Sun Bin = CCP, Pang Juan = KMT?

Note on names:

Sun Zhongshan (孙中山) is known in the West as known as Sun Yat-sen or Sun Yixian (孫逸仙).
Jiang Jieshi (蔣介石) is known to the West as Chiang Kai-Shek.



Now probably the most controversial comparison that one can come up that is similar to the relationship between Pang Juan (龐涓) and Sun Bin (孙膑) is contrasting the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party (共产党, CCP) and the Kuomintang (国民党, KMT or the Nationalists). As students of history know, the CCP and the KMT were originally allies in the efforts to reunify China and bring peace to the land. In the early 1920s (scholars can’t agree on a singular date), Sun Zhongshan, the leader of the KMT, began to receive assistance from the Soviet Union via Comintern (Communist International or Third International). He allied with the nascent CCP founded originally in Shanghai (上海) in 1921. The CCP had orders from Stalin to assist the KMT and postpone its all revolutionary Marxist activities until after China had been unified. The cordial, working relationship between the parties lasted until 1927, as thousands of Communists joined or assisted the KMT. After the initial successes of the Northern Expedition (北伐), Jiang Jieshi decided to do away with the Communists, fearing that the Communists would eventually try to take over the KMT from within. On April 12, 1927, Jiang purged the KMT leadership of Communist sympathizers, arresting and killing thousands of people with suspected Communist affiliation in the city of Shanghai. After such a terrible incident, relations would not exist between the two parties for decades until the modern era.

The post-Shanghai Massacre would see the Chinese Communists scattered to the four winds with enclaves all over the country, including that led by Mao Zedong (毛泽东) in the Jinggang Mountains (井冈山) of Jiangxi (江西). In October 1934, facing encirclement by the Nationalist forces, the Communists of the Jinggang Mountains fought their way out, beginning the bitter retreat known as the Long March (长征). Of the approximately 86,000 soldiers, 11,000 administrative personnel, and thousands of civilians, less than 7,000 survived the journey that culminated in the Yan’an region a year later in October of 1935. Party membership fell from roughly 300,000 to about 40,000.

The end result was that the CCP was nearly crippled. A retreat into the relative isolation of Yan’an permitted it to rebuild its strength. The Long March had one tangible effect, coalescing leadership of the CCP under Mao.

My comparison contends that the CCP was Sun Bin, while the KMT was Pang Juan. In a fit of arrogance, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek massacred the Communists in Shanghai in 1927. Their act doomed a working relationship that directly harmed cooperation during another war with Japan (a conflict that would be merged with that of the Second World War). Now the connection is quite dubious, but if you consider the two situations carefully, the comparison fits. The CCP although united behind Mao was virtually crippled by the Long March, as Sun Bin was as punishment for his “purported treason.” On the other hand, like Pang Juan, the KMT seemed to enjoy all the benefits.

Even with the Japanese intervening in 1937, the two sides basically picked up where they left off in 1945, albeit the only difference is the CCP armed by the Soviets using captured Japanese armaments and equipment. The ultimate CCP victory given the circumstances was virtually unimaginable, just as the early Qi victories against Wei were inconceivable. But one can’t stretch the comparison too far.



Further blog posts on: the Long March, Sun Zhongshan, and American involvement in post-WWII China, and the Chinese Civil War