was camped. It was then decided within the communist camp that they must break through Chiang's blockade lines. The 85,000 plus another 15,000 peasants poured through the breach that had been made. Within forty-eight hours, most of the people had gone through. None really knew what laid ahead though over 6,000 miles, icy rivers, swampy marshes, and Kuomintang forces would leave only a handful alive at the end. The Long March had begun. It would end in 1949, the same time the People's Republic of China was formed. Mao had come out on top through extraordinary means. However, the civil war was not quite over. While living in Taiwan, Chiang was still getting backing from the United States and again took the title of President in 1950. Mao recognized, however, that he would need to set up a government immediately in order to support the close to a billion people living in China. He then turned to the Soviet Union for financial help. Mao went on to create the Great Cultural Revolution: an effort to get China up to the status a major world power. This was a major motivating force for Mao until his death in 1976 (Long March, 22-165). Deng Xiaoping eventually emerged as the paramount leader in 1978, and promptly launched his economic reform program. One of the most significant developments in recent history was the death of Deng, on February 19, 1997. While he has not been active in politics for some time and has not appeared in public for more than three years, the deaths of senior leaders has always had an unsettling impact on Chinese politics (China). On the other hand, Deng retired in 1989 and he placed Jiang Zemin in the powerful post of chairman of the Central Military Commission. In 1993 Jiang was named president of China. Jiang's policy, like that of his mentor, is to effect market reforms while keeping the country politically and socially conservative(Profiles). That is going to be difficult though with Hong Kong having been returned t...
