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| 1928, Jan |
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| After several months of “retirement,” Jiang resumed his position as military and civil head of the GMD. His new wife's brother, Song Zewen (T. V. Soong, 1894–1971), became the GMD government's head financier. | 1 |
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| April 7 |
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| Jiang commenced a fresh northern expedition, this time in conjunction with Yan Xishan (1883–1960), militarist ruler of Shanxi province since 1912; Feng Yuxiang (1882–1948), a magnetic but erratic northern militarist since 1920 who had thrown in his lot with the GMD after a visit to Moscow in 1927; and two militarists from Guangxi, Li Zongren (1891–1969) and Bai Chongxi (1893–1966). | 2 |
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| April 30 |
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| The farther advance of the National Revolutionary Army to Beijing was blocked as it entered Jinan, Shandong, by 5,000 Japanese troops, sent to protect residents there. After conflict (May 3–11) with the Japanese forces in Jinan, Jiang's army withdrew and moved directly on Beijing. The Japanese troops withdrew from Jinan in May 1929, as a vigorous Chinese boycott (1928–29) protested Japanese intrusions. | 3 |
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| June 2 |
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| Zhang Zuolin, seeing his hold on Beijing slip through his fingers, left the capital by rail heading north; the train was bombed and Zhang assassinated by Japanese officers opposed to the less radical policies of their own government and angry at Zhang's growing sense of independence. | 4 |
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| June 8 |
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| Beijing captured by the National Revolutionary Army. It was renamed Beiping (“northern peace”; Beijing means “northern capital”), for the capital remained in Nanjing (“southern capital”). Zhang Xueliang (b. 1898) inherited the command of his father, Zhang Zuolin, and joined forces with the GMD (Nov.). | 5 |
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| Oct. 10 |
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| The Central Executive Committee of the GMD promulgated a temporary organic law that provided for a state council headed by the president (also the highest military authority), heading five administrative divisions (yuan): executive, legislative, judicial, civil service, and censorial. All appointments to these offices were to emanate from the Central Executive Committee and the Party Congress. | 6 |
| Toward the end of the year, Mao's forces, constantly under attack, were compelled to give up their base in the Jinggang Mountains, moving westward toward Fujian province. In the Jiangxi town of Ruijin at the Fujian-Jiangxi border, he established his new base, which would subsequently become the center of the Jiangxi Soviet government (until 1934). Among the many more radical policies adopted by the Jiangxi Soviet was a new marriage law that prohibited arranged marriages and made divorce contingent merely on the will of either partner. Li Lisan replaced Qu Qiubai as head of the CCP, but was himself ousted in 1930. Mao and Li never got along. | 7 |
| A series of treaties with 12 countries (July 25–Dec. 22) recognized the Nanjing government and its right to complete tariff autonomy, provided it did not discriminate against foreign nationals. The Chinese in turn did away with domestic transit duties and other taxes imposed by Sun Zhongshan's Guangzhou regime. Customs revenues soon skyrocketed. | 8 |
| The extremely harsh realities of rural life continued unabated, probably worsening with the worldwide Great Depression; many thousands starved to death when international markets in the crops or goods they produced dried up. | 9 |
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