Guangzhou Uprising

For the Guangzhou Uprisings that occured during the late Qing Dynasty, see First Guangzhou Uprising and Second Guangzhou Uprising.

Guangzhou Uprising
Part of Chinese Civil War
Date 1927 Location Guangzhou, Republic of China Result Decisive Government victory; the uprising is crushed but encourages further uprisings across China
Belligerents
Communist Party of China	Republic of China
Commanders and leaders
Zhang Tailei Ye Ting Ye Jianying Xu Xiangqian	Zhang Fakui
Strength
2，000	1，500， later 5 divisions
Casualties and losses
5,000	heavy

The Guangzhou Uprising (simplified Chinese: 广州起义; traditional Chinese: 廣州起義; pinyin: Gǔangzhōu Qǐyì) of 1927 was a failed communist uprising in the city of Guangzhou in southern China.

On December 11, 1927, red guard citizens, directed by communist political leaders, took over Guangzhou (then known as Canton in English). The uprising occurred despite the strong objections of communist military commanders such as Ye Ting, Ye Jianying and Xu Xiangqian. Using the element of surprise, the uprising took over most of the city within hours, despite a huge numerical and technical disadvantage by opposing forces. The communist leaders officially renamed the city's political structure as "Guangzhou Soviet". However, the uprising was quickly answered by warlord forces. Zhang Tailei, the leading red guard organizer, was killed in an ambush as he returned from a meeting. The take-over was dispelled by the early morning of December 13, 1927.

In the resulting purges, many young communists lost their lives, and the Guangzhou Soviet became known as the "Guangzhou Commune" or "Paris Commune of the East"; it lasted only a short while at the cost of more than 5,000 Communists' lives, and an equal number missing. As a scapegoat, Ye Ting, the military commander was purged and blamed for the failure, despite the fact that the obvious disadvantage of the Communist force was the main cause, and Ye Ting and other military commanders had correctly pointed out the problem. Enraged by his unjustified treatment, Ye Ting left China and went into exile in Europe, and did not return until nearly a decade later.

Despite being the third failed uprising of 1927, it encouraged further uprisings across China.

References

• Dirlik, Arif, "Narrativizing revolution: the Guangzhou Uprising (11-13 December 1927) in workers' perspective.", Modern China, October 1, 1997

Literature

• Setting the East Ablaze: on Secret Service in Bolshevik Asia By Peter Hopkirk
• Кантонская коммуна. Сб. статей и материалов, М. — Л., 1929; (in Russian)
• Кантонская коммуна (К 40-летию восстания в Гуанчжоу), М., 1967. (in Russian)