Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) was born into a salt merchant family in Xikou, a town in the coastal province of Zhejiang. Chiang studied the classics early in life but never took an imperial examination. Instead, in 1905, Chiang cut off his Manchu-style queue and departed for Japan. Unlike other Chinese reformers in Japan at the time, Chiang’s goal… Read more »
Chen Duxiu was born in the town of Anqing in Anhui province in 1879. His father, a scholar-official and member of the local gentry, died when Chen was an infant leaving Chen in the care of his strict, traditional grandfather. Chen followed the normal course of Confucian Studies for you and passed the local level… Read more »
Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) was born to a gentry family in Sichuan while Empress Dowager Cixi still sat on the throne. His father saw the upheaval coming to China’s society and rather than giving his son a classical education, he enrolled Deng in a program that sent him to France. Deng spent five years working in factories… Read more »