Up next in the lyrics of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire is Red China. This was the term used primarily during the Cold War to refer to the People’s Republic of China, aka communist China. It distinguished between the mainland government ruled by Mao Zedong, who came to power in 1949, from the Republic of China and its government on the island of Taiwan. The “Red” portion comes from the assiocation of the color and communism.

Today Red China is the 2nd most populous country in the world next to India.

Chinese History

China has a long history of dynasties turned Republic in 1912, only to have that Republic lose control in 1949 after losing a civil war. The Republic took over in 1912 after defeating the Qing Dynasty (Manchu led) ending the string of dynasties that had ruled for several thousand years. In 1928 the Kuomintang (KMT) reunited all parts of the country under the Republic after some warlords had controlled parts of outlying areas and established a one-party rule with its capital in Nanjing. However, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) defeated the KMT in the Chinese Civil War in 1949 under the rule of Mao Zedong. The nation has been a communist state ever since.

Modern China

Today the country is led by Xi Jinping. We could go into where they stand vs. the United States but that is perhaps a different story for a different day.

Currently in the world there are just a few recognized communist countries including China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. However, they are not run like the old Soviet Union, espeically since they saw how that model doesn’t really work.

Stay tuned for our next post on Jonnie Ray from the lyrics of We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel.