Ye Jianying

Military career

In the summer of 1917, Ye enrolled at the Yunnan Military Academy. After graduating in January 1920, he joined Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement. Later that year, he participated in Sun's campaign against the Old Guangxi Clique, and in October 1921 accompanied Sun on an inspection tour of Guangxi.

During Chen Jiongming's rebellion in June 1922, Ye, then serving as a battalion commander in the Naval Landing Corps, led his troops in escorting Sun to safety before fighting against Chen's forces. He subsequently served as chief of staff of the 8th Brigade of the Eastern Route Bandit Suppression Army in Fujian before returning to Guangdong to campaign against Chen. His role in the victory at Yanling Pass established his reputation as a capable military officer.

In early 1924, Ye was appointed chief of staff of the Second Division of the Guangdong Army in recognition of his service against Chen Jiongming. At the invitation of Liao Zhongkai, he joined the preparations for the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy and, on 5 May 1924, became deputy director of its Faculty Department while also teaching weapons science.

While serving at Whampoa, Ye came into contact with numerous members of the Chinese Communist Party and became increasingly influenced by Marxism–Leninism. In July 1924, at the request of division commander Zhang Minda, he returned to active service and led troops that repelled the forces of Lin Hu during their attack on Guangzhou. On Liao's orders, he subsequently established the Second Division's Independent Battalion at Xiangzhou, serving concurrently as its commander while training recruits according to Whampoa's methods. On 15 October, he and Zhang Minda commanded the Second Division during the suppression of the Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising.

In January 1925, Ye participated in the First Eastern Expedition against Chen Jiongming. He was appointed magistrate of Meixian in March before assuming command of the Second Division's Newly Organized Regiment two months later, leading it during the Second Eastern Expedition. Following the capture of Huizhou, he was left in command of the Huizhou–Boluo area to restore public order. In December, Chiang Kai-shek appointed him commander of the Instructor Corps, one of the Kuomintang's principal military formations. When the corps was later reorganized as the 20th Division, Ye became its deputy commander. During this period, Ye submitted his first application to join the Chinese Communist Party. The party assigned Xiong Rui to meet with him, but no decision was reached. Although many members supported his admission, others argued that, as a senior officer in Chiang Kai-shek's forces, he should remain under observation, and his application was left unresolved.

Northern Expedition and Nanchang Uprising

In July 1926, Ye took part in the Northern Expedition, initially serving as chief of staff of the General Reserve Command of the First Army of the National Revolutionary Army. He participated in the Nanchang Campaign, after which Chiang Kai-shek offered him command of the First Division, one of the National Revolutionary Army's elite formations. Reluctant to command one of Chiang's principal units, Ye declined the appointment, citing ill health. Instead, he was appointed acting commander of the Second Division of a newly formed army composed largely of troops incorporated from Sun Chuanfang's defeated forces. After assuming command at Ji'an, he assembled a headquarters staffed by former classmates from the Whampoa Military Academy and recruited a number of young officers and students. Following Chiang's purge of Communists and left-wing Kuomintang members in April 1927, Jiangxi entered a period of White Terror. Martial law was imposed in Ji'an, while trade unions, peasant associations, student organizations and newspapers were suppressed. In response, Ye declared his support for the Wuhan Nationalist Government and convened a meeting of his officers, announcing:

"Those who are willing to carry out the revolution and support the Wuhan Government may remain. Those who support Chiang Kai-shek and wish to go to Nanjing may do so freely."

Ye then drafted and transmitted a telegram openly opposing Chiang. According to later accounts, Chiang initially dismissed reports that Ye had defected before eventually accepting them after repeated confirmation. Ye subsequently led a group of left-wing officers from Ji'an to Wuhan, where he was appointed chief of staff of the Fourth Army. Officers who remained behind later launched the Ji'an Uprising. After learning of the uprising, Chiang expelled Ye from the Kuomintang. In July 1927, through the introduction of Li Shi'an and with the approval of Zhou Enlai, Ye secretly joined the Chinese Communist Party. Shortly before the Nanchang Uprising, Ye learned of a plan by Wang Jingwei to arrest or eliminate Ye Ting (no relation) and He Long. He secretly met the two commanders aboard a small boat on Gantang Lake in Jiujiang, warning them of the danger and urging them to move their forces swiftly to Nanchang. After the uprising was defeated and the insurgent forces retreated, Ye persuaded Zhang Fakui not to pursue them, helping facilitate their withdrawal.

First-half of the Chinese Civil War

In early August 1927, Ye was concurrently appointed commander of the Fourth Army Officers' Training Regiment. Although he reportedly opposed the decision to launch the Guangzhou Uprising, he carried out his assigned responsibilities during the operation. After the uprising was suppressed, he escaped to British Hong Kong together with Ye Ting and Nie Rongzhen. Unlike Ye Ting, who was subsequently removed from his positions and later went into exile, Ye was not held responsible for the uprising's failure. He instead went underground in Hong Kong before travelling to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1928 to study in a special military science programme at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University.

During the Chinese Eastern Railway conflict in 1929, Chinese sources state that Ye, together with Liu Bocheng and other Chinese Communists studying in the Soviet Union, volunteered for service after responding to calls to defend the Soviet Union. According to these accounts, he travelled to Khabarovsk in the Soviet Far East, joined the Far Eastern Workers' Partisan Detachment, helped train its personnel, fought against the forces of Zhang Xueliang and participated in Soviet operations around Hailar in Heilongjiang.

Return to China

In the second half of 1930, Ye returned to China and arrived in Shanghai, where he worked with Liu Bocheng and other Chinese Communists translating Soviet military publications, including the Red Army Infantry Combat Regulations and the Political Work Regulations. In April 1931, he travelled to the Jiangxi Soviet. As the Nationalist government prepared the Second encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet, a strategic dispute emerged between Mao Zedong, who advocated drawing Nationalist forces deep into Red Army territory, and Xiang Ying, who favoured a different approach. Ye supported Mao's strategy and assisted in directing the Second and Third Counter-Encirclement Campaigns.

In November 1931, Ye was appointed a member of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission of the Chinese Soviet Republic and chief of the General Staff. Later that month, he proposed the creation of a more streamlined and professional command structure, helping to establish the Red Army's formal staff system. He became president and political commissar of the Red Army School in October 1932 while concurrently serving as garrison commander of Ruijin. During 1933, he held several senior military appointments, including commander of the Red 19th Army, chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, and chief of staff of the First Front Army. In January 1934, he was elected to the Second Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic. Ye joined the Long March in October 1934 as commander and political commissar of the Military Commission's First Column and was wounded during a Nationalist air attack in Guangxi. After the First and Fourth Front Armies linked up in 1935, he became chief of staff of the Forward Command Headquarters. When Zhang Guotao refused to comply with the Central Committee's directive to continue the march north, Ye informed Mao Zedong of Zhang's actions, contributing to the decision for the First Front Army's main force to proceed independently into northern Shaanxi.

After the Red Army reached northern Shaanxi, Ye served concurrently as chief of staff of the First Front Army and the Central Military Commission. During the Eastern Expedition of 1936, he commanded the Central Route Army. Later that year, in the aftermath of the Xi'an Incident, he joined Zhou Enlai and Bo Gu in negotiations with the Northeastern Army. Acting primarily as the Communist delegation's senior military representative, he participated in staff-level talks that helped facilitate cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. On 8 March 1937, Ye and Zhou concluded an agreement with Nationalist representatives that laid the groundwork for reorganizing the Chinese Red Army into the Eighth Route Army and formalized military cooperation against Japan.

Second Sino-Japanese War

In August 1937, Ye, together with Zhou Enlai and Zhu De, traveled to Nanjing to attend the Supreme National Defense Conference convened by Chiang Kai-shek. Following this, the main forces of the Red Army were reorganized as the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, with Ye appointed Chief of Staff and granted the rank of Lieutenant General. In October, he became the Eighth Route Army's representative in Nanjing. In December 1937, he was appointed a member of the CCP Central Committee's Yangtze River Bureau, responsible for military affairs. From 1939, he served on the Standing Committee of the CCP Southern Bureau, working with Zhou Enlai on united front activities in Nationalist-controlled areas, including propaganda, liaison with senior Nationalist figures, and negotiations with the National Government. During this period, he also helped establish the Nanyue Guerrilla Cadre Training Program, where he lectured on guerrilla warfare and protracted war strategy. In March 1940, he attended a National Chiefs of Staff Conference in Chongqing, delivering a major address defending the Eighth Route Army's wartime record. Following the Southern Anhui Incident in February 1941, Ye returned to Yan'an, where he served as Chief of Staff of the Central Military Commission and Chief of Staff of the Eighteenth Group Army, assisting Mao and Zhu De in directing military operations and strengthening staff systems. He later also held posts related to military education and propaganda work.

In 1945, Ye was elected a member of the CCP Central Committee at the Seventh National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Post-war

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Ye was placed in charge of Guangdong, which was to cost him his political career under Mao's reign. Ye understood that the economic conditions in the province were very different from those in the rest of China, since most Cantonese landlords were peasants themselves who participated in production without exploiting their tenants. He therefore declined to dispossess the landlords, and instead protected their businesses and land. However, Ye's policies contradicted the general directives of the Party-mandated land reform, which emphasized class struggle. His policies deemed too soft, Ye and his local cadres were soon replaced by Lin Biao's, and a much harsher policy was implemented and hundreds of thousands of Cantonese landlords were executed, with Ye's political career effectively over.

However, Mao did not forget what Ye had done for him during the Long March, and thus removed him only from political posts while preserving his military positions. As a result, until 1968, Ye remained active in various military functions, having been made a marshal in 1955. Ye was clever in using his military influence to provide limited support and he was responsible for interfering with assassination attempts on reformers.

Lin Biao died in an aircraft crash in 1971 (the Lin Biao incident). During the subsequent Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign, many generals who had been supported by Lin were removed and military programs Lin had implemented were canceled. In 1973, the PLA completed a thorough re-organization. Thereafter, Ye handled the PLA's operations in consultation with Zhou Enlai. In 1975, Ye was appointed Defense Minister, filling Lin Biao's former post. From 1973, he was also a Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Ye led the group of generals and Party elders that overthrew Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four; during initial planning at his residence, he and Li Xiannian communicated by writing, although they sat next to each other, because of the possibility of bugging. On 6 October 1976, Ye ordered the arrest of the Gang of Four and Mao Yuanxin.

Thanks to Ye's support of Chairman Hua Guofeng, he was confirmed as party vice-chairman at the Eleventh National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1977. Because the physical demands of Defense Minister were too great for the octogenarian Ye, he resigned from that position in 1978 and was appointed Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, filling a post left unoccupied since Zhu De's death in 1976. As such, Ye was China's ceremonial Head of State.

Consistent with Deng's one country, two systems approach, Ye elaborated on Chinese unification through his 30 September 1981 "Nine Points Proposal" in which Taiwan would retain a high degree of autonomy following unification. The Nine Points Proposal also talked of trade, transportation, and postal services as "three links" across the strait and "four exchanges" in the areas of culture, academics, economics, and sports.

Ye retired from the Chair of the NPC Standing Committee in 1983 and in 1985 he withdrew completely from the Politburo Standing Committee. He died a little over a year later at the age of 89 on October 22, 1986.

Family

Ye married six times and had six children. His sons include Ye Xuanping (1924–2019), Ye Xuanning (1938–2016), and Ye Xuanlian (叶选廉, born 1952). Ye's granddaughter Robynn Yip (born 1986), daughter of Xuanlian, is a professional musician based in Hong Kong.

Awards

Republic of China

Order of Victory of Resistance against Aggression (1946)

China

Order of August 1 (1st Class Medal) (1955)

Order of Independence and Freedom (1st Class Medal) (1955)

Order of Liberation (1st Class Medal) (1955)