Yang Baibing
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Yang Baibing (; 9 September 1920 – 15 January 2013) was a Chinese military officer. He was a senior general and political commissar in the Chinese
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 ...
and the younger half-brother of
Yang Shangkun Yang Shangkun (3 August 1907 – 14 September 1998) was a Chinese Chinese Communist Party, Communist military and political leader, president of the People's Republic of China from 1988 to 1993, and one of the Eight Elders that dominated the par ...
. Together, the two brothers effectively controlled the PLA from the early 1980s until the early 1990s.


Biography

Yang was born as Yang Shangzheng () in Tongnan,
Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...
, on 9 September 1920. He became a guerrilla fighter in 1937, after
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
invaded China 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 March 1938. He graduated from the Military–Political University, the Central Party School, and the "''Northern Shaanxi Public School''", which trained security and intelligence officers for the Communist Party's
Central Social Affairs Department The Central Social Affairs Department () was the intelligence and counter-intelligence agency of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee from 1939 to 1949, prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Its successors inc ...
. Many years later, in 1958, he also graduated from the Higher Political Academy of the PLA. Yang had a long and eventful military career, serving as both battlefield commander and political commissar. He fought in the Second Sino–Japanese War and subsequently in the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
, which led to the victory of the CCP and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. From 1949 until 1966 and the outbreak of the
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 ...
, Yang continuously served in the
Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
, and took part in the invasion and conquest of Tibet in 1950–51, as well as the crushing of the
1959 Tibetan Rebellion The 1959 Tibetan uprising or Lhasa uprising began on 10 March 1959 as a series of protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, fueled by fears that the Chinese government planned to arrest the Dalai Lama. Over the next ten days, the demonstratio ...
. In 1960 he became Deputy Director, and in 1964 Director, of the Political Department of the Chengdu Military Region. Along with his half-brother Yang Shangkun, Yang Baibing was persecuted during the
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 ...
, being arrested, imprisoned and expelled from the Party in November 1966. He remained in prison for almost a decade, until he was released in 1975. In 1978, both Yang brothers made their comeback as allies of
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
. Yang Baibing went on to serve as: * Director of the Political Department and Deputy Political Commissar of 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, ...
(1978–1985) * Political Commissar of 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, ...
(1985–1987) * Director of the
PLA General Political Department The General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army (GPD; ) was the former chief political organ under the Central Military Commission (China), Central Military Commission of Chinese Communist Party. It led all political activities i ...
(1987–1992) * Secretary–General 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 ...
(1989–1992) * Full Member of the
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
(1992–1997) Together with his brother Yang Shangkun, Yang Baibing played a leading role in crushing the
1989 Tiananmen Square Protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led Demonstration (people), demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsucces ...
and was a main planner of the actual operations to clear the square and violently suppress all opposition. The PLA 27th Group Army, which arrived from
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
and killed several hundred protesters, was commanded by his son, Yang Jianhua. In the early 1990s, Yang was one of many top Chinese officials who pushed for a strategic partnership with
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, following the collapse of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, despite the fact that just a few years earlier, in the 1980s, the PLA was very active in aiding the Mujahedeen against the Soviets in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. Yang himself was very active in coordinating military assistance to the Afghans throughout the 1980s, which eventually included weapons such as
heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
s,
rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...
s and
anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...
. After the 14th Party Congress in October 1992, Yang Baibing entered the Politburo, but he was forced to leave the military in 1993 along with his brother Yang Shangkun, who was also forced to step down as President of China and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Committee in the same year. After the 15th Party Congress in September 1997, Yang Baibing officially retired from politics. Yang died in Beijing on 15 January 2013, at the age of 92.
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attended his funeral.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Baibing 1920 births 2013 deaths Counter-Japanese Military and Political University alumni People's Liberation Army generals from Chongqing Victims of the Cultural Revolution Members of the 14th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Chinese military personnel of World War II