My father and my uncles/aunts used to tell me that during thirties the outer walls of our manor in the old hometown, located at northern part of Jiangsu, were equipped with battlements and the houses were protected by hired guards.  (Maybe there was also a moat, but I am not sure.)  FYI, after having been high-ranking KMT party official during Great Revolution, my grandfather later became a landlord at home, but his vast lands were confiscated in 1940 when CCP(her 新四軍) came.

The brief "story" of my family I told above indicates a cruel reality: China then was fraught with bandits, warlords, and landlords of robber baron kind; the country was under a nominal "unification" only.  Chiang was the biggest warlord who was supported by landlords and comprados, but left poor peasants in extremely reduced circumstances and some of them were left no alternatives but had to become bandits themselves. 

Nobody would say CCP is always perfect.  But just think otherwise: after 1949, would China get rid of being poverty-stricken, divided, manipulated by imperialists when she was led by Chiang and KMT, or by anyone else except CCP?  No way.   

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