What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The Kuomintang-Communist Civil War of 1949 determined the pattern and direction of contemporary China. At that time, the CCP issued the "Order on punishing War Criminals" and the "List of War Criminals in the Civil War", which also involved the party, government, army, and intellectuals of the Kuomintang government at that time.
In the middle of the Kuomintang Civil War, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a national land conference in Xibaipo, Jianping County, Hebei Province (present-day Pingshan County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province) in July 1947, and at the end of the september meeting, it adopted the Outline of China's Land Law, establishing a program for land reform. Since then, the criteria for dividing landlords, rich peasants, and middle peasants have been clarified in the Liberated Areas, and the private property rights of the allocated land have been protected, and at the same time, they have demanded that the left-leaning propaganda on land reform be corrected and the interests of the middle peasants be protected, which has won the hearts and minds of the vast rural areas.
According to statistics, in 1949, the grain harvested in the Liberated Areas reached 30.4 billion pounds (about 1.1 billion US dollars), but the Revenue of the Kuomintang government was only 90 million US dollars, and the amount of paper money issued in the first eight months of 1948 was 470,000 times that of the whole year of 1937.
With the victory of the People's Liberation Army in the Liaoshen Campaign and the control of the liberated areas in the northeast region with a vast land area and rich natural resources, the PEOPLE's Liberation Army gradually gained numerical superiority over the Kuomintang army, and the balance of strength between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China was reversed. Subsequently, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) inflicted heavy losses on the Kuomintang in the Battle of Huaihai and the Battle of Pingjin, and when the victory or defeat of the Kuomintang-Communists was about to be decided, in order to hasten the collapse of Chiang Kai-shek's government and continue to exert pressure on it, on November 1, 1948 Chinese the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army issued an "Order on Punishing War Criminals" in the name of Zhu De, commander-in-chief, and Peng Dehuai, deputy commander-in-chief, which specified various crimes to be punished as war criminals and the methods for their punishment. Officials at all levels of government who order their subordinates to engage in any of the following criminal acts shall be considered war criminals":
(1) Those who massacre the people, loot their property or demolish and burn their houses;
2. Those who cast poisonous gas;
(c) The killing of captives;
(4) Sabotage of weapons and ammunition;
(5) Whoever destroys communication equipment or burns all documents and telegrams;
(6) Destroying grain, clothing warehouses and other military equipment;
7. Those who destroy municipal hydropower equipment, factory buildings and various machines;
(8) Destruction of vehicles and equipment of the Navy and the Army;
(9) Destroying bank vaults;
10. Destroying cultural monuments;
11. Destroying all public property and buildings;
12. Air raids and bombardment of liberated people's cities.
The order also pointed out that our army's policy toward Kuomintang opposition military and political personnel is: "Those who are the most evil must be punished, those who coerce and obey do not ask, and those who make meritorious contributions are rewarded."
Subsequently, on December 25, 1948, xinhua news agency published the "List of Civil War War Criminals", which was published in the "People's Daily" on December 27, listing 43 people, including Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, Chen Cheng, Bai Chongxi, He Yingqin, Gu Zhutong, Chen Guofu, Chen Lifu, Kong Xiangxi, Song Ziwen, Song Meiling, Wei Lihuang, Hu Zongnan, Fu Zuoyi, Yan Xishan, Du Yuming, Tang Enbo, and Sun Liren, as "first-class war criminals." The list basically included the party, government, and military personnel of the Kuomintang government at that time. That is to say, in the first half of the 20th century, the main figures who were in the political arena of the Chinese Kuomintang were among them. The list specifically names Huang Wei, commander of the Nationalist Twelfth Corps, who was captured in the Battle of Huaihai, for "casting poison gas in combat, that is, fully constituting the qualification of war criminals."
In this regard, Chiang Kai-shek issued a "Letter to The Compatriots of the Military and Civilians throughout the Country" on New Year's Day in 1949, saying that he was willing to hold peace talks with the Chinese Communists and proposing five conditions for negotiations: "It is harmless to the independence and integrity of the country, it is conducive to the people's recuperation, the sacred constitution is not violated by me, the army has a guarantee, and the people can maintain their free way of life and the current minimum standard of living."
However, the situation is stronger than the people, the Kuomintang is losing ground one after another, and nanjing does not have much bargaining chips. When the Battle of Huaihai was over and the Battle of Pingjin was coming to an end, when Chiang Kai-shek was stepping down and Li Zongren was appointed acting president, on January 27, 1949, the People's Daily forwarded a telegram from xinhua News Agency, increasing the list of important war criminals (including Chiang Ching-kuo) and important war agitators (Hu Shi, etc.), adding a total of 37 people, and taking the first of the "Eight Conditions for Peace," "Punishing War Criminals," as the focus of negotiations, and continuing to strengthen pressure on the Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing.
However, the Nanjing government was incapable of punishing the above-mentioned party and government officials, intellectuals, or religious figures, nor did it have the strength to resist the Platon Army, which was about to cross the Yangtze River south, and although the delegation sent by Li Zongren to Beiping agreed on the "Internal Peace Agreement" with the CPC representatives, it was slow to obtain the approval of the Nanjing government, so the PLA crossed the Yangtze River and liberated all of China.