Teng Hsi-hou (1889-30 March 1964), Szechwanese militarist who in 1936 became the first independent commander in that province to hand over his defense area to the National Government authorities. During the Sino- Japanese war he commanded the Fourth and the Twenty-second Group armies. He governed Szechwan in 1946-47. In 1949 he declared allegiance to the Chinese Communists.

Jungshan hsien, Szechwan, was the birthplace of Teng Hsi-hou. He received his education at the Szechwan Army Primary School, the Nanking Army Middle School, and the Paoting Military Academy. Upon graduation from Paoting in 1912, he returned to Szechwan to become a training officer under Liu Tsun-hou. He rose steadily in the Szechwan forces, becoming a regimental commander. In 1916 he participated in the campaign against Yuan Shih-k'ai which resulted in the declaration of Szechwan's independence. When Liu Tsun-hou became military governor of Szechwan in 1917, he elevated Teng to the rank of brigadier general and appointed him commissioner for purging the countryside. After Hsiung K'o-wu (q.v.) ousted Liu Tsun-hou and assumed office as military governor, Teng served with the forces of Liu Ch'eng-hsun. In 1920 he received command of the 6th Division, with the concurrent post of Shunking-Suiting garrison commander.

About 1921 Teng Hsi-hou took command of the 3rd Division. The following year, he joined with such leaders as Liu Ch'eng-hsun, Tan Mou-hsin, Lai Hsin-hui, T'ien Sung-yao, and Liu Pin in driving Yang Sen and Liu Hsiang (qq.v.) out of Szechwan. In February 1923, however, Teng came into conflict with Liu Ch'eng-hsun and aided the return of Liu Hsiang and Yang Sen to Szechwan. Ts'ao K'un (q.v.) appointed Teng civil governor of Szechwan in May 1924. He took part in an attempt to unseat Yang Sen as military rehabilitation comissioner in March 1925, but formed an alliance with Yuan Tsu-ming in February 1926 to support Yang's return to power. In May of that year Wu P'ei-fu (q.v.) appointed Yang Sen civil governor of Szechwan, with Teng as military governor and Yuan Tsu-ming as Szechwan-Kweichow defense commissioner.

At the end of 1926 Teng Hsi-hou, like Yang Sen, decided to declare allegiance to the Nationalists, and in 1927 they sided with Chiang Kai-shek against the Nationalist regime at Wuhan. After serving as commander of the Twenty-eighth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, in late 1927 Teng became a member of the Military Affairs Commission at Nanking and commander in chief of the Seventh Route Army.

On 31 October 1 928 the new National Government at Nanking appointed Teng Hsi-hou commissioner of civil affairs in the reorganized Szechwan provincial government headed by Liu Wen-hui (q.v.). He also became deputy chairman, under Liu Hsiang, of the Szechwan- Sikang military reorganization commission. He assumed these posts in the spring of 1929. In the autumn of 1932 he joined with Liu Hsiang and Yang Sen in a campaign to unseat Liu Wen-hui. By October 1933 Liu Wen-hui had been driven into Sikang. Liu Hsiang assumed office as governor of Szechwan in 1934. In 1935, when the Communist Long March forces threatened the stability of Szechwan, Liu Hsiang assumed the concurrent post of peace preservation commissioner, and Teng received command of the Forty-fifth Army and took the field as commander of the First Route of the Szechwan Bandit-Suppression Army. The following year, Teng became the first semündependent Szechwanese militarist to hand over his defense area to the National Government authorities, thus aiding the National Government's effort to strengthen its influence in Szechwan. For this action, he received the rank of full general and the Cloud and Banner decoration. He also received command of the Sixth Route Army.

Soon after the Sino-Japanese war began in July 1937, Teng Hsi-hou's army was redesignated the Fourth Group Army and was sent to the Shansi front. It later was transferred to the Hsuchow-Haichow front, where it performed brilliantly in the battle at Tenghsien in March 1938. That month, Teng was appointed commander of the Twenty-second Group Army and pacification commissioner for Szechwan and Sikang. He held those posts for the rest of the war. In 1946 he was named acting governor of Szechwan, and he was confirmed as governor in May 1947. He assumed the office on 2 June, but was removed from it in April 1948 on charges of misappropriating funds. At that time he was appointed pacification commissioner for the Szechwan-Shensi-Kansu area.

As the Nationalists were preparing to abandon Szechwan, their last stronghold on the Chinese mainland, to the Chinese Communists in December 1949, Teng Hsi-hou and Liu Wen-hui declared allegiance to the Communists. Teng subsequently became a member of the Southwest Military and Administrative Committee. He later held such posts in the People's Republic of China as vice chairman of the Szechwan provincial government, central committee member of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, delegate to the National People's Congress, and member of the National Defense Council. He died at Chengtu on 30 March 1964, at the age of 75.