Huang Kecheng () (October 1, 1902 – December 28, 1986) was a

senior general Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used Suffix (name)#Generational titles, as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refe ...

(大将) in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

Biography

Huang Kecheng was born in Yongxing,

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

Province, and he was the third of four children. His father was Huang Qingzhu (黄清主), and his mother was Deng Longtao (邓龙桃). His family owned six mu of land. Since he was not the eldest son, his parents did not consider it a great priority to provide a good education for him. He worked as a farm labourer on his family land, and completed high school when he turned 20, in 1920, from the Hunan 3rd Normal School. Huang eventually joined

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

, and he joined the

Communist Party of China The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

in 1925. In 1929, Huang was serving under

Peng Dehuai Peng Dehuai (; October 24, 1898November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, who served as China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor peasant family, and received several years of primary edu ...

in a Kuomintang regiment stationed in northern Hunan. When Peng rebelled in June 1928, Huang joined him.Domes 48 Huang led the Yongxing campaign during Xiangnan (South Hunan) campaign in 1928, and participated major battles encountered by the Red Army Third Division. Huang participated in the

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Red Army, Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Revolut ...

, and, upon arrival on northern

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

, he was promoted to be the director of the general political and organizational department. In the beginning of the Second Sino-Japan War, he was the political commissar of 344 brigade, affiliated with the 115 division of

Eighth Route Army The Eighth Route Army (), officially known as the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, was a group army under the command of the Chinese Communist Party, nominally within the structure of the Chinese ...

. His army accompanied

Xu Haidong Xu Haidong (June 17, 1900 – March 25, 1970) was a senior general in the People's Liberation Army of China. Xu was notable for leading his men from the front lines during the Chinese Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War. His exploits earn ...

, fighting in regions across

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

and

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

. After 1940, he became a political commissar in the

and the

New Fourth Army The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...

, and later the deputy and logistics commander of Northeastern Democratic Alliance Army. After the founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1949, Huang was appointed governor of

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

. He later became the state secretary of Hunan, the Commander of Hunan Military Region and its political commissar, the deputy director of the chief staff and director of general logistics, the deputy minister of national defense, the secretary general of the Central Military Commission, and the chief of staff of the PLA. He was made a senior general in 1955, and awarded the Army Medal, the

Order of Independence and Freedom Order of Independence and Freedom () was a military award from the People's Republic of China. It was created in 1955, to give recognition to men who distinguished themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity" in combat with an enemy o ...

Medal, and the Order of Liberation. He was an alternate and then formal member of the

7th CPC Central Committee The 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1945 to 1956. It was a product of the convening of the 7th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It held ...

, and a member of the 8th Central Committee. In 1959, Huang criticized the "

Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruc ...

" and "

People's Commune The people's commune () was the highest of three administrative levels in rural areas of the People's Republic of China during the period from 1958 to 1983, until they were replaced by townships. Communes, the largest collective units, were div ...

s" and was denounced as a member of an "Anti-Party group" associated with Peng Dehuai when Peng was criticized at the

Lushan Conference The Lushan Conference was a meeting of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held between July and August 1959. The CCP Politburo met in an "expanded session" (''Kuoda Huiyi'') between July 2 and August 1, followed by the 8th Plenu ...

. He was deprived of all positions and was placed under investigation. He was partially rehabilitated, but was denounced and persecuted by

Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

when the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

began in 1966. In 1977, after

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

came to power, Huang was politically rehabilitated. After being recalled to service, he was appointed as adviser to the Central Military Commission, and executive secretary of the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the par ...

. He was selected as central committee member again in 1978. He died on December 28, 1986, in Beijing.

References

Citations

Sources

* Domes, Jurgen
''Peng Te-huai: The Man and the Image''
London: C. Hurst & Company. 1985. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Kecheng Members of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party People's Liberation Army Chiefs of General Staff Victims of the Cultural Revolution 1902 births 1986 deaths Politicians from Chenzhou People's Liberation Army generals from Hunan Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan Political office-holders in Hunan Political office-holders in Tianjin People's Liberation Army General Logistics Department Deputy Ministers of National Defense of the People's Republic of China Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery