China: The Making of a Nation

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, China faced a historic turning point: how could the nation find its path to modernity? Under the symbol of the “Blue Sun,” Chiang Kai-shek carried forward the legacy of his mentor Sun Yat-sen, fighting to abolish foreign concessions and restore national sovereignty. From the revolutionary overthrow of the imperial dynasty to the era of Xi Jinping, China underwent a century-long transformation to reclaim its former greatness. The relentless struggle between the nationalist Chiang Kai-shek and the communist Mao Zedong forms a gripping historical panorama.

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the “Blue Sun” of nationalist China seemed to be at its peak: it had reclaimed foreign concessions and become one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Yet behind this façade, corruption and brutality were rife. The Republic eventually fell in the civil war to Mao Zedong’s “Red Sun.” Defeated, Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, while Mao began reshaping the Chinese state according to his vision.