Editing Wang Jingwei (section)

===Leader of the Wuhan Government===
During the [[Northern Expedition (1926–1927)|Northern Expedition]], Wang was the leading figure in the left-leaning faction of the KMT that called for continued cooperation with the [[Chinese Communist Party]]. Although Wang collaborated closely with Chinese communists in Wuhan, he was philosophically opposed to communism and regarded the KMT's Comintern advisors with suspicion.<ref>Dongyoun Hwang. Wang Jingwei, The National Government, and the Problem of Collaboration. PhD Dissertation, Duke University. UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2000, p. 118.</ref> He did not believe that Communists could be true patriots or true Chinese nationalists.<ref>Dongyoun Hwang. Wang Jingwei, The National Government, and the Problem of Collaboration. PhD Dissertation, Duke University. UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2000, p. 148.</ref>

In early 1927, shortly before Chiang captured the Chinese sections of Shanghai and moved the capital to Nanjing, Wang's faction declared the capital of the Republic to be [[Wuhan]]. While attempting to direct the [[Government of the Republic of China in Wuhan|government from Wuhan]], Wang was notable for his close collaboration with leading communist figures, including [[Mao Zedong]], [[Chen Duxiu]], and [[Mikhail Borodin|Borodin]], and for his faction's provocative land reform policies. Wang later blamed the failure of his Wuhan government on its excessive adoption of communist agendas. Wang's regime was opposed by Chiang Kai-shek, who was in the midst of a bloody purge of communists in Shanghai and was calling for a push farther north. The separation between the governments of Wang and Chiang are known as the "[[Nanjing-Wuhan Split|Ninghan Separation]]" ({{zh|t=寧漢分裂|s=宁汉分裂|p=Nínghàn Fenlìe|first=t}}).<ref>Spence, Jonathan D. (1999) ''The Search for Modern China'', W.W. Norton and Company. pp. 338–339. {{ISBN|0-393-97351-4}}.</ref>

Chiang Kai-shek occupied the Chinese sections of Shanghai in April 1927, and began a bloody suppression of suspected communists known as the "[[Shanghai massacre of 1927|Shanghai Massacre]]". Within several weeks of Chiang's suppression of communists in Shanghai, Wang's leftist government was attacked by a KMT-aligned warlord and promptly disintegrated, leaving Chiang as the sole legitimate leader of the Republic. KMT troops occupying territories formerly controlled by Wang conducted massacres of suspected Communists in many areas: around [[Changsha]] alone, over ten thousand people were killed in a single twenty-day period. Fearing retribution as a communist sympathizer, Wang publicly claimed allegiance to Chiang before fleeing to Europe.<ref name="Barnouin38">Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life.'' Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. p. 38. Retrieved 12 March 2011.</ref>