Chapter 34 Timeline.

Chiang Kai-Shek and the Guomindang forces fell back to the island of Taiwan. Chiang ruled Taiwan, or the Republic of China, with hopes that he could spring back and attack China, bringing his own government over the Communist regime. Taiwan and China fought in the late 1950s, when the Chinese bombarded Taiwan. The Chinese only stopped their offensive when the US intervened.

Communist North Korea invaded authoritarian South Korea in hopes of unifying Korea under their own terms. General MacArthur of the US led forces against the North Koreans, while the Chinese pushed south. Eventually, the US called an armistice after stalemate in 1953. Neither North nor South Korea gained great amounts of territory from the war.

Lee Kuan Yew takes the office of Prime Minister of Singapore. He creates an authoritarian state that micromanages the behavior of Singapore citizens. As a result, low crime rates occurred. People in Singapore worked towards creating a strong military. The authoritarian government was extremely successful in boosting Singapore's economic output.

The British granted control of Hong Kong back to China under the terms that the city would remain a democratic free market zone. This opened up the Chinese to free market communism.

The US occupied Japan after Japan lost WWII, removing the military government and putting a democracy in place. After occupation, the US kept military bases in Japan. Japan was not allowed to build a military of their own.

Two major parties merge to form the Liberal Democrat party in Japan. Most decisions are made in high levels of the party, creating an oligarchical system similar to that of the Meiji dynasty (1800s).

Kublai Khan brings down the Song Chinese, creating a new Yuan dynasty. For the first time in Chinese history since the Han dynasty, the Confucian system and scholar gentry bureaucracy was completely detached from the Chinese social system and government.

The idea of Mercantilism caused Europeans to try and keep their precious metals (gold and silver) in their own country by introducing Indian grade opium into China which eventually lead to a small percentage of Chinese people becoming addicted. To prevent the expansion of the drug, Lin Zexu, a distinguished official, was ordered to stamp out the trade. Zexu eventually burned European warehouses containing opium which prompted the opium war that lead to the victory of the British obtaining access to trading ports. The British victory led to the decline of the Qing.

The fall of the Qing dynasty was a result of the death of the first emperor Nurhaci who wanted to unite China. Under the Qing China’s had it’s foundations (the construction of the Great Wall of China) set but when the government and army could not do their job the Qing could do nothing but fall.

An anti-imperialist cultural and political movement, which marked an intellectual turning point in early modern China. It was aimed at transforming China into a liberal democracy which the was adopted by the urban youth of China.