History of the Republic of China, Volume 3, Issue 5: From the Victory of the War of Resistance to the Outbreak of the Civil War

Author: None
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Publish Date: 2000-09-01
Features: This volume covers the period of Chinese history from the victory of the War of Resistance to Japan to the outbreak of the full-scale civil war. It was a time of significant political turmoil and rapid social change in China. The victory in the war brought China unprecedented historical opportunities. The entire Chinese people yearned for peace and national construction, aiming to make China a truly prosperous, democratic, and independent nation in the world. However, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC), which had already established substantial power, held fundamentally different views and actions on how to rebuild post-war China, both in theory and practice. The KMT adhered to the theory of one-party rule, governing the state through the party and exercising authoritarian leadership by a single leader, attempting to monopolize the fruits of the war victory and continue to exclude other political parties and social forces from participation, thereby maintaining the vested interests gained from its long-standing one-party rule. The CPC, guided by the theory of New Democracy, advocated national unification on the basis of peace, democracy, and unity, promoting cooperation among all parties and social forces to build an independent, free, and prosperous new China. The essence of this divergence can be summed up in one sentence: Where is China heading? This became the fundamental reason for the changes in China's post-war political situation.