SHAO Yong
Zheng Dongguo began his military career at Whampoa Military Academy, where the first cooperation between the Chinese Kuomintang(KMT) and the Communist Party of China(CPC) was established. During the Northern Expedition to defeat the northern warlords, he deeply felt the power of the CPC-led mass movement, but he always supported Chiang Kaishek as the leader of the revolution, and still stayed in the Nationalist army after the right-wing KMT began to purge CPC members. As Japan intensified its invasion of China and national contradictions escalated, Zheng Dongguo, with his patriotic sentiments, led his troops to rise up against the Japanese military invasion. They continuously fought against the Japanese forces at locations such as Gubeikou of the Great Wall, Taierzhuang, and Kunlun Pass. He later commanded the Chinese forces in India to counter-attack the Japanese army, contributing to the recovery of northern Myanmar and supporting the entire Burmese battlefield. In the spring of 1948, Zheng Dongguo was ordered to defend Changchun and resist the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). On October 18th, he led his troops, numbering 47,000 to surrender to the PLA in the western part of Changchun. Subsequently, with the assistance of the CPC, he gradually shifted towards the people’s standpoint. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he served as a member of the National Defense Commission, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference(CPPCC), a member of the Standing Committee of CPPCC, a vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of KMT, and a vice-chairman of the alumni association of Whampoa Military Academy, and he has done a lot of beneficial work for the reunification of the motherland and the rejuvenation of the nation. Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Xu Xiangqian, Nie Rongzhen and other old proletarian revolutionaries had done ideological work with Zheng Dongguo. From Zheng Dongguo, the tremendous appeal and influence of the Party’s united front policy can be apparently observed.