Lu Han

Name in Chinese
盧漢
Name in Wade-Giles
Lu Han
Related People

Biography in English

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.

Biography in Chinese

卢汉

字:永衡

卢汉(1891),龙云的心腹、部下、至亲,1945年龙云去职后,继任云南省主席,1949年12月起义投向中华人民共和国,中央人民政府委任他一些高级官职。

卢汉,龙云的至亲,罗罗族人、生在昭通,其家庭背景和幼年情况不详,毕业于云南军校,1924年任滇军少校,1926年任上校,1927年龙云投向国民党后,卢汉任国民革命军第三十八军九十八师师长。

1929年北伐结束后,卢汉任云南省政府财政厅长,后任建设厅长。1930年重回军界,任讨逆第十路军司令,抗击阎冯及李白黄联盟对国民政府构成的威胁。卢汉任此职至1937年。

1937年7月中日战争爆发后,卢汉任第六十军军长,率部参加台儿庄之役。不久,先后任第三十军团长,第一团军总司令。1940年在薛岳手下任第九战区第一兵团司令。第九战区设在长沙的司令部以善于制订战略计划和指挥战斗行动而著名,但未能阻止1944年日军的进攻,1944年6月18日长沙失守,8月8日衡阳失守。然后,卢汉任云南绥靖主任。1945年任驻昆明部队第一方面军司令官。

在此时期内,卢汉是龙云的重要亲信和部下。战争结束后,卢汉所部奉命开进印度支那接受该区日军投降。8月底,他调动十六万军队到东北地区,因此龙云手下祗剩了九千警卫部队。国民党趁此机会,控制了云南,把龙云逐走。10月,杜聿明指挥军队推翻了龙云,任卢汉为云南省政府主席。为了防止他保持自唐继尧以来云南一直享有的自治地位,云南的部队被调到东北。1946年卢汉任国民大会代表,1947年任云南实业公司经理,1949年1月蒋介石辞职,李宗仁任代总统,卢汉成为国民党在云南总部的负责人,更重要的是,成了云贵绥靖司令部的主任。

在内战时期,中国共产党节节胜利,国民政府日益崩溃,卢汉逐步断绝了他与国民党的军事经济关系。不少人认为他在力求使云南成为独立地区。当时,李宗仁想采取某些措施保持国民党对中国南部的控制,但又为蒋介石所阻。由于对卢汉的忠诚感到怀疑,1949年9月,蒋经国和蒋介石到昆明与卢汉会见,但未能得到卢汉的保证,国民党希望组成西南地区联合防线的计划被迫放弃。中国共产党继续获得胜利,11月3日,李宗仁飞往昆明,与卢汉计划成立川黔滇联防,11月11日又飞往桂林与其他军界领袖会商。中国共产党继续前进,11月底,国民党在川黔的失败已成定局,云南陷于孤立。

1949年12月初,蒋介石为防止卢汉脱离国民党作了最后努力,派张群去云南和卢汉会商,12月11日,卢汉宣布投从中华人民共和国,拘留了张群等人一直到12月23日,国民党在西南的抵抗即告结束。

卢汉由中央人民政府任命为西南军政委员会委员云南军政委员会主任,1951年1月,任中国人民政治协商会议全国委员,1952—1953年任西南军政委员会副主席,1954年政府改组时,卢汉被免去在云南的政务而担任了一些清闲的职务,10月,任国防委员,11月任全国体育运动委员会副主任,12月任全国政协常委,他在1949年的贡献使他于1955年9月获得一级解放勋章。1956年2月任国民党革命委员会中央委员,全国政协民族事务委员会主任,1958年全国人民代表大会云南代表,1959年4月,继续当选为全国政协常委和国防委员会委员。

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