Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai (15 April 1892-25 April 1968), field commander of the Nineteenth Route Army who won international fame as a result of that force's brave stand against the Japanese at Shanghai in 1932. In late 1933 he participated in the so-called Fukien revolt against Nanking. After 1949 he held a variety of posts in the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.

Loting hsien, Kwangtung, was the birthplace of Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai. He was the second of four children born to Ts'ai Tien-ming, a peasant farmer who also was a tailor, a herbalist, and a geomancy expert. Because his father was somewhat enlightened, Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai was allowed to attend school in 1901-3. His formal education came to an end, however, when his mother died and his father remarried in 1904. The young Ts'ai helped his father work the land and took over the tailoring business so that his father could devote more time to his practice as a herbalist. In 1908, at the age of 16, Ts'ai married P'eng Hui-feng (d.1937). In time, they had two sons, Shao-chang and Shaohui, and two daughters, Shao-lu and Shao-min. For several years Ts'ai had considered an army career, and in 1910 he enlisted. He stayed in the army for but a few months, however, and did not join the other recruits at the training base. His father died in 1911, and Ts'ai then joined a small local force which supported the republican revolution. He remained with this unit until 1915, when he enlisted in a force near the river port of Sanlo. His association with this force ended when he participated in an abortive attempt to turn it against Yuan Shih-k'ai in support of the Kuomintang revolutionaries. Ts'ai then returned to his native village. In 1919 the people of Lochiang market organized a volunteer corps for protection against bandits and appointed Ts'ai its deputy commander. When the volunteers were incorporated into a regular army unit in the area, he became a platoon leader. In 1920 he was sent to the military academy in Canton for formal training. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 4th Regiment, commanded by Ch'en Ming-shu (q.v.), in the 1st Division of the Kwangtung Army. He remained with this division until 1923, when he left after being passed over for promotion. He then joined the 1st Battalion, commanded by Teng Shih-tseng, of the special regiment attached to Sun Yat-sen's headquarters. When Teng was promoted to regimental commander, Ts'ai succeeded him. When the National Revolutionary Army was established in 1925, the Kwangtung Army became the Fourth Army, with Li Chi-shen (q.v.) as its commander. Ts'ai's regiment was renamed the 28th Regiment and was placed under the 10th Division, commanded by Ch'en Ming-shu. When the Northern Expedition began in 1926, the 10th Division formed part of the vanguard force in the drive on Wuhan. The capture of the Wuhan cities brought the first stage of the Northern Expedition to an end. In the ensuing reorganization of the National Revolutionary Army, Ch'en Ming-shu became commander of the Eleventh Army, composed of the 10th Division and a new 24th Division. Chiang Kuang-nai (q.v.) commanded the 10th Division, and Tai Chi commanded the 24th, with Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai as deputy commander. At the time of the Wuhan-Nanking split in 1927, Ch'en, Chiang, and Tai all left their posts. Chang Fa-k'uei (q.v.) then assumed command of the Eleventh Army, with Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai heading the 10th Division. By the summer of 1927, relations between Wuhan and Nanking had deteriorated to such an extent that armed conflict seemed inevitable. T'ang Sheng-chih (q.v.), having assumed the position of commander in chief in the Wuhan government, appointed Chang Fa-k'uei commander of the Second Front Army, which included the Fourth Army, the Eleventh Army, and the Twentieth Army. The Second Front Army moved eastward to the Nanchang area. On 1 August, the Communist commanders in the Wuhan forces—Yeh T'ing (q.v.), who commanded the 24th Division, and Ho Lung, who commanded the Twentieth Army—-joined with Chu Teh (q.v.) in staging the insurrection at Nanchang that later was celebrated as marking the birth of the Chinese Communist army. When Chang Fa-k'uei forced them to evacuate the city a few days later, they took Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai along with them. Ts'ai managed to escape, and he led units of the Eleventh Army into Fukien. At his urgent request, Ch'en Ming-shu resumed command of the Eleventh Army.

Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai spent much of 1928 suppressing local banditry on Hainan Island. With the reorganization of Kwangtung military units in 1929, he became commander of the 60th Division and Chiang Kuang-nai became commander of the 61st Division. After helping to repel the forces of Chang Fa-k'uei and Li Tsung-jen (q.v.) in 1930, these divisions were transferred to north China to take part in the campaign against the so-called northern coalition of Feng Yü-hsiang and YenHsi-shan (qq.v.). The Nineteenth Route Army was created at this time, with Chiang Kuang-nai as commander in chief and Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai as field commander. In 1931 the Nineteenth Route Army took part in the National Government's first encirclement campaign against the Chinese Communists in Kiangsi. In the meantime, Chiang Kai-shek had placed Hu Han-min (q.v.) under house arrest at Nanking. In response, a secessionist government was established at Canton by such dissident leaders as Eugene Ch'en, Sun Fo, T'ang Shao-yi, and Wang Ching-wei (qq.v.), with the military support of Ch'en Chi-t'ang (q.v.) and Li Tsung-jen. Although the southern regime bid for the support of the Nineteenth Route Army, it remained loyal to Nanking despite the possibility that its men would be called upon to fight their former comrades of the old Fourth Army. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria in September 1931 averted the threat of civil war and led to the dissolution of the Canton government. The Nineteenth Route Army then was transferred to the Shanghai area for garrison duty. The early months of 1932 saw Ts'ai T'ingk'ai's phenomenal rise to international fame. On the night of 28 January, the Japanese marines attacked Shanghai. The Nineteenth Route Army stubbornly held its ground against tremendous odds for more than three months. During this period, world attention focused on the Nineteenth Route Army and its leaders, and contributions of supplies and money poured in from many countries. Later in 1932, the Nineteenth Route Army was transferred to Fukien, where Ts'ai became its commander in chief and Chiang Kuang-nai became pacification commissioner at Foochow. At year's end, Ts'ai again succeeded Chiang when the latter became governor of Fukien.

On 20 November 1933 the so-called Fukien revolt began with the establishment of an opposition government at Foochow. The principal instigator of this movement was Ch'en Mingshu, and the leaders of the Nineteenth Route Army remained loyal to their old associate. Although Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai showed some reluctance about supporting the movement, he served on the 11 -man government council at Foochow and as commander in chief of the First Direction Army (a slightly enlarged Nineteenth Route Army). The Fukien rebels called for democratic government in China and strong resistance to Japanese aggression. The National Government suppressed the revolt quickly and easily, for the governors of provinces and even the Chinese Communists refused to support the rebels. The Foochow regime collapsed in January 1934, and the remnants of the Nineteenth Route Army fled into Kwangtung to be absorbed by Ch'en Chi-t'ang. By February, almost all the leaders of the Foochow debacle had taken refuge in Hong Kong. The misadventure in Fukien hardly impaired the personal popularity of Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai, especially among overseas Chinese. In April 1934 Ts'ai left Hong Kong on a world tour. Traveling on an Italian vessel, he stopped at Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Bombay, Suez, Cairo, and Venice, and everywhere he was warmly received by Chinese residents. In Rome, he was received by Mussolini and invited to visit military establishments. He then went on to Geneva, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and London. In August, he went to the United States, where he stayed for 160 days and visited 63 cities. When his ship arrived in New York on 28 August, he received a hero's welcome from a crowd of more than 3,000. A grand banquet in his honor was held at the Hotel New Yorker on 30 August. Among the major cities Ts'ai visited in the United States were Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He reached San Francisco on 4 November 1934 and remained there until 5 February 1935. He then went to Australia by way of Honolulu, the Fiji Islands, and New Zealand. He reached Melbourne on 9 March and remained in Australia for a month. He made the final leg of the journey back to Hong Kong by way of the Philippines, where he stayed for 12 days. He reached Hong Kong on 19 April 1935, exactly one year and one week after his departure.

In the course of his tour, Ts'ai was called upon to make many public addresses. He displayed considerable skill in handling his audiences. In the United States for instance, where most of his Chinese hosts were Cantonese, he dealt generally with the patriotism and generosity of overseas Chinese and emphasized that most of the men of the Nineteenth Route Army had been Cantonese. In the Philippines, where most of the Chinese residents had come from Fukien, Ts'ai apologized for not having done much for the welfare of the Fukienese. He took pains to explain that the Foochow secessionist movement had been forced on the Nineteenth Route Army and that the army immediately had withdrawn under military pressure from Nanking. Had it not done so, he explained, the people of Fukien would have suffered the extreme ravages of war. On his return to Hong Kong, Ts'ai joined with Li Chi-shen, Ch'en Ming-shu, and Chiang Kuang-nai in forming a new political party, the Chinese People's Revolutionary League. Li Chi-shen was its chairman, and the ranking members included Feng Yü-hsiang, Hsu Ch'ien (q.v.) and Eugene Ch'en. Its newspaper, the Ta-chung Pao, set forth its platform of resistance to the Japanese and "overthrow of the traitor government and establishment of the people's state power." During the 1935-36 period, Ts'ai spent his time promoting the party and studying. In 1937 Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai made a trip to the Philippines. When he learned that the Sino- Japanese war had broken out, he returned to Hong Kong, arriving there on 22 July. He soon received a summons from Chiang Kai-shek and went to Nanking, where he was appointed a councillor in Chiang's headquarters. At this time, Ts'ai, Li Chi-shen, Ch'en Ming-shu, and Chiang Kuang-nai decided to dissolve the Chinese People's Revolutionary League on the grounds that it had accomplished the task of mobilizing the Chinese people to fight Japan. Ts'ai's wife died in Hong Kong in September 1937. Before that year was out, Ts'ai himself met with a serious automobile accident. He was taken to Hong Kong for medical attention. He remained inactive until mid- 1938 when he directed operations in southwestern Kwangtung as a member of the Kwangtung Self-Defense Forces Command. In January 1939 Chiang Kai-shek called him to Chungking and appointed him deputy commander of the Sixteenth Army Group in Kwangsi. That July, Ts'ai married Lo Hsi-ou, and in September, he was made commander in chief of the Sixteenth Army Group. In April 1940 he was appointed commander in chief of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi border areas. However, he soon discovered that his army had been moved away for reasons unknown to him. He thus became a soldierless commander, and he responded to this situation by resigning in September. Toward the end of 1940, he was named to the Military Council at Chungking. He visited Hong Kong in 1941, where he met with Eugene Ch'en and Madame Sun Yat-sen (Soong Ch'ing-ling, q.v.). He then retired to Kweilin, where, with the exception of occasional trips to Yunnan and Kweichow, he spent the next three years. At the end of 1944 he moved to his native village of Loting, and at war's end in 1945 he moved to Canton.

In 1 946 Ts'ai helped organize the Kuomintang Democracy Promotion Association, a group composed mainly of former Kuomintang military officers who had become severely critical of the National Government. This group later was incorporated into the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, of which Li Chi-shen was chairman. Ts'ai then became a vice chairman of that committee. Ts'ai left Hong Kong for the Northeast in September 1948, and he arrived in Peiping in February 1949. He was a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in September 1949.

With the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, Ts'ai T'ing-k'ai became a member of the People's Revolutionary Military Council and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. In 1954 he was appointed to the National Defense Council. He was on successive National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and served as a delegate to the 1954 and 1958 National People's congresses. In 1958 he was promoted to deputy chairman of the National Defense Council. He died at Peking on 25 April 1968. Ts'ai T'ing-kan T. Yao-t'ang