On 23 July 1941, President Roosevelt ordered the provision of arms and equipment to China, along with a Military Advisory Group to help train the Chinese in their use. The mission was known as MAGIC (Military Advisory Group In China). The mission arrived in October 1941. The Burma Road was the only viable supply link to China by this time. In December 1941, Roosevelt agreed to train and arm 30 divisions of Chinese Nationalists troops.
The situation in China grew worse in 1942. In India, the American aid for China began arriving. The Rifle .30 Model of 1917, the so called American Enfield, Automatic Rifle .30 M1918 and M1918A2 known as the "BAR", and the Browning Machine Gun .30 M1917A1 were issued to the Chinese troops in India which were placed under Stilwell's command.
In 1944 U.S. Rifles .30 M1903 and M1903A3 (American Springfield Rifles) were being received in quantity to supplement the .30 M1917 Enfields for arming the Chinese. Altogether about 400,000 .30 Enfield and Springfield Rifles were supplied by the end of WW2 to Nationalist China.
In 1949 Chiang Kai Shak had begun shipping his personal forces, cultural treasures, and other key assets to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) before the final stages of collapse. When most of the KMT hierarchy and their families and others fled there to escape the Communists. In December 1949, Chiang proclaimed Taipei the new capitol of the Republic of China Government.
Chiang, once again the President, began rebuilding his forces. Initially, the small arms situation was quite good as the troops transported there were considered among the best and had been armed with better quality rifles, including German made 7.92mm Standard Modell 1924, 7.92mm Type 24 of good quality, .30 Caliber Carbines M1, and M1903 and M1903A3 .30 Springfield's. U.S. aid shipments had been diverted to Taiwan as China was falling.
After 1951, .30 M1 Garand rifles were provided in quanity and by late 1950's 7.92mm Mausers were largely in storage. Circa 1962 these Mausers were transferred to an other power.
The Garands were replaced by a Chinese made version of the M14 7.62mm NATO rifle beginning in the mid sixties. These were followed by the 5.56mm M16A1 and then supplemented by a Chi-Nat derivative of the Stoner design which avoided license costs.
Source: chinapage1
