It's Official: Communist China Has Lasted Longer Than the USSR

By Matthew Bossons

It’s official folks: the People’s Republic of China has lasted longer than the Soviet Union.

Founded on December 30, 1922, the Soviet Union lasted 25,198 days, dissolving on December 25, 1991 with the resignation of then USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev. On that fateful day, the hammer and sickle flag of the USSR was lowered one last time, and Boris Yeltsin became the first leader of a new Russian state.

On September 27, 2018, the People’s Republic of China officially surpassed the Soviet Union at 25,199 days.

The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949, when then Party Chairman Mao Zedong famously raised the Chinese national flag in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and announced the birth of a new nation.

It is worth noting that if you count the birth of the Soviet Union from when the Bolsheviks came to power (you shouldn’t, but for argument’s sake), the PRC still has a few years to go: the October Revolution saw the Bolsheviks gain power in 1917.

[Cover image via Pixabay]

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