China and Relevance of 1949

For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 1949 was the year of liberation from foreign oppression and feudal backwardness: the beginning of New China, an optimistic vision shared by many non-communists. For their opponents, the year represented the loss of China, as Chiang Kai-shek’s rump Guomindang Nationalist regime fled to Taiwan after its defeat in the civil war. Victorious on the field of battle, the CCP had much experience of revolutionary activity but little of government. It found itself confronted with the task of ruling and modernising 500 million people, mainly peasant farmers.