Lü Zhengcao () (4 January 1904 – 13 October 2009) was a Chinese military officer. He was one of the original ''Shang Jiang'' of 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 ...

. Lü was born in Haicheng, in the province of

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

. He 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 1937. He fought in China's war against Japan 1937–1945 as well as the civil war against the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

1945–1949. Before he joined the Communists, Lü worked as an assistant to the Kuomintang general,

Zhang Xueliang Zhang Xueliang ( zh, t=張學良; June 3, 1901 – October 15, 2001), also commonly known by his nickname "the Young Marshal", was a Chinese general who in 1928 succeeded his father Zhang Zuolin as the commander of the Northeastern Army. He is bes ...

. It was in this role that he was a witness to the

Xi'an Incident The Xi'an Incident was a Chinese political crisis that lasted from 12 to 26 December 1936. Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Nationalist government of China, was arrested in Xi'an by soldiers of the Northeastern Army under the command of Ge ...

, whereby Zhang and his fellow general,

Yang Hucheng Yang Hucheng () (26 November 1893 – 6 September 1949) was a Chinese general during the Warlord Era of Republican China and Kuomintang (KMT) general during the Chinese Civil War. Warlord years Yang Hucheng joined the Xinhai Revolution in ...

, forced the then-Chinese leader, Chiang Kai-shek to suspend the civil war with the Communists in 1936 in order and join forces against the Japanese. Lü resigned from the Kuomintang in 1937 and joined the Communist Party. He then commanded a military force that fought the Japanese army in northern China. Following the Communist victory of 1949, Lü served as a senior military leader of the PRC. He was appointed a ''Shang Jiang'' (general) in 1955 following the re-establishment of rank. During his time as Vice Minister of Railroads, Lu was appointed to be

Li Jingquan Li Jingquan (; November 1, 1909 – April 24, 1989) was a Chinese politician and the first Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Sichuan following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. He supported many of Mao Zed ...

's number two on the Southwest Railroad Construction Headquarters. This body was created in 1964 to supervise railroad development during the Third Front construction of basic industry and national defense industry in China's rugged interior in preparation for potential invasion by the United States or the Soviet Union. In 1985, to support the return of the critically endangered

Père David's deer The Père David's deer (''Elaphurus davidianus''), also known as the ''milu'' () or elaphure, is a species of deer native to the subtropical river valleys of China. It grazes mainly on grass and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of t ...

to China, Lü Zhengcao helped found and chair the China Milu Foundation, now known as the

China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) is a Chinese state-backed environmental organization that works to protect the environment, and preserve natural resources and biodiversity in China. It was established ...

.(Chines
商晓达, 麋鹿与名人
2007-12-17 On 13 October 2009, Lü died in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

at the age of 105 by Western age reckoning, or at the age of 106 by the traditional age system. At the time of his death, he was the last survivor of the original generals of the People's Liberation Army.

References

External links

Last of New China's first generals passes away
- Obituary from ''

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...

''
Lu Zhengcao
- Daily Telegraph obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Lu Zhengcao 1904 births 2009 deaths People's Liberation Army generals from Liaoning Chinese men centenarians People from Haicheng, Liaoning Chinese Communist Party politicians from Liaoning People's Republic of China politicians from Liaoning Alternates of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Politicians from Anshan Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Ministers of railways of the People's Republic of China Members of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party