On this day, 76 years ago, January 21, 1949 (December 23, 1948, the lunar calendar), Chiang Kai-shek announced his "retirement" and Li Zongren became acting president. Chiang Kai-shek issued a "retirement" statement. On January 21, 1949, the Nanjing Central News Agency broadcast Chiang Kai-shek's statement: "The war is still not over, and the purpose of peace cannot be achieved... I am unable to serve for some reason... It was decided to retire first, and Vice President Li Zongren would take over the presidency." Chiang Kai-shek's downfall was caused by the international and domestic environment. At the end of last year, the entire territory of Northeast China and North China, as well as the area north of the Yangtze River in Central and East China, were captured by the People's Liberation Army. Therefore, U.S. Ambassador Leighton Stuart said that "Chiang Kai-shek will have to resign if he wants to achieve peace between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party." On December 24, 1948, Bai Chongxi, the "Commander-in-Chief of the Central China Suppression" with 500,000 troops, telephoned in Wuhan and proposed "an immediate meeting between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to conduct military action" and Chiang Kai-shek's resignation. Immediately afterwards, Li Zongren and others put forward five peace proposals, taking Chiang's resignation as the first proposal. The four provinces of Henan, Hunan, Hubei, and Guangxi also called on Jiang to retire. On New Year's Eve, Chiang invited the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang to consult. Except for a few people such as Gu Zhenggang, other members unanimously believed that Chiang was the main obstacle to the peace talks and should resign. On the 14th of this month, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, issued a "Statement on the Current Situation", exposing Chiang's plot for peace talks and proposing eight conditions as the basis for peace talks. All this made it impossible for Chiang to continue to stay in the country. On the 19th, Chiang said at the last meeting: "The situation has developed to this point, and I have no regrets about retiring," and said: "I wish to retire not because of the Communist Party, but because of a certain faction of the Party." Chiang Kai-shek, who announced his resignation, bid farewell to his aides