Li Tsung-Jen (redirected from Li Zongren)

Li Tsung-Jen 

Born 1892 in Kueilin; died Jan. 30, 1969, in Peking. Chinese military and political figure.

Li Tsung-jen received a military education in Kueilin (province of Kwangsi). During the Chinese Revolution of 1925–27, he occupied important posts in the National Revolutionary Army (including the command of a corps and of an army group). He was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. After the defeat of the revolution, he was one of the leaders of the Kwangsi warlords, who competed with Chiang Kai-shek for power and dealt ruthlessly with the revolutionary movement. He commanded a front during the war against Japan from 1937 to 1945. From 1945 to 1948 he was commander in chief of the Kuomintang forces of North China, with headquarters in Peiping (Peking). In April 1948 he was elected vice-president of the Chinese Republic. Resorting to political maneuvering as the regime crumbled, Chiang Kai-shek in January 1949 transferred the post of president to Li Tsung-jen, who at that time pretended to be a liberal and a proponent of ending the civil war.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) declared Li Tsung-jen a major war criminal. After the formation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Li Tsung-jen fled to the USA. In 1965 he returned to the PRC, where he enjoyed the protection of the CPC and made anti-Soviet pronouncements.