Nie Rongzhen

Early Life and Revolutionary Formation

Nie Rongzhen was born on 29 December 1899 in Jiangcunba, Tongnan County, Sichuan Province (present-day Chongqing Municipality). He left China in 1919 on the work-study programme to France and Belgium, where he was exposed to Marxist ideas and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1923. He subsequently studied at the Red Army's Eastern University in Moscow before returning to China in 1925 to take up political and military work under the Nationalist-Communist United Front.

Northern Expedition and Early CPC Military Career

After returning to China, Nie Rongzhen served as a political commissar under Nationalist forces during the Northern Expedition. Following the collapse of the United Front in 1927, he participated in the Nanchang Uprising on 1 August 1927 — considered the founding moment of the People's Liberation Army — and subsequently escaped south with Zhu De's forces. He later joined Mao Zedong's base at Jinggangshan and survived the Long March (1934–35), during which he served as political commissar of the First Army Corps.

Anti-Japanese War: Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Base

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Nie Rongzhen became one of the most effective CPC commanders behind Japanese lines. After the Battle of Pingxingguan in September 1937, he remained in the enemy rear to establish the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei (晋察冀, Jìn-Chá-Jì) military base, the first and largest CPC guerrilla base area in North China. Over the following eight years he built a functioning liberated zone — with its own government, economy, schools, and army — that at its height encompassed tens of millions of people and tied down large numbers of Japanese forces. His administration of the base area was noted for its relative moderation and discipline.

In late 1940 he participated in the Hundred Regiments Offensive, one of the largest CPC military operations of the war, which demonstrated the scale and organisation that the North China base areas had achieved. His management of the Jìn-Chá-Jì base earned him a reputation as a careful administrator as well as a battlefield commander.

Civil War: Pingjin Campaign

After Japan's defeat, Nie Rongzhen commanded the North China Military Region, the largest of the PLA's field commands by territory. In the autumn of 1948, the CPC Central Military Commission ordered the Pingjin Campaign (平津战役), the final major operation of the Civil War in North China. Nie Rongzhen and Lin Biao jointly commanded a combined force of over 800,000 troops that encircled Beiping and Tianjin. The strategy — encircling first, attacking Tianjin, then negotiating Beiping — was designed to preserve the ancient capital while destroying Nationalist combat power in the region.

Tianjin fell on 15 January 1949 after 29 hours of intensive urban combat. Beiping, now isolated and with no viable military options, was the subject of protracted negotiations with the Nationalist commander Fu Zuoyi. Nie Rongzhen's headquarters coordinated the military pressure that made those negotiations possible. On 31 January 1949, PLA forces entered Beiping without firing a shot, completing the liberation of North China.

Marshal and Nuclear Programme

From 1950 to 1954, Nie Rongzhen concurrently served as Acting Chief of the General Staff, overseeing the PLA's day-to-day military affairs. In 1955 he was awarded the rank of Marshal of the People's Republic of China, one of only ten military commanders to receive this honour. In November 1956 he became Vice Premier of the State Council, overseeing national science and technology work; from October 1958 he also headed both the National Defense Science and Technology Commission and the State Science and Technology Commission, taking overall charge of China's strategic weapons programmes — the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, collectively known as the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" programme (两弹一星). In September 1959 he was additionally appointed a Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, with special responsibility for advanced weapons work. Under his leadership, China conducted its first nuclear test on 16 October 1964 and its first hydrogen bomb test on 17 June 1967. He is widely regarded as the "Father of China's Space Programme."

Cultural Revolution and Later Life

In August 1966, Nie Rongzhen was co-opted onto the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee at the 8th Central Committee's 11th Plenum. In February 1967, together with veteran leaders including Tan Zhenlin, Chen Yi, Ye Jianying, Li Fuchun, Li Xiannian, and Xu Xiangqian, he directly confronted the Central Cultural Revolution Group over its ultra-leftist excesses at a meeting in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai — an episode later branded the "February Countercurrent." He was subsequently denounced, lost his post as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and stepped down as Vice Premier of the State Council in January 1975. He was restored as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission in August 1977, and continued to be elected to the Politburo through the 11th and 12th Central Committees, remaining on it until 1985. From 1975 to 1983 he served successively as Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 4th and 5th National People's Congresses. In 1978, the CCP's Third Plenum of the 11th Central Committee rehabilitated the participants in the "February Countercurrent," clearing Nie Rongzhen's name. In September 1985 he was among 64 veterans, including Ye Jianying, Deng Yingchao and Xu Xiangqian, whose requests to step down from the Central Committee were approved by the Fourth Plenum of the 12th Central Committee and referred to the National Conference of the Party. Nie Rongzhen died in Beijing on 14 May 1992, at the age of 93, one of the last surviving founders of the PLA.