Chen Mingren

Biography

Chen Mingren was born on 7 April 1903 into a farming family in Hunan. He studied at private schools and began military training in 1924. On 19 November 1924, he moved to the Whampoa Military Academy. After graduating, his strong performance in the Northern Expedition helped him advance quickly, and by 1928 he had become a colonel in the National Revolutionary Army. During the Central Plains War, he served as a general for the 24th Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and led a costly victory over Shi Yousan. In 1932, he was made commander of the 88th Division and fought against the Chinese Communist Party’s Red Army in Jiangxi and Fujian as part of the encirclement campaigns. After losing to the Communists at Shaxian County in 1934, he was sent to the Lushan Military Academy. Once he finished there, having earned Chiang Kai-shek’s trust, he was appointed to the Republican Senate for military affairs and became Director of the Kuomintang Military Department.

When the Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, Chen was made a lieutenant-general in the 2nd Army Division, a reserve unit. From 1937 to 1939, he held command posts in garrisons at Changsha, Hengyang, and Leiyang. In the winter of 1941, he became deputy commander of the 71st ROC Army. In January 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force tried to take Huilong Mountain in Wanding, a key point on the Burma Road, but a long siege failed. Chen then used a feint to pull Japanese defenders away, while his main force surrounded and split them, cutting off their retreat to Burma and destroying the entire Japanese unit. He also asked the Allies for air support, stressing that infantry, artillery, and air power had to work together for success.

In 1946, the 71st Army was taken by US warships to the Northeast, readying for the Chinese Civil War. When Communist general Lin Biao launched the Summer Offensive in 1947, Chen’s army fell back to Siping in Jilin. Gathering local troops and his own forces, he had about 30,000 men waiting for reinforcements. From 22 May to 30 June 1947, he held off the Communist Red Army in the Northeast under Li Tianyou. In June, he withstood the larger forces commanded by Lin Biao at Siping Street for over 40 days. For this, he received the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun and was promoted to commander of the 7th Corps. Although he succeeded early in the Siping Campaign, Communist forces eventually broke through after a nine-month siege.

On the eve of the Huaihai Campaign, Bai Chongxi recommended Chen to Chiang Kai-shek as garrison commander of Wuhan. Chen moved to his Wuhan post in October 1948 and also served as commander of the 29th Nationalist Army. He later became First Corps Commander and chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government.

After the People’s Republic of China was founded, Chen and Cheng Qian started an uprising in Changsha on 4 August 1949 and joined the Communists. Within a year, he became Deputy Director of the Changsha Military Control Commission, Deputy Commander of the Hunan Military Region, and a member of the Hunan People’s Military and Political Committee. Encouraged by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai to keep serving in the military, he entered the People’s Liberation Army. He was made a three-star general in 1955 and died in 1974.

In popular culture, the main character of the 2010 TV series The Insider, General Chen Huaiyuan played by Sun Chun, is said to be based on Chen Mingren and his 1949 defection.