Lai Chuanzhu (; 3 April 1910 – 24 December 1965) or Peng Ying () was a general of the People's Liberation Army from

Gan County Ganxian District () is a district in the municipal region of Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. Administration Ganxian has an area of . The district executive, legislature and judiciary are at Meilin Town (), just upriver from the prefectural seat, toge ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

. Lai joined the Communist Youth League of China in November 1926, the

Chinese Communist Party 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 ...

in April 1927 and the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in March 1928. Following outbreak of 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 ...

, he was appointed as the 33rd Group Commander and Political Commissar in the

Chinese Red Army The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communis ...

, Chief of Staff of the 12th Division, Red Fifth Army's 37th Political Secretary, Vice Minister of the Organization Department of the Red Army and other key positions. He embarked on the

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese ...

as the Acting Minister of the Provincial Committee of CPC Shaanxi-Gansu Region. During 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 ...

, he served as the New Fourth Army's Chief of Staff,

Jiangbei Jiangbei () may refer to: * Henan Jiangbei Province, during the Yuan dynasty * Jiangbei District, Chongqing, China * Jiangbei District, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China * Jiangbei, Meizhou, Guangdong, China * Jiangbei (region), north of the Yangtze, Yangtze ...

Headquarters Chief of Staff. After the establishment of PRC, he was the Thirteenth Corps, Beijing and

Shenyang Military Region The Shenyang Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It has command and control of military and armed police forces in the three northeast provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, whi ...

's political commissar.

Biography

Early Revolutionary Years

After joining the Communist Youth League of China in November 1926, Lai went to

Guidong County Guidong County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, bordering Jiangxi province to the east. It is under the administration of Chenzhou prefecture-level City. Located on the southeastern margin of the province, it is the easternmost county-le ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

to join the army under the command 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) ...

. Having ascended to key leadership position within the Fourth Army, he went on to participate in the Huangyang Boundary Battle in 1928. As one of the divisional commanders of the New Fourth Army, he went on to attend the

Gutian Congress The Gutian Congress or Gutian Conference () was the 9th meeting of the 4th Red Army and the first after the Nanchang Uprising and the subsequent southward flight of the rebel troops. It was convened in December 1929 in the town of Gutian in Sha ...

. Lai suffered a facial wound during the First Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet in January 1930. From December 1931 onward, he was appointed as the 13th Red Army Political Department's Secretary-General and 37th division political commissar, participating in the Ganzhou Campaign. In March 1933, Lai has filled many roles, such as director of the 13th Division's Political Department and political commissar for the 5th and 13th Corps. After participating in the Encirclement Campaigns, Lai embarked on the

in October 1934. With his arrival in

Shanbei Shaanbei () or Northern Shaanxi is the portion of China's Shaanxi province north of the Huanglong Mountain and the Meridian Ridge (the so-called "Guanzhong north mountains"), and is both a geographic as well as a cultural area. It makes up the so ...

, he was made a deputy minister of the Soviet and concurrently was the political commissar for the region.

Second Sino-Japanese War (1936-1945)

In November 1937 Lai was transferred to the

New Fourth Army The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...

as the Director of the General Staff Office. In 1939, New Fourth Army Commander

Ye Ting Ye Ting () (September 10, 1896 – April 8, 1946), born in Huiyang, Guangdong, was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the Northern Expedition to reunify China after the 1911 Revolution. After serving with the Kuomintang, Ye ...

and Lai brought the army out of the Dabie Mountains to rendezvous at the Jiangbei regions. By October 1940, Lai was appointed as the central headquarters chief of staff. Following the

New Fourth Army incident The New Fourth Army Incident (), also known as the South Anhui Incident (), occurred in China in January 1941 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which the Chinese Civil War was in theory suspended, uniting the Communists and Nationalist ...

in 1941 and the consequent annihilation of the army, Lai was appointed as chief of staff to re-establish the New Fourth Army. Thereafter, Lai assisted other commanders (Chen Yi, Liu Shaoqi, Zhang Yunyi, Rao Shushi among others) at the Central Anti-Japanese Base Command which resisted Japanese occupation.

Chinese Civil War (1945-1949)

In October 1945, Lai was appointed as the Shandong Field Army's column political commissar. In September 1947, he took part in the Liaoshen Campaign as the political commissar for the sixth column of the Southwest Army (later became a field army). During the campaign, Hong Yongsheng and him flanked and surrounded the Nationalist army group led by

Liao Yaoxiang Liao Yiaoxiang (; 16 May 1906 – 2 December 1968), was a high-ranking Kuomintang commander who successful fought against both the Imperial Japanese Army and Chinese Communist forces. Apart from General Sun Liren, he was one of the few Nationalis ...

. In November 1948, he was appointed as one of the Fourth Field Army's political commissar and led troops which besieged

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, forcing

Fu Zuoyi Fu Zuoyi () (June 2, 1895 − April 19, 1974) was a Chinese military leader. He began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised for his defense of Suiyuan from the Japanese. During the final stages of the Chi ...

to shift key troops to counter them. Following the capture of

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 Kon ...

in 14 October, Lai was appointed the Guangdong military region's first deputy political commissar.

After the Establishment of the PRC

In December 1949, Lai and Deng Hua were tasked to head the

Landing Operation on Hainan Island The Battle of Hainan Island occurred in 1950 during the final phase of the Chinese Civil War. The People's Republic of China (PRC) conducted an amphibious assault on the island in mid-April, assisted by the independent Hainan Communist movement, ...

. In 1950, communist landing operations was conducted with forces equivalent to two armies albeit the absence of a navy and air force to support the troops landing in small wooden crafts. The landed forces surrounded

Xue Yue Xue Yue (; December 26, 1896 – May 3, 1998) was a Chinese Nationalist military general, nicknamed by Claire Lee Chennault of the Flying Tigers as the "Patton of Asia" and called the "God of War" (戰神) by the Chinese. Early life and caree ...

's forces and captured

Haikou Haikou (; ), also spelled as Hoikow is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the ...

. Xue Yue had no choice but to retreat to Taiwan, and the People's Liberation Army took control of the whole

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Peninsula. This campaign was the first amphibious assault won by the PLA. In September 1950, Lai was made the deputy minister of the Central Military Commission's political cadre department, responsible for the 1955 PLA rank evaluation process. In 1955, he was awarded with the rank of general (''shang jiang''),

Order of Bayi The August 1 Medal (), sometimes known as the Order of Bayi, was a Chinese military award awarded to heroes of the Liberation of China during the First Chinese Civil War(that started on August 1st,1927). There are three grades: First Class, Se ...

(First Class), Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class) and Order of Liberation (First Class). In October 1959, he was made the second political commissar of the

. He is a member of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China and the

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 2,9 ...

. On 24 December 1965, Lai Chuanzhu died in Shenyang, Liaoning.

References

{{Authority control 1910 births 1965 deaths People's Liberation Army generals from Jiangxi Chinese Red Army generals Political commissars of the Beijing Military Region New Fourth Army generals Political commissars of the Shenyang Military Region Politicians from Ganzhou People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangxi Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery