Xu Yong (; April 1959 – 13 September 2024) was a 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 ...

'') 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 ...

, who was Commander of the

Tibet Military District The Tibet Military District is a military district of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. It was first established in 1952, possibly from elements previously part of the 18th Corps. In December 1968 it became part of the Chengdu Mil ...

from 2013 to 2019.

Biography

Xu Yong was born in 1959 in

Baoji Baoji ( zh, s= , t= , p=Bǎojī; ) is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

Province. He held a master's degree from

PLA National Defence University The National Defense University is a national public collegiate military university headquartered in Haidian, Beijing, China, with constituent and affiliated military academies nationwide. Established in 1985 by a military order of Deng X ...

. Xu began his career as a military scout, and fought in the

Sino-Vietnamese War The Sino-Vietnamese War (also known by other names) was a brief conflict that occurred in early 1979 between China and Vietnam. China launched an offensive ostensibly in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation of Cambodia in 1978, whi ...

in 1979. He rose through the ranks to become battalion commander, division commander, corps-level chief of staff, and then commander of the 13th Group Army in 2008. He attained the rank of major general in 2007. After the Great Sichuan earthquake occurred in May 2008, Xu was the first general to arrive at the

epicenter The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

Yingxiu Yingxiu () is a Towns of China, town of southern Wenchuan County, in central Sichuan, Sichuan Province. It is located at the southern end of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, and lies on the road to Jiuzhaigou Valley, Wolong Natio ...

with his soldiers to join the rescue mission. At the time, his 19-year-old son had just died of cancer a month before. Xu Yong was appointed commander of the Tibet Military District in July 2013, replacing Yang Jinshan. On 15 July 2014, he was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

(''

'') together with

Diao Guoxin Diao Guoxin (; born October 1958) is a lieutenant general (''zhong jiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China. He served as Political Commissar of the Tibet Military District from 2012 to 2016. Biography Diao Guoxin was born in O ...

, the political commissar of the Tibet Military District. Xu was a PLA member of the

12th National People's Congress The 12th National People's Congress (NPC) was elected in national congressional conferences from October 2012 to February 2013 and was in session from 2013 to 2018. It succeeded the 11th National People's Congress. It held five plenary sessions ...

. Xu died in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

on 13 September 2024, at the age of 65.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Yong 1959 births 2024 deaths People's Liberation Army generals from Shaanxi People from Baoji PLA National Defence University alumni Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress