Ye Jianying

Ye Jianying (叶剑英) (Wade-Giles:Yeh Chien-ying)(April 28, 1897-October 22, 1986) was a Chinese Communist general and the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1978 to 1983.

Born Ye Yiwei (葉宜偉) into a wealthy merchant family in Meixian County, Guangdong Province, his courtesy name was Cangbai (滄白). He belonged to the Hakka minority. After graduation from the Yunnan Military Academy in 1919, he joined Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT). He used to teach in Whampoa Military Academy and joined the communist party in 1927. He participated in the failed Nanchang and Guangzhou Uprisings (1927), fled to Hong Kong and subsequently studied military science in Moscow. After his return in 1932, he joined the Jiangxi Soviet. He survived the Long March, and became director of the offices that liaised with the KMT after 1936, first in Xi'an, subsequently in Nanjing and finally in Chongqing. In this capacity, he worked together with Zhou Enlai. Until 1968, Ye would be active in various military functions, having been made a marshal in 1955. He retired as vice-chairman of the Party when the position was abolished in 1982,and left the Politburo in September 1985. He died at 89 in Beijing.

zh-cn:叶剑英

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