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He Long

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisHe.
Yuanshuai
He Long
Hạ long
Marshal He Long in 1955
Member ofCentral Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
In office
October 1954 – 9 June 1969
ChairmanMao Zedong
Vice Premier of China
In office
October 1954 – 9 June 1969
PremierZhou Enlai
Personal details
Born
Hạ long

(1896-03-22)22 March 1896
Sangzhi,Hunan,Qing Empire
Died9 June 1969(1969-06-09)(aged 73)
Beijing,China
Political partyChinese Communist Party(1926–1969)
OccupationGeneral, politician, writer
Nickname(s)Hạ lão tổng(Hè lǎozǒng,"Old Chief He" )
Hạ hồ tử(Hè húzi,"mustachio He" )
Military service
AllegiancePeople's Republic of China
Branch/servicePeople's Liberation Army Ground Force
Years of serviceRepublic of China(1914-1920)
National Revolutionary Army(1920-1927)
Chinese Communist Party(1927–1969)
RankMarshal of People's Republic of China
Commands
Battles/wars
AwardsOrder of August the First(1st Class Medal) (1955)
Order of Independence and Freedom(1st Class Medal) (1955)
Order of Liberation (China)(1st Class Medal) (1955)

He Long(simplified Chinese:Hạ long;traditional Chinese:Hạ long;pinyin:Hè Lóng;March 22, 1896 – June 9, 1969) was aChinese Communistrevolutionary and aMarshalof thePeople's Republic of China.He was from a poor rural family in Hunan, and his family was not able to provide him with any formal education. He began his revolutionary career after avenging the death of his uncle, when he fled to become an outlaw and attracted a small personal army around him. Later his forces joined theKuomintang,and he participated in theNorthern Expedition.

He rebelled against the Kuomintang afterChiang Kai-shekbeganviolently suppressing Communists,when he planned and led the unsuccessfulNanchang Uprising.After escaping, he organized a soviet in ruralHunan(and laterGuizhou), but was forced to abandon his bases when pressured by Chiang'sEncirclement Campaigns.He joined theLong Marchin 1935, over a year after forces associated withMao ZedongandZhu Dewere forced to do so. He met with forces led byZhang Guotao,but he disagreed with Zhang about the strategy of the Red Army and led his forces to join and support Mao.

After settling and establishing a headquarters inShaanxi,He led guerrilla forces inNorthwest Chinain both theChinese Civil Warand theSecond Sino-Japanese War,and was generally successful in expanding areas of Communist control. He commanded a force of 170,000 troops forces by the end of 1945, when his force was placed under the command ofPeng Dehuaiand He became Peng's second-in-command. He was placed in control ofSouthwest Chinain the late 1940s, and spent most of the 1950s in the Southwest administering the region in both civilian and military roles.

He held a number of civilian and military positions after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In 1955, his contributions to the victory of the Chinese Communist Party were recognized when he was named one of theTen Marshals,and he served as China'svice premier.He did not support Mao Zedong's attempts to purge Peng Dehuai in 1959 and attempted to rehabilitate Peng. After theCultural Revolutionwas declared in 1966, he was one of the first leaders of the PLA to be purged. He died in 1969 when a glucose injection provided by his jailers complicated his untreated diabetes.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

He Long in his youth
He in 1925.

He Long was a member of theTujiaethnic group.[1]Born in theSangzhi,Hunan,he and his siblings, includingHe Ying,grew up in a poor peasant household, despite his father being a minorQingmilitary officer.[2]His father was a member of theGelaohui(Elder Brother Society), a secret society dating back to the early Qing dynasty. A cowherd during his youth, he received no formal education.[3]When He was 20 he killed a local government tax assessor who had killed his uncle for defaulting on his taxes.[4]He then fled and became an outlaw, giving rise to the legend that he began his revolutionary career with just two kitchen knives.[3]After beginning his life as an outlaw he gained a reputation as a "Robin Hood-like figure ". His signature weapon was a butcher knife.[2]

Around 1918 He raised a volunteer revolutionary army that was aligned with a local Hunan warlord,[4]and in 1920, his personal army joined theNational Revolutionary Army.[5]In 1923 He was promoted to command the Nationalist Twentieth Army. In 1925 He ran a school for training Kuomintang soldiers. While running this school, He became close with some of his students who were alsoChinese Communist Party(CCP) members.[4]During the 1926Northern Expedition,He commanded the 1st Division, 9th Corps of the National Revolutionary Army.[6]He served underZhang Fakuiduring the Northern Expedition.[4]

In late 1926 He joined the CCP.[5]In 1927, after the collapse ofWang Jingwei's leftist Kuomintang government inWuhanand Chiang Kai-shek'ssuppression of communists,He left the Kuomintang and joined the Communists, commanding the 20th Corps, 1st Column of the Red Army.[4]He andZhu Deplanned and led the main force of theNanchang Uprisingin 1927. In the Nanchang Uprising He and Zhu led a combined force of 24,000 men and attempted to seize the city ofNanchang,but they were not able to secure it against the inevitable Kuomintang attempt to retake the city. The campaign suffered from logistical difficulties, and the communists suffered 50% casualties in the two months of fighting. Most of He's soldiers who survived surrendered, deserted, and/or rejoined the KMT. Only 2,000 survivors eventually returned to fight for the Communists in 1928, when Zhu reformed his forces in Hunan.[7]

After his forces were defeated, He fled toLufeng, Guangdong.He spent some time inHong Kong,but was later sent by the CCP toShanghai,then to Wuhan.[4]Chiang Kai-shekcontinuously tried to persuade him rejoin theKuomintang,but failed.[citation needed]

Communist guerrilla[edit]

He Long in theNational Revolutionary Army(1939)

After the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, He turned down an offer by the CCP Central Committee to study in Russia and returned to Hunan, where he raised a new force in 1930.[6]His force controlled a broad area of the countryside in the Hunan-Hubei border region, around the area ofLake Hong,and organized this area into a rural soviet. In mid-1932 Kuomintang forces targeted He's soviet as part of theFourth Encirclement Campaign.He's forces abandoned their bases, moved southwest, and established a new base in northeastGuizhouin mid-1933.[8]

In 1934Ren Bishijoined He in Guizhou with his own surviving forces after also being forced to abandon his soviet in another Encirclement Campaign. Ren and He merged forces, with He becoming the military commander and Ren becoming the commissar.[9]He joined theLong Marchin November 1935, over a year after forces led by Zhu De andMao Zedongwere forced to evacuate their ownsoviet in Jiangxi.[5]He's ability to resist the Kuomintang was partially due to his position on the periphery of Communist-controlled territory.[2]While on the Long March He's forces met Communist forces led byZhang Guotaoin June 1936, but both He and Ren disagreed with Zhang about the direction of the Long March, and He eventually led his forces intoShaanxito join Mao Zedong by the end of 1936. In 1937 He settled his troops in northwestern Shaanxi and established a new headquarters there.[9]Because the Second Army of the Chinese Red Army under He Long's command was one of the few Communist forces to arrive in Yan'an mostly intact, his force was able to assume the responsibility of protecting the new capital after their arrival.[2]

When the Red Army was reorganized into theEighth Route Armyin 1937, He was placed in command of the 120th Division.[5]From late 1938 to 1940 He fought both the Japanese army and Kuomintang-affiliated guerrillas inHubei.[9]He's responsibilities increased during theSecond Sino-Japanese War,and in 1943 he was promoted to be the overall commander of Communist forces inShanxi,Shaanxi,Gansu,Ningxia,andInner Mongolia.[5]By the end ofWorld War IIHe commanded a force of approximately 175,000 troops across northwestern China. He's most notable subordinates includedZhang Zongxun,Xu Guangda,andPeng Shaohui.[10]

He was successful in expanding Communist base areas throughout the period of World War II. Part of He's success was due to the social confusion caused by Japan'sIchi-Go offensivein the areas of China that Japanese operations effected. He was frequently able to expand Communist areas of operation by allying with local, independent guerrilla forces who were also fighting the Japanese. He's experience fighting the Kuomintang and the Japanese led him to question Mao's unconditional emphasis on the importance of ideological guerrilla warfare at the expense of conventional tactics and military organization.[11]

In October 1945, one month after the Japanese surrender, the command of He's forces was transferred toPeng Dehuai,which operated as the "Northwest Field Army". He became Peng's second-in-command, but spent most of the rest of theChinese Civil Warin central CCP headquarters, in and aroundYan'an.[10]After the Japanese surrender, in 1945, He was elected to theCCP Central Committee,and his influence rose within both the military and the communist political system. Near the end of the Chinese Civil War He was promoted to command theFirst Field Army,which was active inSouthwest China.[11]After the Communists won the civil war in 1949, He spent most of the 1950s in both civilian and military roles in the southwest.[9]

He Long withDeng Xiaoping(left) andZhu De(right) (1949)

In the People's Republic[edit]

He Long (center) with MarshalsNie Rongzhen(left) andLuo RonghuanatTiananmen(1959)

He's military accomplishments were recognized when he was promoted to being one of theTen Marshalsin 1955,[11]and he served in a number of civilian positions. He was madeVice Premier.He headed theNational Sports Commission,and in that role facilitated sports exchanges with the Soviet Union and the eastern European countries.[12]: 139 He was one of the most well-traveled members of the CCP elite, and led numerous delegations abroad, meeting with leaders of other Asian countries, theSoviet Union,andEast Germany.[8]

After Mao Zedong purged Peng Dehuai in 1959, Mao appointed He to the head of an office to investigate Peng's past and find reasons to criticize Peng. He accepted the position but was sympathetic to Peng, and stalled for over a year before submitting his report. Mao's prestige weakened when it became widely known that Mao'sGreat Leap Forwardhad been a disaster, and He eventually presented a report that was positive, and which attempted to vindicate Peng.[13]Peng was partially rehabilitated in 1965, but then purged again at the beginning of theCultural Revolution1966.[14]

Jiang Qingdenounced He in December 1966 of being a "rightist" and of intra-CCP factionalism. Following Jiang's accusations He and his supporters were branded an anti-CCP element and quickly purged.[15]He's persecutors singled him out by labeling him the "biggest bandit".[11]He was the second highest-ranking member of the Military Affairs Commission at the time that he was purged, and the method in which he and those close to him were purged set the pattern for multiple later purges of the PLA leadership throughout the Cultural Revolution.[15]

After being purged, He was placed under indefinite house arrest for the last two and a half years of his life. He described the conditions of his imprisonment as a period of slow torture, in which his captors "intended to destroy my health so that they can murder me without spilling my blood". During the years that he was imprisoned, his captors restricted his access to water, cut off his house's heat during the winter, and refused him access to medicine to treat his diabetes.[16]He died in 1969 after being hospitalized for the severe malnutrition that he developed while under house arrest. He died soon after being admitted to hospital, after a glucose injection complicated his chronic diabetes.[17]

He was posthumously partially rehabilitated by Mao in 1974, then fully rehabilitated afterDeng Xiaopingcame to power in the late 1970s.[citation needed]AstadiuminChangshawas named after him in 1987.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Winchester 1
  2. ^abcdLew 11
  3. ^abWhitson & Huang 28
  4. ^abcdefLeung 49
  5. ^abcdeChina at War162
  6. ^abWhitson & Huang 34
  7. ^China at War147
  8. ^abLeung 49-50
  9. ^abcdLeung 50
  10. ^abDomes 43
  11. ^abcdChina at War163
  12. ^Minami, Kazushi (2024).People's Diplomacy: How Americans and Chinese Transformed US-China Relations during the Cold War.Ithaca, NY:Cornell University Press.ISBN9781501774157.
  13. ^Rice 185-186
  14. ^Domes 116-117
  15. ^abCentral Intelligence Agencyii
  16. ^Chung 391
  17. ^The Cambridge History of China213

Sources[edit]

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