Sino Ironies
by Brian Dexter M. Medija
on the ironies pervading through China's post-dynastic period.

China's post-dynastic history teems with ironies in a melodrama where trust and partnership are built and demolished. The advent of China's post-Manchu era saw the strong partnership and subsequent discord between two major forces in China's society: the Revolutionary Movement in Nanking headed by Sun Yat-Sen, and the Republican government in Beijing headed by Yuan Shih-Kai.

In 1912, Sun Yat-Sen, the provisional president of the Communist faction, willingly shed his post to give way to unity for China, allowing the then-president of the Republican government to be the first president of a truly Chinese nation. In an unexpected twist, however, Yuan declared himself dictator and suppressed the revolutionaries. This obviously upset the Communists, and in 1917, a year after Yuan's death (after which China rifted into multiple local regimes headed by warlords), they established in Canton the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party, reinstating Sun as it's provisional president. This constitutional government was established against the one in Beijing.

The establishment of the Kuomintang is not without its skirmishes. In fact, the Party's internal temblors give us a more complicated case of "broken ties" as it breaks into two factions-the Communists and Nationalists, the Communists shaken further by internal discord as well as a later friction with their main motivator, the Soviet Union.

The rift within the Kuomintang stemmed from the Northern Expedition, Sun Yat-Sen's brainchild intended originally for unity. Creating this irony was the alliance of Sun's successor, Chiang Kai-Shek, with his warlord partners in the northern conquests. This conspiracy between Chiang and the warlords caused the expulsion of the Communist army, who were either killed or jailed, except for the major officials who escaped southeast into the mountains of Kiangsi Province. In yet another ironic twist, the two warlord-partners struggled for power against Chiang but lost nonetheless.

The Communists in Kiangsi saw a new leader in Mao Tse-Tung, who led a 6,000-mile "Long March" northward to Shensi Province where they intend to set base. This coincides with Japan's 1931 invasion of China, capturing the northern enclave of Manchuria. With the Nationalist government in Peiping (Beijing) lacking the requisite force to drive the enemies away, a Manchu(rian) warlord sought added strength by combining the Communists and Nationalists. In 1936, the warlord craftily had Chiang kidnapped and forced him to unite and merge forces with the Communists. Fearing the Chinese union, the Japanese attacked China in 1931, causing the Chinese to retreat inland to Chungking.

The height of the Sino-Japanese war saw increasing US military help for China. Then finally in 1945, after the Japanese surrendered marking the end of the Second World War, civil war erupted anew between the Nationalists and Communists. This only means more irony for China, with a "reunified" nation breaking up again upon the silence of external cannons which they combated conjointly. The Nationalists, however, settled on the losing end as the Communist sector, with assistance from the US and Soviet Union (itself a paradoxical backup), successfully recaptured Manchuria, Beijing, Nanking, the Nationalist Capital of Canton, Shanghai, Hainan and Tibet. The Communists' tremendous triumphs after the war prompted Mao Tse-Tung's declaration of the People's Republic of China, after having captured its modern-day (present-day) territory. The Nationalists, losing their hold of any territory in the mainland, retreated to Taiwan where they established a Nationalist Government with Chiang Kai-Shek as their first president.

More instances on the ironies that are commonplace in Modern Chinese history include the Chinese assistance to North Korea during the Korean Conflict of the 50s which prevented a UN victory. It is paradoxical, realizing China wished for a seat in the UN assembly, besides the US's being a member of the UN (and all the aid it has bestowed the Chinese).
Socialist China was stern on its press, disallowing any form of dissent and malevolence to the government. However in 1957, the Chinese welcomed free speech in the press but when a flood of criticism greeted the administration, controls were immediately reinstated. Perhaps, the experiment on "rights" didn't prove beneficial to China.

A very good last instant of the Chinese paradox would be China's partnership and consequent breakup in its brotherhood with the Soviet Union. The earliest days of the revolutionary movement (under Sun Yat-Sen) saw support and aid from the Socialist fatherland. And all throughout the Communists' efforts to regain control of China, the Soviets were perpetually behind them, and even voluntarily withdrawn their forces from Manchuria for Communist China. It defies reason to view discord between China and its closest ally, looking at an earlier treaty of alliance and assistance signed by Mao and the Soviets. However, the Chinese, ever confident of their fundamentalist Communist doctrines, accused the Soviet Union of "revisionism," saying the Soviets' policy on "peaceful coexistence" with its capitalist neighbors defied Communist doctrine on revolution and struggle against capitalism. The rift widens further with boundary skirmishes later on. China remained unfriendly to its once closest friend.

Today, we can see a China bustling with capitalism, inviting foreign traders and conglomerates to do business with them. This era was ushered in by Deng Xiaoping, a faction leader among the Communists. It is not to be forgotten that it was the Communists who were sternly against capitalism and foreign anything. Deng allowed the establishment and proliferation of private-owned business, foreign investment, market forces, et cetera. The Mandate of Heaven lives on and continues to beget ironies in modern day China. ¤