Hou Jingru (; October 17, 1902 – October 25, 1994) was a Chinese army officer and politician, prominent member of the

Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), also commonly known, especially when referenced historically, as the Left Kuomintang or Left Guomindang, is one of the eight legally recognised minor political parties in the Peo ...

. He notably served as

Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Vice Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) () is a political office in the People's Republic of China. The official responsibility of the vice chairpersons is to assist the ...

, Counsellor of the State Council, member of the Central Military Commission and President of the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification. Hou is famous as one of the most successful

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

spies lurking in the

Nationalist Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

. His greatest service to the Communists came in the

Battle of Jinzhou Battle of Chinchow () was a battle between the People's Liberation Army and the National Revolutionary Army during the Liaoshen Campaign in the Chinese Civil War. The battle was a turning point in the campaign, which eventually led to capture o ...

, when, as the Nationalist general commanding the 17th Army Group (which included four armies), he deliberately delayed his arrival to Jinzhou by 11 days, leading to the envelopment and destruction of the Nationalist forces.Liu Tong, Documentary of the Chinese Revolutionary War·War of Liberation·Northeast Volume. Beijing: People's Publishing House. 2007-7: 580. ISBN 978-7-01-004261-9

Life

Early years

Hou Jingru was born in

Yongcheng Yongcheng () is county-level city in Henan province, China, and is the easternmost county-level division of the province, bordering Anhui province on all sides except the northwest and due north. Yongcheng has significant coal deposits and some ins ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, in 1902. In 1924 he graduated from

Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou University (), colloquially known in Chinese as Zhèngdà () and abbreviated as ZZU is a public university located in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. Zhengzhou University is the largest university in China in terms of number of students (aroun ...

(where he studied physics and mathematics) and in 1925 from the

Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...

.Liu Tong, Documentary of the Chinese Revolutionary War·War of Liberation·Northeast Volume. Beijing: People's Publishing House. 2007-7: 580. ISBN 978-7-01-004261-9 He fought in the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

and sided with the

Wuhan Nationalist Government The Wuhan Nationalist government (), also known as the Wuhan government, Wuhan regime, or Hankow government, was a government dominated by the left-wing of the Nationalist or Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China that was based in Wuhan from 5 December ...

, for which he was arrested and briefly imprisoned, but was eventually released. His contacts with the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

date to 1925, when he met

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...

. Beginning in 1932, he served as chief of staff of the 30th Division of the 30th Army of the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

, and then commander of the 89th Brigade of the 30th Division. In April 1935, the Nationalist Government of

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

awarded Hou Jingru the rank of

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in the army, and he was given command of the 30th Division of the 30th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.

War against Japan

In 1937, the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

broke out. Because of his outstanding performance in the

Battle of Xinkou The Battle of Xinkou () was a decisive engagement of the Taiyuan Campaign, the second of the 22 major engagements between the National Revolutionary Army and Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Prelude After battles at Na ...

, Hou Jingru was promoted to Chief of Staff of the 91st Army . At the beginning of 1938, he was transferred to command the 21st Division and fought in the battles of

Taierzhuang Tai'erzhuang District () is the southernmost of five districts under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zaozhuang. The district is located in the south of Shandong Province, China, bordering Jiangsu province to the south. It cover ...

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

and Zaoyi. In 1943, he was promoted to commander of the 92nd Army, and awarded the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

, leading his troops to participate in the

Battle of West Hunan The Battle of West Hunan (), also known as the Battle of Xuefeng Mountains () and the Zhijiang Campaign (), was the Japanese invasion of west Hunan and the subsequent Allied counterattack that occurred between 6 April and 7 June 1945, during the ...

The Civil War

During the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, Hou Jingru notably served as the commander of the Peking Garrison, from 1946 to 1948. In 1948, he was promoted to commander of the 17th Army Group. During the

, when the defenders of Jinzhou were in desperate situation, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered the four armies under the command of Hou Jingru to immediately rush to Jinzhou, Hou Jingru deliberately slowed down and delayed 11 days before leading the troops to arrive. As a result, the Nationalists were decisively defeated in the Battle of Jinzhou.Liu Tong, Documentary of the Chinese Revolutionary War·War of Liberation·Northeast Volume. Beijing: People's Publishing House. 2007-7: 580. ISBN 978-7-01-004261-9

People's Republic of China

In 1949, Hou Jingru went to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, supposedly to visit his mother who was living there, although probably he was involved in

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

work and instigating defections to the Communists among Nationalists in the city whose loyalty wavered. In July 1952, Hou returned to China and was appointed by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

as Counsellor of the State Council and a member of the Central Military Commission. In May 1955, Hou Jingru joined the Central Committee of the

(RCCK), later becoming Vice Chairman of RCCK. He also served as the President of the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification. From March 1989 until his death five years later, he was

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hou, Jingru 1902 births 1994 deaths Members of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference