Central Plains War and Related Topics

Chiang Kai-shek

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Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary and military leader, who served as the leader of the Republic of China from 1928 to until his death in 1975.

Sun Yat-sen and Chiang at the 1924 opening ceremonies for the Soviet-funded Whampoa Military Academy

Chiang (right) together with Wang Jingwei (left), 1926

Chiang during a visit to an air force base in 1945

Chiang and Soong on the cover of Time magazine, 26 October 1931

Nationalist government of Nanking – nominally ruling over entire China in 1930s

After the breakout of the Second Sino-Japanese War, The Young Companion featured Chiang on its cover.

Chiang with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in Cairo, Egypt, November 1943

Chiang and his wife Soong Mei-ling sharing a laugh with U.S. Lieutenant General Joseph W. Stilwell, Burma, April 1942

Chiang with South Korean President Syngman Rhee in 1949

Map of the Chinese Civil War (1946–1950)

Chiang with Japanese politician Nobusuke Kishi, in 1957

Chiang presiding over the 1966 Double Ten celebrations

Chiang with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in June 1960

The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a famous monument, landmark, and tourist attraction in Taipei, Taiwan.

Chinese propaganda poster proclaiming "Long Live the President"

Chiang Kai-shek and Winston Churchill heads, with Nationalist China flag and Union Jack

Statue of Chiang Kai-shek in Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan

Chiang Kai-shek with the Muslim General Ma Fushou

Chiang Kai-shek as Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim

Mao Fumei (毛福梅, 1882–1939), who died in the Second Sino-Japanese War during a bombardment, is the mother of his son and successor Chiang Ching-kuo

Yao Yecheng (姚冶誠, 1889–1972), who came to Taiwan and died in Taipei

Chen Jieru (陳潔如, "Jennie", 1906–1971), who lived in Shanghai, but moved to Hong Kong later and died there

Soong Mei-ling (宋美齡, 1898–2003), who moved to the United States after Chiang Kai-shek's death, is arguably his most famous wife even though they had no children together

Commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army (from which he came to be known as a Generalissimo), he led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, before defeating a coalition of warlords and nominally reunifying China under a new Nationalist government.

Kuomintang

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Major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The Revolutionary Army attacking Nanjing in 1911

The KMT reveres its founder, Sun Yat-sen, as the "Father of the Nation"

Venue of the 1st National Congress of Kuomintang in 1924

Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang after Sun's death in 1925

KMT flag displayed in Lhasa, Tibet in 1938

The National Revolutionary Army soldiers marched into the British concessions in Hankou during the Northern Expedition

Nationalist soldiers during the Second Sino-Japanese War

The retrocession of Taiwan in Taipei on 25 October 1945

The former KMT headquarters in Taipei City (1949–2006), whose imposing structure, directly facing the Presidential Office Building, was seen as a symbol of the party's wealth and dominance

Pan-blue supporters at a rally during the 2004 presidential election

Kuomintang public service center in Shilin, Taipei

Lien Chan (middle) and Wu Po-hsiung (second left) and the KMT touring the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, People's Republic of China when the Pan-Blue coalition visited the mainland in 2005

KMT headquarters in Taipei City before the KMT Central Committee moved in June 2006 to a much more modest Bade building, having sold the original headquarters to private investors of the EVA Airways Corporation

KMT Kinmen headquarters office in Jincheng Township, Kinmen County

KMT Building in Vancouver's Chinatown, British Columbia, Canada

KMT branch office in Pingzhen District, Taoyuan City

The KMT maintains offices in some of the Chinatowns of the world and its United States party headquarters are located in San Francisco Chinatown, on Stockton Street directly across the Chinese Six Companies

KMT Eastern U.S. headquarters is in New York Chinatown

KMT office of Australasia in Sydney, Australia

From left to right, KMT members pay tribute to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Beijing in 1928 after the success of the Northern Expedition: Generals Cheng Jin, Zhang Zuobao, Chen Diaoyuan, Chiang Kai-shek, Woo Tsin-hang, Yan Xishan, General Ma Fuxiang, Ma Sida and General Bai Chongxi

The topic of reorganizing the army, brought up at a military conference in 1929, sparked the Central Plains War.

Yan Xishan

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Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China.

Yan Xishan in the early 1920s, shortly after taking power in Shanxi.

Yan Xishan's soldiers in Liaozhou (now Zuoquan County) in 1925 during the war with Henan warlord Fan Zhongxiu.

Chinese troops marching to defend the mountain pass at Xinkou.

During the siege of Taiyuan, Yan told foreign journalists that he and his followers would swallow cyanide pills before they let the PLA take Shanxi. Many of his followers committed suicide when Taiyuan fell.

Yan retired from public life in 1950. He spent much of his retirement writing, analyzing contemporary political issues and promoting Yan Xishan Thought.

Yan Xishan's tomb in Shilin District, Taipei.

During this "Central Plains War", the Kuomintang encouraged Muslims and Mongols to overthrow both Feng Yuxiang and Yan.

Warlord Era

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Period in the history of the Republic of China when control of the country was divided among former military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions from 1916 to 1928.

Zhang Zuolin (left) and Wu Peifu (right), two of the most powerful strongmen of the Warlord Era

Control of railroads was of great importance to the warlords.

Zhang Zongchang, one of the most infamous Chinese warlords

Bandits in northwestern China, around 1915

Warlord soldiers train with dao swords sometime in the 1920s. Some warlord armies, especially those in southern China, were badly armed, paid and supplied, and often lacked even basic necessities, such as guns, ammunition, and food.

Zhang Zuolin with two of his sons, both wearing expensive miniature uniforms

Renault FT of the Fengtian clique during Northern Expedition

This military symbol was based on the Five Races Under One Union flag.

Map of the campaigns of the Northern expedition of the Kuomintang

In course of the Central Plains War, several warlords attempted to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's newly formed Nationalist government; despite the defeat of the anti-Kuomintang forces, warlords continued to remain in power in much of China until the 1940s

The Warlord Era was characterized by constant civil war between different factions, the largest of which was the Central Plains War which involved more than one million soldiers.

Clockwise from top-left: Chiang inspecting soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army; NRA troops marching north; an NRA artillery unit in combat; civilians showing support for the NRA; peasants volunteering to join the expedition; NRA soldiers preparing to launch an attack.

Northern Expedition

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Military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926.

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, commander-in-chief of the NRA, emerged from the Northern Expedition as the leader of the KMT and China.

Chiang Kai-shek prepares to leave Guangzhou. Those pictured include Mikhail Borodin, on the far left, Vasily Blyukher in military uniform on the right, and Chiang himself in uniform, to the right of Blyukher.

NRA forces enter the British concession at Hankou, October 1926

Members of the National Pacification military government, from left to right: Pan Fu, Gungsangnorbu, Wu Junsheng, Sun Chuanfang, Zhang Zuoxiang, and Zhang Zongchang

Mikhail Borodin making a speech in Wuhan, 1927

Feng Yuxiang meets with Chiang Kai-shek in Xuzhou on 19 June 1927

Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan started to fight the NPA in October 1927, strengthening the KMT military position

Beiyang warlord soldiers retreating by railway

When Zhang Xueliang (right) decided to make peace with the nationalist government, his former subordinates Zhang Zongchang (middle) and Chu Yupu (left) unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow him.

The leaders of the Northern Expedition gather on 6 July 1928 at Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum in the Temple of Azure Clouds, Beijing, to commemorate the completion of their mission.

This struggle for supremacy broke into armed conflict in the Central Plains War of 1929–30.

Feng Yuxiang

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Warlord and a leader of the Republic of China from Chaohu, Anhui.

Feng Yuxiang was in front of the iron armored vehicle captured by the Fengtian clique

Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-sek and Yan Xishan, 1928, erstwhile allies prior to the outbreak of the Central Plains War

Feng Yuxiang on the cover of Time, 2 July 1928

Feng Yuxiang on the cover of The Young Companion, December 1937.

Tomb of Feng Yuxiang at the foot of Mount Tai in Shandong.

He joined the Nationalist Party (KMT), supported the Northern Expedition and became blood brothers with Chiang Kai-shek, but resisted Chiang's consolidation of power in the Central Plains War and broke with him again in resisting Japanese incursions in 1933.

Chinese generals pay tribute to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Beijing in 1928 after the success of the Northern Expedition. From right to left, are Gen. Cheng Jin, Gen. Zhang Zuobao, Gen. Chen Diaoyuan, Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, Gen. Woo Tsin-hang, Gen. Yan Xishan, Gen. Ma Fuxiang, Gen. Ma Sida and Gen. Bai Chongxi.

Bai Chongxi

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Chinese general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China (ROC) and a prominent Chinese Nationalist leader.

In May 1938, Bai Chongxi appeared on the cover of The Young Companion

Bai Chongxi as the 1st Minister of National Defense of the Republic of China after the 1947 Constitution.

Bai Chongxi in Taiwan after the February 28 Incident.

Grave of Bai Chongxi at Muslim Cemetery on Chongde Street, Xinyi District, Taipei

Bai Chongxi's former residence in Nanjing.

He and Li Zongren supported the anti-Chiang warlord alliance in the Central Plains War in 1930, then supported Chiang in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.

Republic of China (1912–1949)

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Commonly recognised as the official designation of China from 1912 to 1949, when it was a country in East Asia based in Mainland China, prior to the relocation of its central government to Taiwan as a result of the Chinese Civil War.

Land controlled by the Republic of China (1946) shown in dark green; land claimed but uncontrolled shown in light green.

Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China.

Yuan Shikai (left) and Sun Yat-sen (right) with flags representing the early republic

Major Chinese warlord coalitions during the "Nanjing Decade".

China had been at war with Japan since 1931.

Chinese Nationalist Army soldiers during the 1938 Yellow River flood

The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost Nanjing (Nanking) they next moved to Guangzhou (Canton), then to Chongqing (Chungking), Chengdu (Chengtu) and Xichang (Sichang) before arriving in Taipei.

Nationalist government of Nanking – nominally ruling over entire China during 1930s

Boat traffic and development along Suzhou Creek, Shanghai, 1920

These warlords would fight Chiang and his allies in the Central Plains War from 1929 to 1930, ultimately losing in the largest conflict of the Warlord Era.

Li Zongren

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Prominent Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang (KMT) military commander during the Northern Expedition, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War.

Former residence of Li Zongren in Nanjing.

Li Zongren posing after the successful defense of Tai'erzhuang.

Former residence of Li Zongren in Guilin.

Li Zongren and Mao Zedong on 1st of October, 1966 during the national day celebration

In 1929 he supported Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan in his attempt to form an alternative central government based in Beijing, leading to the Central Plains War.

Clockwise from top: communist troops at the Battle of Siping; Muslim soldiers of the NRA; Mao Zedong in the 1930s; Chiang Kai-shek inspecting soldiers; CCP general Su Yu inspecting the troops shortly before the Menglianggu campaign

Chinese Civil War

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Fought between the Kuomintang -led government of the Republic of China (ROC) and forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), lasting intermittently after 1927.