Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), who was at the head of the Republic of China for almost half a century, still seems to be a mysterious person to this day. His stormy revolutionary, diplomatic and personal life remained outside the scope of demonstratively biased publications. Alexander Pantsov, a famous sinologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor, author of biographies of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping (“ZhZL”), which received high praise both in Russia and abroad, for the first time undertook a large-scale biography of this outstanding political and military figure of the 20th century. Pantsov's new book - based on previously inaccessible materials from the archives of Russia, China, Taiwan, the USA, including the unpublished diaries of Chiang Kai-shek, documents from the depositories of the Hoover Institution (USA), the Taiwan Academy of History, the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, the Central Committee of the CPSU, the CIA - reveals the phenomenon of the mysterious leader of the Chinese nationalists. The man who transformed China from a semi-colony into a world power, but lost the struggle for power in mainland China to Mao Zedong. Of undoubted interest are the diplomatic battles of Chiang Kai-shek on the verge of a detective story with the heads of the leading world powers - Stalin, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, and the peculiarities of the everyday life of the Chinese people. The book is intended for a wide range of readers.