Kuomintang

The KMT (initials of the Kuomintang or Guomindang) is a Chinese political party that ruled China 1927-48 and then moved to Taiwan. In contrast with the Communists they were called the "Nationalists." It was founded in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen, and dominated 1927-1975 by Chiang Kai-shek .

In China

Founded in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen, the KMT helped topple the Qing Emperor and promoted modernization along Western lines. It came to power in 1927 under Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), and moved the national capital from Beijing to Nanjing.

The party was always concerned with strengthening Chinese identity at the same time it was discarding old traditions in the name of modernity. In 1929, the KMT government suppressed the textbook Modern Chinese History, widely used in secondary education. The Nationalists were concerned that, by not admitting the existence of the earliest emperors in ancient Chinese history, the book would weaken the foundation of the state. The case of the Modern Chinese History textbook reflects the symptoms of the period: banning the textbook strengthened the Nationalists' ideological control but also revealed their fear of the New Culture Movement and its more liberal ideological implications.

The KMT tried to destroy the Communist party of Mao Zedong, but was unable to stop the invasion by Japan, which controlled most of the coastline and major cities, 1937-1945. Chiang Kai-shek secured massive military and economic aid from the United States, and in 1945 became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, with a veto. The KMT governed most of China until it was defeated in civil war by the Communists in 1949.

The collapse of the KMT regime can in part be attributed to the government's economic policies, which triggered capital flight among the businessmen who had been the KMT's strongest supporters. The cotton textile industry was the leading sector of Chinese industry, but in 1948, shortages of raw cotton plunged the industry into dire straits. The KMT government responded with an aggressive control policy that directly procured cotton from producers to ensure a sufficient supply and established a price freeze on cotton thread and textiles. This policy failed because of resistance from cotton textile industrialists, who relocated textile facilities and capital to Hong Kong or Taiwan around the end of 1948 and early 1949 when prices soared and inflation spiraled out of control. Their withdrawal of support was a shattering blow to the morale of the KMT.

KMT as modernizers

Historians until the 1990s often portrayed the KMT simply as a band of corrupt leaders who colluded with rich financiers and industrialists and cared little for China's workers and peasants, contrasting it with the supposed broad base of popular support for the communists. However, as Bodenhorn (2002) shows, scholars are coming to an appreciation of its efforts to build a vibrant and dynamic state, before it lost on the battlefield to the Communists, but then had a second chance on Taiwan where they did succeed.

The KMT promoited science and industry, and tried to eradicate such traditional practices as footbinding, and extravagant marriage and funerary customs. The KMT had a complicated relationship to Christian missionary activity. Many high officials (including Chiang) were Christians and American public opinion that favored China was based on the missionaries. At the same time in the villages the KMT criticized missionary activity as an egregious example of imperialism. No significant action agaist the churches was taken but criticizing them was a much safer way to spread the anti-imperialist message of the KMT than taking on foreign firms or the U.S. The anti-Christian movements were important tactically for gaining the support of students and others in society who were angry at the influence of outsiders in China.

On Taiwan

The leadership, the remaining army, and hundreds of thousands of businessmen and other supporters, two million in all, fled to Taiwan. They continued to operate there as the "Republic of China" and dreamed of invading and reconquering what they called "Mainland China". The United States, however, set up a naval cordon after 1950 that has since prevented an invasion in either direction. The KMT regime kept the island under martial law for 38 years, killing up to 30,000 opponents during its dictatorial rule by Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988). As the original leadership died off, it had to held elections, so it allowed democracy, with full election of parliament in the early 1990s and first direct presidential election in 1996.

As the U.S. and China normalized relations after 1972, the status of Taiwan became a contested international issue. The KMT regime was ousted by the UN in 1971 and replaced there by the Communist regime.

Since the 1910s the KMT has received support from the international Chinese diaspora.

The KMT lost power in the 2000 elections to the Democratic Progressive party. It has restructured itself, but continues to represent the descendants of the mainland Chinese who arrived in 1949, as opposed to the native islanders who support the Democratic Progressive party. The KMT is committed to "One China" but the Democratic Progressive party seeks independence, a demand that is fiercely opposed by China, even to the point of military threats. The KMT leader Ma Ying-jeouis is currently well ahead in polls for the presidential elections in March 2008.

Bibliography

see also Chiang Kai-shek/Bibliography

• Barnett, A. Doak China on the Eve of Communist Takeover. Praeger, 1963 online edition
• Bedeski, Robert E. State-Building in Modern China: The Kuomintang in the Prewar Period. U. of California Press, 1981. 181 pp.
• Bodenhorn, Terry, ed. Defining Modernity: Guomindang Rhetorics of a New China, 1920-1970. (2002). 288 pp. ISBN 0-89264-161-4
• Fairbank, John K., ed. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, Republican China 1912-1949. Part 1. Cambridge U. Press, 1983. 1001 pp.
• Fairbank, John K. and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912-1949, Part 2. Cambridge U. Press, 1986. 1092 pp.
• Hille, Kathrin. "Resurgent KMT must confront its dark past," Financial Times December 6, 2007 online
• Hood, Steven J. The Kuomintang and the Democratization of Taiwan. Westview, 1997. 181 pp. online from Questia
• Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine. China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937-1945 (1992) online from Questia
• Perleberg, Max. Who's Who in Modern China (From the Beginning of the Chinese Republic to the End of 1953): Over Two Thousand Detailed Biographies of the Most Important Men Who Took Part in the Great Struggle for China, Including Detailed Histories of the Political Parties, Government Organisations, a Glossary of New Terms Used in Contemporary Chinese (1954) online from Questia
• Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics: Conflict and Coalition in the Modernization of Republican China (1971) online from Questia
• Rigger, Shelley. Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy (1999) online edition
• Sharman, Lyon. Sun Yat-Sen His Life and Its Meaning: A Critical Biography. Stanford University Press, 1968 online from Questia
• Thornton, Richard C. China: A Political History, 1917-1980 Westview Press, 1982 online edition
• Wachman, Alan M. Taiwan: National Identity and Democratization (1994) online edition
• Zanasi, Margherita. Saving the Nation: Economic Modernity in Republican China. U. of Chicago Press, 2006. 320 pp.
• Yu, George T. Party Politics in Republican China the Kuomintang, 1912- 1924 (1966) online from Questia

Primary sources

• Esherick, Joseph W., ed. Lost Chance in China: The World War II Despatches of John S. Service. Random House, 1974. 409 pp.