Quick questions on The KMT defeat and retreat to Taiwan 1949: HSC Modern History National Study China

Taiwan had been a Japanese colony since the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895). The Japanese had developed Taiwan economically: railways, electrification, modern schools, modern agriculture. Japanese was the language of education and administration; many Taiwanese under 50 in 1945 had had no education in Mandarin.

The KMT did what it had failed to do on the mainland: tackle the rural question.

Wholesale prices in Chongqing in 1948 were around 1,400 times the 1937 level. The Fabi at 25 yuan to US dollar in 1937 had reached 12 million by mid-1948. The Gold Yuan reform of 19 August 1948 set the new currency at 3 million Fabi to 1 Gold Yuan; the Gold Yuan itself lost 90 per cent of its value within three months.

The "Four Big Families" (Chiang, Soong, Kung, Chen) controlled major economic positions; T.V. Soong's wealth and H.H. Kung's banking made them political liabilities.

The KMT never tackled landlord-tenant relations; the 1930 Land Law on paper was never enforced. CCP land reform after 1946 gave the PLA an inexhaustible peasant recruit base; KMT conscription gave it deserters.

Chiang held cities the KMT could not garrison and roads the KMT could not patrol. Each KMT advance left isolated cities to be picked off; each PLA campaign concentrated overwhelming force.

Senior officers defected at decisive moments. In the Liaoshen, Huaihai, and Pingjin campaigns, KMT defections accounted for around 1 million troops switching sides.

Source A is the China White Paper of 5 August 1949 (Acheson letter of transmittal). Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain the international context of the KMT defeat. [5 marks]

Evaluate the extent to which the KMT defeat in 1949 was the result of Chiang's personal leadership. [25 marks]

Compare the views of Jay Taylor and Hsiao-ting Lin on Chiang Kai-shek's leadership in 1949. [10 marks]