He Long

From "Two Kitchen Knives" to Northern Expedition Commander

He Long, born He Wenchang, was born on 22 March 1896 at Hongjiaguan, Sangzhi, Hunan, into a poor family; he worked the land and later hauled salt for a living. In 1914 he joined Sun Yat-sen's Chinese Revolutionary Party. In December 1917, on the border of Shimen and Cili, he and a companion attacked the guards of the Cili county magistrate with two kitchen knives and seized two rifles, raising a new band of fighters — the origin of the story of "starting a revolution with two kitchen knives". He went on to serve as battalion, brigade and division commander in various Constitution Protection and anti-warlord armies in western Hunan and Sichuan. In July 1926 he brought his troops into the National Revolutionary Army for the Northern Expedition; in May 1927 he twice defeated Fengtian forces in Henan, at Xiaoyaozhen and Xiaoshangqiao, and in June became commander of the 20th Army.

The Nanchang Uprising and Western Hunan–Hubei

In late July 1927 He Long led the 20th Army to Jiujiang and endorsed the CCP's plan for an uprising in Nanchang; there Zhou Enlai, on behalf of the Front Committee, appointed him commander-in-chief of the uprising forces and commander of the 20th Army, and he helped lead the uprising of 1 August. That September, during the march south, he joined the CCP at Ruijin, Jiangxi, sponsored by Zhou Yiqun and Tan Pingshan. After the uprising failed he returned to western Hunan in 1928, raised a workers' and peasants' army and built the Hunan–Hubei border base area; in 1930 he joined forces with Zhou Yiqun to form the Red 2nd Army Group. In October 1934 his forces linked up with the Red 6th Army Group led by Ren Bishi and others, and as commander of the 2nd Army Group he built the Hunan–Hubei–Sichuan–Guizhou base. In November 1935 he led the 2nd and 6th Army Groups out of Sangzhi on the Long March; after meeting the Fourth Front Army at Garzê in July 1936 he became commander-in-chief of the Second Front Army, which joined the First Front Army in October.

The War against Japan and the Civil War

When war with Japan broke out, He Long became commander of the Eighth Route Army's 120th Division and led it into northwest Shanxi to open a base area; at the end of 1938 he took its main force east into central Hebei, and in August 1940 his troops took part in the Hundred Regiments Offensive. From 1942 he was commander of the Shanxi–Suiyuan Military Region and of the Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia–Shanxi–Suiyuan Joint Defence Army, and sent the 359th Brigade to farm at Nanniwan. In the civil war he ran the rear for the northwest front, supporting the Northwest Field Army; in February 1949 he became commander of the Northwest Military Region, and at the end of the year led the 18th Army Group into Sichuan, joining the Second Field Army in the Chengdu campaign.

After 1949

From 1950 He Long was third secretary of the CCP Southwest Bureau and commander of the Southwest Military Region. From 1954 he served successively as Vice Premier, vice chairman of the National Defence Council and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission; he was made a Marshal in 1955 and elected to the Politburo in 1956. From 1952 he also headed the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission, directing the PRC's early sports programme, and from 1963 he ran the Central Military Commission's day-to-day work.

The Cultural Revolution

After the Cultural Revolution began, He Long was falsely accused by the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing groups; from 1967 he was deprived of his freedom and placed under investigation. On 9 June 1969, with his diabetes worsening, he was given a glucose injection and died of diabetic ketoacidosis. In 1974 the CCP Central Committee restored his reputation, and in October 1982 it issued a decision on his complete rehabilitation, describing him as "one of the founders of our army".