the unifier of all China under the right-wing nationalist government. (Internet) When Sun Yat-sen died of cancer in Beijing in March 1925, Chaing succeeded Sun at its helm in 1926, the Manchus had been toppled, but China was plagued by factionalism and organized crime. Chiang, sustained by the Soviet aid Sun had arranged, built the party's first viable army and crushed the warlords. By the time the Kuomintang marched into Beijing in 1928, the communists had been purged from its ranks. (Reese 8) One of Chiang's most significant moves was to link up with the powerful Soong family. In 1927 he married the beautiful U.S.-educated Soong Mei-ling, daughter of a prominent Shanghai publishing tycoon, and adopted her Christian faith. "To my mind the reason we should believe in Jesus is that He was the leader of a national revolution," he later said. Soong's talent was public relations. "The only thing Oriental about me is my face," she told rapt Western audiences while conducting U.S. tours to raise support for the nationalists. Such efforts and a belief that the Kuomintang was a bulwark against Japan's imperial ambitions ensured Chiang a place among the Big Four powers during World War II. The monk-like general, dressed in unadorned fatigues, was found in the spotlight alongside Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. (Reese 8) The Nationalist movement he had helped to initiate was gaining momentum. During the summer of 1925, Chiang, as commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, set out on the long-delayed Northern Expedition against the northern warlords. Within nine months, half of China had been conquered. By 1926, however, the Guomindang had divided into left- and right-wing factions, and the Communist bloc within it was also growing. In March 1926, after thwarting a kidnapping attempt against him, Chiang abruptly dismissed his Soviet advisers, imposed restrictions on CCP members' participation in the top leader...
