Lesson Information

Title:
The Nanjing Decade and State-Building
Period:
1928–1937 CE, with institutional origins in 1927
Previous:
Nationalists, Communists, and the Northern Expedition
Era:
1912 — Republic of China Era
Next:
Society, Economy, and Culture in Republican China

Table of Contents

  1. Lesson Orientation
  2. Learning Objectives
  3. What Was the Nanjing Decade?
  4. From Northern Expedition to National Government
  5. Why Nanjing?
  6. The National Government
  7. The Kuomintang Party-State
  8. Political Tutelage
  9. The Five-Yuan Government
  10. Chiang Kai-shek's Political Position
  11. Unification Was Incomplete
  12. Regional Commanders and Negotiated Authority
  13. The Central Plains War
  14. Building a Central Administration
  15. Local Government and the Reach of the State
  16. Taxation and Fiscal Capacity
  17. Tariff Autonomy
  18. Currency, Banking, and Financial Reform
  19. Economic and Industrial Policy
  20. Roads, Railways, Telegraphs, and Telephones
  21. Education and National Standardization
  22. Law, Courts, and Legal Modernization
  23. Citizenship and Government
  24. The New Life Movement
  25. Limits of Social Mobilization
  26. Rural Problems
  27. Rural Reconstruction and Local Reform
  28. The Communist Movement After 1927
  29. Communist Rural Base Areas
  30. The Jiangxi Soviet
  31. Land Revolution and Communist Governance
  32. Nationalist Encirclement Campaigns
  33. The Fifth Encirclement Campaign
  34. The Long March
  35. The Zunyi Conference
  36. The Communist Move to the Northwest
  37. Japanese Expansion and the Nationalist Dilemma
  38. The Loss of Manchuria
  39. “Internal Pacification” and External Resistance
  40. The Xi'an Incident
  41. Toward Renewed Nationalist-Communist Cooperation
  42. Achievements and Limits of State-Building
  43. How Do We Know?
  44. Think Like a Historian
  45. Historical Significance
  46. Key Takeaways
  47. Key Terms
  48. Check Your Understanding
  49. Continue the Story
  50. Further Study

Lesson Orientation

The Northern Expedition transformed the political geography of the Republic of China.

By 1928, the Kuomintang had established a National Government centered at Nanjing and had gained recognition from many regional military leaders who had previously operated outside effective central control.

This did not create complete national unity.

The Nationalist government still confronted:

The central question of the Nanjing Decade was therefore:

Could military victory be converted into durable state capacity?

The answer was mixed. Nationalist institutions expanded in important ways, but the state's reach remained uneven and the decade ended before those projects could be tested under peacetime conditions for much longer.

Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, the learner should be able to:

What Was the Nanjing Decade?

The term Nanjing Decade commonly refers to the period from the Nationalist consolidation of 1928 until the outbreak of full-scale Sino-Japanese war in 1937.

The Nationalist government at Nanjing had actually been inaugurated in April 1927, during the split between the Nanjing and Wuhan factions of the Kuomintang.

The year 1928 is nevertheless a useful boundary because the Northern Expedition reached Beijing, the old Beijing government's national position collapsed, and the Nanjing regime became the principal central government claiming authority over the Republic of China.

Cambridge scholarship describes the decade as a period of both renewed central-government ambition and continuing conflict with regional military allies, Communists, economic constraints, and increasing Japanese pressure.

Scholarly reference: Cambridge University Press — “The Nanjing Decade — a New Beginning? 1928–37” .

From Northern Expedition to National Government

The Nationalist movement entered the Northern Expedition as a revolutionary coalition centered in southern China.

It emerged from the campaign controlling or influencing much of China's most economically important territory.

Beijing fell to forces aligned with the Nationalist advance in 1928.

Later that year, Zhang Xueliang, who had inherited the powerful northeastern military position of his father Zhang Zuolin, recognized the Nanjing government.

This gave the Nationalists a stronger national claim than any government had possessed during much of the preceding warlord period.

Recognition, however, was not identical to direct administrative control.

Why Nanjing?

Nanjing carried strong historical and revolutionary symbolism.

It had served as the capital of earlier Chinese governments and had been the site of Sun Yat-sen's provisional presidency at the founding of the Republic in 1912.

Establishing the Nationalist capital there connected the new regime to Sun's revolutionary legacy.

Nanjing was also located near the lower Yangtze commercial zone and within reach of Shanghai, China's most important financial and industrial center.

The city became a physical symbol of Nationalist claims to create a new national political center distinct from the old Beijing warlord governments.

The National Government

In 1928, the Nanjing regime formally organized itself as the National Government.

An Organic Law issued in October 1928 established a governmental framework based on Sun Yat-sen's constitutional ideas.

The regime claimed authority over the Republic of China while placing the Kuomintang at the center of the political system.

This was not a return to the parliamentary model of 1912–1913.

Nationalist leaders argued that political unity and civic training had to precede full constitutional government.

Scholarly reference: American Political Science Review — “The National Government of China” .

The Kuomintang Party-State

The Nationalist government operated as a party-state.

The Kuomintang was not merely one electoral party competing with others for control of government.

It claimed a leading role in directing the national revolution, supervising political institutions, training citizens, organizing administration, and guiding the transition toward constitutional government.

Party committees, government ministries, military institutions, youth groups, schools, and mass organizations became interconnected parts of the state-building project.

This increased the regime's ability to coordinate policy while also limiting pluralist political competition.

Political Tutelage

Sun Yat-sen had described national reconstruction as a staged political process.

Nationalist leaders interpreted the 1928 period as one of political tutelage.

In this framework, the Kuomintang would guide and educate the population while constructing effective institutions before a later transition to constitutional rule.

Supporters presented tutelage as necessary after years of fragmentation and weak government.

Critics argued that the concept allowed one party to postpone competitive constitutional politics while retaining political control.

This tension between promised constitutionalism and present party leadership remained central to Nationalist political legitimacy.

The Five-Yuan Government

Sun Yat-sen's constitutional theory expanded the familiar legislative, executive, and judicial branches by adding two additional governmental organs.

The National Government developed institutions organized around five yuan:

The institutional design reflected an effort to combine modern constitutional government with political concepts drawn from Chinese administrative traditions.

In practice, formal organizational charts did not by themselves determine where political power actually operated.

Chiang Kai-shek's Political Position

Chiang Kai-shek emerged from the Northern Expedition as the most influential Nationalist military leader.

His power rested on:

Chiang did not exercise uncontested control over the entire party, army, or country.

He repeatedly confronted rival Nationalist leaders and military commanders, making coalition management a central feature of his political position.

Unification Was Incomplete

The completion of the Northern Expedition created a much stronger national political center, but Nationalist authority remained uneven.

Several important military leaders recognized Nanjing while retaining substantial control over their own armies, provincial governments, and revenues.

Some regions remained only loosely connected to central institutions.

Recent research on Nationalist infrastructure emphasizes that even after 1928, important provinces could preserve considerable autonomy from Nanjing.

Nationalist state-building therefore involved negotiation, coercion, institutional expansion, and repeated conflict with nominal allies.

Scholarly reference: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society — “Incomplete Infrastructure” .

Regional Commanders and Negotiated Authority

Nationalist unification often depended on incorporating rather than completely destroying regional military forces.

Former warlords and provincial commanders might accept Kuomintang titles, display Nationalist symbols, and recognize Nanjing while continuing to command substantial local forces.

This arrangement allowed the National Government to expand its nominal authority rapidly.

It also meant that national unity could remain dependent upon negotiated loyalty.

Regional commanders could bargain over military budgets, appointments, provincial control, and national policy.

The Central Plains War

Tensions among Nationalist and regional military leaders erupted into major warfare in 1930.

Chiang's government fought a coalition of powerful rivals in what became known as the Central Plains War.

The conflict demonstrated how fragile political unification remained after 1928.

Chiang's coalition ultimately prevailed, strengthening his position within the Nationalist system.

Yet the war consumed enormous military and financial resources that might otherwise have supported civilian administration, economic development, or resistance to external threats.

Building a Central Administration

Nationalist state-building required more than control of armies.

The government sought to develop ministries and agencies capable of:

Western-educated and Chinese-trained technocrats became increasingly important in these institutions.

The government's ability to recruit specialists was one of the important administrative changes of the decade.

Local Government and the Reach of the State

Central laws could be issued from Nanjing, but implementation depended heavily on provincial, county, and local institutions.

In many places, local administration remained shaped by:

The result was an uneven state.

Nanjing's policies could be powerful in one region and weakly implemented in another.

Taxation and Fiscal Capacity

Reliable revenue was one of the central problems of Nationalist government.

Military costs remained high, while provincial authorities often controlled significant local revenue sources.

The National Government attempted to strengthen central fiscal institutions, improve customs and tax administration, and gain greater authority over national finance.

Progress was real but incomplete.

Limited fiscal capacity constrained nearly every major state-building project, from military modernization to education and infrastructure.

Tariff Autonomy

One of the Nationalist government's important diplomatic and fiscal goals was recovery of greater control over China's customs tariffs.

Earlier treaty arrangements had restricted Chinese freedom to set import duties.

During the late 1920s, the National Government negotiated agreements that increased Chinese tariff autonomy.

This mattered for both sovereignty and state capacity.

A government able to set and collect tariffs possessed a stronger independent source of revenue and greater control over economic policy.

Currency, Banking, and Financial Reform

Republican China inherited a complicated monetary system involving silver, banknotes, regional currencies, and multiple financial institutions.

The National Government sought to strengthen central financial control through national banking institutions, regulation, and monetary reform.

In 1935, the government introduced a major currency reform that replaced the silver-based monetary system with a managed paper currency associated with authorized banks.

The reform increased central control over money and finance.

It also tied economic stability more closely to the credibility and capacity of Nationalist financial institutions.

Economic and Industrial Policy

Nationalist economic policy combined private enterprise with growing state involvement in strategic sectors.

Government agencies promoted:

Major coastal cities continued to drive much of China's modern industrial and commercial economy.

The Great Depression and instability in world trade limited some development expectations during the 1930s.

Economic modernization was therefore significant but geographically uneven.

Roads, Railways, Telegraphs, and Telephones

Infrastructure was both an economic project and a state-building project.

Roads and railways could:

Telegraph and telephone systems could link ministries, provincial governments, military headquarters, commercial centers, and diplomatic offices.

Nationalist governments expanded communications networks, but scholarship on long-distance telephony demonstrates the continuing limits created by regional autonomy and incomplete national control.

Scholarly reference: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society — state-building and China's long-distance telephone network .

Education and National Standardization

Education was central to the Nationalist vision of national integration.

The government attempted to bring diverse schools and educational institutions into a more standardized national system.

Educational policy could serve several purposes:

The reach and quality of education remained highly uneven, especially between major cities and poorer rural regions.

Law, Courts, and Legal Modernization

The Nationalist government continued a longer Republican-era effort to create modern national legal institutions.

New legal codes and judicial structures addressed:

Legal modernization was intended to strengthen state authority and demonstrate that China possessed institutions comparable to those of other modern states.

Formal law, however, did not always determine everyday political practice, especially in areas where local military or elite power remained strong.

Citizenship and Government

Nationalist ideology emphasized both citizen participation and citizen discipline.

The state encouraged people to view themselves as members of a national political community with obligations to public order, modernization, and national reconstruction.

At the same time, Nationalist political tutelage placed strong limits on open multiparty political competition.

Scholarship on petitions during the Nanjing Decade shows that citizens could use official political language to demand government action and redress even within this controlled political environment.

Scholarly reference: International Review of Social History — citizenship and government during the Nanjing Decade .

The New Life Movement

In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek launched the New Life Movement.

The campaign sought to reshape everyday behavior, discipline, hygiene, public conduct, morality, and national citizenship.

It blended several influences, including:

The movement was intended as more than a campaign for polite behavior.

It formed part of a larger effort to create disciplined citizens for a modern national state.

Scholarly reference: Journal of Asian Studies — “The Ideological Foundations of the New Life Movement” .

Limits of Social Mobilization

The New Life Movement illustrates both the ambition and limitations of the Nationalist state.

The government could issue campaigns, create organizations, distribute propaganda, and connect social behavior to national reconstruction.

Yet changing everyday practices across a vast and diverse country was much harder than announcing a national program.

Implementation depended on local officials, schools, voluntary organizations, party activists, military authorities, and existing social institutions.

The movement therefore reveals a recurring pattern:

ambitious central policy → uneven local implementation

Rural Problems

Most Chinese people lived in rural communities, yet the Nationalist government had greater administrative and financial strength in major cities and commercially important regions.

Rural communities confronted problems including:

These problems created an environment in which competing programs of rural reform could gain support.

Rural Reconstruction and Local Reform

Nationalist officials, educators, reformers, universities, religious organizations, and independent social activists experimented with rural reconstruction.

Programs could include:

These programs demonstrate that Republican state-building extended beyond military and financial institutions.

Their impact, however, was generally limited by resources and uneven geographic coverage.

The Communist Movement After 1927

The collapse of the First United Front was a severe crisis for the Chinese Communist Party.

Communist urban organizations suffered major repression, and attempts at insurrection met repeated defeats.

The party did not immediately adopt one settled rural strategy.

During the following years, different Communist leaders experimented with urban work, armed uprisings, guerrilla warfare, and rural base-building.

Cambridge scholarship describes the decade from the 1927 split to the renewed united front in 1937 as a period in which the CCP came close to destruction yet developed leadership and organizational experience that later proved important.

Scholarly reference: Cambridge History of China — “The Communist Movement, 1927–1937” .

Communist Rural Base Areas

Communist armed groups established revolutionary base areas in several rural and mountainous regions.

These bases depended on:

Communist base areas were not identical to one another.

Local conditions and leadership produced different political and military experiences.

The Jiangxi Soviet

The most important Communist base area developed in southern Jiangxi and neighboring regions.

In 1931, Communist leaders proclaimed the Chinese Soviet Republic, centered at Ruijin.

The base developed its own:

The Jiangxi Soviet represented a direct challenge to the Nationalist claim to national political authority.

Land Revolution and Communist Governance

Land policy became central to Communist rural politics.

Communist authorities redistributed land and attempted to transform rural class relationships.

Policies changed over time and could vary by region.

Rural mobilization brought support from some poorer peasants while creating intense conflict with landlords, wealthier rural households, and opponents of Communist rule.

Communist governance also faced the practical problems of any wartime state: taxation, food supply, recruitment, administration, military discipline, and relations between local communities and political cadres.

Nationalist Encirclement Campaigns

The Nationalist government launched repeated military campaigns against Communist base areas.

These operations became known as encirclement campaigns.

Earlier Communist successes depended partly on mobility, local knowledge, guerrilla tactics, and the ability to avoid decisive engagement under unfavorable conditions.

The campaigns consumed significant Nationalist military resources and made the Communist question one of the central security problems of the Nanjing period.

The Fifth Encirclement Campaign

The Fifth Encirclement Campaign of 1933–1934 placed increasingly effective pressure on the Jiangxi Soviet.

Nationalist forces used a more methodical strategy involving:

The campaign substantially reduced the Communist ability to maneuver and contributed to the decision to abandon the main Jiangxi base in late 1934.

Scholarly reference: The China Quarterly — “Mao, Lin Biao and the Fifth Encirclement Campaign” .

The Long March

In 1934, the main Communist forces withdrew from Jiangxi.

The retreat developed into the sequence of movements remembered as the Long March.

Communist forces traveled across vast distances under severe military, logistical, climatic, and geographic pressures.

The Long March caused enormous losses and was initially a strategic retreat, not an uncomplicated military victory.

It later became a foundational episode in Communist political memory because the surviving movement preserved an independent revolutionary organization and relocated toward bases in northwestern China.

Chronological reference: Cambridge University Press — timeline of twentieth-century China .

The Zunyi Conference

During the Long March, Communist leaders met at Zunyi in Guizhou in January 1935.

The conference criticized aspects of earlier military leadership and marked an important change in the internal balance of the Communist Party.

Mao Zedong's political and military influence increased significantly.

Historians caution against describing Zunyi as a single moment in which Mao instantly gained complete control of the CCP.

His rise was a process, and later developments further consolidated his leadership.

Scholarly reference: The China Quarterly — “The Zunyi Conference as One Step in Mao's Rise to Power” .

The Communist Move to the Northwest

Surviving Communist forces eventually established their principal center in northern Shaanxi.

Yan'an later became the best-known headquarters of the Communist movement.

The move changed the strategic geography of the Chinese revolution.

The Communist movement was now located closer to areas threatened by Japanese expansion and farther from the main Nationalist-controlled lower Yangtze political center.

This new geography contributed to the Communist argument that national resistance to Japan should take priority over continued internal warfare.

Japanese Expansion and the Nationalist Dilemma

Nationalist state-building took place under increasing external pressure from Japan.

The central government confronted a strategic dilemma:

how much military and political attention should be devoted to Communist and regional rivals, and how much should be directed toward the growing Japanese threat?

Nationalist leaders argued that internal political and military consolidation was necessary before China could successfully resist a stronger external power.

Critics argued that continuing internal campaigns weakened national resistance while Japanese influence and territorial control expanded.

The debate became one of the central political controversies of the mid-1930s.

The Loss of Manchuria

In September 1931, the Mukden Incident was followed by Japanese military expansion across Manchuria.

The region had been governed by Zhang Xueliang's northeastern military regime, which recognized the Nationalist government but retained substantial regional autonomy.

Japanese forces established control over the region, and the state of Manchukuo was subsequently created under Japanese domination.

The loss of Manchuria intensified public criticism of Nationalist foreign and military policy.

It also demonstrated how incomplete national military integration remained.

“Internal Pacification” and External Resistance

Chiang Kai-shek and other Nationalist leaders often prioritized elimination or containment of domestic political-military rivals before a full confrontation with Japan.

The policy reflected a strategic assessment that a politically divided China could not fight a stronger foreign power effectively.

Opponents viewed the same priority very differently.

Student activists, Communist leaders, northeastern military officers, and other critics increasingly demanded more immediate national resistance.

This disagreement over strategic priorities contributed directly to the crisis of 1936.

The Xi'an Incident

In December 1936, Chiang Kai-shek traveled to Xi'an while pressing for continued military operations against Communist forces in the northwest.

Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, whose armies were involved in the anti-Communist campaign, detained Chiang.

They demanded major policy changes, including greater emphasis on resistance to Japan.

The crisis produced negotiations involving Nationalist, Communist, and regional military representatives.

Chiang was ultimately released.

The incident became an important step toward the reduction of direct Nationalist-Communist hostilities and the later creation of a renewed united front against Japan.

Scholarly reference: The China Quarterly — “Behind the Scenes of the Xi'an Incident” .

Toward Renewed Nationalist-Communist Cooperation

The Xi'an Incident did not instantly create a fully functioning military alliance.

Negotiations and political adjustments continued into 1937.

The strategic environment was changing rapidly:

The next phase of Nationalist-Communist relations developed under the pressure of full-scale war with Japan.

Achievements and Limits of State-Building

The Nanjing Decade should not be reduced either to a story of successful modernization or to a story of political failure.

The National Government expanded state capacity in important areas:

At the same time, major limitations remained:

The most useful historical interpretation therefore asks not whether the Nationalist state was simply “strong” or “weak,” but where, how, and for what purposes its capacity expanded.

How Do We Know?

The Nanjing Decade is documented through Nationalist laws, party records, ministry reports, provincial archives, budgets, tax data, infrastructure plans, school records, diplomatic correspondence, Communist documents, newspapers, memoirs, economic statistics, photographs, and later scholarship.

Government and Party Records

Organic laws, ministry reports, Kuomintang congress documents, administrative regulations, and speeches reveal the goals and formal structure of the National Government.

Economic and Statistical Sources

Banking records, customs data, industrial surveys, agricultural studies, and government statistics allow historians to examine economic development and state capacity.

Provincial and Local Sources

Local petitions, county records, educational reports, tax documents, and provincial correspondence show how national policies changed when implemented locally.

Communist Sources

CCP records, Soviet documents, military reports, local Soviet records, and memoirs document Communist organization and the encirclement campaigns.

Diplomatic Records

Foreign diplomatic archives provide detailed accounts of government recognition, financial reform, military conflict, Japanese expansion, and the Xi'an crisis.

As with earlier Republican history, such sources should be read with attention to the strategic and economic interests of the governments that produced them.

Think Like a Historian

Consider the following question:

Did the Nanjing government reunify China?

A strong case can be made that 1928 represented a major reunification.

The Nationalist government:

Yet direct central control remained incomplete.

Regional commanders retained armies and provincial influence. Major internal wars continued. Communist base areas rejected Nationalist authority. Some provinces preserved substantial autonomy. Japanese expansion removed Manchuria from Nanjing's effective control.

The strongest answer therefore depends on what is meant by reunification.

If it means restoration of a recognized national political center, the Nationalists achieved an important reunification.

If it means uniform administrative and military control over the entire country, reunification remained incomplete.

Historical Significance

The Nanjing Decade represented the most sustained attempt since the early Republic to build a centralized national government over a large part of China.

Its historical significance includes:

Key Takeaways

  1. The Nanjing Decade is conventionally dated from 1928 to 1937, although the Nanjing Nationalist government was established in 1927.
  2. The completion of the Northern Expedition created a stronger national political center but did not eliminate regional military autonomy.
  3. The National Government operated as a Kuomintang-led party-state during a period described as political tutelage.
  4. The Five-Yuan system organized government around executive, legislative, judicial, examination, and control institutions.
  5. Chiang Kai-shek became the dominant Nationalist military-political figure but did not exercise uncontested authority over all regions or party factions.
  6. The Central Plains War of 1930 demonstrated the continuing power of regional military rivals.
  7. The Nationalist government expanded fiscal administration, tariff authority, banking regulation, infrastructure, education, and legal institutions.
  8. Nationalist state capacity remained much stronger in some regions and policy areas than in others.
  9. The New Life Movement attempted to connect everyday behavior, discipline, hygiene, and morality to national reconstruction.
  10. Rural poverty and uneven local administration remained major challenges.
  11. After 1927, the CCP developed rural base areas, including the Jiangxi Soviet.
  12. Nationalist encirclement campaigns placed increasing pressure on Communist bases.
  13. The Fifth Encirclement Campaign contributed to the Communist withdrawal from Jiangxi in 1934 and the Long March.
  14. The Zunyi Conference was an important stage in Mao Zedong's rise within the Communist Party rather than a single instant of complete control.
  15. Japanese seizure of Manchuria intensified criticism of Nationalist strategic priorities.
  16. The Xi'an Incident of 1936 helped move Nationalist and Communist forces toward renewed cooperation against Japan.
  17. The decade combined meaningful state-building with major unresolved military, political, rural, and international problems.

Key Terms

Nanjing Decade
The conventional name for the period of Nationalist government from 1928 to the outbreak of full-scale Sino-Japanese war in 1937.
National Government
The Kuomintang-led central government based at Nanjing and organized nationally after the Northern Expedition.
Party-State
A political system in which a ruling party exercises a leading role over governmental institutions and political organization.
Political Tutelage
The Nationalist concept that the Kuomintang should guide political development and civic training before a later transition to full constitutional government.
Five Yuan
The Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Examination, and Control branches of the Nationalist governmental structure.
Central Plains War
The major 1930 conflict between Chiang Kai-shek's coalition and rival regional Nationalist military leaders.
Tariff Autonomy
The recovery of greater Chinese authority to establish customs duties independently of earlier treaty restrictions.
New Life Movement
A Nationalist social-mobilization campaign launched in 1934 to promote disciplined behavior, hygiene, morality, and national citizenship.
Chinese Soviet Republic
A Communist political structure proclaimed in 1931 and centered in the Jiangxi revolutionary base area.
Jiangxi Soviet
The principal Communist rural base in southern Jiangxi and neighboring areas during the early 1930s.
Encirclement Campaigns
Nationalist military campaigns intended to surround and destroy Communist revolutionary base areas.
Fifth Encirclement Campaign
The 1933–1934 Nationalist campaign that used blockhouses, roads, logistics, and large forces to place sustained pressure on the Jiangxi Soviet.
Long March
The Communist strategic retreat and series of marches beginning with the withdrawal from Jiangxi in 1934 and leading surviving forces toward northwestern bases.
Zunyi Conference
A January 1935 Communist leadership meeting during the Long March that marked an important stage in Mao Zedong's rise within the party.
Yan'an
A city in northern Shaanxi that became the best-known later headquarters of the Chinese Communist movement.
Mukden Incident
The September 1931 event followed by Japanese military expansion across Manchuria.
Manchukuo
A Japanese-dominated state established in Manchuria after the Japanese occupation of the region.
Zhang Xueliang
Northeastern military leader who recognized the Nanjing government in 1928 and later participated in the 1936 Xi'an Incident.
Yang Hucheng
Northwestern military leader who joined Zhang Xueliang in detaining Chiang Kai-shek during the Xi'an Incident.
Xi'an Incident
The December 1936 crisis in which Chiang Kai-shek was detained by Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng amid demands for a change in policy toward Japan and the Communists.

Check Your Understanding

Answer the following questions based on the concepts presented in the lesson. The questions emphasize historical understanding rather than simple memorization.

1. Why is 1928 commonly used as the beginning of the Nanjing Decade?


2. What did Nationalist leaders mean by political tutelage?


3. Why was Nationalist unification after 1928 incomplete?


4. What did the Central Plains War demonstrate?


5. Why did infrastructure matter to Nationalist state-building?


6. What was the main purpose of the New Life Movement?


7. What was the Jiangxi Soviet?


8. Why was the Fifth Encirclement Campaign especially important?


9. How should the Zunyi Conference be interpreted?


10. Which interpretation best fits Nationalist state-building during the Nanjing Decade?


Continue the Story

State-building is only one part of Republican Chinese history.

During the same decades, Chinese society was being transformed by urbanization, industrial labor, commercial culture, migration, universities, changing family relationships, new professions, literature, film, journalism, advertising, public health, and consumer life.

These changes were not experienced equally.

Shanghai and other large cities could appear strikingly modern while many rural communities remained poor and weakly connected to national institutions.

The next lesson shifts from the construction of the state to the people, communities, workplaces, cities, families, and cultural institutions living within Republican China.

Further Study

The following scholarly resources provide additional interpretation of the Nanjing government, Nationalist state-building, Communist rural organization, and the political crises of the 1930s.