The Beijing Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

. From the mid 1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs within

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

city,

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

city,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

province,

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

province, and

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

. The Region is mainly responsible for defending the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

from Mongolia and Russia, and also protects the capital of China, and had the largest number of military personnel of any of the seven regions active from 1985-2017. The Region has now been disbanded and superseded by the

Central Theater Command The Central Theater Command () is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army of China, and was founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessors were the Beijing Military Region and Jinan Military Region. The International I ...

and

Northern Theater Command The Northern Theater Command (is) one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region and Beijing Military Region. Its headquarters is in the Heping D ...

. Both the 63rd and 65th Corps/Group Armies were stationed in the Beijing area after returning from the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and remained in the region ever since, becoming Group Armies after 1985. The 13th Air Force Corps was stationed at Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province from 1971 to 1976. On 26 October 1988 the 17th Air Division was reorganized into the Beijing MR Training Base (serials 6xx2x). In reductions announced in September 2003, the 24th Group Army (

), and the 63rd Group Army (Shanxi) were both disbanded. About the same time, the 10th Air Corps, also stationed in the region, was disestablished (PLAAF 2010). The

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England. The 2017 Global Go To Think ...

attributed to the command 300,000 personnel in 2006, consisting of three group armies (the

27th Group Army The 27th Group Army was a military formation of the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army and one of three active group armies belonging to the Beijing Military Region between 1949 and 2017. It was based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei. ...

, 38th Group Army, and the 65th Group Army), two armoured divisions, one mechanised infantry division, five motorised divisions, one artillery division, three armoured, seven motorised infantry, four artillery, a total of five various anti-aircraft brigades, and one anti-tank regiment. The command is also augmented by the PLA Beijing Garrison, which consists of the 1st and

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

guard divisions (Military Police), and the Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion and Color Guard Company, both of which are charged with

public duties Public duties are performed by military personnel, and usually have a ceremonial or historic significance rather than an overtly operational role. Armenia Since September 2018, the Honour Guard Battalion of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia has ...

. The command is also home to the PLA Navy (PLAN) North Sea Fleet. The last commander was General

Song Puxuan A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

(2014-2016). The political commissar was General

Liu Fulian Liu Fulian (; born August 1952) is a retired general ('' shangjiang'') of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). He served as Political Commissar of People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force. Biography Liu was born in Lai'an County, A ...

History and mission

The Beijing Military Region traces its lineage to the establishment of the Northwest Military Region in May 1948. It was renamed the Beijing Military Region in 1955, when the Inner Mongolia Military Region was downgraded to a district, and was folded into the Beijing Military Region. The Beijing Military Region is primarily charged with protecting the capital. Because of its location in the capital, the Beijing Military Region was the most important of the seven military regions. Each unit from the Beijing Military Region contributed forces to Beijing for the crackdown on the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, and these elements remained deployed in Beijing long after using deadly force to remove the demonstrators. In addition to guarding the capital, the Beijing Military Region is also in charge of training key personnel for leadership positions through the numerous military academies in the region.

Commanders

Yang Chengwu Yang Chengwu (; October 27, 1914 – February 14, 2004), alias Yang Nengjun () was a Communist Chinese revolutionary and general of the People's Liberation Army. He was the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army from 1954 ...

(1955-1958) * Yang Yong (1958-1963) *

Zheng Weishan Zhenweishan

Zheng Weishan () (August 5, 1915 – May 9, 2000) was a People ...

(1963-1971) *

Li Desheng Li Desheng (; 4 May 1916 – 8 May 2011) was a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He was born in Xin County, Henan, China, an area now known as the "Cradle of Generals" for the large number of senior military officers born in the ...

(1971-1974) *

Chen Xilian Chen Xilian (pronounced ; 4 January 1915 – 10 June 1999) was a Chinese military officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. A prominent Mao Zedong, Maoist, he held very important positions in both military and political sph ...

(1974-1980) *

Qin Jiwei Qin Jiwei (; 16 November 1914 – 2 February 1997) was a general of the People's Republic of China, Minister of National Defense and a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo. Qin Jiwei was born to a poor peasant family in Huang'an (now ...

(1980-1987) *Zhou Yibing (1987-1990) *Wang Chengbin (1990-1993) *Li Laizhu (1993-1997) *Li Xinliang (1997-2002) * Zhu Qi (2002-2007) *

Fang Fenghui Fang Fenghui (born April 1951) is a former top general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). He served as the Chief of Joint Staff and a member of the Central Military Commission. He was placed under investigation for corruption in 2017 ...

(2007-2012) * Zhang Shibo (2012-2014) *

(2014-2016)

Structure

The organizational structure as of 2016 was as follows:http://www.giga-hamburg.de/dl/download.php?d=/content/ias/archiv/cds/cds_0805.pdf, p. 24. *Leadership **Commander **Deputy Commanders **Regional Chief-of-Staff **Political Commissar Fu Tinggui **Deputy Political Commissars **Political Department Director *Headquarters Department ** HQ Battalion

Direct Troops

** Army HQ *** Army HQ Battalion * 38th Group Army * 65th Group Army

PLA Beijing Garrison

*1st Guard Division **

Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion The Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion (), officially the PLA Honour Guard, is a ceremonial honour guard and specialised unit of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It is composed of representatives of the People's Liberation Army Ground For ...

* 3rd Guard Division *17th Guard Regiment

Nickname

Organizations affiliated with the Beijing Military Region often use the nickname "comrade" (), including the Comrade Performance Troupe () and the ''Comrade Newspaper'' ().

References

{{coord missing, China Military regions of the People's Liberation Army Military units and formations established in 1955 Military units and formations disestablished in 2016 1955 establishments in China