Sun Lien-chung (1893-), subordinate of Feng Yü-hsiang who entered the service of the National Government in 1930 and became known as an outstanding field commander during the Sino-Japanese war. In July 1945 he became governor of Hopei and commander of the Eleventh War Area, later the Paoting pacification office. In 1948 he served as personal chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek.

Hsiunghsien, Chihli (Hopei), was the birthplace of Sun Lien-chung. He attended the Paoting Middle School and then, in 1913, joined the regiment commanded by Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.). He soon rose to become a battalion commander in Feng's 16th Mixed Brigade. After serving with an artillery regiment and receiving advanced military training he rejoined Feng's forces. In the final stage of the Northern Expedition, Feng's armies were reorganized as the Second Army Group. Sun served under Lu Chung-lin (q.v.), the commander in chief of the Northern Route Army of the Second Army Group. This force took the field against the Fengtien troops in northern Honan in April 1928 and played an important role in the final drive northward to Peking. By this time, Sun had risen to the rank of general. In September 1928 Sun Lien-chung was appointed governor of Tsinghai, and in 1929 he succeeded Liu Yü-fen as governor of Kansu. In the latter post, he was charged with administering the military affairs of Kansu, Tsinghai, and Ninghsia. After participating in the unsuccessful Yen-Feng movement (for details, see Feng Yü-hsiang; Yen Hsi-shan), Sun, like many other officers who had served under Feng Yü-hsiang, entered the service of the National Government. He was given command of the Twenty-sixth Route Army and was appointed Kiangsi director for purging the countryside with responsibility for "banditsuppression" activities in the rural areas of Kiangsi, Hupeh, Hunan, and Honan. For five years, he was one of the workhorses of the anti-Communist campaigns, and he played a prominent role in the 1934-35 pursuit of the Long March forces. His work in the "banditsuppression" campaigns ceased only when the Sian Incident of December 1936 (see Chiang Kai-shek; Chang Hsueh-liang) and the formation of a united front brought these campaigns to an end. Sun's work during this period was recognized by the Kuomintang in 1935 at its Fifth National Congress. Sun was elected to the party's Central Supervisory Committee. After the Sino-Japanese war began in July 1937, Sun Lien-chung led his Twenty-sixth Route Army to Liuliho, on the southern outskirts of Peiping. His troops gradually were forced into Shansi, which fell to the Japanese in November 1937. Sun then was promoted to commander in chief of the Second Group Army, in which capacity he took part in the battle of Taierhchuang (for details, see Li Tsung-jen) in March-May 1938. For his performance in that critical battle, he was awarded the Blue Sky and White Sun decoration. After withdrawing from east China, he contributed to the defense of Wuhan until October, when he was forced to withdraw northward. In the spring of 1939, he participated in the battle of Tangho, recovering it from the Japanese. By this time, Sun had established himself as one of the Nationalists' outstanding field commanders. In 1939 he was made deputy commanding officer of the First War Area, and he later held the equivalent post in the Sixth War Area. In July 1945 the National Government appointed him commanding officer of the Eleventh War Area and governor of his native Hopei. At war's end, he was ordered to effect the Nationalist takeover of Hopei, Shantung, and Chahar and to administer matters pertaining to the Japanese surrender. With the aid of American forces in the Chinwangtao, Tientsin, Peiping, and Tsingtao areas, he was able to achieve his objectives with great speed. As the civil war between the Nationalists and the Chinese Communists gained impetus, Chiang Kai-shek began shifting officers and reorganizing civil and military bodies. In March 1947 the Eleventh War Area was reorganized as the Paoting pacification office, with Sun Lien-chung as pacification commissioner and Hopei-Paoan commander. In the autumn of 1947 he participated in the battle of the Peiping-Tientsin-Paoting triangle and won one of the Nationalists' ever-rarer victories. He was appointed commander in chief of defense for the Nanking area in the spring of 1948 and personal chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek that autumn. When Chiang retired from office in January 1949, Sun also resigned. Sun then went to Taiwan, where he became a member of the strategy advisory commission after the National Government retreated to Taiwan in December 1949.