A Chinese communist party propaganda poster showing workers armed and ready to help in the revolution. Source: 1958 People's militia, Wikimedia

When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, both Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai Shek had to put aside their differences in order to fight against the Japanese. However, once the Japanese had surrendered, a civil war broke out between them. The end result was Mao Zedong's proclamation in 1949 of The People's Republic of China, a communist country. Chiang Kai-Shek and his nationalists fled to the nearby island of Taiwan which is off the southeast coast of Mainland China.

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