China and India, 1918–1939

In China on 4 May 1919 students in Beijing demonstrated against the decisions of the Paris Conference (the Shandong question) and this grew into a national movement; at the Washington Conference of 1921–1922 China’s sovereignty was recognised and Shandong was returned. After Sun Yat-sen’s death in 1925, the Kuomintang under General Chiang Kai-shek carried out the Northern Expedition of 1926–1928, unified the country and formed a government at Nanjing; in 1927 co-operation between the Kuomintang and the Communists broke down and a civil war began. In 1931 the Communists proclaimed a Chinese Soviet Republic in rural areas (chairman Mao Zedong) and in 1934–1935 carried out the Long March. In 1931 Japan occupied Manchuria, after the Xi’an Incident of December 1936 the Kuomintang and Communists united against the Japanese, and in 1937 full-scale war began. In India, after the First World War British promises of concessions were not fulfilled, and in 1919 a peaceful gathering at Amritsar was fired upon; the Indian National Congress led by Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi organised non-violent non-co-operation (1920–1922) and actions such as the 1930 Salt March, while the 1935 Act gave the provinces limited self-government.