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Yuanshuai
Nie Rongzhen
Yuanshuai Nie Rongzhen
聂荣臻
	Marshal Nie Rongzhen in 1955
Personal details
Born	聶榮臻; December 29, 1899; Jiangjin, Sichuan, Qing Empire
Died	May 14, 1992 (aged 92); Beijing, PRC
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (joined in 1923)
Occupation	General; military instructor; politician; writer;
Military service
Allegiance	Chinese Communist Party; People's Republic of China
Branch/service	People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Years of service	1923–1987
Rank	Marshal of the People's Republic of China
Commands	Commander, 115th Division, Eighth Route Army; Commander, Northern China Military Region Field Army;
Battles/wars	Northern Expedition; Chinese Civil War Long March; ; Sino-Japanese War Hundred Regiments Offensive; ;
Awards	Order of Bayi (First Class Medal); Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class Medal); Order of Liberation (First Class Medal);
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	聂荣臻
Traditional Chinese	聶榮臻
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Niè Róngzhēn
Wade–Giles	Nieh Jung-chen

Nie Rongzhen (Chinese: 聂荣臻; pinyin: Niè Róngzhēn; Wade–Giles: Nieh Jung-chen; December 29, 1899 – May 14, 1992) was a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. He died as the last People's Liberation Army (PLA) marshal.

Biography

Nie was born in Jiangjin County in Sichuan (now part of Chongqing municipality), the cosmopolitan and well-educated son of a wealthy family. In his 20s, Nie applied to the Université du Travail (University of Labour) in Charleroi, Belgium, with a scholarship from the Socialist Party, and was thus able to study science in Charleroi.

Political leanings

Zhou Enlai spent a night in Charleroi and met with Nie. Nie agreed to join the group of Chinese students in France on a work-study program, in which he studied engineering and became a protégé of Zhou Enlai. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1923.

A graduate of the Soviet Red Army Military College and Whampoa Academy, Nie spent his early career first as a political officer in Whampoa's Political Department, where Zhou served as the Deputy Director, and in the Chinese Red Army.

World War II

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was first assigned as the deputy division commander of the 115th division of the Eighth Route Army, with the commander being Lin Biao, and in the late 1930s he was given a field command close to Yan Xishan's Shanxi stronghold. This assignment was one of the 8th Route Army's first moves was to build guerrilla bases. A unit of 2,000 troops from the 115th Division under General Nieh Jung-chen moved to Wutai Mountain to establish what was to be called the Chin-Ch'a-Chi Border Region.

Civil War

In the Chinese Civil War he commanded the Northern China Military Region, and with his deputy Xu Xiangqian, his force defeated Fu Zuoyi's forces in Tianjin near Beijing in the Pingjin campaign alongside Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan. During the Korean War, Nie took part in high level command decision making, military operations planning, and shared responsibility for war mobilization. Nie was promoted to marshal in 1955 and later ran the Chinese nuclear weapons program.

He established the Bayi School in 1947.^[1]

Chinese nuclear programme

By spring 1969, "The whole Chinese nuclear weapons program [was] under the authority of Nieh Jung-chen [Rongzhen], the head of the Seventh Ministry for Machine Building."^[2]

Cultural Revolution

He played a complex role during the Cultural Revolution. He was variously accused of factionalism by opponents and engaged in political maneuvering to preserve his role as director of China's military technological commission. He later served as vice chairman of the Central Military Committee, which controlled the nation's armed forces, and also became the vice chairman of the National People's Congress. He retired in 1987 and died in Beijing.

Personal life

Nie had a daughter with Zhang Ruihua (张瑞华) in 1930, named Nie Li. Li and Zhang Ruihua were imprisoned by the Kuomintang in 1934 and reunited with Nie in 1945. Nie Li was the first woman to be a lieutenant general in the PLA.^[3]

References

Citations

^ Wang, Jianfen; Chen, Ziyan (2018-06-01). "What we can learn from Xi's childhood". China Daily. Retrieved 2020-10-23.
^ An Australian journalist spoke to several staff at a Chinese gaseous diffusion plant near Lanzhou and reported his findings shortly before being imprisoned by China for more than three years. See: "The first Western look at the secret H-bomb centre in China". The Toronto Star. August 9, 1969. p. 10.. See also: Francis James (June 15, 1969). The Sunday Times. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ 中科院院士丁衡高与妻子聂力中将简介 [Introduction to the Chinese Academy of Sciences scholar Ding Henggao and his wife Middle General Nie Li]. Meili de Shenhua (in Chinese (China)). 10 April 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2017.

Sources

Government offices
Preceded by Ye Jianying	Mayor of Beijing 1949–1951	Succeeded by Peng Zhen
New title	Director of State Science and Technology Commission 1958–1970	Next: Fang Yi
Military offices
Preceded by Xu Xiangqian	Chief of the General Staff of the CPG People's Revolutionary Military Commission (acting) 1950–1954	Succeeded by Su Yu as the Chief of the General Staff of the PLA