Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (/ˈtʃæŋ kaɪˈʃɛk/; Chinese: 蔣介石; pinyin: Jiǎng Jièshí; 31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975) was a Chinese military commander, revolutionary, and statesman who led the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 until his death in 1975. His government was based in mainland China until it was defeated in the Chinese Civil War by Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, after which he continued to lead the ROC government on the island of Taiwan.

Born in Zhejiang, Chiang received a military education in China and Japan and joined Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui organization in 1908. After the 1911 Revolution, he was a founding member of the Kuomintang (KMT) and head of the Whampoa Military Academy from 1924 to its closure in 1930. After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang became leader of the party and commander-in-chief of the Nationalist Revolutionary Army, and from 1926 to 1928 led the Northern Expedition, which nominally reunified China under a Nationalist government based in Nanjing. The First United Front broke down in 1927 following the KMT's Shanghai Massacre, triggering the Chinese Civil War. During the Nanjing decade, Chiang pursued unification and modernization while prioritizing the suppression of the Communists over confrontation with Japan following the latter's invasion of Manchuria. The Xi’an Incident in 1936 forced him to form a Second United Front with the CCP against Japan. Between 1937 and 1945, Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, mostly from the wartime capital of Chongqing. As the leader of a major Allied power, he attended the Cairo Conference to discuss the terms for Japan's surrender, including the return of Taiwan, where he suppressed the February 28 uprising.

When World War II ended, the Chinese Civil War resumed. In 1949, Chiang's KMT government was defeated by Mao's CCP and retreated to Taiwan, where he imposed martial law and White Terror that lasted until 1987 and 1992, respectively. Beginning in 1948, he was re-elected five times by the same Eternal Parliament with six-year terms as President of the ROC, the head of a de facto one-party state, for 25 years until his death. Chiang presided over land reform, economic growth, and crises in the Taiwan Strait in 1954–1955 and again in 1958. He was considered the legitimate leader of China by the United Nations until 1971, when the ROC's seat was transferred to the People's Republic of China. After Chiang's death in 1975, he was succeeded as leader of the KMT by his son Chiang Ching-kuo, who was elected president in following terms by the same parliament since 1978.

Chiang is a controversial figure. Supporters credit him with unifying the nation and ending the century of humiliation, leading the resistance against Japan, fostering economic development and promoting Chinese culture in contrast to Mao's Cultural Revolution. He is also credited with safeguarding the Forbidden City's national treasures during the wars, eventually relocating a substantial portion to Taiwan, where he founded the National Palace Museum. Critics fault him for his early appeasement of Japan, the deliberate flooding of the Yellow River, cronyism and corruption linked to the Four Big Families, and authoritarian rule on both mainland China and Taiwan.