PLA marshal who commanded Chinese forces in Korea, then was purged for criticizing the Great Leap Forward
'I want to be a Hai Rui!' — In his 1962 'Letter of 80,000 Words' to Mao, invoking the Ming-dynasty official famed for his courage in admonishing the emperor
One of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army, he commanded the Chinese People's Volunteer Army in the Korean War and, as Minister of National Defense, pursued a Soviet-model professionalization of the military. His 1959 letter to Mao criticizing the famine and failures of the Great Leap Forward led to his purge as head of an 'anti-Party clique'; imprisoned and tortured during the Cultural Revolution, he died in custody in 1974 and was posthumously rehabilitated in 1978.
Career Timeline
- 1928Rebelled against KMT forces, formed the Red 5th Army, joined Mao and Zhu at Jinggangshan
- 1930–1934Commander, Red 3rd Corps; directed defense of the Jiangxi Soviet
- 1934–1935Participated in the Long March; supported Mao at the Zunyi Conference
- 1937–1940Deputy Commander, Eighth Route Army; directed the Hundred Regiments Offensive
- 1947–1949Commander, Northwest Field Army; defended Yan'an, liberated five northwest provinces
- 1950–1953Commander and Commissar, Chinese People's Volunteer Army in the Korean War
- 1954–1959Minister of National Defense, CMC Vice-Chairman; Soviet-model military modernization
- 1959Purged at Lushan Conference for letter criticizing the Great Leap Forward; stripped of posts