Nie Fengzhi (; 7 September 1913 – 3 April 1992) was a

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

of the

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...

(PLAAF) of 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 ...

Biography

Nie was born in

Dawu County, Hubei Dawu County () is a county of northeastern Hubei, People's Republic of China, bordering the prefecture-level city of Xinyang in Henan province to the north. It is under the administration of Xiaogan City. Administrative divisions Dawu County comp ...

in 1913 or 1914. He belonged to the dominant

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

ethnic group. Nie Fengzhi group photo during Second Sino-Japanese War

Nie served in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from 1929 until his retirement. He was involved in founding the PLAAF, and commanded the PLA's first aerial unit, the 4th Mixed Aviation Brigade, which was established on 19 June 1950 in Nanjing and consisted of 155 aircraft in one attack, one bomber, and two fighter regiments. He attained the

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * ...

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 ...

in 1955.

Korean War

In 1951, following China's entry into 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 ...

, Nie commanded the

East China Military Region East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Air Force and the People's Volunteer Army's short-lived Bomber Command at Dongfeng in

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea ( Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

province. After Liu Zhen returned to China in July 1952, Nie commanded the PLAAF in Korea.

Taiwan Strait Crises

At the time of the

First Taiwan Strait Crisis The First Taiwan Strait Crisis (also the Formosa Crisis, the 1954–1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the Offshore Islands Crisis, the Quemoy-Matsu Crisis, and the 1955 Taiwan Strait Crisis) was a brief armed conflict between the Communist People's ...

, Nie commanded the

East China East China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China. A concept abolished in 1978, for economical purposes the region was defined from 1949 to 1961 by the Chinese Central Govern ...

(Huadong) Air Force. During the Crisis, he served as vice-commander of the

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

Front Command (ZFC)—established in 1954 by order of

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) ...

and led by

Zhang Aiping Zhang Aiping (; born January 9, 1910 in Da County, Sichuan; died July 5, 2003 in Beijing) was a Chinese military leader. Biography Zhang joined the Communist Party of China in 1928 after taking part in a communist-led rural uprising. He partic ...

—and commanded the ZFC air force. He was one of the architects of the campaign to capture the

Dachen Islands The Dachen Islands, Tachen Islands or Tachens () are a group of islands off the coast of Taizhou, Zhejiang, China, in the East China Sea. They are administered by the Jiaojiang District of Taizhou. Before the First Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1955, ...

from the Republic of China. During a meeting of the ZFC commanders on 31 August 1954, Nie opposed the "majority opinion" favoring an immediate amphibious invasion of Dachen, and instead supported the "limited piecemeal tactics" proposed by Zhang. The resulting "Zhang-Nie plan" involved a focus on Yijiangshan Island, north of Dachen, and led to the

Battle of Yijiangshan Islands The Battle of Yijiangshan Islands () was a conflict between forces of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China, over one of the last strongholds ...

in January 1955. During the course of the campaign, Nie personally spoke with every PLA pilot participating in operations in order to convey the order issued by the Central Military Commission to avoid direct confrontation with American air forces. During the

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict that took place between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). In this conflict, the PRC shelled the islands of Kinm ...

in 1958, Nie served as commander of the

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

Front Command air force..

Nanjing Military Region

From 1975 to 1977, Nie served as Deputy Commander of the PLA's Nanjing Military Region and was a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Nanjing Military Region CPC. He became the Commander of the

military region Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...

and Secretary of the Standing Committee in 1977, and remained in these posts until 1982. He was also a member of the 11th Central Committee of the

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

, which was in session from 1977 to 1982.

Death

Nie died in 1992.

Selected publications

* . * *

References

Citations

Works cited

* ** ** * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nie, Fengzhi 1910s births 1992 deaths Chinese military personnel of the Korean War Commanders of the Nanjing Military Region Deputy commanders of the Nanjing Military Region Members of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party People's Liberation Army Air Force generals People's Liberation Army generals from Hubei