Propaganda in the Republic of China (in mainland China before 1949 and in Taiwan since then) has been an important tool since its inception with the 1911 Revolution for legitimizing the Nationalist government that retreated from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. Anti-communism and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party have historically been central to propaganda in the Republic of China.
Lai Manwai's film documenting the Northern Expedition and Chiang Kai-shek's consolidation of power, produced by Lai's production company Minxin, was approved by the Kuomintang (KMT) branch in Shanghai as the only long-format film for party propaganda. [1] : 54 This made it one of the first party films in China. [1] : 54
During the Nanjing government, the ROC launched a cultural campaign promoting the "Arts of the Three Principles of the People." [2] : 120 It sought (mostly unsuccessfully) to attract cultural workers to create new propaganda works and more successfully established a censorship apparatus directed against unwelcome cultural products, especially left-wing artists and their works. [2] : 120–121
Because the national government of the time was weak, it was difficult for any censorship or propagandistic measures to be carried out effectively.[ citation needed ] However, a bureau was set up to control the production and the release of film in China. Also, newspapers unfavorable to the central government could be harassed at will. After the Northern Expedition, the power of the central government increased significantly, and propaganda campaigns became more effective. Propaganda was produced with different patriotic themes, such as Chinese nationalism.[ citation needed ]
Zheng Junli's 1941 film Long Live the Nations (Minzu wansui) was the first Chinese propaganda film aimed at developing solidarity among the ethnic minorities living in China's border regions. [1] : 106 The film was produced through the Nationalist-controlled China Motion Picture Studio. [1] : 106
The Republic of China produced propaganda against Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to booster morale and bolden resistance to the invasion. [3] [ page needed ] During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalists had mobile projectionists travel in rural China to play anti-Japanese propaganda films. [4] : 46 More was produced during the Chinese Civil War.
During the Chinese Civil War, propaganda against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was extensively used. [5]
Chiang Kai-shek attacked the CCP in 1943 with the propaganda piece China's Destiny, which questioned the CCP's power after the war, and the CCP strongly opposed Chiang's leadership and referred to his regime as fascist in an attempt to generate a negative public image. [5]
One of the main tools for disseminating propaganda in Taiwan has been the Government Information Office and the various media properties controlled by the Kuomintang and the government. Besides controlling commercial television and radio stations, a police radio station often broadcast "educational" plays with propagandistic value and a film bureau. After the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, propaganda through public education in Taiwan was an important tool in creating a Chinese national identity among Taiwanese and preparing the people for "a counter-offensive" against the PRC. Although the government is now democratic, the legacy of authoritarian rule has created a confusion of identity in Taiwan, both with many adults having grown up thinking that the ROC would launch a "counter-offensive" against the PRC and with Mandarin becoming the most common language. Previously, the people had been educated in the evils of the Communists and the good of the Nationalists, with many Taiwanese remembering lore taught in elementary school on the wisdom of Chiang Kai-shek.[ citation needed ]
The Kuomintang also published numerous publications after its retreat to Taiwan, including the Free China Journal . Its popularity soared, as the editors and writers analyzed political situations at the time and sometimes even advised or criticized the government in earnest.[ citation needed ]
Occasionally, the ROC has attempted to spread propaganda into PRC-controlled areas, usually in the form of leaflet drops over coastal provinces that call for the locals to rebel against CCP rule and are accompanied by the promise that the ROC will one day liberate the mainland. That proved to be ineffective and after several years was largely discontinued.[ citation needed ]
The Government Information Office was replaced after democratization with the National Communications Commission, an agency styled after the Federal Communications Commission in the United States. Most of today's films in Taiwan are Hollywood movies, and all theaters are commercially-run for-profit enterprises. Some activities of the Taiwanese government have been described as propaganda. [6] [7] Much of it has been directed against Mainland China's People's Republic of China. [8]
According to a 1979 report by the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Taiwan government operated one of the two most active anti-dissident networks within the United States, including large-scale propaganda campaigns implemented through front organizations, among other espionage activities. [9] : 7
In the Republic of China, movies were created even during wartime, such as Mulan Joins the Army (1939) [10] with its story of a young Chinese peasant fighting against a foreign invasion, and Children of Troubled Times (1935), a patriotic Chinese film about the Japanese invasion of China, and known for being the origin of the "March of the Volunteers", now the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.[ citation needed ]
Several songs written in the Republic of China had patriotic messages. Some, such as 800 Heroes Song , Guerrillas' Song , and The Sword March , were written during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and others, such as Go and Reclaim the Mainland and The Anti-Communist and Anti-Russian Aggression Song , were written with anti-communist messages.[ citation needed ]
Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and military commander. He was the head of the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, General of the National Revolutionary Army, known as Generalissimo, and the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) in mainland China from 1928 until 1949. After being defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, he led the ROC on the island of Taiwan until his death in 1975.
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially based on the Chinese mainland and then in Taiwan since 1949. The KMT is a centre-right to right-wing party and the largest in the Pan-Blue Coalition. Its primary rival is the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its allies in the Pan-Green Coalition. As of 2024, the KMT is the largest single party in the Legislative Yuan. The current chairman is Eric Chu.
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 7 December 1949, resulting in a communist victory and control of mainland China.
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.
One China is a phrase describing the international relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC), situated on the Chinese Mainland, and the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan. "One China" asserts that there is only one de jure Chinese nation despite the de facto division between the two rival governments in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. The term may refer, in alphabetical order, to one of the following:
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.
As a result of the surrender and occupation of Japan at the end of World War II, the islands of Taiwan and Penghu were placed under the governance of the Republic of China (ROC), ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT), on 25 October 1945. Following the February 28 massacre in 1947, martial law was declared in 1949 by the Governor of Taiwan, Chen Cheng, and the ROC Ministry of National Defense. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the ROC government retreated from the mainland as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The KMT retreated to Taiwan and declared Taipei the temporary capital of the ROC. For many years, the ROC and PRC each continued to claim in the diplomatic arena to be the sole legitimate government of "China". In 1971, the United Nations expelled the ROC and replaced it with the PRC.
The First Taiwan Strait Crisis was a brief armed conflict between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The conflict focused on several groups of islands in the Taiwan Strait that were held by the ROC but were located only a few miles from mainland China.
The Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of China were effective from 1948 to 1991 and amended four times by the Central Government of China. They effectively nullified the constitution and established martial law in Taiwan, where civil and political freedoms were curtailed. The official rationale for the provisions was the ongoing Chinese Civil War. However, with the demise of the Kuomintang single-party system, the provisions were repealed.
The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party.
The Second United Front was the alliance between the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to resist the Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which suspended the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1945.
The concept of Two Chinas refers to the political divide between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). The PRC was established in 1949 by the Chinese Communist Party, while the ROC was founded in 1912 and retreated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War.
The Kuomintang (KMT) is a Chinese political party that ruled mainland China from 1927 to 1949 prior to its relocation to Taiwan as a result of the Chinese Civil War. The name of the party translates as "China's National People's Party" and was historically referred to as the Chinese Nationalists. The party was initially founded on 23 August 1912, by Sun Yat-sen but dissolved in November 1913. It reformed on October 10, 1919, again led by Sun Yat-sen, and became the ruling party in China. After Sun's death, the party was dominated from 1927 to 1975 by Chiang Kai-shek. After the KMT lost the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the party retreated to Taiwan and remains a major political party of the Republic of China based in Taiwan.
Project Guoguang was an attempt by the Republic of China (ROC), based in Taiwan, to reconquer mainland China from the People's Republic of China (PRC) by large scale invasion. It was the most elaborate of the ROCs plans or studies to invade the mainland after 1949. Guoguang was initiated in 1961 in response to events involving the PRC, particularly the Great Leap Forward, the Sino-Soviet split, and the development of nuclear weapons. Guoguang was never executed; it required more troops and material than the ROC could muster, and it lacked support from the United States. The use of a large scale invasion as the initial stage of reunification was effectively abandoned after 1966, although the Guoguang planning organization was not abolished until 1972. The ROC did not abandon the policy of using force for reunification until 1990.
Chang Li-sheng was a Chinese politician and diplomat who served as the Secretary General of the Kuomintang from 1954 to 1959. L.S. Chang as he was commonly known, played a key role in Republic of China (ROC)'s political, economic, financial, and foreign affairs as well as in Kuomintang affairs from the 1920s until his death in Taiwan in 1971. Throughout his political life over four decades, Chang served in numerous important posts within both the KMT and the ROC's local and central governments. He was a rare example of Chinese political virtues, noted for his integrity and honesty. He is remembered for numerous achievements and deeds, including his role in assisting Chen Cheng (1897–1965), former Taiwan provincial governor, Premier, and Vice President, to launch Taiwan's local autonomy, economic and land reforms.
The Republic of China (ROC), or simply China, as a sovereign state was based on mainland China from 1912 to 1949, when the government retreated to Taiwan, where it continues to be based. The ROC was established after the 1911 Revolution against the Qing dynasty, ending the imperial history of China. The ROC government was ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT) as a one-party state based in Nanjing from 1927, until its flight to Taipei on 7 December 1949 following its defeat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The CCP proclaimed the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949, while the ROC retains control over the "Free Area", with the political status of Taiwan remaining in dispute.
The retreat of the government of Republic of China to Taiwan, also known as the Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan or the Great Retreat in Taiwan, refers to the exodus of the remnants of the then-internationally-recognized Kuomintang-ruled government of the Republic of China (ROC) to the island of Taiwan (Formosa) on December 7, 1949, after losing the Chinese Civil War in the Chinese mainland. The Kuomintang, 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 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.
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.
Chiangism, also known as the Political Philosophy of Chiang Kai-shek, or Chiang Kai-shek Thought, is the political philosophy of President Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who used it during his rule in China under the Kuomintang on both the mainland and Taiwan. It is a right-wing authoritarian nationalist political ideology which is based on mostly Confucian and Tridemist ideologies, and was used in the New Life Movement in China and the Chinese Cultural Renaissance movement in Taiwan. It is a syncretic mix of many political ideologies, including revolutionary nationalism, Tridemism, socialism, militarism, Confucianism, state capitalism, constitutionalism, fascism, authoritarian capitalism, and paternalistic conservatism, as well as Chiang's Methodist Christian beliefs.
Anti-communism in China has a long history. Before the Chinese Communist Revolution, anti-communist policies were implemented by the Kuomintang (KMT) and conservative warlords. Today, anti-communism in mainland China and among overseas Chinese has more to do with anti-establishment movements and support for liberal democracy.
