After the fall of the empire, the political landscape changed dramatically and became dominated by two forces, the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party, founded in 1921. The Nationalists were led first by Sun Yatsen from his power base in Guangzhou, then by General Chiang Kaishek who seized power in 1926. In 1923 the two Parties formed a “united front” against the warlords, but in 1926 the Communists were expelled from the KMT. Chiang Kaishek led his army to Nanjing where he tried to establish a Nationalist capital, and betrayed the Communist-led workers of Shanghai who were massacred by underworld gangsters. The Communists were driven underground and Mao Zedong retreated to the countryside.

High in the mountains of Jiangxi province, Mao and Zhu De founded the Jiangxi Soviet in 1930. From this inaccessible base, the communists began to redistribute land to the peasants and institute new marriage laws. In 1934, Chiang Kaishek drove the communists from the area, forcing Mao to embark on the legendary Long March. Yan’an, where the march ended, became the new communist Party headquarters and would remain so until 1945.