164 ◾ Investment and Employment Opportunities in China
Great Wall to include parts of Inner Mongolia. During the rule of the Republic of China over
mainland China (1912–1949), the warlord Yen Hsi-shan held Shanxi, regardless of the frequent
political upheavals shaking the rest of China. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan occu-
pied much of the province after defeating China in the Battle of Taiyuan. Shanxi was also a major
battlefield between the Japanese and the Chinese communist guerrillas during the war. After the
defeat of Japan, the countryside of Shanxi became important bases for the communist People’s
Liberation Army in the ensuing Chinese Civil War. Although Yen had incorporated thousands of
former Japanese soldiers into his ow ...