Hu Zongnan

Republic of China state institutions Nationalism 1896–1962 ○ Natural causes

Chiang’s most trusted Whampoa first-class general, Nationalist commander in the northwest who took Yan’an in 1947

From Zhenhai, Ningbo, in Zhejiang, he graduated in the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924 and was one of Chiang’s favourite students. He fought in the Northern Expedition, the Central Plains War and the anti-Communist campaigns, took command of the First Army in 1936 and, after fighting at Shanghai and Wuhan against Japan, was counted with Chen Cheng and Tang Enbo as one of Chiang’s three most trusted generals. Commanding the Nationalist forces in the northwest early in the civil war, he took the Communist capital Yan’an in March 1947, but his plans leaked through his aide Xiong Xianghui, a Communist agent, and he was defeated again and again by Peng Dehuai. On Taiwan he was governor of Zhejiang (the offshore islands) and military strategy adviser to the president, and died in 1962.

Also known as: Hu Tsung-nan