As a result of the humiliation of the Opium Wars, the Qing dynasty lost the Mandate of Heaven and fell in 1912. China decended into a long civil war between the rising Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalists that wanted democracy. On the 1st of October, 1949, Mao Zedong claimed victory over the Nationalists by establishing the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.). Mao was a member of the Communist Party of China, a Chinese group deeply influenced by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Joseph Stalin.
Claiming that the Mandate of Heaven had passed to him, Mao transformed China from an absolute monarchy into a totalitarian state. |
Chinese Propaganda showing, from left to right: Karl Marx, Fredrick Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong
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