Lu Chung-lin (1884-), military officer and long-time subordinate of Feng Yü-hsiang who became minister of w^ar at Nanking in 1929. When the northern coalition collapsed and the command structure of the Kuominchün disintegrated in 1930, he broke with Feng. He later served the National Government as minister of conscription and the Central People's Government as a member of the National Defense Council.

Tingchow, Chihli (Hopei), was the birthplace of Lu Chung-lin. Little is known about his background or his youth except that he was educated for a military career at the Military Staff College in Tientsin. After being graduated in 1915 he joined the 16th Mixed Brigade of Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.) as a staff officer. Before long, he rose to become a battalion commander. Because of Lu's performance in the Shensi campaigns of 1921 and the Honan campaign of 1922, Feng developed a high appreciation of Lu's abilities. Accordingly, when Feng became military governor of Honan on 10 May 1922, he appointed Lu provincial director of police administration.

During the second Chihli-Fengtien war of 1924, Lu Chung-lin played an important role in Feng Yü-hsiang's conspiracy against Wu P'ei-fu (q.v.) and the resultant coup at Peking. He participated in the occupation of Peking on 23 October, the detention of Ts'ao K'un (q.v.) in his presidential headquarters, and the expulsion of the last Manchu emperor, P'u-yi, from the Forbidden City at Peking on 5 November. In rapid succession, Lu became commander of the 22nd Brigade, Peking garrison commander, and commander of the Temporary 1st Division of the Kuominchün. Early in 1925 he was appointed commander in chief of the metropolitan defense force and inspector general of the metropolitan police administration. ^Vhen Feng Yü-hsiang went to war against Chang Tso-lin (q.v.) and ^Vu P'ei-fu late in 1925, Lu Chung-lin took the field against the Fengtien forces in the Tientsin sector. Although the Kuominchün troops took Tientsin, the heavy casualty rate caused Feng Yü-hsiang to resign from his posts and go abroad in an attempt to reach a compromise settlement with Chang and Wu. Hostilities continued, however, and on 8 March 1926 the Kuominchün mined and blockaded the harbor at Taku, near Tientsin. This action resulted in the so-called 18 March incident {see Feng Yü-hsiang; Tuan Ch'i-jui). Lu Chung-lin, who had returned to Peking and had resumed command of the garrison, protected Hsu Ch'ien, Li Shih-tseng, Ku Meng-yü, Yi P'ei-chi, and Li Ta-chao (qq.v.) after Tuan Ch'i-jui ordered their arrest on charges of instigating the 18 March incident and disseminating Communist propaganda. However, Chang Tso-lin and Wu P'eifu continued to press their attack, and they forced Lu to evacuate his troops from Peking on 15 April.

After Feng Yü-hsiang resumed command of the Kuominchün at Wuyuan, Suiyuan, in September 1926, he declared allegiance to the Kuomintang. Feng received control of Honan in June 1927, and Lu Chung-lin became a member of the provincial government and chief of the Chengchow municipal council. When the Military Affairs Commission was established at Nanking in August, Lu was named to membership in that body. He also received command of the First Army of the Kuominchün, and he collaborated with the forces of Ho Ying-ch'in in the Nationalist capture of Hsuchow in December.

For the final stage of the Northern Expedition, Feng Yü-hsiang's armies were reorganized as the Second Army Group. In April 1928, Lu Chung-lin took the field against the Fengtien forces in northern Honan as commander in chief of the Northern Route Army of the Second Army Group. His troops played an important role in the final drive northward, winning a major battle at Changho and reaching the outskirts of Peking as it was being occupied by the forces of Yen Hsi-shan (q.v.) on 8 June 1928. In October 1928, when the new National Government was established at Nanking, Lu Chung-lin became vice minister of war, serving under Feng Yü-hsiang. The troop disbandment conference of January 1929 resulted in a break between Feng and Chiang Kai-shek. Feng left Nanking and in effect declared his independence of the National Government on 20 May 1929. He was dismissed from all government and party offices, and Lu Chung-lin succeeded him as minister of war. Fighting between National Government forces and the Kuominchün in Honan in the autumn of 1929 led directly to a major challenge to Chiang Kai-shek's rule by the northern coalition of Feng Yü-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan in 1930. The National Government authorities ordered the arrest of Lu Chung-lin and other Kuominchün leaders, but Lu evaded arrest and joined his chief In the summer of 1930 Lu commanded the left wing of Feng's forces in the fighting along the Lunghai rail line. The northern coalition collapsed that autumn amid strong differences of opinion among the Kuominchün leaders with respect to strategy. The command structure of the Kuominchün disintegrated, and Lu Chunglin broke with his long-time leader and took refuge in Tientsin.

Lu Chung-lin was elected an alternate member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang during the governmental and party reorganization of December 1931. In 1935 he was elevated to full membership in the Central Executive Committee. After the Sino- Japanese war began in the summer of 1937, the National Government decided to make use of his services as a military man. In 1938 he was appointed governor of Hopei—the province having been occupied by the Japanese—and commander in chief of the Nationalist guerrilla forces in the Hopei-Chahar war zone. In November 1944 the National Government created a ministry of conscription at Chungking and appointed Lu minister. He continued to hold this post until the W'ar in the Pacific ended. He became a member of the Military Strategy Advisory Committee in 1947 and received command of a Nationalist army group in 1948. When the Chinese Communists won control of the mainland in 1949, Lu Chung-lin decided to remain there. In September 1954 he became a member of the National Defense Council in the Central People's Government at Peking; his appointment was renewed in April 1959.