:''This is a Chinese and Korean name; the family name is Zhao (Cho).'' Zhao Nanqi (; 20 April 1927 – 17 June 2018), or Cho Nam-gi (), was a General of the People's Republic of China and Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1998 to 2003, and Vice-chairman of the 5th National People's Congress. Born in Japanese-ruled Korea, he moved to

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

, China as a child. He distinguished himself as a logistics officer of the

People's Volunteer Army The People's Volunteer Army (PVA), officially the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), was the armed expeditionary forces China in the Korean War, deployed by the History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976), People's Republic of Chi ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. After the war, he served in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

(PLA) Jilin Military District and as Vice Governor of Jilin province. He later served in top leadership positions in the PLA as Director of the

General Logistics Department General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army (GLD; ) was a former chief organ under China's Central Military Commission. Before 2016, it organized and led the logistics construction and oversees housing, supplies, hospitals, and ba ...

(1987–1992), member of the

Central Military Commission Central Military Commission may refer to: *Central Military Commission (China), the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China. *Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the highest body in Vietnam ...

, and President of the

PLA Academy of Military Science The Academy of Military Sciences () is the highest-level research institute of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It is headquartered in Beijing. The academy was founded in March 1958 and as of 2002, its staff included approximately 500 researc ...

(1992–1995). He attained the top military rank of three star General in 1988. From 1998 to 2003 he served as a

Vice Chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are deputies to the chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The official responsibility of the vice ...

Early life

Cho Nam-gi (Zhao Nanqi in Mandarin Chinese) was born on 20 April 1927 in

Cheongwon County Cheongwon County () was a county in North Chungcheong Province, South Korea. It was dissolved on July 1, 2014 and consolidated to Cheongju. Government The Korea Food and Drug Administration (later Ministry of Food and Drug Safety), and K ...

Korea under Japanese rule From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

(in present-day

Cheongju Cheongju (; ) is the capital and largest list of cities in South Korea, city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. The 'Cheong' in the name of Chungcheong Province is the Cheong of Cheongju. History Cheongju has been an important prov ...

North Chungcheong Province North Chungcheong Province (), also known as Chungbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Chungcheong has a population of 1,578,934 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Hoseo region on the south-centre of the Korean Peninsula. No ...

, South Korea). Because of Japanese colonial policies that required Koreans to use Japanese-style names, he also used the Japanese surname Toyoda (豊田). In 1939, Zhao's family moved to

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

, the Japanese-controlled puppet state in

Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

, and settled in

Yongji County, Jilin Yongji () is a county of central Jilin province, China, located just outside of Jilin City Jilin City, Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kirin (, International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA:/ki.rin/) ...

Province. When Japan surrendered in 1945 at the end of World War II, Chinese rule was restored in Northeast China and Korea regained its independence. Many Koreans in China returned to Korea, but Zhao's family stayed and was recognized as

Chaoxianzu Korean Chinese, also called Chaoxianzu (; ), is the Korean (Joseon) Ethnicity, ethnic minority group in China. They are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups by the Government of China and the Chinese Communist Party. They account f ...

(Chinese of Korean ethnicity). Zhao met General

Zhou Baozhong Zhou Baozhong (; 1902–1964) was a commander of the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade and Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army resisting the pacification of Manchukuo by the Empire of Japan. After the Chinese Civil War he was made Vice Governor of Yu ...

of the

Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army The Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army, also known as the NAJUA or Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, was the main Counter-Japanese guerrilla army in Northeast China (Manchuria) after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Its prede ...

, who recruited him into the army and sent him to study at Northeast Military and Political University, where he learned to speak, read and write Chinese. He participated in the land reform movement in

and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

in February 1947.

Korean War

When China resolved to intervene in the

in October 1950, Zhao was deployed to Korea because of his proficiency in the Korean language. He served in the logistics department of the Chinese

(PVA) alongside

Mao Anying Mao Anying (; 24 October 1922 – 25 November 1950) was a Chinese military officer. He was the eldest son of Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui. Educated in Moscow and a veteran of multiple wars, Mao was killed in action by an air strike during the ...

, the son of Chairman

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

. Zhao evacuated the cave where the PVA headquarters were located just before American planes bombed it and killed Mao Anying in November 1950. Zhao distinguished himself during the celebrated

Battle of Triangle Hill The Battle of Triangle Hill, also known as Operation Showdown or the Shangganling Campaign (),Chinese sources often mistranslates Shangganling Campaign as the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. was a protracted military engagement during the Korea ...

in October 1952, when the unit under his command braved American aerial bombing and transported 30,000 grenades from

Andong Andong () is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Korea, and the capital of North Gyeongsang Province. It is the largest city in the northern part of the province with a population of 167,821 as of October 2010. The Nakdong Ri ...

, China to the 15th Corps in the front line within 15 hours. He was also responsible for constructing the building in which the

Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement (; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United States Army Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison Jr ...

was signed in 1953. After the armistice, Zhao was sent to study at the PLA Logistics Academy. Because of his wartime experience, he was promoted to become a lecturer at the academy after only one year of study, and was asked to write a report of his experience and lessons learned during the war. In 1957, he was appointed the director of the PVA office overseeing the withdrawal of the Chinese forces from Korea. He left North Korea together with the last PVA troops in 1958. After returning to China, he was received by Mao Zedong and Marshal

Zhu De Zhu De; (1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Zhu was born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan. He was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

Later career

After the Korean War, Zhao served in the

Yanbian The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang Province, to the west by Jilin's Baishan City and Jilin City, to the south by North K ...

Military Subdistrict as a political officer and attained the rank of colonel in 1965. He was persecuted during the early

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, but was rehabilitated and appointed Political Commissar of the

Tonghua Tonghua ( zh, s=通化 , p=Tōnghuà) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jilin province, People's Republic of China. It borders North Korea's Chagang Province to the south and southeast, Baishan to the east, Jilin City to the north, ...

Military Subdistrict in 1973. He was later promoted to Deputy Political Commissar and then Commissar of the Jilin Military District. In the 1980s, Zhao was the only Chinese military leader who concurrently served in important provincial civilian positions. He became Vice Governor of Jilin Province in April 1980 and was appointed

Chinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary In modern politics of China, Chinese politics, a Deputy Party Committee Secretary (; also translated as Deputy Party Secretary, deputy party chief, vice party chief) serves as the lieutenant to the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, ...

of Jilin in October 1981, serving until 1985. In March 1985, Zhao was promoted to Deputy Director of the

People's Liberation Army General Logistics Department General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army (GLD; ) was a former chief organ under China's Central Military Commission. Before 2016, it organized and led the logistics construction and oversees housing, supplies, hospitals, and bar ...

(GLD). He was promoted again to Director of the GLD in 1987 and was appointed a member of the

in April 1988. When the

restored military ranks (which had been abolished in 1965) in September 1988, Zhao was among the 17 PLA officers to attain the rank of full general (''

shang jiang Jiang (Wade-Giles, formerly romanized chiang and usually translated general (rank), general) is a general officer rank used by China and Taiwan. It is also used as jang in North Korea, North and South Korea, shō in Japan, and tướng in Vietna ...

''), and the only one from an ethnic minority. From 1992 to 1995, he served as President of the

. In July 1995, Zhao officially retired from the People's Liberation Army, marked the end of his 50 years long military career. From 1998 to 2003, Zhao served as vice-chairman of the 9th

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

(CPPCC) National Committee. He paid an official visit to North Korea in June 1998 and paid his respects to the grave of Mao Anying. In April 2000, he paid an official visit to South Korea; it was the first time he returned to his place of birth since he left at the age of 12. Zhao was a member of the

12th Twelfth can mean: *The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution *The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland In mathematics: * 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...

and 14th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party. He also served as vice-chairman of the Nationalities Committee of the

5th National People's Congress The 5th National People's Congress (NPC) was in session from 1978 to 1983. It succeeded the 4th National People's Congress. It held five plenary sessions in this period. Seat distribution The first session *Chairman and Vice Chairman: ''Po ...

Personal life

Zhao was married to Lin Chunshu (林春淑), a fellow Korean War veteran.

Death

Zhao Nanqi died in Beijing on 17 June 2018, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Nanqi 1927 births 2018 deaths Chinese politicians of Korean descent Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jilin People's Liberation Army generals from Jilin Korean emigrants to China People from Cheongju Chinese military personnel of the Korean War Political office-holders in Jilin People's Republic of China politicians from Jilin Members of the 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Nanqi Korean expatriates in Manchukuo