Wei Guoqing

Wei Guoqing (simplified Chinese: 韦国清; traditional Chinese: 韋國清; pinyin: Wéi Guóqīng; Zhuang: Veiz Gozcing) (2 September 1913 – 14 June 1989) was a Chinese government official, military officer and political commissar. He served on the Communist Party of China's Politburo (1973–82) and as Director of the People's Liberation Army's General Political Department (1977–82). Wei was one of the few members of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Central Committees (1969–87) and the 10th through 12th politburos not purged during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) or Deng Xiaoping's backlash. He was also a Vice Chair of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (1975–89) and of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1964–83).

Wei was born in Donglan, Guangxi, to a poor Zhuang minority family. He joined the Chinese Red Army at the age of 16 (1929) and the CPC in 1931. He rose to the rank of battalion commander in the Seventh Army under Deng Xiaoping and was a regimental commander on the Long March. After the Long March he served in the 344th Brigade, and then marched south under Huang Kecheng's 5th Column in January 1940. By 1944, he commanded the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army, and later three columns (the 2nd, 10th and 12th) of the North Jiangsu Army in the Huai-Hai Campaign. In 1948, Wei held off the Nationalist 2nd Army Corps of Qiu Qingquan and 100 tanks of the 5th Corps under the command of Jiang Weiguo (Chiang Wei-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son) in a decisive delaying action in the Huai-Hai Campaign. In 1949, Wei was deputy political commissar of General Ye Fei's Tenth Army Group of the Third Field Army.

...
Wikipedia