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Zhu De

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Zhu De or Chu Teh , 1886-1976, Chinese Communist soldier and leader. He was graduated (1911) from the Yunnan military academy and served in various positions with armies loyal to Sun Yat-sen . Stationed in Sichuan prov., he was a warlord from 1916 to 1920. In 1922 he went to Europe, where he met Zhou Enlai and joined the Chinese Communist party. He studied in Germany but was expelled (1925) for radical activities. He returned to China by way of the USSR, and in 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek purged the Communists from the Kuomintang, Zhu led an uprising in Nanchang and fled with troops to S Jiangxi prov. He joined forces there with Mao Zedong . When the Communist position became untenable, Zhu led (1934-35) his section of the Red Army on the long march to the northwest. In the Second Sino-Japanese War he was commander in chief of all Communist forces, a position he retained after the establishment (Sept., 1949) of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. In 1954, Zhu left his military position to serve (1954-59) as deputy chairman of the People's Republic of China. He was chairman of the National People's Congress (1959-67), Communist China's major legislative body, until denounced during the Cultural Revolution . He was restored to his posts in 1971 and died in 1976.

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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press