Mao Zedong

=== Resuming civil war: 1940–1949 ===
In 1944, the U.S. sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the [[Dixie Mission]], to the Chinese Communist Party. The American soldiers who were sent to the mission were favourably impressed. The party seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the Kuomintang. The soldiers confirmed to their superiors that the party was both strong and popular over a broad area.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Moise |first=Edwin E. |author-link=Edwin Moise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c2787J5UfAQC |title=Modern China, a History |date=2008 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |isbn=978-0582772779 |pages=105 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the end of the mission, the contacts which the U.S. developed with the Chinese Communist Party led to very little.<ref name=":3" /> After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their diplomatic and military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the [[People's Liberation Army]] (PLA) led by Mao Zedong during the [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]] and abandoned the idea of a [[coalition government]] which would include the CCP.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Eastman |first1=Lloyd E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Wrw4RrFpUkC&pg=PA353 |title=The Nationalist Era in China, 1927–1949 |last2=Ch'en |first2=Jerome |last3=Pepper |first3=Suzanne |last4=Slyke |first4=Lyman P. Van |date=30 August 1991 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521385916 |pages=353 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Likewise, the [[Soviet Union]] gave support to Mao by [[Soviet occupation of Manchuria|occupying north-eastern China]], and secretly giving it to the Chinese communists in March 1946.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=揚子晚報網 |script-title=zh:"张莘夫事件"与苏军撤出东北 |title="Zhāngshēnfū shìjiàn"yǔ sū jūn chè chū dōngběi |trans-title="Zhang Xinfu Incident" and Soviet Army's Withdrawal from Northeast China |url=http://epaper.yangtse.com/yzwb/2009-04/20/content_12663469.htm |author=作者：劉向上 |date=20 April 2009 |access-date=20 April 2009 |language=Chinese |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101182923/http://epaper.yangtse.com/yzwb/2009-04/20/content_12663469.htm |archive-date=1 November 2013}}</ref>

[[File:PLAHuaihai.jpg|thumb|left|PLA troops, supported by captured [[M5 Stuart]] light tanks, attacking the Nationalist lines in 1948]]

In 1948, under direct orders from Mao, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying the city of [[Changchun]]. At least {{formatnum:160000}} civilians are believed to have perished during [[Siege of Changchun|the siege]], which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, who documented the siege in his book ''[[White Snow, Red Blood]]'', compared it to [[Hiroshima]]: "The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months."<ref>{{cite news |title=China Is Wordless on Traumas of Communists' Rise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/asia/02anniversary.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2 October 2009 |first=Andrew |last=Jacobs |date=2 October 2009}}</ref> On 21 January 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in decisive battles against Mao's forces.<ref name="Palestini2011">{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Palestini |title=Going Back to the Future: A Leadership Journey for Educators |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9n_DUv1_NkAC&pg=PA170 |year=2011 |publisher=R&L Education |isbn=978-1607095866 |page=170 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the early morning of 10 December 1949, PLA troops laid siege to [[Chongqing]] and [[Chengdu]] on [[mainland China]], and Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland to Taiwan.<ref name="Palestini2011" /><ref name="Perkins2013">{{cite book |first=Dorothy |last=Perkins |title=Encyclopedia of China: History and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KMQeAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |year=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1135935627 |page=79 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>