Assignment 7: On This Date Tora Sellers

            69 year ago today marked the official start of the Chinese Civil War. The two warring factions, the nationalist Republic of China and the communist People’s Republic of China, have been fighting for control of China since before the Second World War, but temporarily halted their rivalry in order to combat their mutual enemy, The Japanese Empire. But in August of 1945, the Empire crumbled at the hands of the Americans. Now, without a common foe, the nationalists and communists resumed fighting. Though The Republic of China had control of the mainland prior to the war, the Communists returned to the battlefield with increased strength and won total control of the mainland, pushing the nationalists to the island of Taiwan. Now, in present day, the Communist People’s Republic of China is the most widely recognized government of China. The Taiwanese government is currently ruled by the Nationalist Republic of China, and is completely separated from that of the mainland. Although considered by most to be its own independent Nation, most nations, along with the United Nations do not officially recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan due to the great influence of the People’s Republic of China—it seems as though the power dynamic in china has reversed completely since WWII.