Zhu De

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Zhu De bigraphy, stories - Leader of the Communist Party of China

Zhu De : biography

1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976

Zhu De (Wade-Giles: Chu Teh; pronounced ; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, politician, revolutionary, and one of the pioneers of the Chinese Communist Party. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in 1955 Zhu became one of the Ten Marshals of the People’s Liberation Army, of which he is regarded as a principal founder.

Life

Early life

Zhu was born on December 18, 1886 to a poor tenant farmer’s family in Hung, a town in Yilong County, a hilly and isolated part of northern Sichuan province.[Snow, Edgar: Red Star Over China] His family relocated to Sichuan during the migration from Hunan province and Guangdong province. Despite their poverty, Zhu was sent to a classic private school in 1892. At age nine, Zhu was adopted by his prosperous uncle, whose political influence allowed him to gain access to Yunnan Military Academy later on.http://books.google.com/books?id=iVcKAaedfJsC&pg=PA210&lpg=PA210&dq=zhu+de+yunnan+military+academy&source=bl&ots=4-ZbmvM8k &sig=yVWamsxXIGa2GA2qjktLzKP2ne0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Mf2tUb6jBIa49gS8rIGgAg&ved=0CGQQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=zhu%20de%20yunnan%20military%20academy&f=false Yunnan Military Academy Before the repeal of imperial examinations in 1906, he attained the rank of Xiucai, which allowed him to qualify as a civil servant.Shum Kui-kwong, Zhu-De (Chu Teh), University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia: 1982), p. 2-3. Enrolling in Sichuan high school around 1907, upon graduating in 1908 he returned to Yilong high primary school as a gym instructor. An advocate of modern science and political teaching, rather than the strict classical education afforded by schools, he was dismissed from his post and entered the Yunnan Military Academy in Kunming. There, he joined the Beiyang Army and the Tongmenghui secret political society (the forerunner of Guomindang). Tongmenghui

Nationalism and Warlordism

At the Yunnan Military Academy, Zhu met Cai E (Tsai Ao). He continued to teach at the Academy after his graduation in July 1911. Siding with the revolutionary forces after the Chinese Revolution, he joined Brigadier Cai E in the October 1911 expeditionary force that marched on Qing forces in Sichuan, and served as a regimental commander in the campaign to unseat Yuan Shikai in 1915-16. When Cai became governor of Sichuan after Yuan’s death in June 1916, Zhu was made a brigade commander.Shum Kui-kwong, Zhu-De (Chu Teh), University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia: 1982), p. 3-4.

Following the death of his mentor Cai E and his own wife, Zhu developed a strong opium habit and fell into a life of decadence. His troops continued to support him and he became a warlord. In 1920, after his troops were driven from Sichuan toward the Tibet border, he returned to Yunnan as a public security commissioner of the provincial government. Around this time, his second wife and child were murdered by rival warlords, which may have contributed to his decision to leave China for study in Europe. He first travelled to Shanghai where he broke his opium habit and reportedly met Dr Sun Yat-sen. He attempted to join the Chinese Communist Party in early 1922, but was rejected due to his former warlord ties.Shum Kui-kwong, Zhu-De (Chu Teh), University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia: 1982), p. 4-5.

Converting to Communism

In late 1922,William W. Whitson, Huang Chen-hsia, The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927-1971, Praeger Publishers: New York, 1973, p. 30f. Zhu went to Europe, studying at Göttingen University in Germany until 1925. Here he met Zhou Enlai and was expelled from Germany for his role in a number of student protests. Around this time he joined the Communist Party.http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-06/21/content_22829447.htm Zhe De in Germany Zhou Enlai was one of his sponsors. In July 1925, he traveled to the Soviet Union to study military affairs, returning to China in July 1926 to persuade Sichuan warlord Yang Sen to support the Northern Expedition. His failure to do this did not affect his standing in the Communist Party however, as he was soon named head of a new First United Front military institute in Nanchang.