Lu Han (1891-)

Lu Han (1891-), protege, military subordinate, and close relative of Lung Yün who became governor of Yunnan in 1945 after Lung was ousted from that post. In December 1949 he declared allegiance to the People's Republic of China, and the Central People's Government rewarded him with appointments to nominally senior posts.

A close relative of Lung Yün (q.v.), Lu Han was a member of the ethnic minority known as the Lolo. Little is known about his family background or early years except that he was born in Chaot'ung, Yunnan, and that he was a graduate of the Yunnan Provincial Military School. He became a major in the Yunnan forces in 1924 and a colonel in 1926.

After Lung Yün declared allegiance to the Nationalists in 1927, Lu received command of the 98th Division of the Thirty-eighth Army in the National Revolutionary Army. In 1929, the Northern Expedition having ended, Lu Han was appointed commissioner of finance and then commissioner of construction in the Yunnan provincial government.

He returned to the field in 1930 as commander of the Tenth Route Army of the anti-rebel forces that were organized to meet the threat to the National Government by Feng Yü-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan (qq.v.) in alliance with the Kwangsi militarists Li Tsung-jen, Pai Ch'unghsi, and Huang Shao-hung (qq.v.). He retained command of these troops until 1937.

After the Sino-Japanese war broke out in July 1937, Lu Han received command of the Sixtieth Army. His unit participated in the 1938 battle of T'aierhchuang {see Li Tsung-jen), which ended in victory. Soon afterwards, he was promoted to commander of the Thirtieth Army Group and then to commander of the First Army Group. Beginning in 1940 he served under Hsueh Yueh (q.v.) as commander of the First Group Army in the Ninth War Area. The high command of the Ninth War Area in Changsha was noted for strategic planning and the direction of combat operations. Nevertheless, it was unable to resist the major Japanese offensive of 1944. Changsha was captured on 18 June 1944, and Hengyang fell on 8 August 1944. Lu Han then became commander of the Yunnan Peace Preservation forces. In 1945 he was appointed commanding officer of the regional command which had headquarters at Kunming.

Throughout this period, Lu Han had been the principal protege and military subordinate of Lung Yün. At war's end, Lu and his forces were ordered to go to Indo-China to accept the surrender of Japanese troops in that area. In late August, he moved his force of about 160,000 men into Tonkin. His departure left Lung Yün with a guard force of about 9,000 men. Because the Nationalist authorities wished to bring Yunnan under their control, they seized the opportunity afforded by the absence of the Yunnan forces to oust Lung Yün from the governorship.

In October, Tu Yü-ming (q.v.) staged a coup and overthrew Lung Yün. Soon afterwards, Lu Han was appointed governor of Yunnan. To prevent him from enjoying the political autonomy that had characterized Yunnan since the governorship of T'ang Chi-yao (q.v.), the Yunnanese forces later were sent to Manchuria. Lu served as a delegate to the National Assembly in 1946 and as director of the Yunnan Industrial Corporation beginning in 1947.

After Chiang Kai-shek retired from the presidency in January 1949 and Li Tsung-jen became acting President, Lu became head of the Kuomintang headquarters in Yunnan and, more importantly, director of the Yunnan- Kweichow pacification headquarters. As the National Government's authority began to collapse in face of Chinese Communist successes in the civil war, Lu Han gradually moved to sever his military and financial ties with the Nationalists. Many observers believed that he was trying to establish a completely autonomous Yunnan. At the same time, Li Tsung-jen's efforts to preserve some measure of Nationalist control in south China were undercut by Chiang Kai-shek. Because the Nationalists were unsure of Lu Han's loyalty, Chiang Ching-kuo (q.v.) and Chiang Kai-shek went to Kunming in September 1949 to meet with him.

The failure to win a firm commitment from Lu Han forced the Nationalists to abandon all hopes for a unified defense of southwest China. The Communist victories continued, and on 3 November Li Tsung-jen flew to Kunming to work out a plan with Lu Han for the defense of Szechwan, Kweichow, and Yunnan. He remained there until 1 1 November, when he flew to Kweilin to meet with other military leaders. The Communists continued to advance, and by the end of November, defeat in Szechwan and Kweichow had become inevitable. Yunnan was isolated.

Early in December 1949 Chiang Kai-shek made a final attempt to stop Lu Han from deserting the Nationalist cause. He sent Chang Ch'ün (q.v.) to Kunming for discussions with Lu. On 1 1 December, Lu declared allegiance to the People's Republic of China. He detained Chang Ch'ün and his associates until 23 December, by which time the last Nationalist resistance efforts in southwest China were coming to an end.

Lu Han soon received appointments from the Central People's Government as a member of the Southwest Military and Administrative Committee and as director of the military and administrative committee for Yunnan. In October 1951 he became a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1952 and 1953 he served as vice chairman of the Southwest Military and Administrative Committee. However, in the governmental reorganization of 1954 he was removed from his posts in Yunnan and was relegated to sinecure positions. He became a member of the -National Defense Council in October, vice chairman of the National Physical Culture and Sports Commission in November, and a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in December.

His services to the Communist cause in December 1949 were recognized in September 1955, when he was awarded the Order of Liberation, first class. In February 1956 he became a central committee member of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee and director of the nationalities affairs section of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was a delegate from Yunnan to the National People's Congress in 1958. In April 1959 he was reelected to the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and reappointed to the National Defense Council.