AskBiography Logo   Latest News  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Google Buzz  Became Fan - Facebook  Subscribe to RSSRSS   Bookmark and Share

Chiang Kai-shek

Personal data
Nickname"Red General", or "Generalissimo"
Date of birthOctober 31, 1887
Place of birthFenghua, Zhejiang, Qing Empire
Date of deathApril 5, 1975(age 87)
Place of deathTaipei, Republic of China (Taiwan)
NationalityChinese
Political partyKuomintang (KMT)
SpouseMao Fumei
Yao Yecheng (concubine)
Chen Jieru
Soong May-ling
ChildrenChiang Ching-kuo
Chiang Wei-kuo (adopted)
Alma materBaoding Military Academy, Imperial Japanese Army Academy Preparatory School
OccupationSoldier (General officer)
ReligionChristian (Methodist)(previously Buddhist)
Military service
AllegianceRepublic of China Republic of China
Years of service1923 � 1975
RankGeneral Special Class
Battles/warsXinhai Revolution, Northern Expedition, Sino-Tibetan War, Kumul Rebellion, Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang, Chinese Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency in China (1950 � 1958)
AwardsOrder of National Glory, Order of Blue Sky and White Sun, 1st class Order of the Sacred Tripod, Legion of Merit
Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China
In officeOctober 10, 1928 - December 15, 1931
PremierTan Yankai
Soong Tse-ven
Succeeded byLin Sen
Preceded byGu Weijun (Acting)
In officeAugust 1, 1943 - May 20, 1948
Acting until October 10, 1943
PremierSoong Tse-ven
Succeeded byHimself (as President of the Republic of China)
Preceded byLin Sen
Chairman of the National Military Council
In office1932 - May 31, 1946
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Preceded byPosition established
President of the Republic of China
In officeMay 20, 1948 - January 21, 1949
PresidentLi Zongren
PremierChang Chun
Wong Wen-hao
Sun Fo
Vice PresidentLi Zongren
Succeeded byLi Zongren (Acting)
Preceded byHimself (as Chairman of the National Government of China)
In officeMarch 1, 1950 - April 5, 1975
PresidentLi Zongren
Chen Cheng
Yen Chia-kan
PremierYen Hsi-shan
Chen Cheng
Yu Hung-Chun
Chen Cheng
Yen Chia-kan
Chiang Ching-kuo
Vice PresidentLi Zongren
Chen Cheng
Yen Chia-kan
Succeeded byYen Chia-kan
Preceded byLi Zongren (Acting)
Premier of the Republic of China
In officeDecember 4, 1930 - December 15, 1931
Succeeded byChen Mingshu
Preceded bySoong Tse-ven
In officeDecember 7, 1935 - January 1, 1938
PresidentLin Sen
Succeeded byHsiang-hsi Kung
Preceded byWang Jingwei
In officeNovember 20, 1939 - May 31, 1945
PresidentLin Sen
Succeeded bySoong Tse-ven
Preceded byHsiang-hsi Kung
In officeMarch 1, 1947 - April 18, 1947
Succeeded byChang Chun
Preceded bySoong Tse-ven

     Home | Office Holder | Chiang Kai-shek





Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 � April 5, 1975) was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin.

Chiang was an influential member of the Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and was a close ally of Sun Yat-sen. He became the Commandant of the Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy, and took Sun's place as leader of the KMT when Sun died in 1925. In 1926, Chiang led the Northern Expedition to unify the country, becoming China's nominal leader. He served as Chairman of the National Military Council of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 to 1948. Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Nationalist government's power severely weakened, but his prominence grew. Unlike Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek was socially conservative, promoting traditional Chinese culture in the New Life Movement and rejected western democracy and the democratic socialism that Sun Yet-sen and other left-wing members of the KMT embraced in favor of an authoritarian nationalist government.

Although Chiang's predecessor, Sun Yat-sen, was well-liked and respected by the communists, under Chiang's leadership the Nationalists soon engaged in a longstanding civil war with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Even after the Japanese invaded China, Chiang ignored this military threat to concentrate on a controversial campaign of systematic eradication of his political opponents—namely the communists. It was only with U.S. intervention that Chiang was forced to address the problem of the Japanese invasion and cooperate with the communists to drive the Japanese out. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Chiang once again became embroiled in a bloody civil war with the Communist Party of China. Ultimately, with support from the Soviet Union and popular support from the largely rural Chinese population, the CCP defeated the Nationalists, forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to Taiwan, where martial law was imposed during a period known as the White Terror, and from where the government continued to declare its intention to take back mainland China. Chiang ruled the island securely as the self-appointed President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the Kuomintang until his death in 1975.

General Joseph Stilwell, an American military adviser to Chiang during World War II, strongly criticized Chiang and his generals for what he saw as their incompetence and corruption. In 1944, Operation Matterhorn was commenced by the USAF in order to bomb Japan's steel industry from bases to be constructed in mainland China. This was meant to fulfill President Roosevelt's promise to Chiang Kai-shek to begin bombing operations against Japan by November 1944. However, Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates refused to take airbase construction seriously until enough capital had been delivered to permit embezzlement on a massive scale. Stilwell estimated that at least half of the $100 million spent on construction of airbases was embezzled by Nationalist party officials.


Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Chiang/Kai-shek?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 410 Gone in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Chiang/Kai-shek?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10" in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 260