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Benshengren / Waishengren
Terms for native Taiwanese and mainland Chinese migrants, reflecting ethnic and political tensions.
Blue Shirts Society
Paramilitary organization loyal to Jiang Jieshi, promoting fascist-style discipline and ideological purity.
Chongqing
Wartime capital of the Nationalist government, symbolizing Chinese resistance.
Cold War in Asia
Period of ideological rivalry after 1949, shaped by Communist China’s emergence.
Comfort Women
Korean and other Asian women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
Confucian Revival
Jiang’s attempt to restore moral discipline and loyalty through state-led ideology.
Eighth Route Army
CCP military force operating in northern China under nominal GMD command during the United Front.
Eulsa Treaty (1905)
Agreement making Korea a Japanese protectorate before full annexation.
Fabi (1935)
New national currency introduced to stabilize China’s economy during the Nanjing Decade.
February 28 Incident (1947)
Uprising against GMD misrule, brutally suppressed and marking the start of large-scale repression.
First United Front (1923–1927)
Tactical alliance between the GMD and CCP to unify China against warlords.
Guerrilla Warfare
Strategy of irregular combat and mobility, central to Mao’s revolutionary tactics.
Huaihai Campaign (1948–1949)
Decisive battle in central China that destroyed the GMD’s main field army.
Jiangxi Soviet
Communist-controlled region established in southeastern China (1931–1934) as a laboratory for Maoist governance.
Landlordism
System of agricultural exploitation in which wealthy landowners controlled rural production and extracted rent from peasants.
Legitimacy
Legitimacy is public acceptance of authority
Long March (1934–1935)
Strategic retreat of the CCP forces from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, symbolizing Communist resilience and discipline.
March First Movement (1919)
Nationwide Korean protest against Japanese colonial rule, brutally suppressed by the Japanese army.
Marco Polo Bridge Incident (1937)
A clash between Japanese and Chinese troops at Lugouqiao (Marco Polo Bridge) near Beijing on 7 July 1937. A Japanese soldier went missing during a night exercise, and Japan demanded to search the nearby town of Wanping. China refused, and fighting erupted. Japan used the incident to escalate into a full-scale invasion of China, marking the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Marshall Mission (1946)
Failed U.S. diplomatic effort to broker peace between the CCP and GMD.
Martial Law
Military rule that suspends normal civil liberties, imposed in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987.
Marxism-Leninism
Communist ideology emphasizing class struggle and revolution; Mao later adapted it to focus on peasants rather than industrial workers.
May Fourth Movement (1919)
Student-led protests against imperialism and traditional culture that promoted nationalism and reform.
Nanjing Massacre (1937–1938)
The mass killing, rape, and looting carried out by Japanese troops after capturing Nanjing (China's capital) in December 1937. Over a six-week period, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war were killed. The atrocity was widely reported in Western media and remains one of the most controversial episodes of the war, with ongoing disputes over the death toll between Chinese and Japanese historians.