• Home
• Membership
• How did communism conquer China?

How did communism conquer China?

Frank Dikötter unpicks the heroic myth of the plucky Chinese Communist Party's rise to power, arguing instead that Moscow's decades-long manoeuvring brought the world's most populous country into the Soviet camp in 1949

• Danny Bird

Published: May 13, 2026 at 10:28 AM

Save

• Share on facebook
• Share on twitter
• Share on whatsapp
• Email to a friend

How did a tiny band of guerrillas come to rule a quarter of humanity? And was the outcome of the Chinese Civil War really the ‘heroic’ popular uprising that the People’s Republic portrays? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Danny Bird speaks to Frank Dikötter about the surprising reality behind the rise of the Communist Party of China – from its marginal beginnings in the 1920s and the myth of the Long March, to the decisive role of Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945.

Ad

Together they explore how violence, propaganda and military conquest – rather than mass popular support – culminated in the raising of the red flag over the Forbidden City in 1949.

Authors

Danny BirdContent producer

Danny Bird is a content producer at HistoryExtra

Ad

Ad

Loading...

Ad

Loading...