The image below is of destruction from the Chinese Civil War, a period of confusion, terror, and grief for Chinese citizens.
As warring parties, the Nationalist and Communist parties, fought to gain power, the country of China faced a long period of confusion, destruction, and fighting during the 1900's. In April 1927, the Shanghai Massacre occurred. The Nationalists sought out to kill all Communists in the large city of Shanghai. In 1934, Mao Zedong, the Communist leader, moved through the People's Liberation Army's lines and started on the Long March, a 6,000 mile march to the last communist base in north China The Rape of Nanjing occurred in 1937 when Japanese forces came into Nanjing and massacred 300,000 civilians and soldiers. The Anti- Japanese War, also known as World War II, started in 1939 and, in China, was fighting over the land of Manchuria . The Chinese Civil War occurred in 1945 between the two parties in China, ending in the defeat of the Nationalists. The Korean War began in 1950 and China sided with North Korea. The Cultural Revolution started in 1966 and was the political movement to destroy all old customs, traditions, ideas, and habits. Many traumatic events affected the people of China and causing unrest, the major ones being the Shanghai Massacre, Anti- Japanese War, and their own civil war. During the 20th century, China underwent many drastic changes, many of these changes were due to the extensive fighting of three groups- the Communists, the Nationalists, and the Japanese.