text: what factors led to the communist takeover in china?   the chinese civil war (traditional chinese: 國共内戰; simplified chinese: 国共内战; hanyu pinyin: guógòng neìzhàn; literally "nationalist-communist civil war") was a conflict in china between the kuomintang (chinese nationalist party; kmt) and the communist party of china (ccp). it began in 1927 after the northern expedition when the right-wing faction of the kmt, led by chiang kai-shek, purged the communists from a kmt-ccp alliance. it ended in 1950 with an unofficial cessation of major hostilities, with the communists controlling mainland china (including hainan island) and the nationalists restricted to their remaining territories of taiwan, penghu, and several outlying fujianese islands.