Ep. 120 | The Chinese Civil War (Part 2)

Part 2 of our overview of the Chinese Civil War focuses mainly on the year 1947. The Americans have now left and the NRA and PLA attack each other with all they got. The years start out well for the Nationalists as they pummel the PLA in Manchuria and in the north. But once the summer offensive begins, it’s a steady stream of bad news for Chiang.

Ultimately with the conclusion of the bloody Siping Campaign that ended in March 1948, Manchuria was lost for good. Chiang would never be able to win it back. Once this feather was in Mao’s cap, plans were made to conquer the rest of China.

This would take two more years.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/Term	Chinese	English/Meaning
Anhui	安徽	Province in China
Cao Wei	曹魏	The Kingdom of Wei during the Three Kingdoms Period
Changchun	长春	Capital of Jilin province in Manchuria
Chen Cheng	陈诚	NRA General
Chen Mingren	陈明仁	NRA Geberal
Chen Yi	陈毅	PLA General and future foreign minister
Chen Yi	陈议	NRA General
Chengguan	城管	Street police of China in charge of maintaining order on the streets, especially amongst vendors. They are famously unpopular amongst the local people where they serve.
Du Yuming	杜聿明	Nationalist General
Fu Zuoyi	傅作义	Nationalist General
Fujian	福建	Province in China
Guangdong	广东	Province in China
Guangxi	广西	Province in China
Guomin Gemingjun	国民革命军	The National Revolutionary Army (NRA)
Harbin	哈尔滨	Written as Haerbin in pinyin but more commonly as Harbin, it is the capital of Heilongjiang province
Heshui	合水	Site (in Gansu) of a civil war campaign
Hu Zongnan	胡宗南	Nationalist General
Huaihai	淮海	Civil War Campaign in 1948
Hubei	湖北	Province in China
Hunan	湖南	Province in China
Jiangsu	江苏	Province in China
Jin-Cha-Ji	晋察冀	Another military region of the Communists covering parts of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Hebei
Li Denghui	李登辉	Former president of Taiwan 1988-2000
Li Fuchun	李富春	PLA General
Li Xiannian	李先念	PLA General
Li Zongren	李宗仁	Nationalist General
Liaoning	辽宁	Province in Manchuria
Liaoshen	辽沈	Civil War Campaign in 1948
Linfen	临汾	In Shanxi province, also known as the most polluted city in the world, it was the site of a civil war campaign in 1948
Liu Bocheng	刘伯承	PLA General (Deng Xiaoping partner in civil war)
Liu Shaoqi	刘少奇	Communist leader (and later Cultural Revolution main target)
Manchukuo	满洲国	Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, capital was at Changchun
Nanma-Linqu	南临战役	Site (in Hebei) of a civil war campaign
Niangziguan	娘子关	Site of a civil war battle
Nie Rongzhen	聂荣臻	PLA General
Peng Dehuai	彭德怀	PLA General
Pingjin	平津	Civil War Campaign in 1948
Ren Bishi	任弼时	PLA General
Shaan-Gan-Ning Bianqu	陕甘宁边区	The military region that covered parts of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia
Shu Han	蜀汉	The Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms Period
Siping	四平	Site, in Jilin Province, of a major civil war Site, in Jilin Province, of a major civil war campaign
Siping Zhanyi	四平战役	The Siping Campaign
Sun Wu	孙吴	The Kingdom of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period
Taiyuan	太原	Capital of Shanxi Province
Tai’an	泰安	Site (in Shandong) of civil war battle
Tang’Erli	堂二里	Site (in Hebei)of a civil war battle
Tieling	铁岭	City in Liaoning, site of a civil war battle
Ye Jianying	叶剑英	PLA General
Yunnan	云南	Province in China
Zaolin’gou	枣林沟	A village in Shaanxi where the CCP leadership had an important meeting
Zhejiang	浙江	Province in China
Zhu De	朱德	PLA General