Central rule then collapsed as China massage guangzhou  broke into different semi-autonomous warlord regions. In 1926-28 a united front between the Kuomintang (Nationalists) and Communists united much of China proper under Kuomintang rule after the "

." During the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang turned on the Communists in 1927 killing thousands and driving the movement underground. During this time, Mao Zedong set up a base area in the mountains of Jiangxi Province called the Jiangxi Soviet.

   The 20th century brought revolution. The empire was overthrown in 1911 and Sun Yat Sen, a doctor, nationalist, socialist and democrat, became president. He stepped down shortly thereafter allowing the former Qing general Yuan Shikai toguangzhou massage  become president. After an abortive attempt at declaring himself emperor, Yuan died in 1916.

Meanwhile, after the 1895 war, Japan continued its imperial expansion in East Asia, invaded Manchuria in 1931 and conquered much of eastern China by the late '30s. Japanese behavior was often brutal; Chinese resistance was spirited. The Japanese generals thought they could take all of China in three months; instead it took them three months just to drive the Chinese army out of Shanghai. Throughout the war, roughly half the Japanese army was tied up in China. The allies sent aid via the Burma Road.

  China had other problems as well, such as civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, civil unrest and major famines.

  In 1937, the Kuomintang and Communists signed a tenuous agreement to form a united front against Japan. However the agreement broke down by 1945 after Japan's defeat and the Communists under Mao Zedong massage in guangzhou and the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai Shek openly fought each other again.

   Throughout the period from 1911 to 1949 various warlords fought challenges to their local power from any outsider, regardless of nationality or ideology.

  After World War II, outright civil war resumed. In 1949, the Communists won, causing the Kuomintang to grab the national gold reserves and imperial treasure, and then flee to Taiwan where it set it up shop and promised to recapture the Mainland. Various Western countries refused to recognize "Red China" and continued to treat the Kuomintang as the only "legitimate" government of China, some until the early '70s.

   The Communist government implemented strong measures to restore law and order; the Party ran everything. They tried various social experiments, such as the Great Leap Forward, intended to industrialize China quickly, and the Cultural Revolution, aimed at changing everything by discipline and attention to Mao Zedong Thought.

   Mao Zedong died in 1976. Shortly after that, his widow was arrested as part of the "Gang of Four," who were blamed for the Cultural Revolution's excesses. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping became Chairman. Deng gradually introduced oil massage in guangzhou market-oriented reforms and decentralized economic decision making. Economic output quadrupled by 2000 and is still rising at 9% a year or so, but there are still problems ¡ª serious inflation in the '80s, pollution, rural poverty and corruption.

 Political controls remain tight even though economic policy continues to be relaxed, enough for China to secure admission to the World Trade Organization. October 2007 saw the official guarantees on private property, a clear step away from hardcore communism and in 2003, the party changed its statutes to accept a new category of members: "Red capitalists."

  The current president, Hu Jintao, has proclaimed a policy for a "Harmonious Society" which promises to restore balanced economic growth and to channel investment and prosperity into China's westernmost provinces, which have been largely left behind in the economic boom since 1978.

  This policy involves additional tax breaks for farmers, a rural medical insurance scheme, reduction/elimination of school tuition fees and infrastructure development to encourage investment in underdeveloped areas, e.g. the Beijing/Lhasa railway - a dream first put down on paper by Sun Yat Sen in the early 1900s.