The Collapse of Nationalist China

The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War is a 2023 non-fiction book by Parks Coble, published by Cambridge University Press. It is about the decisions by Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) during the Chinese Civil War and how they contributed to Chiang's losses.

The author argues that the hyperinflation damaged the Chinese military.[1]

Linh D. Vu of Arizona State University described the book as "a counter-narrative to" pro-CKS revisionist history.[2]

Background

Coble did extensive research in Hoover Institution's archival materials in making this book.[2] Primary sources include Chiang's own diaries and the papers of H.H. Kung and T.V. Soong,[3] Coble also drew on such earlier studies as The Inflationary Spiral: The Experience in China: 1939–1950 by Chang Kia-ngau and China’s Wartime Finance and Inflation by Arthur N. Young, both based on the experiences of the authors as advisors to the Chinese government at the time.[4] He also read widely in 1940s periodicals, such as The Chinese Press Review.[2]

Contents

The book's scope is historical events from 1944 to 1948.[5]

There are six chapters in total.[5]

Chapter 1 discusses how the war augmented hyperinflation in Republican China.[3]

Chapter 2 describes Kung and Soong,[3] as well as their conflict with one another to gain supremacy in the ROC government.[5]

Chapter 3 describes Chiang's decisions, which Coble refers to as "inept administration" which made "series of bad policy decisions",[3] and it explains how the ROC further declined despite the surrender of Japan.[5]

Chapter 4 describes how the ROC failed to build up the country's ability to manufacture goods.[5]

Chapter 5 stated that several issues continued to fester in 1947 that appeared previously.[6]

Chapter 6 describes the failure of the gold yuan.[2]

Reception

In a review for the China Quarterly, Harold Tanner of the University of North Texas wrote that "Coble's argument for the cause-and-effect relationship between hyperinflation and the decline of combat effectiveness is convincing." That said, "The linkage between hyperinflation and soldiers switching sides requires more exploration... [while] a multi-factor analysis of turncoats’ motivations would require a separate book."[1]

See also

References

  • Tanner, Harold (2023-09-28). "The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War Parks M. Coble. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. 290 pp. £30.00. US$39.99 (hbk). ISBN 9781009297615". The China Quarterly. 256. Cambridge University Press: 1127–1128. doi:10.1017/S030574102300142X.
  • Vu, Linh D. (2023-10-12). "The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War By Parks M. Coble. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. x + 290 pp. $39.99 (cloth)". Journal of Chinese History. 8. Cambridge University Press: 192–195. doi:10.1017/jch.2023.23.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Tanner, p. 2.
  2. ^ a b c d Vu, p. 3.
  3. ^ a b c d Tanner, p. 1.
  4. ^ Vu, p. 1.
  5. ^ a b c d e Vu, p. 2.
  6. ^ Vu, p. 2-3.
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