Ding Laihang (; born September 1957) is a general of the Chinese

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...

(PLAAF) who served as Commander of

from 2017 to 2021. Prior to that, he was commander of the

Shenyang Military Region The Shenyang Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It has command and control of military and armed police forces in the three northeast provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, whic ...

Air Force and then commander of the

Northern Theater Command The Northern Theater Command () is one of the five Theater command (China), theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region, Jinan Military Region and Beijing Militar ...

Air Force.

Biography

Ding was born in September 1957 in

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. He became regimental commander of Regiment 71 of 24th Fighter Aviation Division while in his early 30s. From the position of division deputy commander he moved to command of a training base in the

Beijing Military Region The Beijing Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. From the mid-1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs within Beijing city, Tianjin city, Hebei province, Shanxi province, ...

Air Force, a divisional unit. Like

Ma Zhenjun Ma Zhenjun (; born 1962) is a lieutenant general (''zhong jiang'') of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) of China. He has been Chief of Staff of the PLAAF since August 2013, and previously served as commander of the Beijing Military R ...

, he emphasized combat-realistic "Red versus Blue" training. In 2001, he was swiftly promoted to chief of staff of the 8th Corps, deployed on the

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Front, reaching the deputy

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

level at the age of 44. When the 8th Corps was reorganized down to the Fuzhou Forward Commanding Post in 2003, Ding was its founding head. In 2007 he was promoted to be president of PLA Air Force Command Academy. A year later he was transferred to the

Chengdu Military Region The Chengdu Military Region was one of seven military districts and is located in the southwest of the People's Republic of China, covering Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and the Xizang/Tibet Autonomous Region. It includes some of the area ...

Air Force as its chief of staff. Ding was one of the youngest senior officers among the seven PLAAF Military Regions (at the full corps rank). In August 2012, Ding was promoted to commander of the

Air Force, as well as Deputy Commander of the Shenyang MR. In February 2016, he was appointed the inaugural Air Force commander and deputy commander of the

, which was newly established in

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

's military reform. In August 2017, he was promoted to commander of the

PLA Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force, also referred to as the Chinese Air Force () or the People's Air Force (), is the primary aerial warfare service of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAAF controls most of the PLA's air assets, includi ...

, succeeding General

Ma Xiaotian Ma Xiaotian (; born August 1949) is a retired general who served as Commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) from 2012 to 2017. He also served as Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff and President of the PLA National Defenc ...

. Ding attained the rank of major general in July 2003, and lieutenant general (''

zhong jiang Jiang ( formerly romanized chiang and usually translated general) is a general officer rank used by China and Taiwan. It is also used as jang in North and South Korea, shō in Japan, and tướng in Vietnam. Chinese People's Liberation Army T ...

'') in July 2013. He was a member of the

11th National People's Congress The 11th National People's Congress (NPC) met for a 5-year term, from 2008 to 2013. It held five annual two week plenary sessions during this period. It succeeded the 10th National People's Congress. There were 2,987 deputies elected to the ...

. In October 2017, he was elected as a member of the

19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 19th National Congress in 2017, and sat until the next National Congress was convened in 2022. It formally succeeded the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Commun ...

. On 31 July 2019 he was promoted to General.

Downfall

In November 2023, Ding was put under investigation for a corruption case involving the construction of

Beijing Xijiao Airport Beijing Xijiao Airport is a military airport in Beijing, China. It was also used by charter flights. It is located in Haidian District, from Beijing Capital International Airport and about from the city centre. It has one runway numbered 18/36 ...

. On December 4, he was dismissed from his position as a representative of the

14th National People's Congress The 14th National People's Congress (NPC) is the sitting electoral term of the "supreme organ of state power" of the China, People's Republic of China. It convened in Beijing, on 5 March 2023, and is scheduled to continue until March 2028. Electio ...

on suspicion of "serious violations of discipline and law".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ding, Laihang 1957 births Living people People's Liberation Army generals from Zhejiang Commanders of the People's Liberation Army Air Force Military personnel from Hangzhou Delegates to the 11th National People's Congress Members of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Purged Chinese military officers