Xie Youfa

Xie was born in Xingguo County, Jiangxi on April 16, 1917.[1] He joined the Communist Youth League of China in January 1932 and joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in the following year. In 1934 he took part in the Long March. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in Shandong.

After the founding of the Communist State, he was present at the Second Phase Offensive and Chinese Spring Offensive between 1950 and 1951 during the Korean War.[2] In 1955, at the age of 38, he was awarded the military rank of lieutenant general (zhongjiang) by Chairman Mao Zedong.[3] That same year, he became Deputy Director of Organization Division of the People's Liberation Army General Political Department. In 1956 he was accepted to the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party. After graduation, he was appointed Political Commissar of PLA Military Institute of Engineering and Director of the Political Department of State Infrastructure Commission in 1958. In 1966 he was transferred to Shenyang Military Region and appointed Deputy Political Commissar. He was Political Commissar of PLA Political College in August 1980, and held that office until 1983, then he was its consultant, serving in the post until he retirement in 1986. On January 19, 1995, he died of an illness in Beijing, aged 77.

Xie had a son and a daughter.