The founding of the People's Republic of China was formally proclaimed by
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
, the
Chairman of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
(CCP), on October 1, 1949, at 3:00 pm in
Tiananmen Square in
Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
, now
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
(formerly Beiping), the new capital of China. The formation of the
Central People's Government under the leadership of the CCP, the government of the new state, was officially proclaimed during the proclamation speech by the chairman at the founding ceremony.
Previously, the CCP had proclaimed the establishment of a soviet republic within discontiguous
rebel-held territories of China not under
Nationalist control, the
Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) on November 7, 1931, in
Ruijin
Ruijin () is a county-level city of Ganzhou in the mountains bordering Fujian Province in the south-eastern part of Jiangxi Province. Formerly a county, Ruijin became a county-level city on May 18, 1994.
It was an early center of Chinese commun ...
,
Jiangxi with the support of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. The CSR lasted seven years until it was abolished in 1937.
The new national anthem of China ''
March of the Volunteers'' was played for the first time, the new
national flag of the People's Republic of China (the Five-starred Red Flag) was officially unveiled to the newly founded nation and hoisted for the first time during the celebrations as a
21-gun salute fired in the distance. The first public military parade of the then new
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
took place following the national flag raising with the playing of the PRC national anthem.
The Republic of China had
retreated to the
island of Taiwan by December 1949.
Historical background
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT)-led
Nationalist government of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northea ...
(ROC) and the CCP lasting intermittently between 1927 and 1949. The war is generally divided into two phases with an interlude: from the August 1927 to 1937, the
KMT-CCP Alliance collapsed during the
Northern Expedition, and the Nationalists controlled most of China. On November 7, 1931, the
Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was declared by the CCP in
Ruijin
Ruijin () is a county-level city of Ganzhou in the mountains bordering Fujian Province in the south-eastern part of Jiangxi Province. Formerly a county, Ruijin became a county-level city on May 18, 1994.
It was an early center of Chinese commun ...
within
Communist-controlled areas of China and the CSR government moved north to
Yan'an during the
Long March
The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese Nati ...
until the CSR's dissolution. From 1937 to 1945, hostilities were put on hold, and the
Second United Front fought the
Japanese invasion of China with eventual help from the
World War II Allies. The civil war resumed with the Japanese defeat, and the CCP gained the upper hand in the final phase of the war from 1945–1949, generally referred to as the
Chinese Communist Revolution.
Major combat in the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...
ended in 1949 with the CCP in control of most of
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater Chin ...
, and the
Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing its territory to only
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
(a former Japanese colony that was received in 1945),
Hainan
Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slight ...
, and their surrounding islands. On 21 September 1949, CCP Chairman
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China with a speech at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
This was followed by a mass celebration in
Tiananmen Square on October 1, at which the proclamation was made publicly by Mao at the Tiananmen Gate, the date becoming the new country's first
National Day.
Declaration
At exactly 3:00pm Beijing Time on October 1, 1949, Mao announced to the nation from the top of the Tiananmen Gate:
After the national anthem had been played, Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China that day on top of the Tiananmen Gate, declaring:
Celebrations
The first
National Day military parade took place right after the proclamation of the PRC. Commanded by
Nie Rongzhen, the Commander of the Northern China Military Region and inspected by
Zhu De, the Commander-in-Chief of the PLA, the parade involved around 16,000 PLA officers and personnel. The parade, which was approved in June 1949, was the first large-scale and modern Chinese military parade, with the country having never done a public review of troops before under previous governments.
Liu Bocheng proposed to parade directors
Yang Chengwu and
Tang Yanjie be organized in the Soviet format, having personally witnessed a military parade on
Red Square in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. The
Northern Military Region Band (now the Central Military Band of the PLA) provided musical accompaniment which included the ''
Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army’'.''
Aftermath
The Republic of China
retreated to the
island of Taiwan by December 1949. The CCP remains the sole ruling party of
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), since October 1, 1949. The PRC officially claims
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
as its 23rd
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
as
Taiwan Province, People's Republic of China
Taiwan Province is a nominal administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The PRC constitution defines Taiwan as part of its territories despite the fact that the PRC has never controlled any part of Taiwan since the ...
in its
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
. The People's Republic of China on mainland China and Republic of China on Taiwan both
officially claim to be the legitimate government of
all China. No
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
or
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surr ...
has ever been signed over the Chinese Civil War.
Reactions
* The
Government of the Republic of China
The Government of the Republic of China, is the national government of the Republic of China whose ''de facto'' territory currently consists of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other island groups in the "free area". Governed by the De ...
and the Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek through his letter on the 38th
Republic of China National Day described the PRC as a "
puppet regime of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
".
In popular culture
Films depicting the proclamation of the People's Republic of China:
* ''
The Birth of New China
''The Birth of New China'' ( zh, c=开国大典, p=kāiguó dàdiǎn, l=State Foundation Ceremony) is a 1989 Chinese drama film directed by Li Qiankuan. The film was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Ac ...
'' (1989)
* ''
The Founding of a Republic'' (2009)
* ''
My People, My Country'' (2019)
See also
*
National Day of the People's Republic of China
*
Retreat of the Republic of China to Taiwan
*
Aftermath of World War II
References
{{portalbar, China, Communism
Chinese Civil War
Events in Beijing
History of the People's Republic of China
Mao Zedong
Military history of the People's Republic of China
Military parades in China
People's Republic of China
Proclamations
1949 establishments in China
1949 in China
1949 in international relations