Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887–April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. He commanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords and emerged victorious in 1928 as the overall leader of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which Chiang's stature within China weakened but his international prominence grew. During the Chinese Civil War (1926–1949), Chiang attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists but ultimately failed, forcing his government to retreat to Taiwan, where he continued serving as the President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the KMT for the remainder of his life.

Notes

• While married to Mao, Chiang adopted two concubines: he married Yao Yecheng (???, 1889-1972) in 1912 and Chen Jieru (???, 1906-71) in December 1921. Yao raised the adopted Wei-kuo. Chen had a daughter in 1924, named Yaoguang (??), who later adopted her mother's surname. (It should be noted that Chen's autobiography disclaimed the idea that she was a concubine and claimed that by the time she married Chiang, he had already been divorced from Mao, and that therefore she was a wife.)

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