Tao Zhiyue

People’s Republic of China state institutions Marxism–Leninism 1892–1988 ○ Died

Garrison commander who took 70,000 Nationalist troops in Xinjiang over to the Communists in 1949

Born to a wealthy landed family in Ningxiang, Hunan, he took part in the Wuchang Uprising, joined the Tongmenghui in 1912 and graduated from the Baoding Military Academy. He joined the Kuomintang in 1926, fought in the Northern Expedition, commanded the Nanjing garrison in 1927 and took part in the third encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet in 1931. In the war against Japan he commanded the 1st and 37th Armies and in 1943 the Hexi Corridor garrison. In the civil war, as military governor of Xinjiang under Zhang Zhizhong, he helped release imprisoned Communists in 1946, and on 25 September 1949 went over to the Communists with more than 70,000 men. He then commanded the PLA 22nd Corps, took part in crushing Uyghur and Kazakh resistance, and was the first commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in 1954–1968.

Also known as: T'ao Chih-yüeh