Chinese Revolution · TURNING POINT · 1949

Nationalist retreat to Taiwan (1949)

On the Chinese Revolution map as “The republic offshore”

8 Dec 1949 — The Nationalist government moved to Taipei, taking the navy, the air force, two million soldiers and refugees, the treasury’s gold and the Palace Museum’s crates. Two states now claimed this map. The division established across the strait that December still governs it.

When: 8 Dec 1949
Type: Turning point
Chapter: Communist victory in China (1949) (chapter 12 of Chinese Revolution)
Atlas: China in Revolution, 1911–1949

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Map showing Nationalist retreat to Taiwan (1949), turning point in China in Revolution, 1911–1949 — TURNING POINT · CHINA IN REVOLUTION, 1911–1949

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · USdiplomatic records — fallofCanton,Chungking andKunming,October–December1949 · Cliopatria v 0.2.1 — dated political boundaries · Natural Earth — physical reference geography · Natural Earth10m — province reference geometry

Source details

USdiplomatic records — fallofCanton,Chungking andKunming,October–December1949. Historical facts consulted; original prose/artwork not republished
Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY4.0 · Dated polity and constituent territory selections; campaign-dependent occupation overlays reconstructed separately.
Natural Earth. Public domain
Natural Earth10m — province reference geometry. Public domain

For October 1949, the earliest 1950 PRC outline is used with the Nationalist southwest removed. Contemporary provincial outlines serve as a disclosed regional proxy for the remaining front. The November and December conquests are excluded.

proxy: 1953earliestseparatepostwarhomereference;occupation1945–49 · proxy: October 1945–1949 control; 1950 physical island reference · reconstruction: 1949.76 · vector: 1948–1949

Layer records and reconstruction methods