Li Jishen

Republic of China state institutions Nationalism 1885–1959 ○ Died

NRA general who broke with Chiang, founded the Revolutionary Committee of the KMT and became a PRC vice-chairman

From Cangwu in Guangxi, a graduate of Qing army academies, he became deputy dean of the Whampoa Military Academy in 1924 and commander of the National Revolutionary Army’s 4th Army in 1925. As a member of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee in 1927 he helped Chiang Kai-shek purge and massacre Communists, but later turned against Chiang and in 1933 chaired the Fujian People’s Government. Back on the Military Affairs Commission in the war against Japan, he was expelled from the Kuomintang in 1947 for calling for reconciliation with the Communists, and in 1948 founded the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang as its chairman. Invited by Mao, he came to Beijing in 1949 to help prepare the founding, and was a vice-chairman of the Central People’s Government in 1949–1954 and a vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee in 1954–1959.

Also known as: Li Chi-shen