*Finally tired of both their corrupt and inept government and foreign interference, the Chinese people rose up in 1911-1912 in the Wuchang Uprising, which created the Republic of China in 1912. 
*The Republican or Nationalist government was led by Sun Yat-Sen, and later by Chiang Kai-Shek.  In the 1920s they worked with, and then later turned against, the Communist Party of China, which eventually came under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung during the Long March, a period in 1934 in which they retreated to the desolate mountains of the northwest. 

*During WWII the Nationalists, or Kuomintang (or KMT), and the Communists fought the Japanese and fought each other.  The USA supported the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek, while the USSR assisted the Communists (CPC) under Mao Tse-Tung.

*After WWII China was, in theory, a powerful nation and was given a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.  However, the country was impoverished after the Japanese occupation and was torn by civil war.  The USA attempted to negotiate a truce, but by 1947 it was clear that neither side would negotiate and the USA withdrew. 

*In 1949 Chiang and his nationalists were forced to withdraw to Taiwan, and Taipei was declared the temporary capital of the Republic of China.  In the same year, Mao proclaimed the People’s Republic of China.  The next year, Red China signed an alliance with the USSR.
   
*China had claimed Tibet since about 1246 when the Mongols who would later form the Yuan Dynasty conquered the area.  However, Tibet had often enjoyed a great degree of local autonomy, and had claimed independence outright since 1913.  In 1950 the People’s Liberation Army entered parts of Tibet and by 1951 had conquered it outright.  The authority of the Dalai Lama was undermined although he led a resistance movement and was eventually forced out of the country in 1959.

*Under Mao China began to modernise, or try to, through the Great Leap Forward, beginning in 1958.  This was a departure from Soviet policy, and began the split between the USSR and Red China.  The government put people onto collective farms, built thousands of small steel furnaces to produce steel across the country, and also diverted thousands of people from agriculture to industry.

*The Great Leap Forward was a disaster both through bad luck and bad planning.  1959 saw one of the worst floods ever on the Yellow River, killing perhaps 3 million people. 1960 saw a drought.  With traditional farming systems disrupted, China could not deal with this, and experienced possibly the worst famine in human history.  This was combined with a repressive police state that killed dissidents.  Although the exact figures are unknown, it is thought that between 17 and 29 million Chinese died in the 1960s as a result of the Chinese government’s policies.

*In the early 1960s, Mao was opposed by a group of pragmatists led by Deng Xiaoping, who wanted economic reform away from ideological communism.  Mao turned on them, and attempted to rally support from the people against his opponents in the Cultural Revolution.  Deng was sent to work in a car parts factory, but others suffered far more.

*Between 1966 and 1968, Mao, who had developed a cult of personality around himself, attacked religious leaders and the educated classes, beating, imprisoning or killing monks, nuns, priests, artists, teachers, authors, professors, and most of the other people who made China run.  The country fell into chaos.

*In the 1970s, Mao’s health declined, and in 1976 he died.  Deng Xiaoping slowly assumed leadership after that, and in 1978 began the process of economic reform that would make China the economic superpower that it is today.  Partly in recognition of this, the USA in 1979 recognised the PROC as the official government of China after 30 years of supporting the ROC in Taiwan.

*This was not Taiwan’s fist setback:  in 1971, the UN recognised Red China as the government of China, and expelled Taiwan from China’s seats in the UN General Assembly and Security Council.  Today, only 25 countries recognise the Republic of China, and most of those are insignificant ones.  However, the USA and most other nations unofficially maintain a presence in Taiwan (partly because, as one of the Four Tigers, it is so wealthy), and the USA has committed itself to maintaining Taiwan’s independence.

*Taiwan was almost always ruled by Chiang Kai-Shek until his death in 1975, and then by his son, Chiang-Chin-kuo until his death in 1988.  Since then it has become more democratic and less corrupt, and as the generations that grew up in mainland China have died away, there has been an increasing desire in Taiwan for the country to give up its claims to China and admit that it is its own nation—no more and no less. 

*Red China, however, has passed an anti-secession law that will declare war on Taiwan if it ever formally declares independence.  In response, the ROC is trying to buy more weapons from the USA.

*Korea is also one nation with two governments.  After the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was left within Japan’s sphere of influence, and was fully taken over in 1910. 

*During WWII, the USSR remained neutral in the east until near the end of the war.  As the Soviets’ entry approached, the USA and USSR decided to divide Korea between them along the 38th parallel.  Under their guidance, North Korea became a communist state and South Korea a republic, but they both planned to unite as soon as possible.

*In 1950, after spending a year building up a massive army, North Korea invaded South Korea. 

*Despite their own posturing, the South was caught off guard and pushed back.  Seoul was captured, and by 4 August, the entire South Korean army and the few US soldiers in the country were pushed back to a small area round the southern city of Pusan, where they held out along the Pusan Perimeter awaiting evacuation or re-enforcement.

*Truman sprang into action.  The concept of containment that lay at the base of US foreign policy; this was the notion that if the US relaxed their guard anywhere, the communists would take advantage of it.  However, America was not going to do this alone—they were going to ask the UN.

*Normally, an attempt to get the UN to intervene in Korea would have been stopped by the Soviets, who supported the North Korean cause.  However, when China fell, the UN did not recognise the Communist government, and continued to seat the Nationalist representatives sent by Chiang.  In protest, the Soviets walked out, boycotting the Security Council.  Truman immediately took advantage of this, passing a resolution on a UN police action through the Security Council on the same day the NKPA invaded—no attending country voted against the measure, and only Yugoslavia abstained.  The Soviets never boycotted a meeting again.

*MacArthur chose not to try to fight back from the Pusan Perimeter, but instead chose to flank the enemy with a hazardous amphibious assault at Inchon.  The Inchon landing took place on 15 September 1950 and was a brilliant success, cutting of the NKPA’s lines of supply and completely recapturing Seoul within two weeks and driving the entire NKPA north of the 38th parallel.

*Now the tricky question was what to do.  It seemed foolish to let the DPRK re-group and invade at a more propitious date.  MacArthur, with Truman and the UN’s approval, pursued the NKPA beyond the border.  This operation was so successful that by October, the UN was almost within sight of the Chinese border, and much of the NKPA was hiding beyond it.  China has warned the UN not to come to close to the Yalu River, the border between China and Korea, but MacArthur ignored these warnings.

*On 19 October 1950, 280,000 soldiers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army crossed into North Korea.  For over a month, the PVA and the UN forces contended along the northern frontier of Korea.  Eventually the overwhelming mass of Chinese troops pushed the UN and ROK forces back towards the old demarcation line.  On 4 January 1951, the NKPA captured Seoul.  Seoul was liberated again by 21 April, and the lines would shift some until October, after which they would move little, if at all.

*The war dragged on in 1953, when newly-elected president Eisenhower, fulfilling a campaign promise, went to Korea to try to create peace.  Even he failed. 

*After years of negotiation, an armistice was finally signed on 27 July 1953 at the border village of Panmunjon.  The North Korean and American generals signed, but the South Korean general did not.  However, the fighting was officially ended and a 2 ½ mile wide de-militarised zone was drawn along the battle line, not far from the old 38th Parallel demarcation line.  To this day, the Korean War has never officially ended, and the DMZ remains the most heavily fortified border in the world, guarded by North Korean, South Korean, and US troops.

*Since 1953, South Korea has become one of the world’s most important economies, and is a thoroughly modern nation—one the Four Tigers of the 1960s and 1970s. 

North Korea is one of the poorest nations in the world, so poor and so often suffering from famine that people flee by the thousands every year to Red China seeking food.  They have one of the worst human rights records in the world. 

*North Korea has also begun work on nuclear weapons, and claims to have built some (although it has never tested any).  Currently its missile systems will not carry its weapons to the US or Europe, but they could hit Japan, China, Russia, or, of course, South Korea.  No-one wants North Korea to have nuclear weapons, and negotiations to end or contain their nuclear ambitions are a major issue in world politics today.

*The Department of Defense reports that 54,246 Americans service men and women lost their lives during the Korean War.   This includes all losses world-wide.  However, the war boosted the economy of Japan, which served as a base for most US operations, and especially spurred the economic growth of the United States, leading to one of the most prosperous periods in the nation’s history.

*When Japan surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945, Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the defeated nation, whose only condition of surrender was that they be allowed to keep their Emperor.

*MacArthur (mostly) treated the Japanese with dignity and respect and required the soldiers under his command to do the same. 

*Japan was pacified:  its police force was disbanded and rebuilt, the people were forced to turn over their swords (over 7 tons were collected), Japan was forbidden to wage war and could only spend 1% of its budget on the military.

*In 1946, Japan adopted a new constitution, largely written by MacArthur, and based on the US and British Constitution.  It retained the Emperor, largely as a figurehead, abolished the other nobility, ended Shinto as the official religion, and allowed other religions, notably Christianity, to be practised.  Women were also given the right to vote and the education system was reformed and made available to more people. 

*Today Japan is governed by the bicameral Diet and the Prime Minister (nominated by the Diet and approved by the Emperor).

*US occupation officially ended in 1952, but Japan has remained home to many US military bases, in part because, without much of an army to defend itself, Japan relies on the US for its defence.  During and after the occupation the US also sent financial aid to Japan to help rebuild the country, which had been completely destroyed by the War.

*In the 1960s Japan began to boom economically.  Taking advantage of a large and well-educated labour force, Japan industrialised, selling cheap goods on the world market, especially to the USA.  In the 1970s, Japan benefited from the Oil Crisis caused by the 1973 OPEC embargo by shifting from heavy industry to the light, high-tech industries (such as electronics) it now excels in and by selling its small, fuel-efficient cars in the USA.  The rise of Japanese cars in America dates to this time.

*In the 1990s, Japan’s economy stalled.  In part, the wealth of the 1980s had caused companies and individuals to spend and invest carelessly, putting money into bad investments that did not pay off.  Many Japanese companies also borrowed heavily (something unusual in Asian cultures), and then found they could not repay their debts.  This led to a stock market crash in the early 1990s, and a decade of poor economic performance.  Although things are improving again, Japan is no longer as dominant as it was in the 1980s, when Japan’s economic power frightened even the USA.

*Until 2004, the USA remained Japan’s largest trade partner (18.6%) (now it’s China (20%)), and Japan is America’s 4th largest trade partner (8%) (after Canada (19%), China (12%), and Mexico (11%)).

*Since WWII Japan has also had disputes with the USSR and Russia over the ownership of the Kuril Islands to the north of Japan, some of which were taken from Japan after the War.