Li Desheng

Li Desheng was a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He was born in Xin County, Henan, China, an area now known as the ‘Cradle of Generals’ for its surprising number of senior military officers born in the region.. He joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army at the age of 14, in 1930; the Communist Youth League in 1931; and the CCP a year later. He attains the rank of Major General in 1955, and General in 1988. His career path suggests that he was mentored by Chen Xilian and closely aligned with You Taizhong. Li Desheng served on the politburo during the most turbulent post-liberation period, 1969-87.

Pre- and Post-Liberation Era

Li was a regiment supply section political instructor in 1934 and a platoon leader in 1937. He participated in the Long March and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary bases. During the war against Japan, he rose from platoon commander in 1937 to company commander in 1938, battalion commander in 1939-43 and regiment commander in 1943-45, all under the leadership of the 129th Division's Liu Bocheng/Deng Xiaoping. He was 17th Brigade Commander in the Central Plains Field Army during the Huai Hai Campaign. Before the post-liberation reorganization, in which this unit reemerges as the 12th Corps, 2nd Field Army, Li led his 35th Division into the Korean War in 1951-55, rising to Division Commander. He then returns to Anhui Province in the Nanjing Military Region in the early 1950s. Li will later become Deputy Commander and later Commander of what eventually became the Jiangsu-based 12th Group Army. Li rose to Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Military Region in 1968-70.

GPCR

As the army moved to quell the Red Guard and reestablish governmental institutions, Li assumed the title of Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Anhui Province in April 1968, a post he formally held for more than seven years. In March 1969, Li was named as an Alternate Member of the Politburo and, at the 9th National Party Congress in August, to the CCP Military Affairs Commission. He was also made Director, for a year , of the powerful General Political Department, a position described as “Military Grand Inquisitor”.

The downfall of Lin Biao in the Autumn of 1971 saw a wholesale purge of the former heir-apparent’s allies, to the benefit of second generation generals. Li moved into one of the most politically sensitive posts in the armed forces immediately after the Lin Biao Affair, as Commander of the Beijing Military Region, 1971-73. Li became a Vice Chairman of the CCP CMC in October 1971, and Vice Chairman of the CCP and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and Vice Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee at the October 1973 10th National Party Congress.

In 1973, Li was transferred to Shenyang Military Region, where he held sway for 12 years. In this role, he succeeded Chen Xilian, although Li only held his highest positions – Party and Military Affairs Committee Vice Chairman – until February 1975, when he was unaccountably dropped from his two key positions. After the coup d’état against the Gang of Four, Li reemerged as a member of the CCP CMC in August 1977.

Li’s last jobs are as political commissar of the National Defense University and Vice Chairman of the honorary party Central Advisory Commission.