Question: how long ago did the Liberation Army defeat the KMT
About the article "Cold War", section "Chinese Civil War and SEATO".

Candidate passages:
The widespread corruption of the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, is often credited as being an important component in the defeat of the KMT by the Communist People's Liberation Army.
Though the Nationalist Army was initially better equipped and had superior numbers, the KMT's rampant corruption damaged its popularity, limited its support base, and helped the communists in their propaganda war.
See History of the Republic of China, and Black gold (politics) for more on these topics. 
In the civil war following Japan's defeat in World War II, the Red Army, newly renamed the People's Liberation Army, again used the principles of people's war in following a policy of strategic withdrawal, waging a war of attrition, and abandoning cities and communication lines to the well-armed, numerically superior KMT forces.
In 1947 the PLA launched a counteroffensive during a brief strategic stalemate.
By the next summer, the PLA had entered the strategic offensive stage, using conventional warfare as the KMT forces went on the defensive and then collapsed rapidly on the mainland in 1949.
By 1950 the PLA had seized Hainan Island.
When the PLA became a national armed force with the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it was an unwieldy, 5-million-strong peasant army.
In 1950 the PLA included 10,000 troops in the People's Liberation Army Air Force (founded in 1949) and 60,000 in the People's Liberation Army Navy (founded in 1950).
The PLA also claimed a militia of 5.5 million.
During the 1950s, the PLA with Soviet help transformed itself from a peasant army into a more modern one.
At that time, demobilization of ill-trained or politically unreliable troops began, resulting in the reduction of military strength to 2.8 million in 1953. 
Japanese troops controlled Jinan until their defeat in 1945.
After this, the Kuomintang regained a short-lived control of the city during the period from 1946 to 1948.
The provincial government during this time was led by Lieutenant-General Wang Yaowu, who also commanded the KMT army in the region.
KMT rule over Jinan ended in September 1948 with the Battle of Jinan in which units of the People's Liberation Army under the command of Chen Yi took the city.
The battle for Jinan took a decisive turn in favor of the attackers when KMT Lieutenant-General Wú Huàwén () defected to the Communist side with about 8,000 of his troops.
The most likely explanation for his defection is that he had been pressured through relatives of his who were held captive by the Communist forces.
Lieutenant-General Wu had been in charge of the vital outer ring of defenses that protected the main airfield, the railroad station, and the commercial district.
With these critical assets lost, the situation of the city's defenders became untenable.
Following the weakening of the city's defenses, the People's Liberation Army breached the city wall and entered Jinan on September 24, 1948. 
In 1937 the Red Army joined in a second united front with the KMT against the invading Japanese army in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Red Army was nominally integrated into the Chinese national army forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army units.
Although nominally cooperating with the KMT, the Communist Party of China used the Red Army to expand its influence while leading the anti-Japanese resistance in north China.
By the end of the war, the Red Army numbered approximately 1 million and was backed by a militia of 2 million.
Although the Red Army fought several conventional battles against the Japanese (and KMT troops), guerrilla operations were the primary mode of warfare. 
Li Wen (; November 26, 1905 – April 20, 1977) was a KMT general from Hunan.
Li Wen was born in Xinhua County, Hunan in 1905.
He joined the Kuomintang's army during the Northern Expedition.
Li surrendered to the People's Liberation Army of the CPC in December 1949, but escaped to Taiwan in 1950.