Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan
1949 event in the Chinese Civil War
Summary
Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War, the remnants of the government of the Republic of China (ROC), alongside many refugees, retreated to the island of Taiwan (Formosa) beginning on December 7, 1949. The exodus is sometimes called the Great Retreat in Taiwan. The members of the Kuomintang (KMT), its officers, and approximately 2 million ROC troops took part in the retreat, in addition to many civilians and refugees, fleeing the advance of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP, who now effectively controlled most of mainland China, spent the subsequent years purging remnant Nationalist forces in western and southern China, solidifying the rule of the newly established People's Republic of China (PRC).
Originally created by Agirlwithabackpack
7/10/2018, 7:57:59 AM
Modified
5/25/2026, 3:45:36 AM
Recent revisions
added links
/* See also */
Add parentheses/disambiguator: Changed link from [[Taiwan Province]] to [[Taiwan (Republic of China province)]] using [[User:BilledMammal/Move+|Move+]]
/* */ Remove sentence: not very relevant in context and slightly misleading as Taiwan was at best only part of Japan on paper by this point
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this makes it look like the Dachen Islands were the only territory that changed hands in 1955, which isn't correct (too many details for this article on the 1949 retreat; details are in the linked article)
the first part of the paragraph is supposed to be about territory in late October 1949; the second part is supposed to be about current territory (chronological order)
/* */ Link fixed
/* */ More precise
Specifying elected suggests the KMT was democratic at this time period; this is misleading and uncited
Updated page as the Nationalist government was replaced with an constitutional government with two minor parties in the year before said government left Nanjing.
Some translation(?) errors were corrected.
/* Background */ ce
fixed spelling of chungtu to chengtu
/* Relocation of forces and people */
/* Background */ ce
Reverted edits by [[Special:Contribs/~2025-40794-00|~2025-40794-00]] ([[User talk:~2025-40794-00|talk]]) to last version by Zowayix001
