Quick questions on The Nanjing Decade 1928-1937: HSC Modern History National Study China

The Nationalist Government was formally established at Nanjing on 18 April 1927. The Five Yuan Constitution of 1928 organised state power into executive, legislative, judicial, examination, and control branches. The Organic Law of the National Government (October 1928) made Chiang chairman; the post became the de facto presidency.

KMT effective control extended over around eight to ten provinces in the lower Yangtze and the south. Beyond that, governance was through bargains:

Chiang launched the New Life Movement at Nanchang on 19 February 1934. The slogan was the revival of the four Confucian virtues: li (ritual propriety), yi (righteousness), lian (integrity), chi (sense of shame). Practical targets ranged from spitting and smoking to dress and punctuality. Soong Mei-ling led the women's section; Methodist missionaries were enlisted.

From 1928 to 1938 Germany was Chiang's closest military and industrial partner. Successive German military missions (Max Bauer 1928-1929; Hermann Kriebel 1929-1930; Georg Wetzell 1930-1934; Hans von Seeckt 1934-1935; Alexander von Falkenhausen 1935-1938) trained around 80,000 KMT troops in modern doctrine.

<!-- Diagram: A balance-sheet concept map of the Nanjing Decade KMT state, with an achievements column (finance, infrastructure, New Life Movement) weighed against a weaknesses column (corruption, narrow base, rural neglect), both feeding a verdict that the 1937 invasion exposed the limits. | reviewed 2026-06-28 --> <svg class="fig" viewBox="0 0 400 500" role="img" aria-labelledby="njd-bs-t njd-bs-d"> <title id="njd-bs-t">The Nanjing Decade KMT state: achievements against weaknesses</title> <desc id="njd-bs-d">A balance sheet of the Nanjing Decade. The left column lists achievements: financial reform (Central Bank 1928, Fabi currency 1935), infrastructure (railways and industry), and the New Life Movement of 1934. The right column lists weaknesses: corruption and repression, a narrow territorial base of around eight to ten provinces, and rural neglect with the unenforced 1930 Land Law.