Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic ( CSR , ) , also known as the Soviet Republic of China or the China Soviet Republic , is often referred to in historical sources as the Jiangxi Soviet ( after its largest component territory , the Jiangxi - Fujian Soviet ) . It was established in November 1931 by future Communist Party of China leader Mao Zedong , General Zhu De and others , and it lasted until 1937 . Discontiguous territories included the Northeastern Jiangxi , Hunan - Jiangxi , Hunan - Hubei - Jiangxi , Hunan - Western Hubei , Hunan - Hubei - Sichuan - Guizhou , Shaanxi - Gansu , Szechuan - Shensi , Hubei - Henan - Anhui , Honghu and Haifeng - Lufeng Soviets . Mao Zedong was both CSR state chairman and prime minister ; he led the state and its government . Mao ' s tenure as head of a " small state within a state " gave him experience in mobile warfare and peasant organization ; this experience helped him accomplish the Communist reunification of China during the late 1940s . The CSR was eventually destroyed by the Kuomintang ( KMT ) ' s National Revolutionary Army in a series of 1934 encirclement campaigns . Following the Xi ' an Incident of December 1936 , the Communists and Kuomingtang formed an uneasy " United Front " to resist Japanese pressure , which led to the Communists recognizing at least for the moment Chiang Kai - shek as China ' s leader and the official dissolution of the Soviet Republic on 22 September 1937 . Establishment . On November 7 , 1931 ( the anniversary of the 1917 Russian October Revolution ) a National Soviet People ' s Delegates Conference was held in Ruijin ( 瑞金 ) , Jiangxi province . Ruijin was the national capital , and the Republic had received assistance from the Soviet Union to host the gathering . The Chinese Soviet Republic ( Chinese : " 中華蘇維埃共和國 " ) was born , although most of China was still controlled by the nationalist Government of the Republic of China ; an opening ceremony was held for the new country , and Mao Zedong and other communists attended the military parade . Because the CSR had its own national bank , printed its own money and collected its own taxes , this is considered the beginning of the Two Chinas . With Mao Zedong as both party chief ( 國家主席 , " state chairman " ) and head of state ( 總理 , " prime minister " ) , the CSR gradually expanded . At its peak it covered over — a large part of two provinces ( with Tingzhou in Fujian ) — and had a population of three million . Its economy was more stable than most of the areas controlled by Chinese warlords . In addition to the militia and guerilla soldiers , the well - armed Chinese Red Army had reached more than 140 , 000 soldiers by the early 1930s . The Chinese Red Army had modern communications technology ( telephones , telegraph and radio , which the warlords ' armies lacked ) , and transmitted wireless coded messages while breaking nationalist codes . At the time , only Chiang Kai - shek ' s army could match the communist forces . The Kuomintang , led by Chiang Kai - shek , felt threatened by the CSR . It induced the Chinese warlords to have the National Revolutionary Army besiege the CSR , launching what Chiang and his fellow nationalists called encirclement campaigns . The communists responded with what they called counter - encirclement campaigns . Chiang Kai - shek ' s first , second and third encirclement campaigns were defeated by the Chinese Red Army , led by Mao . However , after the third counter - encirclement campaign Mao was replaced by Wang Ming , a Chinese communist returning from the Soviet Union . The Chinese Red Army was commanded by a three - man committee , which included Wang Ming ' s associates Otto Braun ( Li De ) ( the Comintern military advisor ) , Bo Gu and Zhou Enlai . The CSR then began a rapid decline , due to its extreme left - wing governance and incompetent military command . The new leadership could not rid itself of Mao ' s influence ( which continued during the fourth encirclement campaign ) , which temporarily protected the communists . However , due to the dominance of the new communist leadership after the fourth counter - encirclement campaign ) the Red Army was nearly halved . Most of its equipment was lost during Chiang ' s fifth encirclement campaign ; this began in 1933 and was orchestrated by Chiang ' s German advisers , who advocated encircling the CSR with fortified blockhouses . This was effective ; in an effort to break the blockade the Red Army besieged the forts many times , suffering heavy casualties and only limited success . As a result , the CSR shrank significantly due to the Chinese Red Army ' s manpower and material losses . State structure . Intelligence . The communists appeared doomed when attacked by the nationalists . However , Zhou Enlai had planted more than a dozen moles in Chiang Kai - shek ' s inner circle , including his general headquarters at Nanchang . One of Zhou ' s most important agents , Mo Xiong ( 莫雄 ) , was not a communist ; however , his contributions saved the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Red Army . With recommendations from Chiang Kai - shek ' s secretary - general Yang Yongtai ( 楊永泰 ) ( who was unaware of Mo ' s communist activities ) , Mo rose in Chiang Kai - shek ' s regime and became an important member in his general headquarters during the early 1930s . In January 1934 , Chiang Kai - shek appointed him administrator and commander - in - chief of the Fourth Special District in northern Jiangxi . Mo used his position to plant more than a dozen communist agents in Chiang ' s general headquarters , including Liu Yafo ( 劉亞佛 ) ( who introduced the Communist Party of China ) , Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) ( his communist handler , whom he hired as his secretary ) and Lu Zhiying ( 盧志英 ) ( acting head of the spy ring , under the command of Zhou Enlai ) . After successfully besieging the Ruijin area ( the CSR capital ) and occupying most of the CSR itself , Chiang was confident that he could defeat the communists in a final decisive strike . In late September 1934 he distributed his top - secret " Iron Bucket Plan " to general headquarters at Lushan ( the summer substitute for Nanchang ) , which detailed the final push to annihilate the communist forces . Chiang planned 30 blockade lines supported by 30 barbed wire fences ( most electrified ) in a radius around Ruijin to starve the communists . In addition , more than 1 , 000 trucks were to be mobilized in a rapid - reaction force to prevent a communist breakout . Realizing the certainty of communist annihilation , Mo Xiong ( 莫雄 ) handed the several - kilogram document to Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) the same night — risking his life and those of his family . With help from Liu Yafo ( 劉亞佛 ) and Lu Zhiying ( 盧志英 ) , communist agents copied the intelligence into four dictionaries and Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) was tasked with bringing it to the CSR . The trip was hazardous , since the nationalist forces arrested and executed anyone attempting to cross the blockade . Xiang Yunian ( 項與年 ) hid in the mountains , knocking out four of his teeth with a rock and causing his face to swell . Disguised as a beggar , he tore off the covers of the four dictionaries and covered them with spoiled food at the bottom of his bag . Crossing several blockade lines , he reached Ruijin on October 7 , 1934 . The intelligence provided by Mo Xiong ( 莫雄 ) convinced the communists in the CSR to abandon their base and retreat before Chiang could reinforce his blockade lines with barbed - wire fences . They mobilized trucks and troops , saving themselves from annihilation . Finance . On February 1 , 1932 the Chinese Soviet Republic National Bank was established , with Mao Zemin as president . The CSR Central Mint issued three types of currency : a paper bill , a copper coin and a silver dollar . Banknotes . The Central Mint briefly issued both paper bills and copper coins . Neither circulated for long , primarily because the currency could not be used in the rest of China . The paper bill had " Chinese Soviet Republic " ( 中華蘇維埃共和國 ) printed on the bill in traditional Chinese character s and a picture of Vladimir Lenin . Copper coins . Like the paper bill , copper coins issued by the Central Mint also had " Chinese Soviet Republic " ( 中華蘇維埃共和國 ) engraved in traditional Chinese . Since coins last longer than paper bills , these coins were issued ( and circulated ) in a much greater quantity . However , these coins are rarer than the paper bill ; copper was needed for ammunition , and these copper coins were recalled and replaced by silver dollars . Silver dollars . The predominant currency produced by the Central Mint was the silver dollar . Unlike the bills and copper coins , the silver dollars had no communist symbols ; they were a copy of silver dollars produced by other mints in China ( including the popular coin with the head of Yuan Shikai and the eagle silver dollar of the Mexican peso ) . This , and the fact that the coin was made of silver , enabled them to be circulated in the rest of China ; thus , it was the currency of choice . When the Chinese Red Army ' s First Front began its Long March in October 1934 , the communist bank was part of the retreating force ; fourteen bank employees , over a hundred coolies and a company of soldiers escorted them with the money and mint machinery . An important duty of the bank was , when the Chinese Red Army stayed in a location for longer than a day , to have the local populace exchange communist paper bills and copper coins for currency used in the nationalist - controlled regions to avoid prosecution by the nationalists after the communists left . After the Zunyi Conference it was decided that carrying the entire bank on the march was impractical , and on January 29 , 1935 at Tucheng ( 土城 ) the bank employees burned all communist paper bills and destroyed the mint machinery . By the end of the Long March in October 1935 , only eight of the original fourteen employees were left ; the other six had died along the way . Taxation . In November 1931 , the National Tax Bureau was founded . In 2002 , the original building was renovated for the public . Postage stamps . The Directorate General of Chinese Soviet Posts was founded in Ruijin on May 1 , 1932 . The first stamps were designed by Huang Yaguang and printed lithographically by the Printing House of the Ministry of Finance in Ruijin . White paper or newspaper was used . They were imperforate , and denominated in the Chinese Soviet silver - dollar currency . They are fairly rare , and sought after by collectors . There are also many forgeries and bogus issues imitating early stamps from the communist areas . Collapse and the Long March . On October 10 , 1934 the three - man communist leadership issued an order to retreat ; on October 16 the Chinese Red Army begun what was later known as the Long March , leaving the CSR . Seventeen days after the main communist force left its base , the nationalists realized they had escaped when they reached the abandoned city of Ruijin on November 5 . The original destination was He Long ' s communist base in Hubei ; the final destination ( Yan ' an ) was not chosen until later , after the rise of Mao Zedong . To avoid panic , the goal was kept secret from most people ( including Mao Zedong ) ; the public was told that a portion of the Chinese Red Army would be engaged in mobile warfare with the nationalist forces , and this part of the army was renamed the “ Field Army ” . By fall 1934 , the communists faced annihilation , and the situation had convinced Mao Zedong and his supporters that the communists should abandon their bases in the CSR . However , the leadership refused to accept the prospect of failure and still hoped to defeat the nationalist forces . The three - man committee devised a diversionary plan and a regrouping after a temporary retreat . After the regrouping a counterattack would be launched with the earlier diversion forces , driving the nationalists out of the CSR . The first movement of the retreating diversion were led by Fang Zhimin . Fang ( and his deputy , Xun Weizhou ) were the first to break through Kuomintang lines in June , followed by Xiao Ke in August . These movements surprised the Kuomintang , who were numerically superior to the communists and did not expect an attack on their fortified perimeter . However , Fang Zhimin ' s force was crushed after its initial success and Xun Weizhou was killed in action . Nearly every commander was wounded and captured alive ( including Fang Zhimin ) , and all were executed by the nationalists . The only exception was Su Yu , who escaped . Xiao Ke fared no better , although his forces initially broke through and reached He Long ' s communist base in Hubei . Even with their combined forces they could not challenge the nationalist forces , and did not return until the establishment of the People ' s Republic of China 15 years later . The failure of the diversionary force resulted in their loss of contact with the CSR . The communist leadership failed to coordinate its next move , still believing that a temporary retreat near ( or within ) the CSR would allow them to recover and counterattack . Main retreating force . The portion of the First Front Red Army engaged in mobile warfare was actually the bulk of the communist force making a general retreat , and was much diminished from its peak of more than 140 , 000 men . With most of its equipment lost , many Chinese Red Army soldiers were forced to arm themselves with ancient weaponry . According to the " Statistical Chart of Field Army Personnel , Weaponry , Ammunition , and Supply " completed by the Chinese Red Army on October 8 , 1934 ( two days before the Long March began ) , the Long March forces consisted of : The corps and columns had a total of 86 , 859 men . The " Statistical Chart of Field Army Personnel , Weaponry , Ammunition , and Supply " ( in the " People ' s Liberation Army Archives " ) provided weapons and provisions for the Long March . The weapons included : Other weapons were also deployed which were not counted . These included : Provisions included : Dissolution . The Chinese Soviet Republic continued to exist formally , since the communists still controlled some areas such as the Hubei - Henan - Shaanxi Soviet . Bao ' an was , for a time , the capital until the communist government was moved to Yan ' an . The Chinese Soviet Republic was dissolved on 22 September 1937 when the Chinese Communist Party issued , in the Second United Front , its manifesto on unity with the Kuomintang ; the Second Sino - Japanese War was only a few weeks old . The Chinese Communist Party remained in " de facto " control of Yan ' an , which was its stronghold for the remainder of the war with Japan .