After the war and the liberation of the city from the Japanese, a Liquidation Commission fitfully met to discuss the remaining details of the handover. By the end of 1945, most westerners not actively involved in the Chinese Civil War (such as intelligence agents, soldiers, journalists etc.) or in Shanghai's remaining foreign businesses, had left the city. With the defeat of the Kuomintang in 1949, the city was occupied by Communist PLA and came under the control of Mayor of Shanghai.