Chian Kai-Shek: visionary or oppressor. Chiang Kai-Shek served as generalissimo of the national government of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 until his death in 1975, taking control of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. Chiang led Nationalist troops in the Northern Expedition to unify China and end the era of warlords. He emerged victorious in 1928 as overall leader of the ROC.[1] Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which his stature in China weakened but his international importance increased. Kai-Shek attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists during the Civil War (1927–1949), but ultimately failed, forcing his KMT government to flee to Taiwan, where he continued to serve as President of the Republic of China and director general of the government. KMT for the rest of his life.Chiang Kai-shek was born in Xikou, a town located about 33.0 km southwest of downtown Ningbo, Fenghua County, Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province . However, his ancestral home, an important concept in Chinese society, was Heqiao Town (å'Œæ©‹éŽ®) in Yixing County, Wuxi Prefecture, Jiangsu Province (about 38 km or 24 miles to the southwest of downtown Wuxi and 10 km (6 miles) from the shores of the famous Tai Lake). His father, Chiang Zhaocong, and mother, Wang Caiyu, were members of an upper-middle-class salt merchant family. His father died when Kai-shek was only eight years old, and he described his mother as "the embodiment of Confucian virtues." In an arranged marriage, Chiang was married to another villager named Mao Fumei. Chiang and Mao had a son Ching-Kuo and a daughter Chien-hua. Chiang grew up at a time when military defeats and civil wars between warlords had left China destabilized and in debt, and he decided to pursue a military career to save China. . He began his military training at the Baoding Military Academy in 1906. He went to a preparatory school for Chinese students to enter Rikugun Shikan Gakko in Japan in 1907. There, he was influenced by his compatriots to support the revolutionary movement aimed at to overthrow the Qing dynasty. and establish a Chinese Republic. He befriended Chen Qimei, a native of Zhejiang, and in 1908 Chen brought Chiang into the Tongmenghui, a precursor organization to the Kuomintang. Chiang served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911. Chiang returned to China in 1911 after learning of the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, intending to fight as an artillery officer..