Liang Guanglie (, also spelled as Liang Kuang-lieh; born December 1940 in

Santai Santai County ( zh, t=三台縣, s=三台县, w=San1-t῾ai2 Hsien4, p=Sāntái Xiàn; formerly known as Tungchwanfu) is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Mianyang, in the northeast of Sichuan Province of China. It ...

Mianyang Mianyang (; formerly known as Mienchow) is the second largest prefecture-level city of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Located in north-central Sichuan covering an area of consisting of Jiangyou, a county-level city, five counties, and thre ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

) is a retired general and former Minister for National Defense in 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 most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Life and career

Liang joined the army in January 1958 and 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 ...

in November 1959. His first assignment was with the Second Regiment, First Division of the 1st Ground Force Army (1958–63), where he rose to the ranks of commander of an engineering company, quartermaster of the special agent company and staff officer in the operations and training branch. Liang studied at the Xinyang Infantry School (1963–64) and graduated from

Henan University Henan University () is one of the oldest public and Double First Class Universities in China. It was founded in 1912. In the beginning, its name was the Preparatory School for Further Study in Europe and America. In 1942, its name was changed to ...

's political theory correspondence education program (1984–86). After finishing his studies, Liang returned to his unit until 1970 when he was promoted to the Operational Department staff of the Wuhan Military Region command headquarters where he remained until 1979. Liang was named Deputy Commander of the 58th Division, 20th Group Army in 1979 and became commander in 1981-83. After a study break at the PLA Military Academy (March 1982 to January 1983), he was named deputy Commander of the 20th Army in 1983 and Commander in 1985. In June 1989, he led the 20th Army to enforce martial law in Beijing to suppress the

Tiananmen Square Protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. In 1990 he was transferred to command the 54th Army and from December 1993 to July 1995, he was the chief of staff of

Beijing Military Region The Beijing Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. From the mid 1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs within Beijing city, Tianjin city, Hebei province, Shanxi province, ...

. From July 1995 to December 1997, he was the deputy commander of Beijing Military Region. From December 1997 to December 1999, he was the commander of

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, which ...

, and from December 1999 to November 2002, he was the commander of Nanjing Military Region and deputy secretary of CCP's committee. Liang was the General Chief of Staff of 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, ...

from 2002 to 2007. He then served as a State Councilor and the Minister of National Defense. Additionally Liang was a member of Central Military Commission. He was also an alternate member of the 13th and 14th CCP Central Committees, and a member of the 15th, 16th and 17th Central Committees. Liang retired at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in late 2012 and was replaced by General

Chang Wanquan Chang Wanquan (; born January 1949) is the former Minister of Defense and State Councilor of the People's Republic of China and a general in the People's Liberation Army. He has been a member of the Central Military Commission of the People's Re ...

.Li, Cheng,
China’s Midterm Jockeying: Gearing Up for 2012 (Part 3: Military Leaders)

References

Citations

Sources

*

( AFP via the ''

Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establishe ...

'')

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liang, Guanglie 1940 births Chiefs of staff Living people Ministers of National Defense of the People's Republic of China People from Mianyang People's Liberation Army generals from Sichuan People's Liberation Army Chiefs of General Staff Commanders of the Shenyang Military Region Chiefs of Staff of the Beijing Military Region 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre State councillors of China