A chronology

From the thirteen delegates of the First Congress in Shanghai, to the Iron Army of the Northern Expedition, to the bloody party purge — in six years the revolution rose and then fell into ebb.

From the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Chingkang Mountains to the Central Soviet Area, and on to the Long March of twenty-five thousand li — the road of encircling the cities from the countryside took shape in blood and fire.

After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident full-scale resistance began; base areas behind enemy lines and guerrilla war became the material support of protracted resistance.

The Yenan rectification unified the thought of the whole Party, the Forum on literature and art fixed the direction of serving workers, peasants and soldiers, and the Seventh Congress established the guiding line.

The Chungking negotiations, the Double Tenth Agreement and the ceasefire order appeared one after another, only to break down again over the questions of political power and the army.

From 'smashing the offensive by a war of self-defence' to a 'nationwide strategic offensive', the balance of forces began to reverse.

The Liaoning–Shenyang, Huai-hai and Peiping–Tientsin campaigns followed one after another; the main forces of the Kuomintang army were largely destroyed and the military situation was settled.

The Second Plenary Session planned the line for taking power, On the People's Democratic Dictatorship expounded the nature of the new state, and on 1 October the founding ceremony was held.