The 17th Corps (), later the 17th Army Corps, was a military formation 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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

from 1949–50 and 1968–73.

1st Formation

The 17th Corps was activated in February 1949 from 11th Column, Zhongyuan Field Army. The Corps was composed of the 49th Division,

50th Division 50th Division or 50th Infantry Division may refer to: Infantry divisions: * 50th Division (1st Formation)(People's Republic of China) * 50th Infantry Division (German Empire) * 50th Reserve Division (German Empire) * 50th Infantry Division Regina, ...

and 51st Division. It became part of Yang Yong's 5th Army of the Second Field Army. The Corps took part in 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 main ...

, especially the Huaihai Campaign. In March 1950 the corps was inactivated and converted as Guizhou Military District (later Guizhou Provincial Military District).

2nd Formation

On August 26, 1968, 17th Army Corps() was activated in Huayuanzhen, Xiaochang,

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 p ...

province. Army corps commander: Zhang Zhiyin(), commissar -

Zhang Zhaojian Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Zh ...

(), who was the divisional commissar of 29th Army Division during the Wuhan Incident of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. As of its activation, the army corps was composed of: * 29th Army Division; * 1st Independent Division of Henan Provincial Military District, which redesignated as 50th Army Division; *

Independent Division of Hubei Provincial Military District Independent Division of Hubei Provincial Military District () was formed in September 1966 from the Public Security Contingent of Hubei province. The division was composed of six regiments (1st to 6th). During the Cultural Revolution the divisio ...

, which redesignated as 51st Army Division. The formation of the army corps was a result of Wuhan Incident. After the incident, the mutinous

was quickly disarmed and taken control by

15th Airborne Corps The People's Liberation Army Air Force Airborne Corps () is an airborne corps under direct command of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). It was reorganized and renamed from the 15th Airborne Corps in May 2017 and now comprises s ...

of the PLAAF and affiliated 29th Army Division that under great influence by

Lin Biao ) , serviceyears = 1925–1971 , branch = People's Liberation Army , rank = Marshal of the People's Republic of China Lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China , commands ...

. The formation of 17th Army Corps was to "strain" the "rogue" independent divisions with "modest" 29th Army Division, and was a footstep forward by the PLAAF to further Lin's influence to the PLA ground force. In December 1969, 29th Army Division became 49th Army Division. After the Lin Biao incident, all of Lin's "janissaries" were quickly put under arrest or investigation, including the corps commissar

. In March 1973 the army corps was formally disbanded. *49th Army Division maintained in Xiaochang. Some sources declared that the division was renamed as Independent Division of Wuhan Military Region before it moved to

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...

and became 56th Army Division; *50th Army Division was reorganized as 1st Independent Division of Henan Provincial Military District; *51st Army Division was reorganized as Independent Division of Hubei Provincial Military District.

References

*中国人民解放军历史上的70个军及其简史, https://web.archive.org/web/20170729094201/http://www.360doc.com/content/06/1128/16/13961_275728.shtml 17 Military units and formations established in 1949 Military units and formations disestablished in 1973 {{China-mil-stub