Canton Coup

Canton Coup
The Zhongshan under steam.
Zhongshan Incident
Traditional Chinese中山艦事件
Simplified Chinese中山舰事件
Literal meaningZhongshan Warship Incident
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngshān Jiàn Shìjiàn
March 20th Incident
Chinese三二〇事件
Literal meaning3/20 Incident
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSān-Èr-Líng Shìjiàn
Chiang Kai-shek leading the Northern Expedition in 1926.
A model of the Zhongshan.
The Zhongshan Warship Museum in Wuhan.
The restored warship.

The Canton Coup[1] of 20 March 1926, also known as the Zhongshan Incident[2] or the March 20th Incident,[3] 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.

  1. ^ Wortzel (1999), "Canton Coup".
  2. ^ Felber (2002), p. 57.
  3. ^ Van de Ven (2003), p. 101.