Du Jingchen (; born 1952) is a retired

vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

(''

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 ...

'') of the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare military branch, branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It i ...

(PLAN) of China. He served as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the PLAN, and commander of the

East Sea Fleet The Eastern Theater Command Navy (东部战区海军, ETCN) is a formation of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the naval component of the Eastern Theater Command. The ETCN was reorganized from the East Sea Fleet (ESF) by 2016. C ...

Biography

Du Jingchen was born in 1952 in

Tancheng County Tancheng County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Linyi, in Shandong Province, People's Republic of China. Tancheng is the southernmost county-level division of Shandong Province and borders Jiangsu. It is ab ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

Province. He graduated from

Dalian Naval Academy Dalian Naval Academy () is one of the higher education institutes of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy and is located in Dalian, Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Pala ...

. Du was deputy chief of staff of the Lüshun Naval Base from 2002 to 2003, and participated in the search-and-rescue mission after the

China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 (CBF6136/CJ6136) was a Chinese domestic passenger flight from Beijing Capital International Airport to Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport. On 7 May 2002, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80, McDonnell Douglas MD- ...

crash in the

Bohai Bay Bohai Bay () is one of the three major bays of the Bohai Sea, the northwestern and innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. It is bounded by the coastlines of eastern Hebei province ( Tangshan and Cangzhou), Tianjin municipality and northern Sha ...

. He then served as assistant chief of staff of the PLAN from 2003 to 2007, and chief of staff of the PLAN

South Sea Fleet The Southern Theater Command Navy (STCN), or the South Sea Fleet (SSF) until 2018, is a formation of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the naval component of the Southern Theater Command. History In December 1949, the Fourth Fi ...

from 2007 to 2009. In December 2008, he commanded China's first anti-piracy naval mission to

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. In December 2009, he was promoted to commander of the

and concurrently deputy commander of the

Nanjing Military Region The Nanjing Military Region () was one of the former seven military command regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Its jurisdiction covered all military and armed police located in Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Shangh ...

, a sharp rise from a 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 post in less than two years. He became chief of staff of the PLAN a year later. In August 2014 he was made deputy commander of the PLAN, replacing Ding Yiping, who had reached the mandatory retirement age. Du attained the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

in July 2005 and vice-admiral in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Du, Jingchen 1952 births Living people People's Liberation Army generals from Shandong Chiefs of staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy People from Linyi Dalian Naval Academy alumni Commanders of the East Sea Fleet