Wan Haifeng (; 25 September 1920 – 31 March 2023) was a Chinese military general. He was awarded the military rank of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

('' Shangjiang'') in September 1988. Born in

Guangshan County Guangshan County (; postal: Kwangshan) is a county in the southeast of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of Xinyang city. The regional dialect is the Xinyang city dialect of Southwestern Mandarin. The 13th five-year plan o ...

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 ...

, Wan joined the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

at the age of only 13 and joined 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 ...

at the age of 17. He fought in 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 ...

, 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 ...

and the

Korea War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

. Wan was a member of the 12th

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

a member of the Central Advisory Commission. He was delegate to the

13th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party The 13th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing from 25 October to 1 November 1987. It was preceded by the 12th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It was succeeded by ...

. He was a deputy to the

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

and 7th National People's Congress.

Biography

Wan was born Maotou () into a family of farming background in September 1920 in

, the third child of Wan Tianrun () and Mrs. Xiao (). He had two elder sisters. His mother died when he was 3. During the Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927), he was a squad leader in the 28th Army. He participated in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Guerrilla Warfare. In July 1933, he joined the

. His superior Gao Jingting () named him Wan Haifeng. And he enlisted in the

Communist Youth League of China The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...

in 1935. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in October 1937. In 1949, he participated in the Battle of Menglianggu, the Huaihai Campaign and the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign led by Liu Bocheng and

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

eastern 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 Governme ...

. In 1952, after the outbreak of the

, the Chinese government commissioned him as a deputy division commander of the

Chinese People's Volunteers The People's Volunteer Army (PVA) was the armed expeditionary forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War. Although all units in the PVA were actually transferred from the People's Liberation Army under the order ...

. He returned to China and was awarded the military rank of senior colonel in 1955. In 1955, Wan entered the PLA National Defence University, where he graduated in 1959. After graduation, he was appointed division commander of PLA Ground Force. In May 1972 he was promoted to become deputy commander of Beijing Military Region, and held that office until October 1975, when he was appointed deputy political commissar and a Party standing committee member. He commanded soldiers to take part in the relief work of the

Tangshan Earthquake The 1976 Tangshan earthquake () was a 7.6 earthquake that hit the region around Tangshan, Hebei, China, at 3:42 a.m. on 28 July 1976. The maximum intensity of the earthquake was XI (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli scale. In minutes, 85 percen ...

. He became political commissar of Chengdu Military Region in October 1982, a position he held until April 1990. He attained the rank of

( Shangjiang) in September 1988. He retired in September 1998. Wan was also a member of Central Advisory Commission between 1987 and 1992. On 2 September 2015, he was hired as the honorary president of Red Army School in Yichang,

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

Personal life

Wan met Zhao Zheng () in early 1943, when she was a surgeon. Their wedding ceremony was held in October that same year. The couple had four children. Zhao Zheng died on 16 September 2019, aged 96. Wan died on 31 March 2023, at the age of 102.

Awards

* Order of Bayi, 3rd Class *

Order of Independence and Freedom Order of Independence and Freedom () was a military award from the People's Republic of China. It was created in 1955, to give recognition to men who distinguished themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity" in combat with an enemy o ...

, 2nd Class *

Order of Liberation The Order of Liberation (french: Ordre de la Libération) is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a very high honour, second only after the ''Légion d’Honneur'' (Legion of Honour ...

, 2nd Class * Honor Merit Medal of Red Star, 2nd

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wan, Haifeng 1920 births 2023 deaths Beijing Military Region Chengdu Military Region Chinese centenarians Chinese military personnel of World War II Delegates to the 5th National People's Congress Delegates to the 7th National People's Congress Deputy commanders of the Beijing Military Region Members of the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Central Advisory Commission Men centenarians People's Liberation Army generals from Henan PLA National Defence University alumni