Part of the Chinese Civil War and the Chinese Communist Revolution | |
Native name | 中华人民共和国开国大典 |
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English name | Founding Ceremony of the People's Republic of China |
Date | October 1, 1949 |
Venue | Tiananmen Square |
Location | Beijing |
Participants | Mao Zedong Chinese Communist Party People's Liberation Army |
History of the People's Republic of China |
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Chinaportal |
History of the Republic of China |
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Taiwanportal |
Part of a series on the |
History of China |
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The proclamation of the People's Republic of China was made by Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), on October 1, 1949, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The government of a new state under the CCP, formally called the Central People's Government, was proclaimed by Mao at the ceremony, which marked the foundation of the People's Republic of China.
Previously, the CCP had proclaimed the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) within the discontinuous territories of China they controlled, on November 7, 1931, in Ruijin. The CSR had lasted seven years until it was abolished in 1937.
"March of the Volunteers" was played as the new national anthem, and the new national flag of the People's Republic of China (the Five-starred Red Flag) was officially unveiled to the newly founded state and hoisted for the first time during the celebrations as a 21-gun salute fired in the distance. The first public military parade of the People's Liberation Army took place following the national flag raising with the playing of the PRC national anthem.
The Republic of China (ROC) had retreated to the island of Taiwan by December 1949.
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Nationalist government of the ROC and the CCP lasting intermittently between 1927 and 1949. The war is generally divided into two phases with an interlude: from the August 1927 to 1937, the First United Front collapsed during the Northern Expedition, and the Nationalists controlled most of China. On November 7, 1931, the Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was declared by the CCP in Ruijin within Communist-controlled areas of China and the CSR government moved north to Yan'an during the Long March until the CSR's dissolution.[ citation needed ] From 1937 to 1945, hostilities were put on hold, and the Second United Front fought the Japanese invasion of China with eventual help from the World War II Allies. The civil war resumed with the Japanese defeat, and the CCP gained the upper hand in the final phase of the war from 1945 to 1949, generally referred to as the Chinese Communist Revolution.
Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the CCP in control of most of mainland China, and the Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing its territory to only Taiwan (a former Japanese colony that was received in 1945), Hainan, and their surrounding islands. On 21 September 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China with a speech at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. [1] [2] [3] This was followed by a mass celebration in Tiananmen Square on October 1, at which the proclamation was made publicly by Mao at the Tiananmen Gate, the date becoming the new country's first National Day. [4]
At exactly 3:00pm Beijing Time on October 1, 1949, Mao announced to the nation from the top of the Tiananmen Gate: [5]
同胞们,中华人民共和国中央人民政府今天成立了!
Tóngbāo men, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Zhōngyāng Rénmín Zhèngfǔ jīntiān chénglì le!Fellow countrymen, the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was established today!
After the national anthem had been played, Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China that day on top of the Tiananmen Gate, declaring:
The people throughout China have been plunged into bitter suffering and tribulations since the Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang reactionary government betrayed the fatherland, colluded with imperialists, and launched the counter-revolutionary war. Fortunately our People's Liberation Army, backed by the whole nation, has been fighting heroically and selflessly to defend the territorial sovereignty of our homeland, to protect the people's lives and property, to relieve the people of their sufferings, and to struggle for their rights, and it eventually wiped out the reactionary troops and overthrew the reactionary rule of the Nationalist government. Now, the People's War of Liberation has been basically won, and the majority of the people in the country have been liberated. On this foundation, the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, composed of delegates of all the democratic parties and people's organization of China, the People's Liberation Army, the various regions and nationalities of the country, and the overseas Chinese and other patriotic elements, has been convened.
Representing the will of the whole nation, [this session of the conference] has enacted the organic law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, elected
- Mao Zedong as chairman of the Central People's Government;
- Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Song Qingling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan, and Gao Gang as (vice chairmen of the Central People's Government); and
- Chen Yi, He Long, Li Lisan, Lin Boqu, Ye Jianying, He Xiangning, Lin Biao, Peng Dehuai, Liu Bocheng, Wu Yuzhang, Xu Xiangqian, Peng Zhen, Bo Yibo, Nie Rongzhen, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Seypidin, Rao Shushi, Tan Kah-kee [Chen Jiageng], Luo Ronghuan, Deng Zihui, Ulanhu, Xu Teli, Cai Chang, Liu Geping, Ma Yinchu, Chen Yun, Kang Sheng, Lin Feng, Ma Xulun, Guo Moruo, Zhang Yunyi, Deng Xiaoping, Gao Chongmin, Shen Junru, Shen Yanbing, Chen Shutong, Szeto Mei-tong [Situ Meitang], Li Xijiu, Huang Yanpei, Cai Tingkai, Xi Zhongxun, Peng Zemin, Zhang Zhizhong, Fu Zuoyi, Li Zhuchen, Li Zhangda, Zhang Nanxian, Liu Yazi, Zhang Dongsun, and Long Yun as council members to form the Central People's Government Council,
proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China and decided on Beijing as the capital of the People's Republic of China.
The Central People's Government Council of the People's Republic of China took office today in the capital and unanimously made the following decisions:
- to proclaim the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China;
- to adopt the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as the policy of the government;
- to elect Lin Boqu from among the council members as secretary general of the Central People's Government Council;
- to appoint Zhou Enlai as premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government and concurrently minister of Foreign Affairs,
- Mao Zedong as chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central People's Government,
- Zhu De as commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army,
- Shen Junru as president of the Supreme People's Court of the Central People's Government, and
- Luo Ronghuan as procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the Central People's Government,
and to charge them with the task of the speedy formation of the various organs of the government to carry out the work of the government.
At the same time, the Central People's Government Council decided to declare to the governments of all other countries that this government is the sole legal government representing all the people of the People's Republic of China. This government is willing to establish diplomatic relations with any foreign government that is willing to observe the principles of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Beijing, October 1, 1949
The first National Day military parade took place right after the proclamation of the PRC. Commanded by Nie Rongzhen, the Commander of the Northern China Military Region and inspected by Zhu De, the Commander-in-Chief of the PLA, the parade involved around 16,000 PLA officers and personnel. [7] The parade, which was approved in June 1949, was the first large-scale and modern Chinese military parade, with the country having never done a public review of troops before under previous governments. Liu Bocheng proposed to parade directors Yang Chengwu and Tang Yanjie be organized in the Soviet format, having personally witnessed a military parade on Red Square in Moscow. The Northern Military Region Band (now the Central Military Band of the PLA) provided musical accompaniment which included the Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army’. [5]
The Republic of China retreated to the island of Taiwan by December 1949. The CCP remains the sole ruling party of China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), since October 1, 1949. The PRC officially claims Taiwan as its 23rd province as Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China in its constitution. The People's Republic of China on mainland China and Republic of China on Taiwan both officially claim to be the legitimate government of all China. No armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed over the Chinese Civil War. [8]
Shortly after the proclamation occurred, the Soviet Union and other communist states were the first to recognize the PRC. Moreover, many Western countries, including the United States, initially continued to recognize the move of the ROC to Taiwan as the legitimate government of China. [9] [ failed verification ] Following the proclamation, the PRC moved quickly to consolidate its power from the ROC and began nationalizing industries. [10]
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with armed conflict continuing intermittently from 1 August 1927 until Communist victory resulted in their total control over mainland China on 7 December 1949.
Chinese unification, also known as Cross-Strait unification or Chinese reunification, is the potential unification of territories currently controlled, or claimed, by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China ("Taiwan") under one political entity, possibly the formation of a political union between the two republics. Together with full Taiwan independence, unification is one of the main proposals to address questions on the political status of Taiwan, which is a central focus of Cross-Strait relations.
Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. She was a member of the Soong family and, together with her siblings, played a prominent role in China's politics. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, she held several prominent positions in the new government, including Vice Chairman of the PRC and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. She traveled abroad during the early 1950s, representing her country at a number of international events.
The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was a state within China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR included 18 provinces and 4 counties under the Communists' control. The CSR's government was located in its largest component territory, the Jiangxi Soviet. Due to the importance of the Jiangxi Soviet in the CSR's early history, the name "Jiangxi Soviet" is sometimes used to refer to the CSR as a whole. Other component territories of the CSR included the Northeastern Jiangxi, Hunan-Jiangxi, Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi, Hunan-Western Hubei, Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou, Eyuwan, Shaanxi-Gansu, Sichuan-Shanxi, and Haifeng-Lufeng Soviets.
The history of the Republic of China began in 1912 with the end of the Qing dynasty, when the Xinhai Revolution and the formation of the Republic of China put an end to 2,000 years of imperial rule. The Republic experienced many trials and tribulations after its founding which included being dominated by elements as disparate as warlord generals and foreign powers.
Xu Xiangqian was a Marshal of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He was the son of a wealthy landowner, but joined the Kuomintang's (KMT) National Revolutionary Army (NRA), against his parents' wishes, in 1924. When the Chinese Civil War started in 1927, Xu joined the Eyuwan Soviet led by Zhang Guotao; Xu became commander of the Eyuwan-based Fourth Red Army. Zhang and Xu retreated to northern Sichuan after being defeated by a KMT encirclement campaign. Xu politically survived Zhang's defection to the KMT in the late-1930s; he rejoined the Red Army in a less senior position under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
This is a timeline of the Republic of China.
National Day, officially the National Day of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国国庆节), is a public holiday in China celebrated annually on 1 October as the national day of the People's Republic of China, commemorating Mao Zedong's formal proclamation of the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. The Chinese Communist Party victory in the Chinese Civil War resulted in the Kuomintang retreat to Taiwan and the Chinese Communist Revolution whereby the People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China.
The 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1945 to 1956. It was a product of the convening of the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It held six plenary sessions in this 11-year period. It began in June 1945, before the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. This committee would be succeeded by the 8th Central Committee.
The Battle of Hainan Island occurred in 1950, during the final phase of the Chinese Civil War. The People's Republic of China (PRC) conducted an amphibious assault on Hainan Island on 16 April, assisted by the Hainan communist movement which controlled much of the island's interior, while the Republic of China (ROC) controlled the coast; their forces were concentrated in the north near Haikou and were forced to retreat south after the landings. The communists secured Hainan's southern cities by the end of the month and declared victory on 1 May.
The history of the Chinese Communist Party began with its establishment in July 1921. A study group led by Peking University professors Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao to discuss Marxism, led to intellectuals officially founding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in July 1921. In 1923, Sun Yat-sen invited the CCP to form a United Front, and to join his nationalist party, the Kuomintang (KMT), in Canton for training under representatives of the Communist International, the Soviet Union's international organization. The Soviet representatives reorganized both parties into Leninist parties. Rather than the loose organization that characterized the two parties until then, the Leninist party operated on the principle of democratic centralism, in which the collective leadership set standards for membership and an all-powerful Central Committee determined the party line, which all members must follow.
Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949; the anniversary of this event is still observed there. The size of Tiananmen Square is 765 x 282 meters. It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.
The incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China, known in Chinese historiography as the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang, was the takeover of Xinjiang by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the waning days of the Chinese Civil War. At the time, Xinjiang was divided into ten districts. The Republic of China controlled seven districts and governed them as Xinjiang Province, while the other three were governed by the Three Districts Economic Commission which consisted of the former leadership of the Second East Turkestan Republic.
The national flag of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Five-star Red Flag, is a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in an arc set off towards the fly. It has been the national flag of China since the foundation of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949. The flag was designed by Zeng Liansong.
Lin Tie was a Communist revolutionary leader and politician of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He served as the first Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary and the second Governor of Hebei province of the PRC, but was purged in 1966 at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. For the preceding century, termed the century of humiliation, China had faced escalating social, economic, and political problems as a result of Western and Japanese imperialism, and the decline of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Cyclical famines and an oppressive landlord system kept the large mass of rural peasantry poor and politically disenfranchised. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was formed by young urban intellectuals in 1921, inspired by European socialist ideas and the success of the Russian October Revolution in 1917. In the First United Front, the Communists initially allied themselves with the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) against the forces of local warlords and foreign imperialists, but the 1927 Shanghai massacre targeting Communists ordered by KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek marked the start of the Chinese Civil War between Nationalists and Communists that would ultimately last more than three decades.
Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War, on December 7, 1949, the remnants of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC), alongside many refugees, retreated to the island of Taiwan (Formosa). The exodus is sometimes called the Great Retreat in Taiwan. The Nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT), its officers, and approximately 2 million ROC troops took part in the retreat, in addition to many civilians and refugees, fleeing the advance of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP, who now effectively controlled most of mainland China, spent the subsequent years purging any remnant Nationalist agents in western and southern China, solidifying the rule of the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC).
The 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was observed with a series of ceremonial events including a grand military parade as its spotlight to celebrate National Day of the People's Republic of China that took place on 1 October 2019 in Beijing. It was the largest military parade and mass pageant in Chinese history.
The following is a topical outline of English Wikipedia articles about the military history of the People's Republic of China. It includes the military events, individuals, and topics involving the People's Republic of China from the Chinese Civil War to the present. The events are outlined chronologically with topical subsections.
There is also a sense in which the Chinese Civil War has not ended; no formal peace treaty or agreement has ever been made.
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