The 20th century was a period of significant turmoil and political upheaval in China, marked by internal conflicts and external wars.

Explanation: China had a… rough time of it in the 20th century AD. In 1927, the revolutionary and reformer Sun Yat-sen died during the re-unification of China from cliques of squabbling warlords. One of the key platforms of his Kuomintang party was socialism. … but the military junta of Chiang Kai-shek which assumed control of the party after his death persecuted and drove out all the left-wing elements, resulting in the growth of the Chinese Communist Party (which would eventually drive the junta-Kuomintang out of mainland China entirely). In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Rape of Nanking happened. Don’t look it up if you don’t have a strong stomach. Suffice it to say, the Japanese Empire acted with unspeakable and genocidal cruelty towards the civilian Chinese population, regardless of age or activity. This was, unfortunately, not uncommon for the forces of the Japanese Empire during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and Nanking is remembered more for the scale and prominence than the nature of its horrors. In 1959, a series of entirely unforced errors by the strongman leader of Communist China, Mao Zedong, resulted in a massive countrywide famine which resulted in the death of millions of people, accompanied by public beatings, torture, and executions. He would be partially discredited by this failure, but return to power on the backs of his loyalists several years later, ushering in another period of public beatings, torture, and executions, lasting until Mao died, that amounted to several million additional deaths.

Explanation: China had a… rough time of it in the 20th century AD. In 1927, the revolutionary and reformer Sun Yat-sen died during the re-unification of China from cliques of squabbling warlords. One of the key platforms of his Kuomintang party was socialism. … but the military junta of Chiang Kai-shek which assumed control of the party after his death persecuted and drove out all the left-wing elements, resulting in the growth of the Chinese Communist Party (which would eventually drive the junta-Kuomintang out of mainland China entirely). In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Rape of Nanking happened. Don’t look it up if you don’t have a strong stomach. Suffice it to say, the Japanese Empire acted with unspeakable and genocidal cruelty towards the civilian Chinese population, regardless of age or activity. This was, unfortunately, not uncommon for the forces of the Japanese Empire during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and Nanking is remembered more for the scale and prominence than the nature of its horrors. In 1959, a series of entirely unforced errors by the strongman leader of Communist China, Mao Zedong, resulted in a massive countrywide famine which resulted in the death of millions of people, accompanied by public beatings, torture, and executions. He would be partially discredited by this failure, but return to power on the backs of his loyalists several years later, ushering in another period of public beatings, torture, and executions, lasting until Mao died, that amounted to several million additional deaths.