Liu Xiang (warlord)

Liu Xiang
General Liu Xiang
Born	(1888-07-01)1 July 1888 Dayi, Sichuan,  Republic of China
Died	20 January 1938(1938-01-20) (aged 49) Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei,  Republic of China
Allegiance	Republic of China
Service/branch	Sichuan clique
Years of service	1904—1938
Rank	General
Unit	33rd Brigade
Commands held	Commander in Chief 23rd Army Group, general director of the 7th war zone
Battles/wars	Xinhai Revolution, Chinese Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War
Awards	Order of Blue Sky and White Sun

Liu Xiang or Liu Hsiang, 劉湘 (1888–1938) was one of the warlords controlling Sichuan province during the Warlord era of 20th century China.

Liu Xiang was born 1 July 1888, in Dayi, Sichuan, China. He graduated from Sichuan Military College and eventually was promoted to army commander in Sichuan. From 6 June 1921 to 24 May 1922 Liu was both Civil Governor and Military Governor of Sichuan Province, and remained civil governor until December 1922. He again became both civil and military Governor of Sichuan Province from July 1923 until 19 February 1924 and remained military governor until 27 May 1924. He was again military governor between 16 May 1925 until he was replaced by Deng Xihou in 1926.

During the period from 1927–1938, Sichuan was in the hands of five warlords: Liu Xiang, Yang Sen, Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao. No one warlord had enough power to take on all the others at once, so many small battles occurred, pitting one warlord against another. Large conflicts seldom developed, plotting and skirmishing characterized the Sichuanese political scene, and ephemeral coalitions and counter-coalitions emerged and vanished with equal rapidity.

However Liu Xiang was the most influential of the Sichuan warlords. Aligning himself with Chiang Kaishek he became General Commanding 21st Army from 1926 to 1935. He controlled Chongqing and its surrounding areas. This region, sitting on the banks of the Yangtze River, was rich because of trade with provinces down river and therefore controlled much of the economic activity in Sichuan.

From this position of strength, between 1930 and 1932 Liu and General Liu Wenhui improved their forces, organizing a small airforce at Chengdu, of two Fairchild KR-34CA aeroplanes and a Junkers K53. In 1932 Liu began putting together the "Armored Car and Tank Corps of Chungking". Armored cars were built in Shanghai based on the GMC 1931 truck with a 37 mm gun and 2 MGs in a crude turret.