All language subtitles for China_ A Century of Revolution - 01x01 - China in Revolution (1911-1949).MVGroup.English.updated.Addic7ed.com

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At the beginning
of the 20th century,

China looked much the same
as it had for hundreds of years.

The country was still
ruled by an emperor.

Men wore their hair
in long queues

as a sign of subservience
to the ruling dynasty.

In the old days,

barbers carried all their
stuff on a shoulder pole,

and they worked in the street.

If a barber saw a
person who had no queue,

he could report him.

And if he did so,

the person could be beheaded.

The saying was,

keep your hair
or lose your head.

Beneath the
traditional appearance,

there was growing
discontent with imperial rule.

In 1911,

a military revolt spread
around the country,

and the emperor was overthrown.

Men cut off their queues in a
symbolic gesture of revolution.

Sometimes at the city gate,
I saw people with big scissors.

Whenever they saw
someone with a queue,

they cut it off.

I saw people crying, saying,

now they say
we are revolutionaries.

What are we supposed to do?

The cutting of queues was only
the beginning of the revolution.

The Republic of China
was declared.

The country was soon caught up

in an ideological battle.

Two men led the struggle,

Zhang Kaishek and Mao Zedong.

The conflict transformed
world politics,

for in 1949, China became
what it is today,

the largest communist
state on earth.

This is the story of
China in revolution.

In the early years
of the Republic,

the central government
was weak and ineffective.

Dozens of military commanders,
called warlords,

moved into the political vacuum.

In the early days
of the Republic,

the warlords fought each other.

When I was a child
in Guangxi province,

I saw so many battles.

You can't imagine how
many battles were fought.

Lots of people were so scared,
they just went and hid.

When warlords got into a fight,

people's lives were
completely devastated.

The warlords were
a diverse group.

The warlord of Manchuria was
a major figure in national politics.

The opium warlord made
a fortune growing poppies.

The Christian general was said
to baptize his troops with a fire hose.

Many warlords were landlords.

They were often supported
by a certain foreign power.

In the early years
of the Republic,

China was torn apart
by foreign powers.

For instance, Guangxi
and Guangdong provinces

were under the
influence of England

and Yunnan of France.

Since the 19th century,

England, France, Germany,
the United States, and Japan

had traded with China.

They based their interests
in the major ports around the country.

Most foreigners lived in
special areas called concessions

which they controlled with
their own local governments.

We didn't have the
term imperialism.

The term came later.

We called them foreign devils.

They were devils to us.

Why did we hate foreigners?

We hated any foreigner,

any foreign country that
wanted to divide up China.

It was called divide up
then, not invade.

They wanted to divide up China

just like cutting a melon
into pieces.

People used to say,

now you want to
divide up our country,

you foreign devils.

You're bastards.

In May 1919,
for the first time,

Chinese took to the streets

to protest this dividing up
of their country.

They saw that the problems
of imperialism and

warlords had pushed China
to the verge of collapse.

The demonstrations
sparked a vocal nationalism

and an intense search
for political solutions.

One of the few political leaders
addressing these problems

was Sun Yat-Sen.

Sun was the leader
of a coalition group

called the Nationalist Party.

He was a charismatic man

whose speeches
attracted many to his cause.

Sun knew that the first thing
he needed was an army

to defeat the warlords
and unite the country.

He appealed to
Western governments

for money for his cause.

At the time,

none of the imperialist
countries wanted to help us.

Only the Soviet Union
wanted to help us.

The Soviet Union
had no friends in Asia,

so they had to work with us.

England and the other countries
didn't want us to be united.

It appeared the Soviet Union
did want to help us.

China had to be united,
so of course,

we cooperated with them.

One condition of Soviet help was
that the Nationalist Party allowed

members of the newly formed
Chinese Communist Party to join.

Sun agreed, and in 1924,

the Soviets helped him
set up a military academy

just outside Canton.

The Wampoa Academy
quickly became a magnet

for patriotic youth
from all over China.

Some were nationalists,
some were communists,

some were not affiliated
with any party.

They trained for a
military campaign

that would one day
unite the country,

The Northern Expedition.

Sun appointed his protege,
Jang Kai-shek,

commander of the Academy.

Jang was a professional soldier.

Like many of his generation,

he had attended
military school in Japan.

He had worked with Sun
for over a decade.

Jang's son remembers

what his father and
Sun Yat-sen talked about.

Although I wasn't usually included
in their day-to-day conversations,

there were times when
they were walking, having tea,

when I heard them talking
about national affairs.

And when they talked
about national affairs,

they were very serious,
very enthusiastic.

They wanted to build up China.

Because in the East,

we had lived under
autocracy for too long.

Jang was the commander
of all the cadets

and of the Academy's staff.

Many of China's future leaders
were under his command.

One of them was a young
Communist Party member,

Zhou Enlai.

Zhou was the director of the
political education department.

Under his direction,
the cadets watched

and performed plays with
simple political messages.

Without revolution, there was
no hope for this country,

so political education
was given on the front.

Song was played quite a big role.

The song goes like this.

As his army trained,

Sun and his wife Sun Chingling
sailed to Beijing

to negotiate with
the city's warlord.

But Sun was ill with cancer.

He died soon after
arriving in Beijing

on March 12, 1925.

In death, Sun was revered

as the father of
the Chinese Republic.

There was no one of his stature
to take over the leadership,

and a struggle for power
in the party began.

Jang Kai-shek
emerged the victor.

In June 1926,
he was appointed

commander-in-chief of
The Northern Expedition,

the campaign to
unite the country.

A month later,
the young army set out.

Full of patriotic enthusiasm,

they won victory after victory.

In just six months,

they defeated 34 warlords,

and they swept up
to central China.

All along the way,
the people welcomed us.

For example, they would boil water
and cook sweet potatoes

by the side of the road
where our troops were passing.

They would say, brothers,
come and eat and drink.

Help yourselves.

The army was
well disciplined then.

And so the soldiers
and the officers,

they always paid for
whatever they ate and drank.

When the Northern Expedition Army
reached our region,

they held mass rallies.

Everybody went.

At the rallies, speakers
talked about the cooperation

between the nationalists
and the communists.

They called for the defeat of

the Northern Warlords
and the imperialists,

and they asked peasants
not to pay land rent and debts.

I didn't know much
about revolutions then.

I didn't know a thing about
communism or opposing imperialism.

But it seemed like a good idea

to fight exploitation
and the Northern Warlords.

Many in the army's propaganda
teams were communists.

They explained the goals of
the Northern Expedition,

and they called for the end of
many deeply ingrained social customs.

Wang Ping soon
joined the communists.

We knocked down Buddha
statues in the temples.

Foot binding was still
popular where I lived,

and we urged young girls
not to bind their feet,

and women who had already
done it to undo their feet.

At first, we didn't know better,

and often we ordered people
to do things against their will.

If a young woman
refused to cut her hair,

several of us would hold her
and cut it anyway.

I didn't know what they were up to,

communism or whatever,

but I saw that they made trouble.

They tried to
destroy our religion,

our family system, and
our ethical structure.

For instance, young people's
respect for the old.

My father told me that the
biggest fault of communism

was that it was inhuman.

So what seemed to be cooperation

between the nationalists
and the communists

during the Northern Expedition

was actually only our
temporary concession.

So we wanted to purge the party,

but it was a pretty
dangerous thing to do.

We could have been finished off.

Both sides might move
at the same time.

The communists were all among us.

The problem was
how to do the purge.

Zhang planned to purge
the communists

when his army reached Shanghai.

Here, communist workers
led by Zhou Enlai

had formed armed guards
and taken control of the city.

They were completely unaware
of Zhang's plan to break them,

and they eagerly waited
for his army to arrive.

Nationalist troops
moved into Shanghai.

Zhang struck on April 12, 1927.

About one in the morning,

I saw some guys
in plain clothes run over.

Our guards asked them
the passwords,

and they began to shoot.

We were already
surrounded from all sides,

and there were machine guns positioned
at the intersections on the streets.

They were standing there.

Back at headquarters,
all our weapons were taken away.

They warned us.
Your workers' guards are disbanded.

Go home, and don't make trouble.

Chiang Kai-shek's army was
in firm control of Shanghai.

Communists and workers held a huge
demonstration to protest the betrayal.

There were about
100,000 workers there.

They marched down the street
towards the machine guns,

which fired.

And immediately, more
than 100 people died.

Many more were wounded.

Many, many were injured.

It was raining that day.

Vashan Road was a river of blood.

I remember it was drizzling.

And I saw many people
lying in the mud, still moving.

They were very sad.

When they arrested us,
they beat us with rifle butts.

Yes, rifle butts.

Some of us were hit on
the head and were bleeding.

Even then, all we said was,

good.

That was how we
showed our defiance.

So they hit us, and we said,

good, good.

And we grit our teeth.

Zhang's purge spread
around the country.

Unions were closed.

Communists and left-wing
organizers were arrested.

Thousands were executed.

Only days after the
purge in Shanghai,

Zhang established a national
government in Nanking.

He now controlled
China's economic heartland.

And over the next few years,
he expanded his control.

The success of the
Northern Expedition

earned Zhang
tremendous prestige.

And he adopted the title,
Generalissimo.

Zhang had made himself
the heir to Sun Yat-sen.

He strengthened this position

by having Sun's body

brought to the new capital
in an epic journey.

He married Sun Yat-sen's
sister-in-law,

Sun Me-ling.

She came from a wealthy
Methodist family.

She had gone to school
in the United States,

and her English was excellent.

Her charm was a
valuable asset to Zhang,

for he was a difficult, aloof man

who gained respect
but not affection.

To many, especially
in the cities,

it seemed a new era
was beginning.

People were more open
to the West than ever.

Zhang's government began
modernization programs.

The modernization is the way

we keep our ancient
tradition of virtues.

But we adopt
Western technologies.

And Western
modern social science,

in a way, brought to the poor.

Specifically, I noticed
the medicine,

the building of new hospitals.

It was a time of construction.

Transportation and communications
were modernized.

The currency system
began to be unified.

Education was expanded.

Chiang Kai-shek appointed
Chen Li-fu, a top advisor.

I organized and
modernized the party.

We made it impossible
for the Communists to operate.

I used American techniques.

They used Soviet techniques.

Vast security organizations
were set up.

A top priority was to prevent

renewed Communist growth
in the cities,

where remnants of the party
had gone underground.

Shen Zui worked for
the security police.

We knew they were Communists
by their speeches,

their posters,
or the articles they wrote.

Or if we searched their homes,
we'd find Communist papers.

That was the correct way.

But if we had doubts, we'd say,

better to kill an
innocent one by mistake

rather than let a bad one go.

After all, they were fighting
the nationalists for power.

In spite of the security police,

the Communists began
to rebuild support in cities

where working conditions
were often brutal.

In factories,
child labor was common.

In silk production,

very young children worked
plucking cocoons from boiling water.

I came to Shanghai
when I was 12.

We were so miserable.

You had to work 17 hours a day.

Later, a progressive worker
in the factory

told us that people
were not born to be poor.

One was poor because of
the exploitation by others.

There is exploitation by
the capitalist on one hand,

and exploitation by the
labor contractor on the other.

You do the work and
he takes the money.

I had no idea what
revolution meant.

All I thought was that
the worker made sense,

and that he cared
about us poor people.

Well, he said,
there is a country

where there is no oppression
and no exploitation,

where everybody
has a job and food.

All we dreamed of then
was of having food.

So when we heard of this country,
we wondered where it was.

If only our country
could be like that.

That's what we hoped for.

So we liked to listen to him,

and we felt we could do
whatever he told us.

We would follow him
even if we had to risk our lives.

What country was that?

He wouldn't tell us
which country it was.

It wasn't until later we knew that

what he referred to
was the Soviet Union.

Chinese communist leaders believed
that the revolution would be led,

as Marx had written,
by workers in the cities.

But a small group
in the party believed

the key to revolution
lay in the countryside,

where most of
China's people lived.

This renegade group was
based in Jiangxi Province.

It was led by Mao Zedong.

Mao came from a
prosperous peasant family.

He was a founding member
of the Communist Party.

He had worked with the nationalists
at the Military Academy in Canton,

training students to
organize peasants.

After Chiang Kai-shek's purge,
Mao returned to the countryside.

By 1927,
he and a small group were

organizing peasants
in Jiangxi Province.

Conditions made the area
fertile ground

for communist activities.

In South China,
there were huge gaps

between rich and poor.

Rents were high,

and taxes were often
collected decades in advance.

Landlords were called
the masters of the earth.

One of the four tyrant landlords

by the name of Zhou
came to our house

and saw my 15-year-old sister
and took her to be his wife.

He not only wanted
to take my sister,

he also wanted me
to be his maid.

I was only seven.

My father refused.

So he demanded
one thousand silver dollars

to buy a maid instead.

My father didn't know
what to do.

Rather than let me be a maid,

my father sold me
as a child bride.

People told me if
I joined the revolution,

I would have my freedom.

I could choose who
I wanted to marry.

If I didn't join,

I'd have to marry this man
who was over 30.

So I thought if revolution
could save me from this,

I would join.

The communists organized
peasant associations

and began social reforms.

Their actions unleashed
pent-up hatred of local landlords,

and violent class
struggles soon erupted.

We smashed the
landlord's opium pipes

and took away his
grain and clothes.

We started looking for his money.

The landlord wasn't home.

His wife was hiding in the attic
where rice straw was stored.

We found her.

We questioned her
for several days,

and then we killed her.

We gave the grain to those
who had nothing to eat.

Some got about 50 pounds,
some got 100.

We gave the clothes to those
who just didn't have any,

so the poor were
really eager to join us.

By 1930, the communists had
set up a government in Jiangxi.

Mao had joined forces with Zhu De,

another veteran revolutionary.

Their men formed the Red Army,

which Liu Han Shao joined.

I often saw Chairman Mao.

He was tall and thin.

When he went out,
he rode a white horse.

We didn't have cars then.

When he went to work, he would be
followed by eight security guards,

three to carry lanterns and
two to carry his lunchbox.

He wouldn't eat
in someone's home.

He took his meals
wherever he went.

Sometimes, when
there was a meeting,

he would stand on a mound
and shout slogans.

He would shout,
Advance to Nanjiang!

Advance to Nanqing!

Take Jankai Shek alive!

Although the communist
area was relatively small

Many nationalists were frightened
by the violent events there.

Jankai Shek was concerned.

The people under attack,
the middle and upper classes,

were the base of his support.

He launched a series of
military campaigns in Jiangxi.

They were defeated.

Our main forces
would lure their troops,

lure them into the mountains.

Like we did in the
battle at Longang.

We would lure them in
and then pull back.

This is called pulling back
your fist before you strike.

It was like drawing
them into a bag.

And suddenly we'd surround
them and wipe them out.

Understand?

We'd lure the enemy deep,
deep into the Soviet area.

And then suddenly surround them.

We wiped out their
18th division this way.

All 9,000 of them from the
commander down to the cooks.

Not one escaped.

This is called mobile,
or guerrilla warfare.

Jiang's forces were defeated by
these guerrilla tactics four times,

but he continued to attack.

In 1934,

he launched an ideological offensive
called the New Life Movement,

a mixture of traditional Confucian
values and European fascism.

He hoped to create a
disciplined and orderly society

by reforming social behavior.

People were instructed
to button their clothes,

stand straight, and
not to eat noisily.

The movement only reached a
small section of the middle class,

and failed to solve
the peasants' problems.

But Jiang's fifth military
campaign was a success.

In an all-out effort,

Jiang had gathered nearly
one million soldiers

and all the military machinery
he could muster.

And he changed tactics.

We adopted the tactic
of moving step by step.

The stronghold tactic,
do you understand?

For instance, I could
walk 20 miles a day,

but instead of 20,
I would only do 10.

Then I would stop and dig
trenches and build blockhouses.

Since the Communists
didn't have cannons,

they couldn't take
well-defended blockhouses.

So our troops worked
very hard to build them,

and we wouldn't advance until
a place was firmly in our control.

This was how we tightened our
stranglehold on the Communists.

As the Nationalists
began their new tactics,

the Communists changed theirs.

That was when our Party made

one of its biggest mistakes.

The biggest.

What happened was that the
Communist International

sent an adviser, Li De.

Whose original name was Otto Braun.

He claimed that the golden age
of guerrilla warfare was over.

And that it was now time to develop
positional and regular warfare.

When Mao heard this,

he realized that he and Li De
would never agree.

And after that,

Mao didn't go to any more
meetings of the military committee.

Communist Party leaders
supported Otto Braun,

the German Comintern
representative.

Mao lost his position as
head of the government,

and his guerrilla tactics
were abandoned.

Then we used blockhouse warfare

to deal with their
blockhouse warfare.

It was tit for tat,

but of course it didn't work.

They had planes and cannons.

We had nothing.

So the Communist area
shrank and shrank.

The Nationalists were winning.

The Communists had already
lost much popular support

because of their
violent class struggle.

By the summer of 1934,

they were losing badly.

We were being killed off.

The revolution
wasn't plain sailing.

They were people who
wavered and were traitors.

They saw the situation was
going from bad to worse,

and they changed with the wind.

Communist organizers were
arrested by the Nationalists.

A Nationalist official wanted
to bail me out of prison

to force me to be his concubine.

I didn't want to, but they
threatened me, saying,

if you won't, we'll put a
firecracker in your vagina

and light it.

Aren't you afraid?

Sitting or standing, I was
just as tall as anyone else.

Why should I be
someone's concubine?

I didn't want to,
but what could I do?

Finally, they took a
red hot wire this long

and forced it through my leg.

One from this side,
and then from that side.

They put the hot wire
through my leg.

I still have the scars.

I was hung up by the arms.

I was tortured three times,
and then they let me down.

I was too numb to feel any pain.

My interrogation went on

from 9 in the morning
till 4 in the afternoon.

Then they dragged me
back to my cell and said,

tomorrow we'll send a platoon
of soldiers and rape you to death.

That really frightened me.

I wasn't afraid of being killed,

but how could I
stand being raped?

Though they were
just threatening me,

they really made it look real.

When I was taken out
the next morning,

there really was a
platoon of soldiers waiting.

The officer said,
just look at those men.

If you don't confess,

you'll be raped to
death, right here.

I said, I don't know
who is a communist,

and I'm not a communist leader.

I'm just a laundry woman.

I didn't tell them a thing,
and in the end,

they sent me to the
concentration camp at Jojang.

They never got
anything out of my mouth.

In October 1934,

nearly 87,000 communists

broke out of the
nationalist blockade.

They began a forced retreat

which became known to the world

as the Long March.

For over a year,

they walked an average
of 17 miles a day,

often through hostile territory.

Nationalist troops chased
them much of the time.

The soldiers crossed 24 rivers

and climbed 18 mountain ranges.

And they walked
more than 6,000 miles.

For the survivors,

it is remembered as
one enormous battle

going on forever.

By the time we got
to the Xiang River,

we had lost half our troops.

We lost 30,000 to 40,000 people.

They weren't battle casualties.

We lost them on the road.

We were on the march
day and night.

Everyone was
complaining bitterly.

We didn't know
where we were going.

Chairman Mao was out of power.

He marched with the troops.

When they reached Zuni,
meetings were held.

Otto Braun and his
supporters claimed that

the nationalists had won
because they were stronger.

Mao said it was because
Braun's tactics were wrong.

For the first time,

Zhou Enlai openly
sided with Mao.

Zhou Enlai disagreed.

Zhou did not think we had lost
because of the enemy's strength,

but because of our own
strategic and tactical mistakes

since we had won in the past.

Then Mao spoke.

The atmosphere was calm.

Everyone was reasonable.

In the end, most decided that
Li De and Bo Gu were wrong.

Most people agreed
with Mao's ideas.

And wanted Mao as our
leader on the long march.

We were so happy.

We called an officers' meeting.

We had a meal, two dishes.

We were banging on the tables
with our chopsticks.

Yeah, yeah,
banging on the tables.

We were so happy
we were dancing.

We supported Mao.

That's what it was like,
I'm telling you.

The meeting was a victory

for Mao and his belief
in guerrilla tactics.

He became the leader
of the long march,

and soon of the entire
Communist Party.

Otto Braun lost his influence.

From this time on,
the Chinese Communists

received virtually no help
from the Soviet Union.

The march went on.

The soldiers continued to
face the threat of relentless

nationalist attack and nature,

which was often just as lethal.

When they crossed
the snowy mountains,

most of the troops
who came from the south

were completely unprepared.

It was snowing,

and there were hail storms.

I had to stop because
it was too slippery,

and if I fell off the edge,
it would be all over.

And it would be
easy to fall off.

So I decided to take my
shoes off and walk barefoot.

When my feet
touched the snow, ah,

it was impossible.

The coldness
started from my feet,

and slowly climbed up my legs.

My legs went numb.

I couldn't walk.

Then I saw Yan Chenqing.

He was wearing a
pair of straw sandals,

and he had an extra pair.

He couldn't stop walking,

so he just threw the sandals
to me and kept going.

By then, the cold
was already up to here.

When it gets to your heart,

you die.

After I put on the straw sandals,

I stabbed my feet
for a few minutes.

And I could feel my legs again,

and I could walk.

I still have a photo of us.

If it weren't for him,

I'd have died in 35,

in the snowy mountains.

Hundreds did die of cold,

altitude sickness
and exhaustion.

The shared hardships forged

firm bonds between the soldiers

and earned Mao
unswerving loyalty.

Mao Zedong gave me
his ration to eat.

Three little steamed buns
in a little bowl this big.

At first, I didn't know
that it was Mao's.

In one bite, I ate two of them.

When I found out it was
his meal, I stopped eating.

He said, you must eat.

You still have to march.

He forced me to eat the last one.

So Mao was very kind,

very kind to his subordinates.

He took good care of us.

The army now had to
cross the grasslands.

More people died here than
on any other part of the march.

There was nothing there,
absolutely nothing.

As far as you could see,
all there was

was marsh, the endless marsh.

No trees, no houses, nothing.

Stepping on the grass was
like stepping on bean curd.

It was soft.

From time to time, someone
stepped in the wrong spot

and fell into the mud.

If he fell in up to here,
it was all over.

When the mud was up to your chest,
no one could save you.

You could die at any second,
you just couldn't tell.

We finally got hold
of a newspaper

and learned that there
was a communist base

in northern Chanxi province.

It was only then that
we decided to go there.

We needed to rest and regroup.

We knew it was
extremely poor there,

but we had nowhere else to go.

The communists reached Yan'an,

the end of the long march,

in the fall of 1935.

95 % of the Red Army
had been lost.

But Mao didn't lose confidence.

He asked us a question.

Although there are now only
six or seven thousand of us left,

are we stronger or
weaker than before?

His answer was that
we were stronger.

He said the people
who remained were gold.

Chiang Kai-shek had nearly
wiped out the communists.

But he faced another threat,

a foreign threat,

which many considered more
dangerous than the communists,

Japan.

For years, Japan had
economic interests

in North China and Manchuria.

Throughout the 1920s,

it expanded its interests
and defended them

with increasingly
hostile military activity.

Japan's aim was
to colonize China.

The Japanese posed
the greatest threat

to the warlord of the region,

Zhang Shuliang.

Zhang Shuliang was one of the
most powerful men in China.

He was the General Isimo's
second-in-command,

and he retained his own huge,
well-equipped army.

In September 1931,

the Japanese attacked
Zhang Shuliang's troops.

We bore the brunt of the attack.

The brigade commander
gave orders.

First, he telephoned me and
asked me about the situation.

Then he gave the order,
don't resist.

You are not permitted to resist.

I pointed out that the enemy
had already begun to attack.

He said then,

collect the soldiers' weapons
and hide them in the storehouse.

I said that there was no way

I could collect the soldiers'
weapons and hide them

when the enemy was shelling us.

He said, then
why don't you withdraw?

I said, I have only received
an order to offer no resistance.

I have no order to withdraw.

He said, it would be better
if you withdraw,

otherwise you will be
held responsible.

Then the phone was cut off.

The Chinese troops
did not resist,

and the Japanese quickly seized
control of all of Manchuria.

Chiang Kai-shek, afraid the Japanese
military would crush China,

had chosen a policy
of non-resistance.

His deputy commander,
Chang Shuliang,

protested the situation.

Many held him responsible.

Others believed he had received
orders from Chiang Kai-shek,

and they blamed the government.

We should have resisted.

If I had been brigade commander,

I would not have withdrawn.

I would have resisted,

resisted until daylight.

When a foreign army attacks the cities
of another country in broad daylight,

I don't think that can
be justified to the world.

We have a saying, an army is
maintained for a thousand days

to be used for one.

Why didn't they fight?

I was very angry.

The Japanese used
Chinese protests

as an excuse
to attack Chiang Kai.

This time,

there was hard-fought resistance.

Hello, everybody.
This is Clyde Gibbons speaking.

This was the last stand,

the last barricade of the Chinese
forces of the 19th Route Army,

that opposed the advance of the
Japanese marines through these ruins.

Hardly a month ago,

families lived in these places,
fathers, mothers and children.

This was all that
they had in the world.

In that part of Shanghai
occupied by the Japanese,

all means of communication
are being destroyed.

All Chinese found in this quarter

are forced to undergo
a thorough search as snipers.

Possession of arms is taken
as conclusive evidence of guilt,

and the punishment
is certain death.

A ceasefire was declared
in Shanghai,

but prospects for peace
were dim.

On March 1, 1932,

Japan set up a puppet
government in Manchuria,

which they renamed Manchukuo.

They installed the former
boy emperor, Pu Yi,

now a young man,
as head of state.

The Chinese were angered and
humiliated by the Japanese attacks,

and by the government's response.

These feelings were expressed
in demonstrations, the arts,

and in feature films.

But demonstrations against Japan

were quickly suppressed
by the government.

Chiang Kai-shek was afraid
these disturbances

would provoke another attack,

which China would not survive.

We weren't ready.

We couldn't let a little event trigger
a war between China and Japan

before we were ready to fight.

The best way out was
to persuade the Japanese

to give up the idea of invasion.

We tried everything.

The nationalist policy was that
to resist foreign aggression,

the country first needs
internal pacification.

This was stated by
Chiang Kai-shek,

and it was in all the papers.

It was absolutely necessary
to wipe out the communists

before we could fight Japan.

Mao and Zhu De knew
that Jiang would strike

while they were still weak
from the long march.

In an effort to prevent this

and to harness popular
anti-Japanese feelings,

Mao called for the nationalists

to unite with the communists
against Japan.

Mao declared,

we cannot even discuss communism

if we are robbed of a country
in which to practice it.

But Jiang continued his plans
to attack the communists.

Again, Jiang Shuliang,

seen here next to Jiang,
disagreed.

He and his men only
wanted to fight Japan

to recover their homeland.

But they could not make the
generalissimo change his mind.

In December 1936,

in a desperate act
which shocked the country,

Jiang Shuliang ordered
his commander kidnapped.

Sun Ming-ju and some
heavily armed soldiers

stormed Chiang Kai-shek's
residence.

When I got to the bedroom,
I saw that it was a mess

and no one was there.

I felt Chiang Kai-shek's bed.
It was still warm,

so I knew he hadn't
been gone long.

So we went up,
and behind the hill,

I saw him squeezed
between two rocks.

It was a spot that everyone
called Tigerstone Rock.

He was standing there.

He was very frightened.

His face was covered with dirt.

He was in pajamas because

he hadn't had time
to get dressed.

I saluted and said, please,
Generalissimo, come quickly.

I was afraid that
someone might shoot him.

I felt a heavy responsibility.

The day he was kidnapped,

our Central Committee
immediately held meetings.

In the evening, we held
an emergency meeting.

Everyone was trying to
figure out how to save him.

Madam Chiang flew to Xi'an.

Chiang Kai-shek feared
he would be put on trial

and executed.

If anything should
happen to Mr. Chiang,

no one in China would be
able to fight Japan.

Nobody would be able
to stop Japan.

And the Japanese would
certainly march into China.

That would be certain.

No one would resist.

All China watched

as his fate hung in the balance.

Shanghai, China,

the Paris of the Orient.

In newsreels of the 1920s and 30s,

life here looked fun.

An exotic mix of East and West.

The reality of China
was different.

Most Chinese
lived in the country,

but their lives continued largely
untouched by the 20th century.

But the people of China
were about to be engulfed

in years of violent conflict.

Years which would
dramatically change

their country and their lives.

In these years,

China's leader,
Chiang Kai-shek,

faced two major threats
to his power.

The Communists,
led by Mao Zedong,

and the Japanese.

They controlled
most of North China

and planned
a full-scale invasion.

Many Chinese demanded that

Chiang's government
fight Japanese aggression,

but he was afraid the Japanese
military would crush China,

and he refused.

In December 1936,

anti-Japanese feeling
boiled over

and created an
astonishing crisis.

Chiang Kai-shek's deputy,

in an effort to force his
commander to resist Japan,

kidnapped him.

New thunder over China,

a storm which the world fears.

Through the TV faces the shocking news
of the kidnapping of Chiang Kai-shek.

Who is given credit
for unifying the nation.

Some say the most ominous
kidnapping in history

which threatens
world catastrophe.

As the world waited,

Madam Chiang flew
to be with her husband.

Zhou Enlai, for the Communists,

went to help negotiate.

The negotiations
went on day after day.

Finally, Chiang was released.

Everyone had recognized

that he was the only man
who could lead the country.

And he had at last agreed

to work with his old
enemies, the Communists.

Against Japan.

It was the beginning
of the United Front.

Mao Zedong's Communists

and Chiang Kai-shek's
Nationalists

would stand up to Japanese
aggression together.

Here's where it started.

The Marco Polo Bridge,

a few miles
southwest of Beijing.

On July 7, 1937,

fighting broke out
on this bridge

between Chinese
and Japanese troops.

Within days,

Japan launched a full-scale
invasion of China.

It was the beginning of
World War II in Asia.

The Japanese easily overpowered
United Chinese Resistance.

They took Beijing in days,

and then Tianjin.

The Japanese swept inland.

In October 1937,

they arrived outside
Mehua Village,

a few miles from these scenes.

Japanese devils entered
our village from the west side.

They started killing and burning
their way through the village.

They were just brutal.

They killed 46 families

and even every animal they saw.

Then they got to my home.

We were hiding in the cellar.

Japanese devils
shot into the cellar.

We children all cried.

I want to get out.
I want to get out.

When my father got up,

three devils stripped him
to the waist and tied him up.

He was tied up with
more than 10 other men.

I was putting the pit.

It was full of people.

They'd been there a long time.

The Japanese kept bringing
more and more people.

I was there for hours.

Later, about another 200 people
were pushed in.

The pit was full.

Bullets were whistling.

A bullet hit my hand.

It felt numb and hot.

It didn't hurt.

It didn't move.

It got dark and ran away.

The Japanese killed and burned
for three days and nights.

Then they left.

My grandfather and mother
started looking for my father's body.

They found it in that big pit.

There were bullet holes
in his chest.

He was killed by
the Japanese devils.

When I got home,
I pushed the door open.

It was quiet.

No one was there.

I wondered what had
happened to them.

I looked everywhere
and I couldn't find them.

I went outside.

I saw that there was
fresh earth in the courtyard.

I thought someone
must be buried in it.

And I went over to the well.

The winch had been torn out.

People were in there, too.

I asked a couple of people
to help me.

I found my grandmother, mother,

and two sons
buried in the earth.

I pulled my wife and
three-year-old out of the well.

I hadn't seen them
for just a few days.

And now none of them
could ever talk to me again.

It was too horrible.

I buried them.

That's all.

I was bombarded.

There were huge
civilian casualties.

Nationalist troops fought hard,

but they were forced to retreat.

Shanghai fell in November 1937.

In just five months,

the Japanese had captured
half of China's seaboard.

Chiang Kai-shek and his wife
appealed to the world for support.

To you, who are
enjoying the serenity

and security of your own homes,

I wish to bring a message

from the women
of war-ridden China.

It is this.

If you wish to avoid the calamities

that are befalling China now,

and the killings and mutilation

of your loved ones,
and your fellow beings,

boycott Japanese goods.

The battle for the capital,
Nanking, was fierce.

Again, the Japanese overpowered

nationalist resistance.

In December 1937,

the Japanese entered the city,

and they began
to butcher civilians.

An estimated 200,000 men, women,
and children were massacred.

It was called
the Rape of Nanking.

By June 1938,
Chiang was desperate.

He ordered the dikes of
the Yellow River broken,

hoping the flood would
stop the Japanese forces.

The people in the area
were not warned.

For them, it was catastrophic.

Eleven cities and thousands
of villages were flooded.

Millions were made homeless.

Hundreds of thousands died.

And the Japanese continued.

They had taken all of
Chiang Kai-shek's power base.

Now he adopted
classical military strategy

to trade space for time.

Taking advantage of
China's huge size,

the government and the army
retreated thousands of miles inland.

Schools, universities,
and businesses followed.

And people.

From all over occupied China,

millions left their homes
and fled in a massive exodus.

The government moved to
Chongqing in Sichuan Province.

It was a remote, undeveloped
region ruled by warlords

and had never been
under Chiang's control.

The Japanese bombed Chongqing
for weeks at a time.

The war effort was hopelessly
undersupplied and underfunded.

Chiang shored up his government
with propaganda and parades.

To boost morale,

Madame Chiang Kai-shek
toured hospitals and orphanages.

Chongqing held on.

Many other Chinese traveled
to the northwest, to Yan'an,

where the Communists had set up
their headquarters after the long march.

They came because
they wanted to fight Japan,

and because there was a sense here
of building the new society.

The atmosphere of these
early days is remembered

as one of enthusiasm
and exuberance.

The Yan'an spirit.

Yan'an was still small enough

that most people had
contact with the leadership.

Mao was developing
some of his most

important theoretical works.

He was adapting Marxism
to conditions in China.

His theories were studied
by all who came to Yan'an.

I went to the anti-Japanese
university in Yan'an

in the fall of 1938.

We had classes on current affairs,
philosophy and so on.

None of us minded
the hard conditions.

At night we shared huge beds.

Each person had
just this little space,

about a foot.

One next to the other.

We got up early in the morning.

We did morning drill
and we learned

how to use weapons
to fight the Japanese.

The term was only
a few months long.

Then we would be
sent to the front

and we sang the song.

From Yan'an, the young people
were sent to work in villages

throughout North China
and Manchuria.

They recruited anyone
who would resist Japan.

They also changed
the face of North China

by initiating moderate reforms,

reducing land rent and taxes.

They held elections
and introduced voting.

The communists carefully built
rural middle class support

and they avoided
the violent class struggle

they had used in the past.

Our slogan was,

if you have money,
give money.

If you have a gun,
give your gun.

And if you are healthy,
come and fight.

We didn't attack the rich.

We even allied with landlords

as long as they
were not collaborators

and wanted to resist.

I am from a rich farming family.

When the party started in our area,

why did they come to us
who were upper class?

Because the poor peasants

couldn't afford to give up
their work in the fields.

Besides, they were not necessarily
more progressive than we were.

Women were the most
constrained by tradition.

Even in the early 1940s,

many young girls still
had their feet bound

and they were often treated as
virtual slaves by their families.

For example, a woman had
no rights in her own family.

Since she had no income,
she was dependent.

When someone knocked
on the door asking,

is anyone home?

She would say no.

There is no one here.

See?

She didn't even
think of herself as a person.

Wang Xin-lan had married Xiaohua,

a young communist officer.

After work, Xiaohua and I
used to walk through

the village holding hands.

Sometimes after dinner,
we would just sit there

talking and laughing.

They were very envious.

They said,

you must have done a lot of
good in your previous life

for God to have given you
such a good husband.

I said, that's got
nothing to do with it.

It's because women like me
have changed our political status.

We are independent people.

Among us,
men and women are equal.

We are equal even though
he is the husband and I am the wife.

We tried to explain this to them.

It was all very
surprising to them.

The Communist call to fight Japan,

combined with their
moderate social reforms,

had a powerful appeal.

Throughout North China,

the party established
a solid base of support.

And the resistance
they organized

was effective.

Liang Yong-hung describes
how he and a friend

ambushed a Japanese regiment
which came to their village.

These two areas had
more than ten landmines.

When the enemy came,
we triggered the mines.

They got blown up on both sides.

We wouldn't let the bastards get away.

The enemy came towards us

and the two of us
were really happy.

The guy with me
was called Feng He.

I said, what about it, Feng He?

You get the officer.

I'll get the guy over there.

Feng He aimed
at the Japanese officer.

Bang!

He got him right in the head.

He killed over.

I pulled my trigger.

Bang!

Got another one.

The enemy sent a regiment
with 100 carts.

They came to take our wheat,
but we didn't lose any.

Their carts didn't
go back empty though.

They carried the bodies
of 60 dead devils.

The Japanese responded
to communist resistance

with a campaign of terror

called Burn All,
Kill All, Loot All.

They decimated any village
with communist connections

and fragmented
communist control of the region.

The communists and nationalists

were still officially
fighting Japan together,

bound by the United Front.

But there were frequent clashes
between the two sides.

In January 1941,

nationalist forces suddenly
attacked a communist unit.

The unit was wiped out.

It was the end of
the United Front.

Mao sent a message
to Chiang Kai-shek.

Those who play with fire
ought to be careful.

If things continue
to develop this way,

all the people of the country
will throw you into the gutter.

Chiang's response
to a journalist was,

the Japanese are
a disease of the skin,

the communists are
a disease of the heart.

Chung King,

the Japanese continued to bomb

Chiang Kai-shek's
wartime capital.

By December 1941,

the war had been going on
for nearly five years.

Nationalist armies had taken
beating after beating.

Japan was winning the war.

Japan launched a surprise
attack on Pearl Harbor,

and the United States
declared war on Japan.

I knew then that Japan
was bound to be defeated,

bound to lose the war.

Today, we, the people
of the United States,

fighting a desperate rearguard
action against the Japs,

grimly realize that
our future depends upon

holding a fighting China
as our ally.

Well, may we ponder
what might happen

if China should fall,

if the full force of Japan
now deadlocked in China

were released
to strike into India,

into Australia, into Mexico

or Canada, or California.

Despite the propaganda,

the Allies gave China
low priority.

They were struggling
to survive the war in Europe.

General Joseph Stilwell was named

the top American
commander in China.

Stilwell had lived in China,
and he spoke the language.

His job was to keep China
in the war

and improve
its fighting capacity.

He commanded Chinese troops,

and he believed that,
properly trained,

they would be among
the best in the world.

But he railed against
the Nationalist command.

He would speak
in expletives to me

about the Chinese generalship,

because he would
find them pigheaded,

vacillating,
they'd change their mind.

And again, Chiang
would not want to commit

a large force

to gain an objective.

He would send it in in dribblets,

and it would then be consumed
by the Japanese in dribblets.

Stilwell found that

the General Isamo was unwilling

to commit his troops
against the Japanese

because he was saving them

for use against
the Chinese communists.

He had 500,000 of his best troops

blockading the area occupied
by the Chinese communists.

Stilwell soon saw
the Chinese war effort

was hampered by another problem,

corruption.

It started at the top
with Chiang's inner circle,

his wife's family and
a handful of his oldest friends.

They controlled the economy

and made enormous profits
from their positions.

Chiang himself was never
accused of corruption,

but he did nothing to stop it,

and it spread to all levels
in the Nationalist government.

Those it hurt most were
the ordinary soldiers

Stilwell was trying to command.

Conscripts were treated brutally.

They were afraid
we would run away,

so they would tie five or six men
together on the same rope.

That's how we traveled.

We were strung up in groups.

I saw hundreds of our conscripts

strung up and pulled
along on ropes.

At night, to stop them
running away,

they tied their legs.

I saw it with my own eyes.

The Nationalists had
corrupt officers.

They put sand in the rice
to replace what they had taken.

We ate moldy rice
with a lot of sand in it.

They said we were
drafted to fight Japan

and defend our homeland.

If they really meant it,

why didn't they give us
food and clothes?

Why was there corruption?

Poverty.

If America didn't have
enough food and clothing,

corruption would exist there too.

As the Chinese saying goes,

only when one has food and
clothing will he know ethics.

Nearly one and a half million men

died of starvation or illness

before ever reaching their units.

One out of every ten men
drafted during the war.

Stillwell and the foreign
service officers filed reports

about nationalist corruption
and other problems to no avail.

Nationalist censorship
and the American media

bolstered Chiang's image.

Well known to every American
is lean, keen

Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek,

undisputed leader and idol
of 450 millions of Chinese.

In 1943,

Madam Zhang visited
the United States

and charmed Congress
and the public.

Let us not forget

that Japan in her
occupied areas today

has greater resources
at her command

than Germany.

Let us not forget that

during the first
four and a half years

of total aggression,

China has borne
Japan's sadistic fury

unaided and alone.

She repeatedly requested

huge amounts of money and
supplies for the government.

When the U.S. Treasury
expressed reservations,

Chiang threatened to sign
a separate peace with Japan.

And so millions of
dollars were sent.

No one had to
account for the money

and much of it
simply disappeared.

To be fair, I must say
that in any government,

at any time, there will be
situations we don't like.

Some unfair and illegal behavior.

This can happen in any country,

any government, at any time.

Especially during a period
of bad economic conditions

after years of war.

Naturally, some people are
tempted by material things.

In August 1944,

a group of American officers flew

deep into northwest China to Yenan.

Anxious to improve
China's fighting capacity,

Stilwell and the American
government wanted to know

if the Communists could be
used effectively in the war.

The Foreign Service officers
who went to Yenan

were called the Dixie Mission.

It was the first official Western
recognition of the Communists.

My first impressions,

well Mao Zedong was a large,

even then slightly
tending towards

a plump individual
with a very smooth face,

no facial hair
that had been noticed.

And he was not what
you would call charismatic.

He was straightforward,

did not dwell on
polite phrases at all.

But there was no question
that he was the boss.

Everyone was deferential to him,

including people like
Zhou Enlie and Zhu De.

They looked to him
and when he spoke,

no dog barked.

Mao was now the undisputed
leader of the Communists.

The year before,

Mao Zedong thought had become
their official ideology.

No criticism of Communist
Party policies was tolerated.

The Communists wanted
to create a good impression,

for they wanted American help

in the immediate
struggle against Japan,

and they hoped for
long-term support

when the war was over.

The American officers
spent a year in Yenan

assessing the Communists'
organization

and their military potential.

Apart from a few Russian advisers,

they saw no evidence
of Soviet support.

With full US
government approval,

the Americans instructed
the Communists

on strategy and weaponry.

They watched guerrilla tactics.

They traveled out from Yenan

and watched the Communists
attack Japanese blockhouses.

They saw that the Communists
controlled huge areas

in the countryside of
North and Central China.

Patrick Hurley,

President Roosevelt's
personal representative, visited.

His mission was to mediate
between Chiang and the Communists.

When Hurley arrived in Yenan,

the plane sat down and
the door was flung open.

And there stood Hurley in
his Major General's uniform,

glistening in his white mustachios
and his six feet three.

And he let out a Choctaw war hoop.

And of course, the Chinese
were much too courteous

to stand and say,
what goes on?

They just... I suppose

they assumed that this is the way
foreign devils behave

when they appear
upon a scene somewhere.

China was a very
complex phenomenon,

and it really baffled him, I think.

He had great difficulty
with identifying

who the various Chinese were.

He had... Mao Zedong
was Mu Stang,

and the nicknames
that grew up there

in an attempt to identify people

was a very clear indication
that he really was

somewhat at sea, shall we say.

Despite cordial appearances,

Hurley's mediation went badly

and led to deep
Communist mistrust of him.

Hurley supported Chiang Kai-shek

and did not seem to take
the Communists seriously.

The Foreign Service officers
made a different assessment.

I reported on the Communists,

after my visit there,

that I thought that

they would probably
win in China.

And the reason I think that

that would happen is that
they had popular support.

I mentioned, I think,
at the time that

they were a democratic force.

That was a misnomer.

They were a popular force,

and they had popular support,

and only in that sense
were they democratic.

Relations between
Chiang and Stilwell

were deteriorating.

Stilwell, on behalf of
the American government,

demanded that Chiang make
sweeping changes in his army.

Stilwell talked about the bad
things in Chiang's government,

and Chiang's arrogance.

He also asked that

part of Chiang's troops be placed

under his direct control,

and that Americans be appointed
high-ranking officers.

Chiang Kai-shek
did not accept that.

But all those were not
the main disagreements.

The biggest disagreement
was that Stilwell wanted

to send weapons
to the Communists

to arm Communist troops,

which was the last thing
Chiang Kai-shek wanted.

Chiang demanded Stilwell's recall.

John Davies asked for a transfer.

Almost every American officer

with in-depth experience in China

was fired or resigned.

Chiang now had undisputed
control of China's war effort.

Stilwell was replaced
by General Wedemeyer,

who was much more
sympathetic to Chiang.

And the war with Japan
was soon to be over.

In August 1945,

the atomic bomb was
dropped on Hiroshima,

and the Japanese surrendered.

In the victory celebrations,

Chiang was the hero of China.

But the quick end of the war

left an important
question unresolved.

Who would take the Japanese
surrender in North China?

The Communists raced
to get their armies north.

Nationalist troops were
airlifted by America

to arrive first.

General Lu Zheng-cao remembers

what Mao said about
Chiang Kai-shek.

He wants to come down the
mountain to harvest peaches.

That's what Mao said.

Our people and our army
had made great sacrifices

behind the Japanese lines.

So we wanted to take the
surrender in those areas.

I rode all night
back to the front.

You couldn't say we were
harvesting peaches,

but we did want to taste a few.

Civil war seemed inevitable.

Patrick Hurley, now U.S.
ambassador in China,

persuaded Mao to go to
Chunking for talks with Chiang.

The two men had not
met in nearly 20 years

since the days of
Sun Yat-sen in Canton.

Zheng addressed Mao
as elder brother

and Mao made the toast
long live Chiang Kai-shek.

But the talks led nowhere.

President Truman did not give up.

He sent General George Marshall
to mediate.

An agreement was signed

and then quickly broke down.

The Civil War began.

At first, it went badly
for the Communists.

In March 1947,
Mao announced to his troops

that they would
withdraw from Yenan

because of a successful
nationalist advance.

But Yenan was only a symbol

and not the base of their power.

Their real power lay in the vast

countryside of North China
and Manchuria.

It had been built up
during the war with Japan

when moderate reforms
had attracted support

from all economic
levels of society.

Now the Communist
leadership decided

to expand their support
by concentrating on the poor.

They launched a radical
land reform movement,

attacking their old allies
in the prosperous middle class.

In Li Lao Chi's house,

we first drove out
his cattle and pigs.

Then we took all the furniture,

cabinets and trunks
out of his house.

We took all his clothes, too.

After that, we shut him
up in a small room

and told him
to write a confession.

Then the people wanted
to struggle with him.

They shouted, Li Lao Chi,
you must confess honestly.

Who did you exploit?

How much money
have you piled up?

Where have you hidden it?

You must confess.

We struggled with him
for a long time.

He had buried his silver dollars
underground.

We got him to confess
where he had hidden the money.

As the poor divided up
the land of the prosperous,

many communists
were torn between

the demands of the party
and of their families.

Even veteran party members
were attacked.

When the reforms came,
you had to go along with them.

Because I was a party member,
I had to take the lead.

My parents didn't agree with me.

Even though they were in
charge of the family property,

they had to listen to me.

At the time of the land reform,
my family had a new cart,

a horse, a donkey and
about five acres of land.

We had a large family
and enough food.

And so one night
they sealed up our house.

All the landlords
and rich peasants

were locked up in one spot
before the mass rally.

I went and saw the situation
was no good.

I was afraid the struggle
meeting might go wild.

I was scared.

The meeting began.

My father was Wang De,
and they tied him to a post.

Everyone in the village was there,
and then they went crazy.

Some innocent people got beaten

and some bad people got beaten.

Village leaders tried
to control the mob.

They even sat on the landlords
to keep them from being torn apart.

What they did was wrong.

They ignored the facts.

If you weren't poor,
if you were better off,

then you were guilty.

That's how they reasoned.

Land reform had become
mob rule.

It tore families
and villages apart.

The communists
began to lose support.

In December 1947,

Mao urged restraint.

Five months later,
the movement was stopped.

The communists tried
to minimize the damage

and backtrack to their
moderate wartime policies.

They managed to salvage
peasant support.

In the cities,

people's lives had not
improved after the war.

Massive economic problems were
undercutting Chiang's support.

The government's financial
policies were chaotic.

The currency system changed many times.

The old Fabi paper money
was changed

to the new
Fabi paper money.

Then that was changed
to the gold yuan.

Then, when there weren't
enough gold yuan,

it was changed to the
yuan-shikai silver dollars.

It was also gold,

and even American
dollars were used.

The currency system was
in complete chaos.

So when people got
paid in the morning,

they would rush
to buy things,

because prices would
rise by the afternoon.

Sometimes the price would double.

People had a rough time.

The homeless and starving
filled city streets.

Black market trading and
corruption were widespread.

To make matters worse,

in 1947,

floods in the south
destroyed the rice crop.

And in the north,
there was a devastating famine.

In response,

the United Nations Relief Agency
sent millions of dollars in aid.

America continued to send
vast quantities of war surplus

and millions more
dollars to help Chiang

in his struggle against
the Communists.

Many were certain
that Chiang's family

was embezzling huge
amounts of this aid.

He and his wife
continued to ask for more.

In 1947, President Truman
sent Albert Wedemeyer

back to China to assess
the situation.

Although it was clear that
Chiang's government was corrupt

and losing support,

for America there was
no alternative.

Wedemeyer urged Chiang
to affect immediate

drastic political and
economic reforms.

At the same time,

he recommended more U.S. aid.

Wedemeyer's recommendation
that we continue to support

the government of Chiang Kai-shek

has to be considered
in the context of the times.

The times of the Cold War,

in which the Chinese Communists

seemed to be allied
with the Russians.

And the hope that
somehow or other

military aid might contribute

to the survival of Chiang
Kai-shek's government.

But American aid

could not win the war for Chiang.

He made the crucial mistake of

overextending his forces
in the north.

The Communists responded
with a change in tactics.

They mounted a major offensive

against the nationalist armies
in the cities.

The change of tactics worked.

By November 1948,

after only a month and a half,

the Communists won
control of North China.

Nationalist troops were

crossing over to us
in divisions and armies.

When we first got to the northeast,

we had a hundred thousand troops.

Now we were four or five
hundred thousand strong.

Our equipment all came
from the United States

and Chiang Kai-shek.

There was a joke among the soldiers.

They said that Chiang was our best
supplier of American weapons.

That was the joke.

They said that after we win,

we'll give him a medal
that weighs a ton.

Because he did
such a good job for us.

After eight years
of fighting Japan,

nobody wanted to fight anymore.

Even I didn't want to fight anymore.

Chiang Kai-shek reprimanded me.

This war has to be fought.

If we don't wipe out
the Communists,

we'll die without a place
to be buried.

We've got to go all out.

I couldn't say anything to that.

He was my teacher,
my academy commandant.

He had been my commanding
officer for many years.

All I could do was obey.

With North China under
Communist control,

the battle for Central China began.

Huang Wei led Chiang Kai-shek's
cracked 12th Army.

Our movements were slow.

Our equipment was heavy,
cumbersome.

We were fighting, retreating,

and bringing up reinforcements
simultaneously.

Our formations were
beaten back bit by bit.

We would be wiped out in one day,

two days' time.

So I gave the order to flee.

That saved some people.

On December 15,

we broke out in several places.

My deputy commander and I
got into a tank and fled.

We fled to a place about
15 miles from Chiang Dui-chi.

That evening,
the evening of December 15,

the tank I was in
broke down,

couldn't move.

So we got out and fled on foot.

The Communists were everywhere.

And they caught me.

I became their prisoner.

The Nationalists failed

because we completely
lost the people's support.

I had heard that during
the Northern Expedition,

the people gave us
flowers and food.

During the war against Japan,

the people provided intelligence

and helped us
resist the Japanese.

Once the Civil War started,

we couldn't find anyone
to give us even road directions.

There is a saying in China,

the water that carries the boat

can also overturn it.

On January 21, 1949,

11 days after the
battle for central China,

Chiang Kai-shek resigned.

In Shanghai, people were
leaving in droves.

Chiang Kai-shek and his government

retreated to the island of Taiwan.

It was carefully planned.

They took a huge part of
China's art treasures

and all of the central
bank reserves.

U.S. aid followed.

The last shipments of
arms and ammunition

were sent to Taiwan,
not to China.

The government of
Chiang Kai-shek

had already made
its preparations

for transfer to Taiwan.

So we never stopped
supporting Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang did not give up all hope.

My father's first order
was for us to examine

our past mistakes, both
domestic and international.

Secondly, we should prepare
to recover the mainland.

He never said we should
fight our way back.

What we should do was help
the people on the mainland

overthrow the regime.

So we've been making
preparations based on this order

since the first day in Taiwan.

The war continued
without Chiang Kai-shek.

The communists prepared
to cross the Yangtze River,

heading for Nanking
and Shanghai.

They quickly overcame
nationalist defenses.

With the communists
just outside Shanghai,

the remaining nationalist police

stepped up their
anti-communist activities.

My husband had been
arrested by the nationalists,

and I couldn't find him.

I was both happy and
worried at the same time.

Happy because the revolution
would soon succeed.

That was obvious.

And worried because
my husband had been arrested,

and we didn't know
where he was.

On October 1, 1949,

we listened to the radio.

We heard the ceremony
of the founding of

the People's Republic of China.

Chairman Mao proclaimed

that the Chinese people
had stood up.

All of us were overjoyed.

We jumped around.

We were really proud and happy.

My daughters were very young.

They asked why there was
so much excitement.

I told them
they would understand

when they were older.

As for me, it was the day

I'd been working
for all my life.

October 1st,

I was locked up
in the war criminals' prison.

I had no desire to go on living,

but I couldn't just die.

I was very stubborn.

I really couldn't change
the way I thought.

So I was locked up
in thought reform

for 27 years.

This man, I think
he was a great man.

He was a hero.

But his methods were
the old ones of China.

And he lost.

I put my life
on the line for him.

In the end, I was
buried alive for him.

You could say I was
loyal to him to the end.

Loyal to the end.

I felt happy on the one hand

because I had been looking
forward to liberation so much.

And I had come at last.

On the other hand, I felt sad.

For my husband was dead.

But then we thought that
people always die in revolution.

No death, no victory.

Subtitles by Andante

Major funding for this program

was provided by the National
Endowment for the Humanities.

Additional funding was provided by

the John Dee and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

And the New York Council
for the Humanities.

This is PBS.