State · 1949
People's Republic of China proclaimed
Tiananmen Square, Beijing
After the Chinese Communist Party defeated Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists in the civil war that resumed in full in 1946, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949. The Nationalist government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan.
Why it mattered
Communist rule brought sweeping social change to China, and the division between the People's Republic and the government on Taiwan that began in 1949 persists today.
Related
- The world in 1945: Victory, Ruin and the Atom chapter
- The creation of Israel, the 1948 war and the Nakba previous moment · 1947–1949
- Korean War next moment · 1950–1953