Yü Han-mou (1891-), Kwangtung Army commander and subordinate of Ch'en Chi-t'ang (q.v.) whose defection to the National Government in 1936 contributed to the avoidance of civil war between Canton and Nanking. In 1948 he served briefly as commander in chief of the Chinese land forces.

Little is known about Yü Han-mou's family background or early life except that he was born in Kaoyao hsien, Kwangtung. He enrolled in the Paoting Military Academy about 1913, and he was graduated in 1919 with the sixth class, a class which produced such wellknown Cantonese military men of the period as Teng Yen-ta, Hsueh Yueh (qq.v.), and Li Han-hun. Li Yang-ching, another Cantonese member of the same class, became a close colleague of Yü Han-mou, and they served together under Ch'en Chi-t'ang (q.v.). Yü Han-mou began his active military career in 1923 as a battalion commander in the 1st Division of the Kwangtung Army under Teng K'eng (q.v.). By the time Ch'en Chi-t'ang assumed control of Kwangtung province in 1930, Yü had become commander of the 1st Division. After the short-lived secessionist movement at Canton in 1931, the province of Kwangtung maintained itself in a state of semiautonomy with respect to the National Government and the central authorities of the Kuomintang based at Nanking. As Ch'en Chit'ang began to consolidate power in south China, he expanded his military forces. Yü Han-mou then was made commander of the First Army under Ch'en Chi-t'ang and pacification commissioner of the northwestern portion of Kwangtung. He came to be regarded as Ch'en's most trusted military assistant.

As the aggressive military intentions of the Japanese became increasingly obvious during the 1930's, the anomalous semi-autonomy of the southern provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi became increasingly intolerable to the National Government at Nanking. In the spring of 1936 Ch'en Chi-t'ang, with the support of Li Tsung-jen (q.v.) in adjacent Kwangsi province, moved to settle their dififerences with Chiang Kai-shek through open military action. Ch'en then organized an expeditionary force to march northward, ostensibly to go to Manchuria to fight the Japanese but actually to bring about the downfall of Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking. Yü Han-mou's army served as the vanguard force, moving toward Kanchow in Kiangsi province. Ch'en Chi-t'ang's move won no real support, and a series of defections soon began. The Canton air force, which Ch'en had built up, was the first to act; on 4 July 1936 a group of pilots flew their aircraft to Nanchang, where they surrendered to the National Government authorities. On 8 July, Yü Han-mou flew to Nanking, where he discussed problems of mutual interest with Chiang Kai-shek. Yü then issued an appeal which called for a halt to hostilities, requested his colleagues in the Kwangtung military forces to join him in forcing Ch'en Chi-t'ang to retire, and stated that he was moving his army back toward Canton. Details of the practical arrangements which stimulated this action were not disclosed. Yü Han-mou's defection was generally considered the greatest single factor in the avoidance of civil war between Canton and Nanking in 1936. Seeing that the situation was lost, Ch'en Chi-t'ang quietly left Canton for Hong Kong and retired from the political and military scene. For his contribution to national unification, Yü Han-mou was rewarded with an assignment as the top military commander of Kwangtung, with the title of pacification commissioner at Canton. The National Government simultaneously made a careful choice in the appointment of Huang Mu-sung (q.v.) as civil governor of Kwangtung. Huang had previously been dean of the Paoting Military Academy and Yü Han-mou's teacher there, and the move was clearly designed by Nanking to avert possible friction between the civil and military authorities in that important southern province.

After the outbreak of war between China and Japan in 1937 and the fall of Canton to the Japanese forces, Yü Han-mou moved his army to northern Kwangtung, where it was reorganized as the Twelfth Group Army. As its commander in chief, Yü was also named deputy commanding general of the Fourth War Area, later redesignated the Seventh War Area. Later, after a further administrative demarcation, Yü received command of the South China War Area. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, he was assigned for a period as pacification commander based at Chuchow in Kiangsi province. In May 1948 the National Government appointed him commander in chief of the land forces of the Chinese Army. By then, however, the military situation was rapidly deteriorating for the Nationalists as Chinese Communist forces moved southward over the mainland. At the beginning of 1949, when plans were made to make a final stand against the Communists in south China, Hsueh Yueh (q.v.) was assigned to replace T. V. Soong (q.v.) as governor of Kwangtung province, and Yü Han-mou was transferred back to Canton as pacification commissioner. In the spring of that year, the National Government also reorganized Hainan Island as a special district and placed Ch'en Chi-t'ang in charge with the intention of securing that island as a last base. When Canton fell to the Chinese Communist forces in October 1949, Yü Han-mou moved to Hainan to assist his former chief. But the effort on Hainan was made too late, and the Nationalist commanders also had to evacuate that island in April 1950.

Yü Han-mou then went to Taiwan, where he was given a sinecure post as a member of the military advisory council. Following the deaths in Taiwan during the 1950's of such veteran Cantonese personalities as Wu T'iehch'eng, Ch'en Chi-t'ang, and Wang Ch'unghui, Yü Han-mou came to be regarded by his fellow provincials as one of the most senior Kwangtung leaders on the island. Yü Hsueh-chung T. Hsiao-hou ^^.SL Yü Hsueh-chung (1889-22 September 1964), governor of Hopei in 1932-35 and of Kansu in 1936. He took part in the Sian Incident of December 1936. During the Sino-Japanese war, he served as commander of the Third and Fifth Group armies and as vice chairman of the Military Advisory Council. After 1949 he held minor government posts in the People's Republic of China.

Little is known about Yü Hsueh-chung's family background or early life except that he was born in P'englai hsien. Shantung, and that he was graduated from a battalion school at Tungchow, Chihh (Hopei), in 1911. In 1914 Yü became aide de camp to the defense commissioner of Linsi, Jehol. After the death of Yuan Shih-k'ai in 1916 and the breakup of the Peiyang party, Yü was associated with the Chihli clique, serving in the forces of Ts'ao K'un and Wu P'ei-fu (qq.v.). He rose steadily in rank, becoming commander of the 18th Mixed Brigade in 1923 and commander of the 26th Division and of the Chingchow-Hsiangyang defense area in Hupeh in 1926. When Wu P'ei-fu's troops were defeated by the Northern Expedition forces in 1926, Yü left his service and remained in western Hupeh. In the spring of 1927 he received command of the Fifteenth Army of t'le Chihli-Shantung Joint Army. In the final battles of 1928 between the northern warlords led by Chang Tso-lin (q.v.) and the Northern Expedition forces, Yü commanded the Twentieth Fengtien Army of the Ankuochün [national pacification army]. With the defeat of the Ankuochün and the death of Chang Tso-lin, Yü retreated with the Manchurian forces to Shanhaikuan.

Yü Hsueh-chung then became military affairs counselor in the Northeastern frontier defense headquarters of Chang Hsueh-liang (q.v.). In addition, he served as Luanchow defense commander. When the Northeastern forces intervened in north China in 1930 at the climax of the struggle between the National Government and the northern coalition of Feng Yü-hsiang and Yen Hsi-shan (qq.v.), Yü occupied Tientsin as commander of the First Northeastern Army and became Peiping- Tientsin garrison commander. In 1931 he was appointed to the Northeast Political Council.

In September 1932 Yü Hsueh-chung reached the peak of his power in north China when he was made governor of Hopei, with concurrent command of the Fifty-first Army. He held that post until June 1935 when, in accordance with Sino-Japanese agreements {see Ho Ying-ch'in), he and his army were transferred to northwest China. Yü was designated commander of the Szechwan-Shensi-Kansu border area and governor of Kansu. Later in 1935 he was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.

In 1935-36 Yü Hsueh-chung participated in campaigns against the Chinese Communists in northern Shensi. At the time of the Sian Incident in December 1936 {see Chang Hsuehhang; Chiang Kai-shek), Yü was at Sian, and when Chang Hsueh-Hang accompanied Chiang Kai-shek to Nanking on 25 December, Yü and Yang Hu-ch'eng (q.v.) were left in charge of military affairs at Sian. They promptly demanded implementation of the agreement to end the civil war with the Communists and to establish a united front against the Japanese. They also demanded the release of Chang Hsueh-liang, who was being held at Nanking. Early in January 1937 the National Government removed Yü and Yang from their posts, appointing Wang Shu-ch'ang to succeed Yü as governor of Kansu. Although Yü and Yang disagreed about strategy, they acted together in challenging the National Government and then agreeing at the end of January to the reorganization and redeployment of their troops. In March, the Fifty-first Army of Yvi Hsueh-chung was ordered to the Huaiyin- Huaian-Pengpu sector of Kiangsu. At about the same time, Yü and Yang called on Chiang Kai-shek at Hangchow "to receive instructions." Yang was sent abroad, but Yü was appointed to a new post—military affairs commissioner for Kiangsu.

After the Sino-Japanese war began in 1937, Yü Hsueh-chung was given responsibility for military operations in the Tsingtao sector, where Japanese naval forces had landed in mid- August. The Japanese then advanced in the direction of Tsinan. In mid-December, Yü's force entered Tsingtao to destroy Japaneseowned enterprises. He was forced to withdraw after the Shantung governor, Han Fu-chü (q.v.), abandoned Tsinan to the Japanese on 25 December. The Japanese occupied Tsingtao without resistance on 10 January 1938. With the arrest of Han Fu-chü on 1 1 January on charges of dereliction of duty, the Shantung troops were transferred to Yü Hsueh-chung's command, together with one division each of Kwangtung and Szechwan troops. Yü's combined forces became the Third Group Army, and it participated in the stubborn defense of Hsuchow and Pengpu. The campaign in that sector ended with the battle of Taierhchuang, and Yü then was transferred to command of the Fifth Group Army. In 1939 he was appointed commander in chief of the Kiangsu- Shantung War Area, which, however, was both Communist-controlled and behind the Japanese lines. In 1941 Yü was named chairman of the Nationalist provincial government of Shantung. He was removed from field command in 1944 and was made vice chairman of the Military Advisory Council in Chungking. After the Japanese surrender, he served as a member of the Military Strategy Advisory Commission at Nanking.

Yü Hsueh-chüng remained in China after the People's Republic of China was established in October 1949. In December 1952 he was named a member of the Hopei provincial government; and he was a delegate from that province to the National People's Congress in 1954. In September 1954 he received membership in the National Defense Council at Peking, and in 1956 he was elected to the central committee of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee. Yü Hsueh-chung died at Peking, of illness, on 22 September 1964, at the age of 73 sui.