Zhou Baozhong

Zhou Baozhong was a commander of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army resisting the pacification of Manchukuo by the Empire of Japan.

Biography

Zhou Baozhong became a regimental commander and vice division commander in the National Revolutionary Army in 1926 and participated in the . In 1927 he joined the Communist Party of China and in 1929 was sent to the Soviet Union to study military affairs. After the Mukden Incident he returned to China and in December of 1931 was sent to Northeast China to lead the Communist anti-Japanese efforts. In February of 1932 he arrived in Harbin to direct the military activities of the local Communists, becoming involved with the volunteer forces defending against the Japanese. This put him at odds with the Communist party leadership.

When the first Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies were organised, the party was completely hostile to them on the grounds that the leaders were bound to capitulate, claiming that the leaders of the volunteer armies were the paid and merely pretending to resist, giving the Japanese Army a pretext for bringing its troops up to the Soviet border. The Communists even issued an appeal for the volunteers to kill their officers and join the Communist revolution.

Some Communists acted against this policy and held senior positions in the volunteer forces. They were particularly influential in Wang Delin's National Salvation Army , where Zhou Baozhong was made a high-ranking officer. At first the Party severely criticised their conduct. However, the Communists eventually realized that their hostility to the popular movement made them almost irrelevant to the anti-Japanese cause.

The Communists raised some small forces in the Northeast, dedicated to revolution, but these were small in comparison to the volunteer armies which had been raised by their anti-Japanese and patriotic appeal. As the international Communist movement moved towards its popular front policy of 1935, it came to accept that whole-hearted support for the anti-Japanese movement and the postponement of the revolutionary goals were essential if the Chinese Communists were to be a serious political force in the face of the Japanese invasion. Abandoning revolution and promoting national salvation the Communists were able to organise their own force in the Northeast, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.

In February of 1936 Zhou was named army commander of this army, which was open to all who wanted to resist the invasion and was willing to ally with all other anti-Japanese forces, winning over some of the shanlin bands, including former NSA units, and conducted a protracted campaign which threatened the stability of Manchukuo, especially during 1936 and 1937. However the following years saw many setbacks as the Japanese anti guerrilla operations and pacification measures weakened the army.

By 1940 Zhou still waged guerilla war against the Japanese in Jilin province. However the anti guerrilla operations of the Japanese finally forced him to enter the Soviet Union in July, 1942. There he was employed training soldiers. When the Soviets invaded Manchukuo in August of 1945 he took part and was made vice commander of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army.

After the Chinese Civil War he was made Vice chairman of Yunnan People's Government in 1949. In February 1964 he died in Beijing.