Canton Coup

Canton Coup
The Zhongshan under steam
Zhongshan Incident
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaning	Zhongshan Warship Incident
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngshān Jiàn Shìjiàn
March 20th Incident
Chinese
Literal meaning	3/20 Incident
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sān-Èr-Líng Shìjiàn

The Canton Coup of 20 March 1926, also known as the Zhongshan Incident or the March 20th Incident, was a purge of Communist elements of the Nationalist army in Guangzhou (then romanized as "Canton") undertaken by Chiang Kai-shek. The incident solidified Chiang's power immediately before the successful Northern Expedition, turning him into the paramount leader of the country.

At the time of the incident, the Nationalist and Communist parties of China were working together as part of the First United Front, allied against the local warlords who were carving the country into local fiefdoms. The Soviet Union was working with both groups and notably bankrolling Guangzhou's Whampoa Military Academy. They had assisted Sun Yat-sen in regaining control of Guangdong; after his death by cancer in 1925, the Nationalists began a protracted leadership struggle that included interprovincial war. The assassination of Liao Zhongkai led to Hu Hanmin's ouster and the promotion of Chiang Kai-shek, then commandant of the military academy, to commander of the National Revolutionary Army. There were plans for a northern offensive against the warlords, but leadership remained divided—principally between the right-wing Chiang and the left-wing Wang Jingwei. With support from the Soviets and the Communists, the left wing looked ascendant: Hu had said the Nationalists' ultimate goal was socialism and the January 1926 party conference had placed Communists in strategic posts and the party apparently "almost wholly under leftist control".