Hsü Hsiang-ch'ien (1902-), Communist military commander, served under Chang Kuo-t'ao in the Hupeh-Honan-Anhwei soviet area (193132)' and in Szechwan and Sikang (1932-36). Wut'ai, Shansi, was the birthplace of Hsü Hsiang-ch'ien. Little is known about his background except that his father was a sheng-yuan. Hsü received a primary education in the Chinese classics and then enrolled […]

Hsiung K'o-wu (1881-), anti-Manchu revolutionary and senior Szechwanese military leader, was one of the very few active commanders elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintangin 1924. He later became a member of the party's Central Supervisory Committee and of the Government Council. In 1950-54 he served Peking as a vice chairman of the […]

Hsieh Chueh-tsai (1881-), Chinese Communist leader, held important party offices in the 1930's and 1940's. He served the Central People's Government as minister of interior (1949-59) and was president of the Supreme People's Court (1959-64). Born into the family of a landholder in the Ninghsiang district of Hunan province, Hsieh Chueh-tsai received his early education […]

Hsiao K'o (August 1909-), Chinese Communist army officer, served under Yeh T'ing and Chu Teh in the 1920's and under Ho Lung in the 1930's and 1940's. After 1949 he held office as director of the general training department of the Chinese Communist military forces. Chiaho hsien, Hunan, was the birthplace of Hsiao K'o. His […]

Wang Chen (1909-), Chinese Communist guerrilla leader and political commissar who was one of the leading figures in the politicalmilitary administration of the Sinkiang region in 1949-53. In 1954 he became a member of the National Defense Council at Peking, and in 1956 he was appointed minister of state farms and land reclamation. Beginning in […]

T'an P'ing-shan (1887-2 April 1956), one of the most influential Communists in the Kuomintang hierarchy during the 1924-26 period of alliance. Upon his expulsion from both parties in 1927, he became a leader of the so-called Third party at Shanghai. He was readmitted to the Kuomintang in 1937, but he later helped organize the dissident […]

Shen Yen-ping (1896-), known as Mao Tun, the foremost realist novelist in republican China. He ceased to function as a creative writer in 1949, and he served from 1949 to 1965 as minister of culture in the Central People's Government. Ch'ingchen, a suburban district of T'unghsiang hsien, Chekiang, was the birthplace of Mao Tun. He […]

Jen Pi-shih (1904-27 October 1950), Chinese Communist political worker and close associate of Mao Tse-tung, rose to the top rank of the Chinese Communist party hierarchy in the early 1940's as a member of the Political Bureau and the Secretariat and head of the Central Committee's organization department. Hsiangyin, Hunan, was the birthplace of Jen […]

Ch'ien Ta-chün (26 July 1893-), military officer, organized and trained many units of the National Revolutionary Army. He was an official of the Whampoa Military Academy and dean of the Wuhan branch of the Central Military Academy. He was an aide to Chiang Kai-shek and later chief of his bodyguard. In 1942-43 he served as […]

P'eng P'ai (22 October 1896-30 August 1929), the first Chinese Communist leader to organize peasants for political purposes and the founder of the short-lived Hai-lu-feng soviet. He was executed by the Nationalists at Shanghai. Born into a well-to-do landlord family in Haifeng (Hoifung), Kwangtung, P'eng P'ai received a traditional primary education in the Chinese classics. […]