Key Actors China 1911 – 1976 for IB History Paper 2 Authoritarian States

Studying IB History requires a level of in-depth knowledge that can be challenging to develop. Keeping dates, people, and locations clear is essential for understanding and interpreting historical context. The following list of Who’s Who in China has been written to help you easily identify key actors and their contribution to China’s history from the period 1911 – 1976. Extracted from our IB study guide History SL & HL Paper 2 Authoritarian States: China 1911 – 1976 written by Joe Gauci, use this list as a reference document throughout your IB history studies and in preparation for your IB exams.

Who’s Who in China

Mikhail Borodin (1884 – 1951): The leading Comintern agent in China in the period 1923 – 7, Borodin advised the GMD and Chinese Community Party (CCP) in setting up the First United Front.

Chiang Kai-Shek (or, Jiang Jieshi) (1887 – 1975): Chiang trained as an army officer before the 1911 Revolution, took part in the 1911 Revolution, and joined the GMD. Commandant of the Whampoa Military academy from 1924, he succeeded Sun Yat – sen as leader of the GMD in 1925. He was the head of state in Nationalist China between 1928 and 1949. He fled to Taiwan in 1949, at the end of the civil war with the CCP, where he ruled until his death in 1975.

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 – 1908): Cixi was concubine to Emperor Xianfeng who died in 1861. She effectively ruled China from 1861 until her death in 1908.

Dean Acheson (1893 – 1971): US Secretary of State (1949 – 53) under President Truman (of the Democratic Party). Acheson tried unsuccessfully to persuade Truman to recognise the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Deng Xiaoping (1904 – 1997): Deng studied in France and the USSR between 1920 and 1926. On returning to China, he supported Mao’s view that the peasantry would be the primary revolutionary force in China. He was a political commissar attached to the People’s Liberation Army during the Civil War of 1945 – 9. He was promoted to the position of CCP secretary general in 1954. During the mid-1950s, Deng became a close political ally of Liu Shaoqi and took a more pragmatic approach to economic planning than Mao. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward (1958 – 61), Deng and Liu were entrusted by the party with leading economic policy. They subsequently reversed key elements of Mao’s economic policies. However, Deng was removed from his leadership position during the Cultural Revolution and, in 1969, was sent into internal exile. Deng was restored to the CCP’s Central Committee in 1973 but was demoted again in April 1976 after being accused of organising a counter-revolutionary movement. After Mao’s death in September 1976, Hua Guofeng briefly led the party but, by the end of 1978, it was clear that Deng was the most influential figure within the CCP’s leadership. Deng instigated radical reform of the Chinese economy, introducing free market measures.

Chiang Kai-Shek, March 1945 | Source: Public Domain, US Library of Congress

Hua Guofeng (1921 – 2008): Hua became an important figure within the CCP during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976) and was promoted to the Politburo in 1973. In 1975 he was appointed premier and, following Mao’s death in September 1976, succeeded him as chairman of the CCP. Within days of Mao’s death, Hua, arrested the radical community politicians known as the ‘Gang of Four’. By 1978 Hua was pushed aside by Deng Xiaping who led the CCP until 1997. Hua remained a member of the CCP’s Central Committee until 2002.

Jiang Qing (1914 – 91): A former Shanghai actress, Jiang became Mao’s third wife in 1939. Many of Mao’s colleagues in the CCP were hostile towards Jiang and insisted  that she stay out of politics. She had little political influence until the 1960s when she forged links with a number of radical communists in Shanghai, who dominated the Cultural Revolution Group set up in 1966. During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang was prominent in addressing mass demonstrations and effectively was given control of the arts, promoting new revolutionary operas and plays. After Mao’s death in 1976, she was arrested along with three other radical communist politicians of the Gang of Four. She was convicted in 1981 of ‘counter-revolutionary crimes’. She died in jail in 1991 after her original death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Kang Sheng (1898 – 1975): Kang joined the CCP in 1925 and was appointed to the CCP’s Politburo in 1934. He was in charge of the CCP’s internal security organisation from 1937 onwards. His influence peaked during the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 76), when he allied himself with the more radical communist figures such as Jiang Qing. He is regarded as responsible for promoting much of the violence of the Cultural Revolution, helping identify targets for the Red Guards to purge.

Lin Biao (1907 -71): Lin joined the Whampoa Military Academy and became a member of the CCP in 1925. He helped build up the Red Army at Jiangxi between 1928 and 1934. He played a prominent role during the Communists’ Long March (1934 – 5). Lin led the People’s Liberation Army brilliantly in Manchuria during the Civil War (1945 – 9). He was appointed defence minister in 1959 and was responsible for publishing Quotations from Chairman Mao, which became known as the ‘Little Red Book’. Lin promoted a cult of Mao within the army and became a key player in the Cultural Revolution (1966 – 76). In 1969 Lin was designated as Mao’s successor but became estranged from him in 1970 – 1. Mystery still surrounds his death in 1971 when, allegedly, according to official CCP sources, he died in a plane crash after trying to assassinate Mao.

Li Lisan (1899 – 1867): Li was a CCP leader who opposed Mao and who supported the idea of an urban revolution instead of a peasant revolution. He led a CCP rising in Changsha in 1930 which failed, and he then spent the next 16 years in the USSR. From 1949 – 66 he served as the labour minister for the PRC. He was denounced during the Cultural Revolution and allegedly committed suicide in 1967.

Liu Shaoqi (1898 – 1969): Liu joined the CCP in 1920 and was elected to the CCP’s Central Committee in 1927 and then the Politburo in 1934. He emerged as one of the leading theoreticians in the CCP in the Yanan period (1934 – 47). In 1959 Liu was appointed as chairman of the PRC and was widely seen as Mao’s most likely successor. However, the relationship between Mao and Liu became strained during the Great Leap Forward, which Mao launched in 1958. The CCP turned to Liu and Deng Xiaoping to lead China’s economy back to recovery. Liu and Deng abandoned some of Mao’s more radical economic measures and were known as the ‘Pragmatists’. Liu and Deng dominated economic policy until 1966 when they were attacked by Mao at the start of the Cultural Revolution. Liu was accused of taking China down ‘the capitalist road’ and was purged from the CCP in 1968. He died in prison in 1969.  

Mao Zedong, 1963 | Source: Public Doman, China

Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976): Mao was one of the founding members of the CCP in 1921. From 1927 he advocated a peasant revolution. He was elected chairman of the CCP in 1935, during the Long March. In 1942 – 3, the CCP officially adopted Mao Zedong Thought as the party’s ideology. Mao was chairman of the PRC from 1949 – 59 and remained chairman of the CCP until his death in 1976 and, apart from a brief period of somewhat reduced influence (1961 – 5), was the paramount figure in the party. He launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, which promoted the cult of Mao’s personality.

Peng Dehuai (1898 – 1974): Peng joined the CCP in 1928 and was a senior military commander during the Long March (1934 – 5). Peng was the second most senior military commander in the Red Army during the Japanese War (1937 – 45). He supported Mao’s decision in 1950 to enter the Korean War on North Korea’s side and commanded China’s troops in the war until 1952. Peng was defence minister from 1954 to 1959. During the Great Leap Forward, Peng criticised Mao’s economic policies at the Lushan party meeting in 1959, which led to him being sacked as defence minister. He was arrested in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution and died in disgrace in 1974.

Pu Yi (1906 – 67): Pu Yi was the last Chinese Emperor, who ruled 1908 – 12, succeeding his uncle, the Guanxu Emperor, in 1908. He abdicated in 1912 when China became a republic. He was installed by the Japanese as puppet ruler of Manchukuo in 1932.

Song Jiaoren (1882 – 1913): Song was leader of the GMD delegation in Parliament in 1912 – 13 and was assassinated in 1913.

Sun Yat – Sen (1866 – 1925): Sun was a revolutionary nationalist leader, founder of the Revolutionary Alliance (1905), briefly president of China (1911), and leader of the Guomindang until his death in 1925.

Trofim Lysenko (1898 – 1976): Director of the Institute of Genetics in the USSR from 1940 to 1965, Lysenko challenged orthodox thinking on genetics and agronomy and promoted controversial reforms with regards to crop planting. These techniques were discredited in the USSR in 1965 and Lysenko was removed from his post.

Wang Jingwei (1883 – 1944): A GMD politician, who lost out to Chiang Kai – shek in the struggle to succeed Sun Yat – sen as GMD leader, Wang had favoured better relations with the CCP. From 1932 – 7, Wang worked with Chiang Kai – shek but fell out with Chiang once the Japanese invasion of China began. Between 1940 – 4, he headed a collaborationist Chinese regime that worked with the Japanese during the Japanese occupation of China.

Wang Ming (1900 -74): A CCP leader who opposed Mao and who supported the idea of urban revolution, Wang had close links with Comintern and spent 1925 – 30 in the USSR. On his return to China in 1930, he challenged Mao’s control over the Jiangxi Soviet. Wang returned to the USSR in 1932 and remained there until 1937. In 1938 he was demoted within the CCP and thereafter never seriously challenged Mao.

Yuan Shikai (1859 – 1916): Yuan was a leading general in the Imperial Army, who played a key role in the 1911 Revolution. He was president of China from 1912 – 16.

Zhang Xueliang (1901 – 2001): Zhang ws known as ‘Young Marshal’ because he succeeded his father (the ‘Old Marshal’) as warlord in charge of Manchuria in 1928. Zhang was a key figure in the kidnapping of Chiang Kai – shek at Xian in 1936. Zhang was angry with Chiang for his failure to stand up to Japanese encroachment on Chinese territory.

Zhou Enlai (1898 – 1976): Zhou was sent by Comintern to France in 1920, where he organised Marxist study groups amongst Chinese students and workers. Zhou was appointed to the Politburo of the CCP in 1927. In 1931 he moved from Shanghai to join Mao in the Jiangxi Soviet, initially working with other CCP leaders to undermine Mao. During the Long March (1934 – 5), Zhou decided to support Mao’s appointment as CCP Chairman and thereafter worked closely with Mao. From 1949 until his death in 1976, Zhou served as China’s premier and also took charge of China’s foreign policy, travelling the world extensively. Zhou is regarded as the key figure in negotiating President Nixon’s visit to China in February 1972 and the resulting improvement in Sino – US relations. In domestic politics, Zhou was seen as a moderate Mao supporter who worked to counter the more radical CCP politicians. He is credited with persuading Mao to bring the extreme violence of the Cultural Revolution to an end in 1969. Zhou was extremely hostile to the radical Gang of Four who had risen to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and was instrumental in bringing Deng Xiaoping back into the party leadership in 1973.

Zhu De (1886 – 1976): Zhu was co – founder with Mao of the CCP’s Red Army in 1928. Zhu was commander-in-chief of the Red Army during the Japanese War (1937 – 45) and the Civil war (1945 – 9). He retained command of the People’s Liberation Army until 1954.

A note on spelling in IB History exams

There are two systems of transliterating Chinese characters into English. Most textbooks now use the more modern Pinyin version but some still use the older Wade – Giles system. For example, the older version of Mao’s name is Mao Tse – tung whilst the newer version is Mao Zedong; the older version of the nationalist leader’s name is Chiang Kai – shek whilst the newer version is Jiang Jieshi. Note, it does not matter which version you use, provided you are consistent in which version you use in your essay.

---

Continuing your study

The purpose of this article is to help you be clear in your understanding of the major actors in Chinese history from 1911 – 1976. Bookmark this page and refer back to this article as you prepare for your IB exams to help you remain clear on Who’s Who and their role in the history of China. If you are studying other authoritarian states, check out our range of study guides for IB History Paper 2 Authoritarian States, and our article on Key Actors Italy 1914 – 1945 IB History Paper 2 Authoritarian States on our IB History subject page.