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Chiang Kai-shek heads for exile in 1949...
Chiang Kai-shek heads for exile in 1949...
Item # 718694
January 22, 1949
THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Mass., Jan. 22, 1949
* Fall of Peiping - modern day Beijing
* Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
* Flees Nanking for Fenghua, Ningbo
* Republic of China (ROC) leader
* The Chinese Revolution of 1949
The top of the front page has a four column headline: "'Retirement' of Chiang May Hasten End of Chinese War" with subheads and related map. (see images)
Complete with 26 pages, light toning and minor wear at the margins, generally very nice.
AI notes: In 1949, following a series of devastating military defeats by the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), went into exile in Taiwan. After losing key territories—including the northern cities like Peiping and then central China—the Nationalist forces were in full retreat. On January 21, 1949, Chiang formally resigned as President of the Republic of China, temporarily handing over power to Vice President Li Zongren, though he remained the dominant figure in the KMT. As Communist forces continued to advance southward, capturing major cities such as Nanjing (the Nationalist capital) and Shanghai, Chiang evacuated with the remnants of his government, military, and thousands of civilians to the island of Taiwan (then called Formosa) by December 1949. From Taipei, Chiang re-established the Republic of China’s government-in-exile, declaring it the legitimate government of all China. Though he had lost the mainland, Chiang retained international recognition from the United States and the United Nations for a time, and he ruled Taiwan under martial law for decades, continuing to oppose the Communist regime on the mainland.
Category: The 20th Century
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