The Beginnings of a New China
Map of China
From the end of the Qing Dynasty and Emperor PuYi's rule in China in 1912, many different groups have tried to take power of the poor country. The two main groups that ended up competing for power from 1921 to 1949 were the Nationalists and the Communists. The Communists, lead by Mao Zedong ended up taking power of China in 1949 with the Nationalists fleeing to an island called Taiwan southeast of China. The reforms that Zedong set into motion had a duel negative/positive affect in his rule from the starting of the People's Republic of China until his death in the mid-1970s. China went through a period of rapid change in the twentieth century with the end of the dynastic rule in China, the fights over power between the Nationalists and Communists, and the radical Communists reforms in the early People's Republic of China.