Chiang Kai Shek China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost

by Fenby, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780786714841
• ISBN10: 0786714840
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-03
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Summary

With a narrative as briskly paced and vividly detailed as an international thriller, this definitive biography of Chiang Kai-shek masterfully maps the tumultuous political career of Nationalist China's generalissimo as it reevaluates his brave but unfulfilled life. Chiang Kai-shek was one of the most influential world figures of the twentieth century. The leader of the Kuomintang, the Nationalist movement in China, by 1928 he had established himself as head of the government in Nanking. But while he managed to survive the political storms of the 1930s, Chiang's power was continually being undermined by the Japanese on one side and the Chinese Communists on the other. Drawing extensively on original Chinese sources and accounts by contemporaneous journalists, acclaimed author Jonathan Fenby explores little-known international connections in Chiang's story as he unfolds a story as fascinating in its conspiratorial intrigues as it is remarkable for its psychological insights. This is the definitive biography of the man who, despite his best intentions, helped create modern-day China.

Author Biography

Jonathan Fenby, a former editor of the Observer and the South China Morning Post, is author of several books, including the acclaimed On the Brink: The Trouble with France, and Dealing with the Dragon: A Year in the New Hong Kong. He lives in the United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

Maps	x
Acknowledgements	xvii
Author's Note	xxi
Dramatis Personae	xxiii
Prologue: Thirteen Days in Xi'an	1	(16)
PART I: Son of the Salt-Seller
Cold Realities	17	(10)
Sworn Brothers	27	(15)
Going to Extremes	42	(17)
The Will of Heaven	59	(16)
The Red Protector	75	(26)
PART II: Shedding Blood
Lords of Misrule	101	(13)
To the North	114	(19)
Light, Heat, Power	133	(12)
The Great Purge	145	(18)
Political Union	163	(12)
PART III: The Nanking Decade
Captain Chiang	175	(18)
Two Chinas	193	(15)
Heart and Skin	208	(17)
Follow the Leader	225	(26)
The Long Chase	251	(22)
End of Endurance	273	(22)
PART IV: Broken Jade
The Most Dreadful Nightmare	295	(17)
I Am the State	312	(22)
In the Clouds	334	(21)
Magnetic Warfare	355	(13)
Peanut and Vinegar	368	(19)
Snow White, Madame Empress	387	(21)
`All Asia Is at Stake'	408	(29)
PART V: The Long Goodbye
Red Leaves	437	(23)
Mission Impossible	460	(13)
Dying Light	473	(26)
Epilogue: Next Year in Nanking	499	(8)
Notes	507	(28)
Bibliography	535	(15)
Index	550