Xiao Ke | |
|---|---|
萧克 | |
 Xiao Ke in 1955 | |
| Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference | |
| In office 12 September 1980 – 17 June 1983 | |
| Chairman | Deng Xiaoping |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 14, 1907 |
| Died | October 24, 2008(2008-10-24) (aged 101) Beijing, China |
| Party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Occupation | General, politician, author |
| Awards |  Order of Bayi (First Class Medal) Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class Medal) Order of Liberation (China) (First Class Medal)Mao Dun Literature Prize |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  People's Republic of China |
| Branch/service |  People's Liberation Army Ground Force |
| Years of service | 1926–1983 |
| Rank | .jpg){kind=icon} General |
| Commands | Sixth Army Group |
| Battles/wars | Encirclement Campaigns,Long March,2nd Sino-Japanese War,Chinese Civil War |
Xiao Ke (simplified Chinese:萧克;traditional Chinese:蕭克;pinyin:Xiāo Kè; July 14, 1907[1] – October 24, 2008) was a general of the ChinesePeople's Liberation Army, former vice chairman of theCPPCC, as well as principal of theUniversity of Military and Politics.
Xiao was born inJiahe County,Hunan Province of China.
He joined theNational Revolutionary Army and participated theNorthern Expedition in 1926. He joined theChinese Communist Party in 1927 and fought inNanchang Uprising. He went to Jinggangshan and was recruited to the Red Fourth Army.
Between 1930 and 1933, he was appointed first to command of the Red Army's Fifth Division, then its Eighth Army, and later Sixth Army Group, fighting in many battles resisting the Nationalist'sEncirclement Campaigns. In August 1934, he led the Sixth Army Group out west of theJiangxi Soviet as pathfinders for what was to become theLong March. Among his unit was future major generalLi Zhen.[2] The Sixth Corps subsequently joined forces underHe Long to become the Second Front Army. They co-founded Xiang-E-Chuan-Qian Soviet District. In July 1936, he was appointed to deputy command of the Second Front Army.
Following the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, Xiao was appointed second-in-command of the 120th division of the famousEighth Route Army, deputy commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region and commander of Ji-Re-Liao Military Region. He was made Lieutenant General in the National Revolution Army of theRepublic of China.
In April 1949, he was promoted to become chief of staff of the Fourth Field Army, leading them into battle in Hengbao, Guangdong, and Guangxi and elsewhere.
After the 1949 declaration of thePeople's Republic of China, Xiao was appointed director of the military training department underCentral Military Commission. In November 1954, he was appointed deputy director of the training supervision department and director of battle training.
On September 27, 1955, he was made a full general of PLA, ranking first on the list ofGenerals. Xiao had both the military record and experience to be appointed aGrand General due to his past honor and experience. Instead, he was awarded general, though ranked No.1. This was probably because he used to supportZhang Guotao, who wanted to found another central communist government, and he did not get along very well withHe Long in the past.
In 1957, he was promoted to the director of training superintendence department as well as the secretary of CCP's committee there.
In 1958, Xiao came under political attack for so-called "dogmatism", and was dismissed from all posts. This attack was led by then Minister of DefensePeng Dehuai, soon to have political troubles of his own following theLushan Conference. Reflecting in later years on the struggles he was subjected to, Xiao wrote, “I had been in the Party more than thirty years…had taken part in the Northern Expedition, the Nanchang Uprising, the Southern Hunan Uprising, the Struggle in Jinggangshan, the Long March… The man can be struck down, but his history will stand.” Some years later, Peng sent his nephew to apologise to Xiao for the treatment the latter had received. Xiao himself was magnanimous, realising Peng's actions had been dictated by the tenor of the times.[3]
In January 1972, he was appointed principal of theUniversity of Military and Politics, made deputy minister of defence, principal of military academy and a first political commissar.
In September 1980, he was appointed one of the vice chairmen of the Fifth National Political Consultative Conference.
During theTiananmen Square protests of spring 1989, Xiao Ke joined recently retired Minister of DefenseZhang Aiping and five other retired generals in opposing theenforcement of martial law by the Army in Beijing.
Due to the exigent circumstances, we as old soldiers, make the following request: Since the People's Army belongs to the people, it cannot stand against the people, much less kill the people, and must not be permitted to fire on the people and cause bloodshed; to prevent the situation from escalating, the Army must not enter the city.
— Ye Fei,Zhang Aiping, Xiao Ke,Yang Dezhi,Chen Zaidao,Song Shilun andLi Jukui, May 21, 1989 letter to theCentral Military Commission and Capital Martial Law Command Headquarters[4][unreliable source?]
Xiao was married to public relations workerJian Xianfo, who gave birth to their son, Baosheng, on the Long March.[5]
In 1991, Xiao Ke played a central role in creating the influential liberal journalYanhuang Chunqiu in China.[6][7] The journal was able to publish articles on sensitive topics with the support of Xiao and other high-ranking liberal officials such asXi Zhongxun andZhang Aiping.[7][8]
General Xiao was also a noted author. He wrote a fictionalised account of his experiences leading the Sixth Red Army Group in a breakout of the Nationalist's Fifth Encirclement Campaign,Bloody Heaven (浴血罗霄),[9] for which he was awarded the prestigiousMao Dun Literature Prize. His other works include the bookSidelights on the Red Army of Zhu & Mao (朱毛红军侧记).
He died inBeijing on the morning of October 24, 2008. Despite several English news sources giving his age at the time of his death as 102,[10] according to all Chinese news sources, he was actually 101.
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