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Zeng Sheng ( zh, 曾生, 19 December 1910 – 20 November 1995), born Zeng Zhensheng (), was a Chinese military officer and politician. His name is also spelt as Tsang Sang, Tsang Shang, Jung Sung and Chung Sung in various sources. Tsang is best known for commanding a guerilla force operating in
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 Delta ...
and
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
during World War II.Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence (2013)
Anti-Japanese War Heroes : An Exhibition on the Hong Kong Independent Battalion of the Dongjiang Column
/ref> Tsang was born to Hakka parents in
Guangdong province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
in a village which was then in
Huiyang Huiyang District ( postal: Waiyeung; is a district of Huizhou, Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It was renamed in 2003 amid the restructuring of districts and counties in Huizhou. Formerly named Huiyang city (county level), its si ...
(Fuiyong) and is now a suburb of
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provin ...
. His father had been a sailor before jumping ship in Australia and operated a grocery store in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...
. Tsang Sang attended primary school in Huiyang and Hong Kong, before moving to Sydney to join his father in 1923. Tsang attended
Fort Street High School , motto_translation = Each person is the maker of their own fortune , sister_school = Suginami Sogo High School, Tokyo, Japan , location = Parramatta Road, Petersham, Inner West Sydney, New South Wales , ...
, but returned to China with his father in 1928 to complete his secondary education at the affiliated high school of
Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...
in
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong ...
(Canton). He entered Sun Yat-sen University in 1933, where he joined a student organisation affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party and became active in student politics. Trouble with the authorities led him to move to Hong Kong in 1936, where he briefly worked as a school teacher and on the
ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...
RMS Empress of Japan, before resuming his studies at the end of the year. Tsang joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1936 and was given responsibility for political organisation amongst Hong Kong-based sailors, becoming secretary of the Hong Kong seamen's trade union in 1937. In 1938, after the
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
began an offensive in Guangdong, Tsang asked to return to China to organise a guerilla resistance force. The local resistance force in Huiyang commanded by Tsang was later combined with other forces to form the
East River Column The East River Column or Dongjiang Column () was a unit of anti-Japanese Communist guerrillas that operated in Guangdong and Hong Kong during the Second Sino-Japanese War. They played a major role in Chinese resistance against Japanese occupatio ...
, which operated in Guangdong and Hong Kong during World War II with Tsang as its commander. Although Tsang's force had been formed with the assistance of the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
-led regular army and co-operated with Allied operations (including the rescue of British prisoners-of-war and downed Allied airmen and assisting with
MI9 MI9, the British Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 9, was a highly secret department of the War Office between 1939 and 1945. During World War II it had two principal tasks: (1) assisting in the escape of Allied prisoners of war (PO ...
operations in the New Territories), because of its Communist Party political affiliation it also experienced a number of armed conflicts with Kuomintang-affiliated regulars. At the end of the war, the guerilla force participated in the renewed Chinese Civil War on the Communist side. After the Communist victory in the civil war, Tsang was made a
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
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, ...
in 1955, and played an instrumental role in the development of the South Sea Fleet of the PLA's naval force. He became
mayor of Guangzhou This list includes only those persons who served as mayors of Guangzhou since the mid- Warlord era. Republic of China Mayors People's Republic of China Mayors {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! # ! width="250", Name ! widt ...
in 1960 and deputy governor of Guangdong province. He was jailed during the Cultural Revolution, but was released in 1974 and became vice-minister of transport, then Transport Minister. Tsang died in 1995 in Guangzhou.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeng, Sheng 1910 births 1995 deaths Chinese military personnel of World War II Chinese Communist Party politicians from Guangdong Hakka generals People educated at Fort Street High School Chinese emigrants to Australia Mayors of Guangzhou People from Huiyang Politicians from Huizhou