In 1988, the second grand conferment was held in our army. A total of 17 senior generals were conferred the rank of general, of which hongxuezhi was the most striking. He was conferred the rank of general twice, which is unique in our army.
Hongxuezhi was awarded the rank of general in 1988 because he was working as Deputy Secretary General of the Central Military Commission. For this position, he must be granted the rank of general.
In 1988, there were two founding marshals (xuxiangqian and nierongzhen), two founding generals (tanzheng and xiaojinguang), and 26 founding generals (excluding hongxuezhi). So what are these people doing? Why didn’t they participate in this conferment?
First, let’s take a look at the situation of the two marshals.
Marshal Xu Xiangqian was born in 1901 and was 87 years old in 1988. In order to support the Central Committee in implementing the policy of younger cadres, he resigned as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1985. Therefore, there was no need to confer titles.
Marshal nierongzhen was about the same. He was two years older than Xu Xiangqian. By 1988, he was 89 years old. He no longer served in the army. Naturally, he did not need to be conferred another title.
Let’s look at the situation of the two generals.
Tanzheng was born in 1906. He was 82 years old in 1988 and was in poor health. He died in November of that year.
Xiaojinguang was born in 1903, three years older than Tan Zheng. He was also in poor health in his later years. He no longer held specific posts. He died in march1989.
Let’s look at the situation of the 26 founding generals, according to the time of death.
The generals who died earlier: WuLanfu, taoshiyue, zhuliangcai, dongqiwu, weiguoqing, Fu Zhong, Zhong qiguang and song Shilun, all died in 1988, just three years after they were conferred the title.
Among them, WuLanfu and taoshiyue both died in december1988, zhuliangcai, dongqiwu, weiguoqing and Fuzhong all died in 1989, and Zhong qiguang and song Shilun died in 1991.
These eight generals were either too old or in poor health. By 1988, they were no longer in the military and did not participate in conferring titles.
Among them, General Tao Shiyue, the oldest, was born in 1892. He was 96 years old in 1988 and died on December 26 of that year.
General Liu Zhen, who died in 1992, served as the vice president of the Academy of Military Sciences in his later years, but resigned in 1985, so he did not participate in the conferment of titles. He died in 1992 at the age of 77.
In 1993, five founding generals died, namely Wang Zhen, Chen zaidao, Li Da, Wang Hongkun and Zhou Huan.
The most regrettable one was Wang Zhen, who was elected vice president of the state in april1988. However, he did not participate in the conferment of titles because he no longer held military posts. He died on March 12, 1993 at the age of 85.
General Yang Dezhi, who died in 1994, was also a pity. In the early 1980s, he also served as vice minister of the Ministry of national defense, chief of the general staff of the people’s Liberation Army and Deputy Secretary General of the Central Military Commission, making great contributions to the recovery and development of the army. However, it was a pity that by 1988, he had resigned from all his posts and had not been appointed. He died on October 25, 1994 at the age of 83.
In 1995, he passed away two founding Generals: Li Jukui and chenshiyu.
Li Jukui is an outstanding logistics General of our army. However, due to poor health, he withdrew from his leadership post in the early 1980s. Therefore, he did not participate in the conferment of titles. He died on june25,1995 at the age of 91.
Chenshiqing, who had led the Engineering Corps for a long time, also retired from the leading post in the 1980s due to physical reasons. He died on July 22, 1995 at the age of 86.
In 1998, two founding generals died: Wang Ping and zhangzongxun.
In his later years, Wang Ping served as Deputy Secretary General of the Central Military Commission. However, he quit his leading post in 1985 and began to compile military history materials. He died on February 8, 1998 at the age of 91.
In his later years, zhangzongxun served as the director of the General Logistics Department. However, he proposed to retire in 1978 and no longer held specific posts in the army. He died on September 14, 1998 at the age of 90.
In 1999, two founding generals died: ye Fei and chenxilian.
In his later years, Yefei had very prominent qualifications. He served as the commander of the navy in the early 1980s and later as the president of overseas Chinese University. Unfortunately, when he was awarded the title in 1988, he had withdrawn from his leadership position and died on April 18, 1999 at the age of 85.
Chen Xilian once had a very high status. He served as vice premier, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and commander of the Beijing Military Region. However, he was removed from these positions in 1980 and died on June 10, 1999 at the age of 84.
In 2003, 2004 and 2005, three founding generals died successively: zhangaiping, yangchengwu and songrenqiong.
Zhang Aiping also had a very high position in her later years. She served as vice premier, Minister of national defense, deputy chief of the general staff, Deputy Secretary General of the Central Military Commission, etc., but retired to the second tier in 1987 and did not participate in the conferment of the title in 1988.
General Zhang Aiping, who is both literate and martial, wrote a large number of poems, documentary works and sorted out a lot of military history materials after his retirement. He died on July 5, 2003 at the age of 93.
In his later years, yangchengwu served as deputy chief of the general staff and commander of the Fuzhou military region. However, he resigned from the army in 1980 and later served as vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese people’s Political Consultative Conference. He was mainly engaged in the research of cultural and historical materials. He died on February 14, 2004 at the age of 90.
In his later years, songrenqiong served as the Secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. However, he retired to the second tier in 1985 and died on January 8, 2005 at the age of 96.
Finally, there are two centenarian Generals: Xiao Ke and Lu Zhengcao.
Xiao Ke retired from the military in 1988 and was mainly engaged in cultural work. The bloody Luoxiao, which won the honorary award of Mao Dun Literature Award, was published in 1988.
General shocker also lived a long life until 2008, when he was 101 years old.
Lvzhengcao was older. He lived to 2009. He was 105 years old. He was also the last founding general to die.
To sum up, although two marshals, two senior generals and 26 generals were still alive when the title was conferred in 1988, they were either too old or in poor health. In addition, the Central Committee proposed “younger cadres” at that time. Many old generals withdrew from their leadership positions, so they did not participate in the title conferment in 1988.
Only general hongxuezhi was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Central Military Commission at that time. He was not too old. He was only 75 years old, so he took part in the conferment of the rank and was awarded the rank of general again.
General hongxuezhi also lived a long life. He lived until november20,2006. He was 93 years old.