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| Sūzhōng | |
|---|---|
| King of the Southern Zhou | |
 | |
| Full name | Chiang Kai-Shek/Jiang Jeshi |
| Born | 31 October 1887 |
| Birthplace |  Xikou, Zhejiang, Qing Empire |
| Died | 5 April 1975 |
| Place of death |  Taipei, China |
| Buried | Nanjing, China |
| Successor | Shuchang |
| Royal House | Zhou |
| Religious beliefs | Methodist Christianity (until 1969) National Church of China |
| Sūzhōng | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 蘇鐘 | ||
| Simplified Chinese | 苏中 | ||
| |||
Chiang Kai-shek (traditional Chinese: 蔣介石; simplified Chinese: 蒋介石; pinyin: Jiǎng Jièshí; Cantonese Yale: Jéung Gaai-sehk, 31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975) also known by his regnal name Sūzhōng, King of the Southern Zhou (Chinese: 蘇鐘) was a Chinese monarch, and politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the Generalissimo of the Empire of China from 1960 until his death in 1975. Prior, he was the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Generalissimo of the National Revolutionary Army in 1928. He held these positions in mainland China until 1949, when his nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party was defeated in the First Chinese Civil War by the Northern Coalition —thereafter, the political status of China remained in status quo, and the Republic of China remained confined to the south, with its capital city in Nanjing.
However beginning in 1953, after his former ally Zhang Xueliang became the Generalissimo of the Chinese Empire, Chiang began to opened up to continuing the KMT as a party within the Empire of China, and his deteriorating relations with the United Kingdom and France heavily-spearheaded this. After British and French military generals began making demands for Chiang to give them unrestricted access of Chinese railways, Chiang officially threw in the towel and initiating the Beijing-Nanjing Meetings with Zhang, resulting in an assassination attempt against him. Though Zhang and Chiang, many ex-KMT officers secretly conspired too, to swear their loyalty to the Chaoxiang Emperor. During the Chinese New Year of 1954, Chiang and a group of KMT officers swore their loyalty to the Chaoxiang Emperor in a private ceremony. Afterwards, the Third Chinese Civil War broke out, where the Republic of China was expelled to Taiwan. Feng Yuxiang led the last feeble stand in Taiwan, up until Chiang Kai-Shek invaded Taiwan, and brought an official end to the Republic of China in all Chinese-speaking realm. The Southern Chinese White Terror followed afterwards, where Chiang formed the New KMT, and successfully used his influence to garner support for the Empire among the people of southern China.
Chiang was thus, proclaimed the Generalissimo of the Southern Region, and maintained his influence. Additionally under his rule, southern Chinese culture was promoted, and people of Southern Min Chinese-speaking background came to positions of economic, political and military elite and authority in not only southern China, but also the Empire of China in general. Thus, for his achievement, Chiang Kai-Shek was proclaimed by the Chaoxiang Emperor as the King of the Southern Lands, as Suzhong. However, as King, Suzhong continued to support and spearhead a constitutional monarchy and a democratic role.
Born in Zhejiang, Chiang was a member of the Kuomintang, and a lieutenant of Sun Yat-sen in the revolution that attempted to overthrow the Beiyang government and reunify China. As commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, he led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, before being defeated by a coalition of warlords, which would later unify as the North Chinese Confederation. Because the Soviet Union never exists as a result of the White victory, Chiang Kai-Shek retreats into Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China.
As the leader of the Republic of China during the Nanjing decade, Chiang sought to strike a difficult balance between modernizing China, while also devoting resources to defending the nation against the North Chinese, and the impending Japanese threat. Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, he mobilized China for the Second Sino-Japanese War. For eight years, he led the war of resistance against a vastly superior enemy, mostly from the wartime capital Chongqing. As the leader of a major Allied power, Chiang met with British prime minister Winston Churchill and American president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Cairo Conference to discuss terms for the Japanese surrender. However, he was treated like an outsider, victim of false promises, and abused by the Western allies. In the aftermath of his loos in the Second Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-Shek threw in the towel, and co-initiated the Beifang-Kuomintang Meetings. Both Russian and American spies were not happy with this, further triggering Boxer Rebellion-era attitudes. Afterwards, the United States considered him a traitor and a dictator. In response, he released former Imperial Japanese POWs.
When the Second World War ended, the war with North China ended in 1949. Presiding over a period of social reforms and economic prosperity, Chiang won five elections to six-year terms as President of the Republic of China in which he faced minimal opposition or was elected unopposed. Three years into his fifth term as president, he died in 1975. He also held the position of director-general within the Kuomintang until his death.
Sūzhōng is regarded as a controversial figure. Supporters credit him with playing a major part in unifying the nation, banning foot-binding, and by switching his allegiance towards the Chaoxiang Emperor, allowed the Imperial government to control all of China, and prior to that in World War II, leading the Chinese resistance against Japan, and countering Beifang influence and economic development in China. Detractors and critics denounce him as a brutal dictator at the front of a corrupt authoritarian regime that massacred civilians and suppressed political dissents, and often accuse him of being a fascist. He is also criticized for flooding the Yellow River, a move that subsequently caused the Henan Famine during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Other historians argued that despite his many faults, Sūzhōng's ideology notably differs from other right-wing dictators of the 20th century, and he did not genuinely espouse the ideology of fascism. They argue that Sūzhōng made genuine efforts to improve China's economic and social conditions, such as improving women's rights and land reform. Sūzhōng was also credited with transforming China from a semi-colony of various imperialist powers to an independent country by amending the unequal treaties signed by previous governments.