Duel for the Middle Kingdom

Download or read book Duel for the Middle Kingdom written by William Morwood and published by New York : Everest House. This book was released on 1980 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For twenty centuries China--known as the Middle Kingdom--lay dormant under the mantle of the Confucian system. It was a feudal society in which there was a place for everyone, supervised by mandarins and gentry who made sure that few strayed from their allotted niches. Those who were born poor remained poo, and there was no chance whatsoever for a better life. Then within only 38 years--1911-1949--everything radically changed. China was ripped apart by the explosive force of new ideas from the West. In practical terms, the upheaval took the form of an unrelenting duel between two titans: Chiang Kai-shek, champion of the old values, and Mao Tse-tung, representative of the Communist Party--the prophet of the future. To understand the policies of the tough men who rule Peking today, it is necessary to delve into the past, to search for motives and clues to what awaits both China and the West. 'Duel For The Middle Kingdom' is the extraordinary work that explains China today by clarifying its recent past. In its compelling pages, William Morwood tells the stories of the colossal blunder that enabled Sun Yat-sen to topple the Manchu Empire and create the Chinese Republic; the infamous Shanghai Massacre, when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek tried to exterminate the Communists; the Red Army's 6,000-mile Long March around the rim of China to escape Chiang's murderous Kuomintang forces; the bitter wars--both civil and against the Japanese--before the People's republic was proclaimed in 1949. 'Duel For The Middle Kingdom' also brings to life the famous Americans--Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, General Stilwell, Marshall, and others--who tried in various ways to turn the tide of China's destiny. All failed because none could understand the underlying dynamics of a nation convulsed by a desperate need for change."--Front and back flaps of book jacket.