Zhang Yang (; August 1951 – November 23, 2017) was a general in 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, ...

(PLA) who served as Director of the Political Work Department. He was previously political commissar of the

Guangzhou Military Region The Guangzhou Military Region was from 1955 to 2016 one of the People's Liberation Army PLA Military Regions, located in the south of the People's Republic of China. In May 1949, the Central China (Hua Zhong) Military Region (MR) was formed. In Mar ...

. He committed suicide in November 2017 when under disciplinary investigation.

Biography

Zhang was born in

Wuqiang County Wuqiang County () is county in the southeast-central part of Hebei province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hengshui, with a population of 210,000 residing in an area of . Both China National Highway 307 and G ...

Hebei Province 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 ...

. He graduated from the basic department of

PLA National Defense University The People's Liberation Army National Defence University () is a Beijing-based national military university administered by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and funded by the Central Military Commission. The university is the highest militar ...

, and also studied at 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 ...

(CPC)

Central Party School The Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (), commonly known as the Central Party School (), located in Beijing, is the higher education institution which trains Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. As of 2012, it has around 1,60 ...

, majoring in administrative management. He was the director of the political department and a standing committee member of the CPC committee of the Guangzhou Military Region. From September 2007 to December 2015, he was political commissar and CPC party chief of the Guangzhou Military Region. He attained the rank of lieutenant general in July 2006 and general in July 2010. Zhang was a member of the 17th and

18th 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. In mathematics * Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...

Central Committees of the Communist Party of China and a deputy to the 10th

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

. Zhang Yang was under investigation by the Central Military Commission on August 28, 2017, for discipline violations and bribery. He is believed to have committed suicide at his home on November 23, 2017, making him the most senior military figure to have done so during the ongoing graft investigations among PLA personnel. On October 16, 2018, Zhang Yang was posthumously stripped of his rank and expelled from the Communist Party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Yang 1951 births 2017 deaths Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress Members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party People from Hengshui People's Liberation Army generals from Hebei PLA National Defence University alumni Suicides in the People's Republic of China Chinese military personnel who committed suicide Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Suicides by hanging in China