Birth of Two Nations: the Republic of China and the People’S Republic of China

By Eric Kwok-wing Leung

Birth of two Nations: the Republic of China and the Peoples Republic of China is a historical account how the Republic of China is formally established in 1911 after a bloody struggle that destroyed the Qing Dynasty and once and for all broke the thousands years traditional dynasty cycle. The ensuing events that led to the Peoples Republic of China as it is formally established in 1949. However, the book is more than chronological accounts. For history cannot come in a social vacuum. Factors including historical, cultural, political, and socio-economical that impact and shape the development must be taken into account to enable the readers to have a better understanding of the development. This book, therefore, explores and interprets sociologically, economically, politically, and historically from the embryonic stage to the full birth of the two nations in account of these factors and the ensuing years. The external forces and pressures, particularly from that of the Japanese aggressors, let to internal discord between the Guomindang (Nationalist Party) and the Kungchandang (Communist Party) and the civil war with great suffering by the people. The book attempts to detail the inter-relatedness of these factors with documentations and my personal and my family experience in the developmental years. My mother in particular shared with me, when I was old enough, perhaps five or old, how we survived the hardship and suffering during those years of bitter of conflict between the warlords of the Guangdong Province and Guangxi Province. Our village in the Guangning County, Guangdong Provincce situated in the border of the two provinces we took the beating first from the Guangxi warlord. I grew up during the eight years war of resistance against the Japanese aggression. Some historians considered the war to be a fourteen years war. It probably depends on which event was considered the starting point since there were so many pretexts and aggressions launched by the Japanese against China. We almost died of starvation, surviving only on sweet potatoes, weeds, and locust. My elder brothers were very bitter for they lost their chance to get an education and destined laborers for life. Personal as it may be, however, it is by no means unique. Chinese people of my cohort, 70 plus, who were in China during those years would be able to collaborate and even share familiar experience of mine and of my family.

The book does not attempt to be a scientific account of the development. I tried to be as objective as I can for I am open to scrutinize by my cohort and historians. Data of the book come primarily from personal observation in the normal course of daily life and interviews, oral history from older Chinese who experienced and witnessed the development constituted a significant part of the study. Reviews and critical analysis of available data in English and Chinese related to the development. It is a crystallization of available data, particularly the oral history that should be preserved for posterity. Other sources I gratefully acknowledged. I regret and apologize for any inadvertent omission. I am specially grateful to my next door neighbor who is close to 90 years old came to the United States as a paper son worked in his fathers restaurant for a number of years. He later joined the U.S. Air Force and became a Staff Sergeant served in WWII and stationed in Kunming, China. Because his ability to speak Chinese and English, he played a significant role between the two governments China and the United States. He often commuted, in U.S. Air Force transportation between Kunming and Chongqing, the Chinese wartime capital. He recalled his experience of those years and provided me with his valuable insight of the two worlds.
I am grateful to my long-time friend, Mr. Louis Lau, for his moral and sponsorship in making this research and endeavor possible. His encouragement provided me with the strength and a willingness to make sacrif

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493114085

Eric Kwok-wing Leung

Eric Kwok-wing Leung, Ph.D. taught sociology for over 35 years at a number of institutions of higher learning including colleges of Los Angeles Community Colleges District Dr. Leung received numerous awards for outstanding teaching. Professor Leung was participant in the US Department of Education funded academic development programs, also the National Science Foundation Chautauqua short course for college teachers. Dr. Leung was a Fulbright Scholar in Brazil studying and sharing ideas of comparative education and cross-cultural education with Brazilian faculty members. Scholarly papers were presented, co-authored Capital Planning for Public Transit: A Case Study of the Decision Process in Buffalo, NY funded by US Department of Transportation. His book: A History of Chinese Language Schools in the United States published 2009.

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Copyright © 2013 by Eric Kwok-wing Leung, Ph.D.

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Rev. date: 11/05/2013

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Contents

Preface

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

References

About the Author

PREFACE

Birth of two Nations: the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China is a historical account how the Republic of China is formally established in 1911 after a bloody struggle that destroyed the Qing Dynasty and once and for all broke the thousands years traditional dynasty cycle. The ensuing events that led to the People’s Republic of China as it is formally established in 1949. However, the book is more than chronological accounts. For history cannot come in a social vacuum. Factors including historical, cultural, political, and socio-economical that impact and shape the development must be taken into account to enable the readers to have a better understanding of the development. This book, therefore, explores and interprets sociologically, economically, politically, and historically from the embryonic stage to the full birth of the two nations in account of these factors and the ensuing years. The external forces and pressures, particularly from that of the Japanese aggressors, let to internal discord between the Guomindang (Nationalist Party) and the Kungchandang (Communist Party) and the civil war with great suffering by the people. The book attempts to detail the inter-relatedness of these factors with documentations and my personal and my family experience in the developmental years. My mother in particular shared with me, when I was old enough, perhaps five or old, how we survived the hardship and suffering during those years of bitter of conflict between the warlords of the Guangdong Province and Guangxi Province. Our village in the Guangning County, Guangdong Provincce situated in the border of the two provinces we took the beating first from the Guangxi warlord. I grew up during the eight years war of resistance against the Japanese aggression. Some historians considered the war to be a fourteen years war. It probably depends on which event was considered the starting point since there were so many pretexts and aggressions launched by the Japanese against China. We almost died of starvation, surviving only on sweet potatoes, weeds, and locust. My elder brothers were very bitter for they lost their chance to get an education and destined laborers for life. Personal as it may be, however, it is by no means unique. Chinese people of my cohort, 70 plus, who were in China during those years would be able to collaborate and even share familiar experience of mine and of my family.

The book does not attempt to be a scientific account of the development. I tried to be as objective as I can for I am open to scrutinize by my cohort and historians. Data of the book come primarily from personal observation in the normal course of daily life and interviews, oral history from older Chinese who experienced and witnessed the development constituted a significant part of the study. Reviews and critical analysis of available data in English and Chinese related to the development. It is a crystallization of available data, particularly the oral history that should be preserved for posterity. Other sources I gratefully acknowledged. I regret and apologize for any inadvertent omission. I am specially grateful to my next door neighbor who is close to 90 years old came to the United States as a paper son worked in his father’s restaurant for a number of years. He later joined the U.S. Air Force and became a Staff Sergeant served in WWII and stationed in Kunming, China. Because his ability to speak Chinese and English, he played a significant role between the two governments—China and the United States. He often commuted, in U.S. Air Force transportation between Kunming and Chongqing, the Chinese wartime capital. He recalled his experience of those years and provided me with his valuable insight of the two worlds.

I am grateful to my long-time friend, Mr. Louis Lau, for his moral and sponsorship in making this research and endeavor possible. His encouragement provided me with the strength and a willingness to make sacrifice for my Ph.D. in the University of Missouri. Of course, I am the only one accountable for the contents of the book.

The ideological inconsistency and contradictory with the traditional Communist interpretation and how the Communist Chinese harmonize the contradiction and inconsistency in the debate become a major part of the book. The ensuing years of pride and tragic are detailed as witnessed and narrated by my mother and partially myself in my native village in Quangdong Province. It is hope that this book would preserve an important part of the Chinese history and stimulate further interest and research in this and related areas.

Eric K. Leung, Ph.D.

Los Angeles, 2011

CHAPTER I

The Last Dynasty

China first came into contact with the outside world through trade routes across the deserts and mountain passages. Commodities such as silk, spices and tea were in great demand in the Middle East. But these routes were slow, time consuming and dangerous when traders were hit by snow and sand storms. So, sea routes seemed a better alternative. Ships could carry more goods and heavy commodities such as porcelains safer than camels crossing the deserts and mountains passages. Sailing across the oceans was no problem for the Chinese. For the Chinese invented the compass way back in the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) to give the directions for navigation. The Book of Liang (compiled in 635) indicated that a group of Buddhist monks led by Hui Shen set sail and landed in Fuseng (Japan). It is possible that these monks might also reach northern American continent as vaguely recorded by Hui Shen. The Chinese history books recorded a Ming dynasty official Zheng He (1371-1435) was given an imperial edict to explore the western waters. The main purpose was to open up trade routes to the western countries. Zheng He and his fleet set sail from Yunan Province, China and made seven ocean voyages between 1405-1433 visited some nineteen countries and as far west as the Red Seas before returning home. There was no indication how many ships were there in his fleet. The fleet, however, carried some 27000 warriors and sailors. It was not the intention of Zheng He or the Ming dynasty to settle or colonize these countries. He mainly proclaimed the greatness of the Ming dynasty and exchanged gifts with the leaders he visited.

If China didn’t knock on the doors of the outside world, they came and they knocked in that was the legendary Marco Polo who came shortly after his father and uncle’s visit to China in 1271. Nicolo and Maffeo Polo came