OLLI0038 - China's Revolutions: 1912-1976

Course Description

We will cover events in China from the Sun Yatsen led Nationalist Revolution of 1912 through the founding in 1921 of the Chinese Communist Party and subsequent historic events that changed China and the world. This will include the years encompassing the Nationalist Revolution; two civil wars between the Chiang Kaishek led Nationalists and the Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De led Communists; the United Front between the two against the Japanese; and the eventual Communist victory in 1949 establishing the People's Republic of China. We will end with a discussion of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" (1966 - 1976) up to the deaths of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Zhu De in 1976. Of note, the course will also include the active role foreigners, especially numerous Americans, played in these years of revolution. Watch video