Dalai Lama (26 June 1876-17 December 1933), spiritual and temporal ruler of 1 ibet. The thirteenth Dalai was known for his economic and political reforms and for trying to establish independence in Tibet. Born into a peasant family in an isolated district of Tak-po province in southeastern Tibet, the thirteenth Dalai Lama had several brothers, […]

Yang Sen (c.1887-), Szechwanese military and political leader who served as commander in chief of the Twenty-seventh Group Army and deputy commander of the Ninth War Area in 1938-44. He was governor of Kweichow in 1945-47 and mayor of Chungking in 1948-49. A native of Kuangan, Szechwan, Yang Sen was born into a scholarly family […]

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 […]

Ma Pu-fang (1903-), Chinese Muslim general who was governor of Tsinghai from 1938 until 1949. He later served the National Government in Taiwan as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, but he resigned in 1961. Linhsia (Hochow), Kansu, was the birthplace of Ala Pu-fang. He was the younger brother of Ma Pu-ch'ing (q.v.) and the son of […]

Liu Hsiang (1890-22 January 1938), Szechwanese militarist who sporadically held supreme authority in Szechwan in the 1920's and 1930's. Little is known about Liu Hsiang's family background or early years except that he was born in Tayi, Szechwan. He was graduated in 1910 from the Szechwan Short-Term Military Academy, where one of his classmates was […]

Ku Chu-t'ung (9 January 1893-), Kuomintang military leader whose many important posts included : commander of the Third War Area (1937-45), commander in chief of the Chinese Nationalist army (1946-47; 1949), chief of general staff in the ministry of national defense (1948-49). In Taiwan, he became secretary general of the National Defense Council in 1959 […]