Labels:text | human face | smile | man | person OCR: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek The best-known non-Communist Chinese politician of the 20th century, Chiang Kai-shek founded the alternative Chinese state of Taiwan in 1949 on the island of Formosa. Chiang rose to prominence as a general in Sun Yat-sen's Nationalist Army, which overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911-12. Following Sun's death in 1925, Chiang became Nationalist leader and joined forces with Mao Tse-tung's Communists to overthrow the Peking government and surviving warlords. In 1927 Chiang began to eradicate his rivals, and intensified his efforts after Japan's occupation of Manchuria in 1931. For a time an uneasy truce ensued between the Communists and Nationalists but after Japan's defeat in World War II, civil war erupted. In 1949, the Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese politician Communists achieved victory and the People's and founder of Taiwan, 1887-1975 Republic of China was formed under Mao Tse- tung; Chiang retreated to Taiwan where his Nationalist government-in-exile continued friendly relations with the West, while mainland China retreated into Communist isolation. CHRONOLOGY
