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China 1949: Graham Hutchings asks, why did the Communists win?
- China watcher Graham Hutchings explores the people behind the Chinese civil war in his new book
- In doing so, he offers new insight into one of the most important events of the 20th century
Reading Time:3 minutes
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China 1949: Year of Revolution by Graham Hutchings, Bloomsbury Academic
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The conflict between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communists was one of the biggest civil wars in human history. It involved more than five million soldiers and led to a change of government and the dislocation of millions of people.
More than 70 years after the Kuomintang moved their government to Taiwan, the civil war remains unfinished. The reunification of China is still uncertain; it seems far in the future.
China 1949: Year of Revolution is a gripping account of that extraordinary year. By Graham Hutchings, an associate at Oxford University’s China Centre, the book answers in meticulous detail the big question: why did the Communists win?
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In 1945, the Kuomintang (KMT), led by Chiang Kai-shek, had 4.3 million soldiers in uniform, against 1.37 million in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). From 1945 to March 1949, the KMT received from the United States US$1.6 billion in military and economic support and US$400 million in credits. It had an air force and a navy; the PLA had neither.
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