Chiang Kai-shek

American  

[chang kahy-shek, jyahng] / ˈtʃæŋ kaɪˈʃɛk, ˈdʒyɑŋ /

Also Chiang Chieh-shih

noun

1. Chiang Chung-cheng, 1886?–1975, Chinese army officer and political leader: president of the Republic of China 1950–75.

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Chiang Kai-shek British  

/ ˈtʃæŋ kaɪˈʃɛk /

noun

1. original name Chiang Chung-cheng, 1887–1975, Chinese general: president of China (1928–31; 1943–49) and of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (1950–75). As chairman of the Kuomintang, he allied with the Communists against the Japanese (1937–45), but in the Civil War that followed was forced to withdraw to Taiwan after his defeat by the Communists (1949)

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Chiang Kai-shek Cultural  

1. A Chinese general and political leader of the twentieth century. He was president of China until he was overthrown in 1949 by Chinese communist forces under Mao Zedong, who established the People's Republic of China. Chiang fled to Taiwan, where he established the government of the Republic of China, or Nationalist China (see also Nationalist China), recognized by the United States until 1979 as the only legitimate government of China.

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Example Sentences

The KMT was based in China until 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalist KMT troops fled to Taiwan to set up a rival government after losing a civil war to the communist forces.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

After Mao defeated Chiang Kai-shek during the Truman years, many in the U.S. debated who lost China.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026

Visits to the front, rousing of troops, evading rampant typhoid, enigmatic encounters with notable leaders like Republican Chiang Kai-shek and Communist Zhou Enlai.

From Salon • Jul. 12, 2025

The defeated Nationalist government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan in 1949, while the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2025

And there were the Communists who were supposed to be part of the Nationalist movement, but they had their own ideas, my father said, and they didn’t always agree with General Chiang Kai-shek.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz