At Canton there had been developed since 1917 a government which claimed, as did the government at Peking, to be the government of (all) China. There Dr. Sun Yat-sen had been elected "President of China" (1921). There, shortly before his death, Dr. Sun had decided to accept assistance from Soviet Russia—a decision which produced a schism in his party—and had entrusted to General Chiang the task of creating an army with which to "unify" the country. The administration of Canton by the Nationalist Government had been favorably commented on by many observers.[1]
The long threatened northward advance ("march on Peking") of the Canton forces was launched early in the summer of 1926. Chiang Kai-shek's army took Changsha, crossed the Yangtze above Hankow, took Hanyang and its arsenal, then took Hankow, and later, after a siege of several weeks took Wuchang, and, proceeding down the river, took Kiukiang. The success of his armies increased Chiang Kai-shek's prestige and so materially damaged Wu Pei-fu that not a few observers declared the latter "finished." Chiang has since pressed on, south of the Yangtze, and has just now (March 21, 1927) taken the region around Shanghai.
Although it should be clearly understood that these military operations are not those of a revolutionary organization seeking to overthrow a legitimate government, it should not be thought that
- ↑ Dr. Sun died in Peking in March, 1926, on the eve of a conference which he was to have had with northern "War Lords".
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