Zhou Baozhong

Zhou Baozhong (1902–1964) was a commander of the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade and Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army resisting the pacification of Manchukuo by the Empire of Japan.

He was born on 1902 in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan.

His birth name was Xi Liyuan.

In 1915, he was admitted to the provincial Dali No. 2 Middle School with excellent results.

After the second grade of junior high school, because of the attack of his hometown by warlords and bandits, he dropped out of school and went home to work in farming.

In February 1917, at the age of 15, he joined the army and participated in the Constitutional Protection Movement.

From November 1922 to 1924, he studied military at the Yunnan Military Academy.

In 1924, he graduated from Yunnan Jiangwu School.

In 1926, he participated in the Northern Expedition.

In March 1927, Zhou served as deputy commander of the 56th Regiment of the Sixth Army of Cheng Qian's National Revolutionary Army.

In 1927, he joined the Communist Party of China in Wuhan.

After the fighting between the Kuomintang and Communist Party led to Chinese Civil War, he stayed in the Sixth Army of the National Revolutionary Army to perform secret work in accordance with the instructions of the Yangtze River Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

In December 1927, he served as the deputy commander of the 18th Division of the Sixth Army.

During this time, he engaged in troop movement and liaison work in Hunan, Zhejiang, Henan and other provinces.

At the end of 1928, Zhou entered the special class of Communist University of the Toilers of the East in the Soviet Union to study military affairs, where his classmate was future Marshal of China Ye Jianying.

Later, he was transferred to the International Lenin School to study politics.

After the September 18th incident in 1931, he returned to China and went to the Northeast, which was then part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, to serve in the leadership of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.

He served as a member of the Manchuria Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Military Commission of the Communist Party of China.

During this time, he changed his name to Zhou Baozhong.

As chief of the general staff, he led the army in two battles to conquer Antu County and three battles against the city of Ning'an.

In February 1934, he led the formation of the Suining Anti-Japanese Allied Forces, served as the chairman of the military committee, and led his troops to carry out guerrilla activities in Ning'an.

Zhou successively served as the commander of the 5th Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army.

The unit fought mostly within the Heilongjiang Province.

In March 1937, he commanded troops to fight Yilan City, where they caused more than 300 Japanese casualties.

In October 1937, the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth armies of the Anti-Japanese Army was reorganized into the 2nd Route Army.

Zhou served as The Commander-In-Chief of the Second Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and secretary of the CPC Jidong Provincial Party Committee.

The main guerrilla bases were located in more than 20 counties on the banks of Songhua and Ussuri Rivers.

After the reorganization of the army in 1937, Zhou became the commander of the Third Route Army, which was active in the mountainous areas of eastern Jilin Province.

In 1940, the unit withdrew into the Soviet Union for training, after suffering from massive losses due to Japanese retaliatory attacks.

This was in accordance with the discussions between Zhou, Li Zhaolin and Feng Zhongyun with the CPSU Committee of the Far Eastern Territory and the Soviet Far Eastern Army at headquarters in Khabarovsk.

During this time, he met and became acquainted with future leader of North Korea Kim Il Sung, who also served in Zhou's unit.

In early August 1941, the teaching brigade of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces was established in the Soviet Union, with Zhou serving as the brigade commander.

In February 1942, Zhou Baozhong and Zhao Shangzhi returned to the Northeast Second Route Army headquarters from Soviet Union.

In August 1945, following the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, Zhou led his troops in cooperating with the Red Army's march into the Northeast China.

As a result, the troops were transferred from the Northeast to the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army.

On August 11, Zhou summoned troops to board the ship according to a predetermined plan and arrived in Heilongjiang to return home.

Zhou returned to Changchun in September 1945, under the alias Huang Shaoyuan.

He served as the deputy commander of the Soviet garrison headquarters in Changchun.

After the Chinese Civil War he was made Vice Governor of Yunnan province in 1949.

On August 1, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Army was reorganized into the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade of the Soviet Red Army’s Far Eastern Front, and Zhou was appointed as its commander.