The Chinese Civil War (traitional Chinese: 國共內戰; simplified Chinese: 国共内战; pinyin: Guógòng Neìzhàn; literally "Nationalist-Communist Civil War") or (traditional Chinese: 解放戰爭; simplified Chinese: 解放战争; pinyin: Jiefang Zhanzheng; literally "Revolutionary War"), which lasted from April 1927 to May 1950, was a civil war in China between the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) and the Chinese Communist Party (CPC). The war began in 1927, after the Northern Expedition. The war represented an ideological split between the Western-supported Nationalist KMT, and the Soviet-supported Communist CPC.