Nie Rongzhen

Yuanshuai Nie Rongzhen
聂荣臻
Marshal Nie Rongzhen in 1955
Personal details
Born	聶榮臻 December 29, 1899 Jiangjin, Sichuan, Qing Empire
Died	May 14, 1992(1992-05-14) (aged 92) Beijing, PRC
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (joined in 1923)
Occupation	General military instructor politician writer
Military service
Allegiance	Chinese Communist Party  People's Republic of China
Branch/service	People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Years of service	1923–1987
Rank	Marshal of the People's Republic of China
Commands	Commander, 115th Division, Eighth Route Army Commander, Northern China Military Region Field Army
Battles/wars	Northern Expedition Chinese Civil War Long March Zhengtai Campaign Sino-Japanese War Hundred Regiments Offensive
Awards	Order of Bayi (First Class Medal) Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class Medal) Order of Liberation (First Class Medal)
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	聂荣臻
Traditional Chinese	聶榮臻
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Niè Róngzhēn Wade–Giles Nieh Jung-chen

Nie Rongzhen (Chinese: 聂荣臻; pinyin: Niè Róngzhēn; Wade–Giles: Nieh Jung-chen; December 29, 1899 – May 14, 1992)^[1] was a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. He died as the last People's Liberation Army (PLA) marshal.

Nie was born in Jiangjin County in Sichuan (now part of Chongqing municipality), the cosmopolitan and well-educated son of a wealthy family. In his 20s, Nie applied to the Université du Travail (University of Labour) in Charleroi, Belgium, with a scholarship from the Socialist Party, and was thus able to study science in Charleroi.

Zhou Enlai spent a night in Charleroi and met with Nie. Nie agreed to join the group of Chinese students in France on a work-study program, in which he studied engineering and became a protégé of Zhou Enlai. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1923.

A graduate of the Soviet Red Army Military College and Whampoa Academy, Nie spent his early career first as a political officer in Whampoa's Political Department, where Zhou served as the deputy director, and in the Chinese Red Army.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was first assigned as the deputy division commander of the 115th division of the Eighth Route Army, with the commander being Lin Biao, and in the late 1930s he was given a field command close to Yan Xishan's Shanxi stronghold. This assignment was one of the 8th Route Army's first moves was to build guerrilla bases. A unit of 2,000 troops from the 115th Division under General Nieh Jung-chen moved to Wutai Mountain to establish what was to be called the Chin-Ch'a-Chi Border Region.

In the Chinese Civil War he commanded the Northern China Military Region, and with his deputy Xu Xiangqian, his force defeated Fu Zuoyi's forces in Tianjin near Beijing in the Pingjin campaign alongside Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan. During the Korean War, Nie took part in high level command decision making, military operations planning, and shared responsibility for war mobilization. Nie was promoted to marshal in 1955 and later ran the Chinese nuclear weapons program.

He established the Bayi School in 1947.^[2]

By spring 1969, "The whole Chinese nuclear weapons program [was] under the authority of Nieh Jung-chen [Rongzhen], the head of the Seventh Ministry for Machine Building."^[3]

He played a complex role during the Cultural Revolution. He was variously accused of factionalism by opponents and engaged in political maneuvering to preserve his role as director of China's military technological commission. He later served as vice chairman of the Central Military Committee, which controlled the nation's armed forces, and also became the vice chairman of the National People's Congress. He retired in 1987 and died in Beijing.

Nie had a daughter with Zhang Ruihua (张瑞华) in 1930, named Nie Li. Li and Zhang Ruihua were imprisoned by the Kuomintang in 1934 and reunited with Nie in 1945. Nie Li was the first woman to be a lieutenant general in the PLA.^[4]

• List of officers of the People's Liberation Army
• Historical Museum of French-Chinese Friendship