This section focuses on China and Korea between 1910 and 1950. It examines the rise of nationalism and communism in China after the establishment of the Chinese Republic, as well as the nature of Japanese rule of Korea, which had been formalized with the annexation in 1910, and which became more oppressive during the years of the Sino-Japanese War. The section concludes by examining the reasons for the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War and the consequences of this defeat for the nationalists.
- Rise of national identity in China: Yuan Shikai; Sun Yixian; 21 Demands (1915); new culture movement; Treaty of Versailles (1919); May Fourth movement (1919); effects of warlordism
- Nationalist rule of China: Guomindang leadership and ideology; Jiang Jieshi; successes and failures of domestic policy during the Nanjing decade (1927–1937)
- Rise of communism in China: Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology; First United Front; Shanghai massacre (1927); Yan’an; Jiangxi Soviet; Long March; Mao Zedong
- Impact of Japanese invasion of China; Manchuria (1931); Second United Front; Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945); Chinese Civil War (1946–1949); nature of conflict; reasons for communist victory
- Impact of Japanese rule of Korea: social, political and economic effects of annexation (1910); impact of the Sino-Japanese War on Korea: Japanese use of forced labour, conscription and comfort women; division of Korea at 38th parallel (1945); Syngman Rhee; Kim Il-Sung
- Taiwan and Republic of China (ROC): nature of Jiang Jieshi’s rule: martial law (1949); White Terror (1950); beginnings of Taiwanese independence movement