Background

Ye Ting (1896-1946), was a China's proletarian revolutionary strategist and one of the founders of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Styling himself Xiyi, Ye had the original name Ye Xun. A native of Huiyang, Guangdong province, Ye graduated from the Baoding Military School. In 1919, Ye joined the democratic revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. In 1921 he became battalion commander of the Garrison Regiment of Dr. Sun's Generalissimo Palace. In 1924, he went to Moscow, studying in the Chinese class of Moscow Oriental University and Red Army School. In 1925, he joined the Chinese Communist party. In the same year, he returned to China and became section chief of staff of the Fourth Army of the National Democratic Army. Later, he was transferred to the Independent Regiment of the Fourth Army whose leading officials were communists and became the regimental commander. During the Northern Expedition, Ye led the Independent Regiment to win every battle They fought. In the two battles fought on Hubei Province's Dingsi Bridge and Hesheng Bridge, the Independent Regiment led by Ye crushed the warlord Wu Peifu's main force. For this reason, Ye was hailed as "famous general of the Northern Expedition" and won the title "Iron Army" for the Fourth Army. When the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Wuchang, Ye became deputy division commander of the 25th Division of the Fourth Army, division commander of the 24 Division of the 11th Army and commander of the Wuhan Garrison Command. In August 1927, he joined the Nanchang Uprising, holding the position of front-line commander-in-chief and army commander of the 11th Army. In December 1927, he led the Guangzhou Uprising, holding the position of commander-in-chief of the Worker and Peasant Red Army of the Guangzhou Soviet Government (Guangzhou Cumjmune). After the uprising failed, he lived in exile abroad and lost contact with the Chinese Communist Party. After the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out ,he returned to China to hold the position of army commander of the New Fourth Route Army, fighting the Japanese invaders in their rear areas in Central china. In the 1941Wannan Incident, he was detained by the Kuomintang Army and was imprisoned for many years. In the prison, Ye not surrender and wrote a poem entitled "Prisoner's Song" to show his high ideals. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Ye was released by the Kuomintang in March 1946 after the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party made stern representations to it. While flying from Chongqing to Yan'an on April 8, Ye died in an air crash in Heichashan, Xixing County, Shansi Province. His remains were buried in the Yan'an on "April 8" Martyrs' Cemetery.

Top - Back