Zhang Yang (; August 1951 – November 23, 2017) was a general 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 ...

(PLA) who served as Director of the Political Work Department. He was previously political commissar of the

Guangzhou Military Region The Guangzhou Military Region was from 1955 to 2016 one of the People's Liberation Army PLA Military Regions, located in the south of the People's Republic of China. In May 1949, the Central China (Hua Zhong) Military Region (MR) was formed. In M ...

. He committed suicide in November 2017 when under disciplinary investigation.

Biography

Zhang was born in

Wuqiang County Wuqiang County () is a county in the southeast-central part of Hebei province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hengshui, with a population of 210,000 residing in an area of . Both China National Highway 307 and ...

Hebei Province 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 ...

. He graduated from the basic department of

PLA National Defense 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 ...

, and also studied at the

Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Party School is a higher education institution that trains Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres. It is located in Haidian, Beijing, close to Summer Palace and Old Summer Palace. The current president is Chen Xi, a former member ...

, majoring in administrative management. He was the director of the political department and a standing committee member of the CCP committee of the Guangzhou Military Region. From September 2007 to December 2015, he was political commissar and

Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

of the Guangzhou Military Region. He attained the rank of lieutenant general in July 2006 and general in July 2010. Zhang was a member of the 17th and

18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 18th National Congress on 15 November 2012, and sat in plenary sessions until the communing of the 19th National Congress in 2017. It was formally proceeded by the 17t ...

and a deputy to the

10th National People's Congress The 10th National People's Congress (NPC) was in session from 2003 to 2008. It held five plenary sessions in this period. There were 2,984 deputies to this Congress. It succeeded the 9th National People's Congress The 9th National People's C ...

. Zhang Yang was under investigation by 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 ...

on August 28, 2017, for discipline violations and bribery. He is believed to have committed suicide at his home on November 23, 2017, making him the most senior military figure to have done so during the ongoing graft investigations among PLA personnel. On October 16, 2018, Zhang Yang was posthumously stripped of his rank and expelled from the CCP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Yang 1951 births 2017 deaths Delegates to the 10th National People's Congress Delegates to the 12th National People's Congress Members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party People from Hengshui People's Liberation Army generals from Hebei PLA National Defence University alumni Purged Chinese military officers Suicides in the People's Republic of China Chinese military personnel who died by suicide People expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2018 Suicides by hanging in China