 1972. In this position he continued
to claim sovereignty over all of China.

Chiang died in Taipei in 1975 at the age of 88 and was interred at Tzuhu in
Taoyuan. This tombsite is considered "temporary" in respect to Chiang's vow
to return the mainland.

He was succeeded as President by Vice-President Yen Chia-jin. However, real
power passed to his son Chiang Ching-kuo who was Premier and became
President after Yen's term ended three years later. Chiang has another son,
Chiang Wei-kuo.

Legacy

Chiang Kai-Shek remains a largely unpopular figure on Taiwan because of his
authoritarian rule of the island. Since the 1990s, his picture has tended to
disappear from public buildings, coins, and money, and in sharp contrast to
Sun Yat-Sen and his son Chiang Ching-Kuo, his memory is rarely invoked by
current political parties, including the Kuomintang.

Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, in Taoyuan and serving Taipei, is
named after him.