A report on Chiang Kai-shek and Central Plains War

Chiang in 1943
Map showing the province of Henan and two definitions of the Central Plain (中原) or Zhōngyuán
Chiang Kai-shek in 1907
The flag of the Kuomintang and the flag of the Republic of China crested on a building in Harbin, Manchuria
Sun Yat-sen and Chiang at the 1924 opening ceremonies for the Soviet-funded Whampoa Military Academy
NRA Generals in Beijing after Northern Expedition
Chiang in the early 1920s
NRA Commission Committee meeting
Chiang (right) together with Wang Jingwei (left), 1926
China from 1929 to 1930
Chiang and Feng Yuxiang in 1928
Map showing the situation of China during the Central Plains War in 1930
Chiang during a visit to an air force base in 1945
The Northwest Army
Chiang and Soong on the cover of Time magazine, 26 October 1931
The Shanxi Army
Nationalist government of Nanking – nominally ruling over entire China in 1930s
The Central Army
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 Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in 1945
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.
Chiang's portrait in Tiananmen Rostrum
Chinese propaganda poster proclaiming "Long Live the President"
A Chinese stamp with Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek and Winston Churchill heads, with Nationalist China flag and Union Jack
Statue of Chiang Kai-shek in Yangmingshan National Park, Taiwan
Duke of Zhou
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

The Central Plains War was a series of military campaigns in 1929 and 1930 that constituted a Chinese civil war between the Nationalist Kuomintang government in Nanjing led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and several regional military commanders and warlords that were former allies of Chiang.

- Central Plains War

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.

- Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang in 1943

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Kuomintang

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

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
The KMT in Tihwa, Sinkiang in 1942
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
Malaysian Chinese Association
Vietnamese Kuomintang
People's Action Party of Vietnam
Taipei Grand Mosque
The KMT reveres its founder, Sun Yat-sen, as the "Father of the Nation"
Venue of the 1st National Congress of Kuomintang in 1924

From 1926 to 1928, the KMT under Chiang Kai-shek successfully led the Northern Expedition against regional warlords and unified the fragmented nation.

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

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.

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.

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.
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 troops preparing to attack Wuchang
NRA forces enter the British concession at Hankou, October 1926
Routes of the Northern Expedition
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.

The expedition was led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and was divided into two phases.

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

Gen. Yan Xishan

Yan Xishan

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

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

Gen. Yan Xishan
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.
Yan Xishan--"China's Next President".
Chinese troops marching to defend the mountain pass at Xinkou.
Yan Xishan in 1947
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.

In order to resist the domination of Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin, Yan allied himself with the forces of Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, during the Nationalists' Northern Expedition.

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

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.

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

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
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army, emerged from the Northern Expedition as the leader of the Republic of China.
NRA soldiers marching
NRA troops firing artillery at Communist forces
Japanese occupation (red) of eastern China near the end of the war, and Communist bases (striped)
Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong met in Chongqing in 1945.
Shangdang Campaign, September–October 1945
Map showing Three Campaigns during the Chinese Civil War
Nationalist warplanes being prepared for an air raid on Communist bases
The PLA enters Beijing in the Pingjin Campaign.
Chinese FT tanks
The Nationalists' retreat to Taipei: after the Nationalists lost Nanjing (Nanking) they next moved to Guangzhou (Canton), then to Chongqing (Chungking), Chengdu (Chengtu) and finally, Xichang (Sichang) before arriving in Taipei.
Mao Zedong's proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic in 1949
Communist conquest of Hainan Island in 1950
"Forget not that you are in Jǔ"--a rock in Quemoy Island with Chiang Kai-shek's calligraphy signifying the retaking of one's homeland
Monument in memory of the crossing of the Yangtze in Nanjing
Lockheed U-2C 56-6691 wreckage (pilot Chang Liyi) on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, Beijing
Map of the Chinese Civil War (1946–1950)
The situation in China in 1929: After the Northern Expedition, the KMT had direct control over east and central China, while the rest of China proper as well as Manchuria was under the control of warlords loyal to the Nationalist government.
Map showing the communist-controlled Soviet Zones of China during and after the encirclement campaigns
Route(s) taken by Communist forces during the Long March
A Communist leader addressing survivors of the Long March
Situation in 1947
Situation in the fall of 1948
Situation in the winter of 1948 and 1949
Situation in April to October 1949
Taiwanese side "Reunification under the Three Principles of the People“.
thumb|The Soviet Red Army invaded Manchuria in August 1945.
Chinese Communist soldiers march north to occupy rural Manchuria, 1945.

In 1923, Sun sent Chiang Kai-shek, one of his lieutenants, for several months of military and political study in Moscow.

In 1930 the Central Plains War broke out as an internal conflict of the KMT.

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.

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".
Cooperation with Germany
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
Beiyang Army troops on parade
The NRA during World War II
Boat traffic and development along Suzhou Creek, Shanghai, 1920
A 10 Custom Gold Units bill, 1930

General Chiang Kai-shek, who became the Chairman of the Kuomintang after Sun's death and subsequent power struggle in 1925, began the Northern Expedition in 1926 to overthrow the Beiyang government.

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.

(clockwise from top left)Imperial Japanese Navy landing force in military gas masks in the Battle of Shanghai Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gunners during Operation Ichi-Go Victims of the Nanjing Massacre on the shore of the Qinhuai River Chinese machine gun nest in the Battle of Wuhan Japanese aircraft during the bombing of Chongqing Chinese Expeditionary Force marching in India

Second Sino-Japanese War

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Military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan.

Military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan.

(clockwise from top left)Imperial Japanese Navy landing force in military gas masks in the Battle of Shanghai Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gunners during Operation Ichi-Go Victims of the Nanjing Massacre on the shore of the Qinhuai River Chinese machine gun nest in the Battle of Wuhan Japanese aircraft during the bombing of Chongqing Chinese Expeditionary Force marching in India
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Allied Commander-in-Chief in the China theatre from 1942 to 1945
Japanese troops entering Shenyang during the Mukden Incident
Japanese Empire's territorial expansion
A baby sits in the remains of a Shanghai train station on 'Bloody Saturday', 1937
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek announced the Kuomintang policy of resistance against Japan at Lushan on 10 July 1937, three days after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
Japanese landing near Shanghai, November 1937
Japanese troops in the ruins of Shanghai
Soviet embassy in Nanjing is being burned down by arson on 1 January 1938.
A Chinese POW about to be beheaded by a Japanese officer with a shin gunto
National Revolutionary Army soldiers during the 1938 Yellow River flood
Map showing the extent of Japanese occupation in 1941 (in red)
Theaters (military operational regions) of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army from late 1938 to early 1940
Wang Jingwei and officers of the Collaborationist Chinese Army
Chinese soldiers in house-to-house fighting in the Battle of Taierzhuang, March–April 1938
National Revolutionary Army soldiers march to the front in 1939.
Eighth Route Army Commander Zhu De with a KMT "Blue Sky, White Sun" emblem cap
115th Division of the Eighth Route Army Lieutenant General (NRA rank) Lin Biao in NRA uniform
War declaration against Japan by the Chongqing Nationalist Government on 9 December 1941
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Madame Chiang with Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell in 1942, Burma
A United States poster from the United China Relief organization advocating aid to China.
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill met at the Cairo Conference in 1943 during World War II.
H. H. Kung and Adolf Hitler in Berlin
I-16 with Chinese insignia. The I-16 was the main fighter plane used by the Chinese Air Force and Soviet volunteers.
Flying Tigers Commander Claire Lee Chennault
A "blood chit" issued to American Volunteer Group pilots requesting all Chinese to offer rescue and protection
Free Thai, American and Chinese military officers in China during the war
The India–China airlift delivered approximately 650,000 tons of materiel to China at a cost of 1,659 men and 594 aircraft.
French colonial troops retreating to the Chinese border after the Japanese coup d'état in March 1945
Chinese Muslim cavalry
Chinese Muslim soldiers
WWII victory parade at Chongqing on 3 September 1945
Japanese troops surrendering to the Chinese
The Chinese return to Liuzhou in July 1945.
Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in 1945
China War of Resistance Against Japan Memorial Museum on the site where the Marco Polo Bridge Incident took place
The Taiwan Strait and the island of Taiwan
Casualties of a mass panic during a June 1941 Japanese bombing of Chongqing. More than 5,000 civilians died during the first two days of air raids in 1939.
Japanese war crime against a Chinese POW
Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces with gas masks and rubber gloves during a chemical attack near Chapei in the Battle of Shanghai
Chinese suicide bomber putting on an explosive vest made out of Model 24 hand grenades to use in an attack on Japanese tanks at the Battle of Taierzhuang

Later in the same year, Zhang decided to declare his allegiance to the Nationalist government in Nanjing under Chiang Kai-shek, and consequently, China was nominally reunified under one government.

In 1930, the Central Plains War broke out across China, involving regional commanders who had fought in alliance with the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition, and the Nanjing government under Chiang.

Feng Yuxiang

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

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

Feng Yuxiang and his family
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.

The Beiyang Army in training

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.

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.

The Beiyang Army in training
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.
The party emblem of the Kuomintang
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.

The Warlord Era ended in 1928 when the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek officially unified China through the Northern Expedition, marking the beginning of the Nanjing decade.

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.

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

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.
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.

His relationship with Chiang Kai-shek was at various times antagonistic and cooperative.

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.

Li Zongren in 1943

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.

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

Li Zongren in 1943
Former residence of Li Zongren in Nanjing.
Li Zongren posing after the successful defense of Tai'erzhuang.
Li Zongren and Chiang Kai-shek.
Former residence of Li Zongren in Guilin.
Li Zongren and Mao Zedong on 1st of October, 1966 during the national day celebration

When Wang Jingwei installed a left-leaning KMT faction in Wuhan, Borodin attempted to recruit Li to join the Communists, but Li was loyal to Chiang Kai-shek and refused.

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.