Whampoa Military Academy

The Nationalist Party of China Army Officer Academy , commonly known as the Whampoa Military Academy ，and Nationalist commanders Chen Cheng, Du Yuming, and Hu Zongnan. These young students first showed their training and courage in the war against local warlord and dissident of Sun, Chen Jiongming ，and later the unification of Guangdong province. Then they made greater contributions in the .

Influence

The Whampoa Military Academy plays an important role in Chinese history. Although it is primarily a military academy aiming to train military elites like the United States Military Academy, it has exhibited a broad influence on Chinese history. It not only supplied many military commanders for both the KMT and CCP, but also its graduates have much more influence on both parties' policies and governance. Especially for Chiang and KMT, the Whampoa Clique was pivotal for his governance. It competed with other cliques of KMT such as the New Guangxi Clique led by Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, CC Clique led by Chen Lifu and Chen Guofu, Politics Research Group led by Yang Yongtai and Zhang Qun . At the same time, when the CPC built its first after the Nanchang Uprising in 1927 most of its commanders were from Whampoa, and in the following two decades, the CPC trained its army in the Whampoa way.

The motto of the academy "Camaraderie" was proclaimed by Sun Yat-sen at the opening ceremonies. The irony is that during the Chinese Civil War both the commanders from KMT and CPC were trained and educated in Whampoa. They fought for different beliefs and ideals although they used to live and study together like brothers in arms.

The academy also had significant influence over the 20th century history of other Asian countries. The fourth term of the Academy saw students not only from all parts of China, but also from different parts of Asia enroll. For example, there were 30 Koreans among them. Some of them were brought up in China, others were active participants during the national liberation movement of Korea in 1917-1926 and emigrated to China later only to take up arms for struggle for freedom of their country once again after the education was over.

Also a big group of students was originally from Vietnam. This group was led by an exiled to-be leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Vietnamese struggle for independence Ho Chi Minh.

Relocations

The original Whampoa Military Academy existed from 1924 to 1926, over 6 terms it enrolled more than 7000. However, Chiang Kai-Shek purged the Communist Party of China during the the academy was moved to the newly established capital in Nanjing after the defeat of the warlords in 1928. The academy moved again to Chengdu during the Japanese invasion.



In 1950, after the Communist victory on mainland China and the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the academy followed KMT and was re-established in Fongshan, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan as the Chinese Military Academy and changed name in 2004 to the Military University. .