Central Plains War
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THE NANJING DECADE
The Nanjing Decade refers to a period of relatively stable government in China between 1928 and 1937. During this time China was reunified, at least in name, and most of the nation was governed by Jiang Jieshi and the Guomindang. Jiang’s government attempted to construct and consolidate a second Chinese republic, with a more durable political system and policies to facilitate national development. But the Nationalist government faced several challenges, some of them exceedingly difficult. The first years of its rule were marred by continued internecine violence, as Jiang struggled to subdue hostile warlords. Attempts to create a modern state were hindered by the government’s continued lack of authority and control in many parts of China. Because of this, Jiang’s program of state-building, political tutelage and economic reform achieved only patchy results, while both the government and the Guomindang became increasingly militaristic. To outsiders in the West, the dapper and well spoken Jiang Jieshi and his party seemed to embody the new China: civilised, progressive and willing to embrace modern political and economic values. But beneath the facade and outside the Guomindang-controlled cities, there was only limited change. Though the National Revolutionary Army is often credited with unifying China in 1928, this unity was relative rather than absolute. The Northern Expedition was hailed by Guomindang propaganda as an unmitigated success – however in some regions the government’s influence ranged from patchy to almost non-existent. In the northern provinces the Nationalist government relied on alliances Jiang had forged with warlords like Feng Yuxiang (Zhili) and Zhang Xueliang (Manchuria). But within a year Feng, Zhang and other warlords were bickering with Jiang over issues of political control and military organisation. By early 1930 several warlords had formed a clique that demanded Jiang’s resignation as president of China. In May 1930 these tensions led to the outbreak of the Central Plains War. Jiang’s 600,000-strong Nationalist army, equipped with Western-supplied aircraft and artillery, marched into central and northern China. Outnumbered and outgunned, the warlord coalition was defeated in less than six months. The Central Plains War was a victory for Jiang but it took a toll on his government, draining it of money and resources. It also distracted Jiang from taking more decisive action against the communist soviet taking shape in Jiangxi. The Central Plains War exposed the fragility of Chinese unification and Guomindang authority. Another side effect of Jiang’s victory was that warlord armies in Manchuria were weakened or dispersed, removing an obstacle to Japanese infiltration and invasion there during the mid-1930s. China’s political development under the Guomindang was to follow a model outlined by Sun Yixian in the early 1920s. According to Sun, the new republic would transition through three distinct stages. In the first stage, republican government would require several years of military rule to suppress warlordism, consolidate national unity and strengthen authority. The second phase, called political tutelage, would be a period of one-party rule under the Guomindang. During this period the party would govern autocratically, while educating and preparing the people for participation in democratic elections and self government. Sun believed the program of political tutelage would take approximately six years to complete, after which China would become a constitutional democracy, its third and final stage. The Guomindang announced the formal commencement of political tutelage in 1929, however this program was never fully completed. Continued opposition from hostile warlords, from communists and later from the Japanese prolonged military rule into the late 1930s. Both the Guomindang party structure and the government itself became increasingly militarised, a culture shift not helped by Jiang Jieshi’s own fascination with militarism and fascism. In 1934 the Guomindang government introduced censorship of the press, books and films; at least two newspaper editors were murdered for criticising Jiang’s government. Under the auspices of political tutelage, the Nationalists frequently trammelled on freedom of expression and other civil liberties. Guomindang ideologues tried to justify this by arguing that Chinese history, unlike the West, had no precedent or tradition of human rights. The rights of individuals, they claimed, were subordinate to the development of the nation. The Nanjing Decade was also marked by attempts to facilitate economic development and modernisation. The Nationalists introduced polices to stimulate economic growth, industrialisation and private investment. In most cases, however, the government lacked the resources, authority and political will to achieve signification economic reforms. Some more successful changes included the formation of a reserve bank, the Central Bank of China, established in 1928. The government also moved to standardise currency values by issuing a national currency, based on paper banknotes rather than silver coins. In some regions the government spent heavily on infrastructure, including highways, railways, public buildings, electrification, sewers, water storages and conduits and street lighting. But Nanjing’s refusal to impose a Western-style taxation system and levy corporate or income taxes meant it was chronically short of cash. By the mid-1930s government revenue was barely three per cent of the gross national product – and a good portion of this revenue was derived from duties on opium sales. Approximately 47 per cent of revenue collected by the Guomindang was used to fund and supply the military, purchase foreign weapons or pay off warlord allies. In contrast, less than five per cent was spent on education programs and almost nothing on social welfare. Corruption was rife in all levels of the Nanjing government and its bureaucracy. There were thousands of accounts of bribery, extortion and ‘skimming’. Jiang Jieshi attempted to support his political, military and economic policies by manipulating social and cultural attitudes. In early 1934 Jiang, supported by his wife Soong Mei-Ling, initiated Xinshenghuo Yundong, or the New Life Movement. He called for the “social regeneration” of the nation to combat the “twin evils” of communism and corruption. The new republic would flourish, said Jiang, if its citizens adhered to conservative values that emphasised individual morality, responsibility, propriety, righteousness and honesty. In essence, the New Life Movement was an attempt to revive traditional Confucian values and give them some legitimacy in a modern context. It also reflected Jiang’s interest in European fascism and militarism (some later dubbed it ‘Confucian fascism’). Like European fascism, the New Life Movement sought to reinforce Jiang’s authority by fostering loyalty and obedience to a single leader. During 1934-35 the New Life Movement was integrated into government policy and propaganda. The Guomindang pushed the movement and its values extensively in printed material, public rallies and parades and changes to school curricula. But despite this government backing, the New Life Movement failed to gain widespread public support. Within government-controlled regions many recognised the New Life Movement for what it was; outside these regions it was mostly ignored. Another enduring problem during the Nanjing Decade was the revival of the opium trade. During the Warlord Era the weak Beiyang government declared a token ban on the narcotic, however opium was far too lucrative for powerful warlords to ignore, so its manufacture and trade flourished. By the mid 1920s China was the world’s largest source of opium, producing more than 80 per cent of the world’s supply. Both Sun Yixian and Jiang Jieshi condemned the opium trade, describing it as a national economic addiction on top of a social-physiological addition. The Nationalist government backed anti-opium movements and rallies and in 1929 launched the Six-Year Opium Suppression Campaign. Jiang later became head of this campaign, while his New Life Movement also preached against opium use. But while Jiang and the Nationalists were free with their condemnations of opium, behind the scenes many Nationalists encouraged, supported and benefited from the opium trade. Nanjing itself was too addicted to opium-derived revenue. Unofficial estimates suggest the opium trade yielded as much as $US100 million in government income each year. The Nationalist government did conduct numerous raids and crackdowns on opium farming and selling – but most of these campaigns targeted opium growers and traders operating outside government control. In other words, they were carried out to eliminate opposition and enforce a state monopoly on the opium trade, not to halt it altogether. During the Nanjing Decade widespread opium production continued in the remote south-western provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, with some high growth pockets in Manchuria, Fujian, Shaanxi and western Hunan.
History of The Republic of China - Nanjing Decade (1928–1937)
Nanjing Decade (1928–1937) Main article: Nanjing decade See also: Sino-German cooperation, National Resources Commission, and Chinese Civil War The "Nanjing Decade" of 1928-37 was one of consolidation and accomplishment under the leadership of the Nationalists, with a mixed but generally positive record in the economy, social progress, development of democracy and cultural creativity. Some of the harsh aspects of foreign concessions and privileges in China were moderated through diplomacy. In May 1930 the government regained the right to set its tariff, which before then had been set by the foreign powers. The Nationalist Government also acted energetically to modernize the legal and penal systems, stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics and augment industrial and agricultural production. On November 3, 1935, the government instituted the fiat currency (fapi) reform, immediately stabilizing prices and also raising revenues for the government. Great strides also were made in education and, in an effort to help unify Chinese society, in a program to popularize Modern Standard Chinese and overcome other varieties of Chinese. Newspapers, magazines and book publishing flourished, and the widespread establishment of communications facilities further encouraged a sense of unity and pride among the people. Laws were passed and campaigns mounted to promote the rights of women, The ease and speed of communication also allowed a focus on social problems, including those of the villages. The Rural Reconstruction Movement was one of many which took advantage of the new freedom to raise social consciousness. On the other hand, political freedom was considerably curtailed because of the Kuomintang's one-party domination through "political tutelage" and often violent means in shutting down anti-government protests. During this time a series of massive wars took place in western China, including the Kumul Rebellion, the Sino-Tibetan War and the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang. Although the central government was nominally in control of the entire country during this period, large areas of China remained under the semi-autonomous rule of local warlords, provincial military leaders or warlord coalitions. Nationalist rule was strongest in the eastern regions around the capital Nanjing, but regional militarists such as Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan retained considerable local authority. The Central Plains War in 1930, the Japanese aggression in 1931 and the Red Army's Long March in 1934 led to more power for the central government, but there continued to be foot-dragging and even outright defiance, as in the Fujian Rebellion of 1933-34.
3 of the Most Badass Warlords in Chinese History
By Ryan Kilpatrick Despite its much-vaunted 5,000 years of continuous history, China has gone through long intermissions of disunity. The most marked period of discord in the 20th century was what became known as the Warlord Era. Lasting from the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916 until the conclusion of the Northern Expedition in 1928, China had no effective national government. Instead, the country was a patchwork of fiefdoms claimed by regional strongmen who maintained their own standing armies and listened to Beijing only when it suited them. 1. Zhang Zongchang, The Dogmeat General One of the era’s most colorful characters was, without a doubt, the 'Dogmeat General'. Zhang Zongchang, a failed bandit from Shandong who sought refuge with the warlord Zhang Zuolin in Manchuria after his band of mercenaries was defeated in Jiangsu. Zhang loved to lavish money on his family, friends and concubines, and commanded great loyalty by treating his men well. The Dogmeat General got his unique moniker not because of his culinary tastes (sorry to disappoint) but because of his love of gambling, particularly the game paigow which was known colloquially as “eating dog meat”. Zhang was also known as the ‘Three Don’t Knows’, since he could never keep count of how much money, how many soldiers or how many concubines he had. Zhang kept a veritable United Nations of ladies in waiting from Europe, North America and around Asia. Since he couldn’t recall their names nor speak their languages, Zhang simply referred to his concubines by number. Time magazine dubbed him: ‘China’s basest warlord.' Nonetheless, even Time changed its tune by the time Zhang’s back was against the Great Wall, facing KMT forces under the Muslim General Bai Chongxi. The headline had changed from ‘Basest Warlord’ to ‘Potent Hero’, extolling: “Anemic Westerners can only admire Chang’s courage and verve... win or lose, that’s a brave Chinese.” And lose he did. Zhang had a good mind for strategy and was respected as an innovator: He employed close to 5,000 experienced White Russian mercenaries in his ranks, manning armored trains in pseudo-Tsarist regalia. But Zhang would have needed a lot more Russians than that to beat back the forces of reunification. He was assassinated on a platform at Jinan Railway Station in Shandong in 1932. 2. Feng Yuxiang, The Christian General Feng’s is perhaps the greatest rags-to-riches story of the Warlord Era. At age 11, he joined the Qing army at the lowest ranking, receiving nothing more than the uniform on his back and the occasional bellyful of food. From there, he went on to become Vice Premier of the Republic of China. A Methodist convert, Feng became known as the Christian General, owing to his penchant for converting his troops. Reportedly, he’d baptize them en masse before battle using a fire hose. Feng founded his own Nationalist Army in the northwest, independent of political parties and warlord cliques, and supported Chiang Kai-shek in the Northern Expedition to reunite the country under KMT control. Not long thereafter, though, he turned on Chiang in the Central Plains War, teaming up with Li Zongren and the Shaanxi warlord Yan Xishan to declare their own government in Beijing before being beaten on the battlefield by Chiang’s forces. In 1948, Feng accepted a CCP invitation to board a Soviet ship on his way back from America, a journey during which he died in a shipboard fire in the middle of the Black Sea. Whether Feng’s death was a KMT hit or an accident remains an unsettled question in Chinese history. 3. Chen Jiongming, The Thinking Man's Warlord A lawyer by training, Chen was instrumental as a backer of Sun Yat-sen’s Constitution Protection Government based in Guangzhou. However, Chen found himself at loggerheads with his fellow Cantonese revolutionary when it came to the unification of China: whereas Sun wanted to unify the country swiftly by force and establish a strong central government with a single party at its core, Chen believed in peaceful reunification through voluntary association, with the different regions coming together around a smaller central government, gradually coalescing around the ‘model province’ of Guangdong – something not unlike a United States of China. Sun saw federalist ideas, the self-government movement and regional leadership as a smokescreen for warlord shenanigans, and the two split dramatically in 1923 when Chen attempted to have Sun assassinated and shelled his residence. The ‘Father of the Nation’ and his wife Song Qingling were spirited away by gunboats under the protection of none other than future Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the incident earning him Sun’s ultimate trust. Chen later died in Hong Kong, but was buried back in Guangdong near Huizhou. During the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards tried to blow up Chen’s grave, but local villagers succeeded in defending it. Branded a reactionary warlord for decades, Chen and the early revolutionary debates between federalism and centralism are now finally being reexamined and redressed by historians.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 The Central Plains War was a civil war within the factionalised Kuomintang (KMT) that broke out in 1930.
2 Central Plains War was fought between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the coalition of three military commanders who were previously allied with Chiang: Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren.
3 Central Plains War was fought across the Central Plains, a core region of China on the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the cradle of Chinese civilization.