The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
The Nanchang Uprising (Chinese: 南昌起义; pinyin: Nánchāng Qǐyì) was the first major Nationalist Party of China–Communist Party of China engagement of the Chinese Civil War, begun by the Chinese Communists to counter the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by the Kuomintang.
The Kuomintang (KMT) left wing established a "Revolutionary Committee" at Nanchang to plant the spark that was expected to ignite a widespread peasant uprising. Deng Yanda, Song Qingling and Zhang Fakui (listed nominally, who later crushed the uprising) were among the political leaders.Military forces in Nanchang under the leadership of He Long and Zhou Enlai rebelled in an attempt to seize control of the city after the end of the first Kuomintang-Communist alliance. Other important leaders in this event were Zhu De, Ye Ting, and Liu Bocheng.
Communist forces successfully occupied Nanchang and escaped from the siege of Kuomintang forces by 5 August, withdrawing to the Jinggang Mountains of western Jiangxi. 1 August was later regarded as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the first action fought against the Kuomintang and the National Revolutionary Army (NRA).