Outnumbered 10 to 1 by nationalist troops under General Chiang Kai-shek, 100,000 besieged Chinese communists broke free and started a year-long retreat. From October 16th, 1934, they trekked out of Kiangsi province through some of the most hazardous and inhospitable parts of China, crossing mountain ranges barefoot in the snow and turbulent rivers with no bridges, and wading through poisonous swamps. They were attacked by nationalist troops, warlords, and even cannibal tribes. Only 20,000 survived the gruelling 8,000-kilometre journey through 11 provinces. The Long March ensured the success of communism in China. By the time the communists arrived at the Yanan soviet in Shanxi province, they had copperfastened the support of the peasants. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the communists had shown themselves to be effective guerrilla fighters in the peasants' struggle to get rid of the landlords.

Centralised Chinese rule endured largely unbroken from 221 BC to 1912, when uprisings against the Manchu dynasty led to the abdication of child emperor Puyi in favour of the establishment of a republic under Sun Yatsen. But Sun Yatsen was sent into exile by his autocratic successor, the former Manchu military commander Yuan Shikai. By 1919, the country was being run by warlords and a weak government that was ineffectual against the incursions of Japan. The Nationalist Party was set up under Sun Yatsen with the aim of establishing genuine parliamentary government in China. The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921 and established rural soviets where peasants were organised against their landlords.

In 1931 the Japanese captured Manchuria, taking advantage of conflict between Chinese nationalists and communists. In 1937 the Japanese occupied the eastern part of China. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941, the Americans came in as China's allies to oust the Japanese. Japan surrendered in 1945, followed by a civil war between the nationalists and the communists for control of the country. The support base of the nationalists, always limited to the cities, began to dwindle: unlike the communists, they seemed to lack a vision for China's future, and the brutality of their secret police turned many people against them.

By 1949 the communists were in control. Mao became chairman of the newly proclaimed People's Republic of China. He introduced the death sentence for political opponents and spies. He took land from the landlords and gave it to the peasants, encouraging the peasants to put the landlords on trial (resulting in two million executions).

Farms were eventually collectivised according to the Soviet system, but unlike Stalin, Mao spent six years persuading the peasants to accept the new system (Stalin's technique was murderous enforcement). Like Stalin, Mao concentrated on state control and development of heavy industry - coal, chemicals, iron and steel. He built new road and rail links, education was improved, and organised crime in the cities was broken up.

In the 1950s, farm collectivisation was changed to the commune system, which involved larger units of land and "backyard furnaces" for producing low-grade steel (most of which was unusable). Although initially agricultural production levels increased, the communes were ultimately a failure and were scaled down. A famine in 1960 claimed perhaps as many as 20 million lives.

Although Chinese communism took root under the influence of Lenin's Comintern agents and was bolstered by Soviet aid, there were disagreements which led to a final split, leaving China completely isolated on the world stage after 1960.

In 1966 came the notorious rightist purges of the Cultural Revolution, during which untold thousands were hounded to their deaths. Young supporters of Mao - the Red Guard - were encouraged to sniff out anyone exhibiting capitalist or Western tendencies. Prime suspects were Mao's opponents in the Communist Party, such as Deng Xiaoping, the former general secretary.

Mao's personality cult reached ever more absurd levels, but as China's new leader from 1978, Deng Xiaoping pushed forward a programme of modernisation, breaking up the communes, and forging ties with the US.