Background
He was born in Changwu, Kwangsi, China in 1893.
He was born in Changwu, Kwangsi, China in 1893.
Ping-Hsien Li received his training at Paoting Military Officers' Academy.
Ping-Hsien Li served in the army in various capacities and trained troops in Hunan before 1926. When the Nationalist Revolutionary Army launched its Northern Punitive Expedition in 1926, he was appointed Commander of the 3rd Division of the 8th Revolutionary Army and was responsible for the capture of Changsha (Capital of Hunan), Yochow and the Wuhan Cities in Hupeh, fighting the famous battle of Tingszechiao, near Wuchang.
In 1927, he was appointed Commander of the 5th Revolutionary Army and concurrently Garrison Commander of Wuhan Cities, member of the Hupeh Provincial Government and member of the Military Affairs Commission. In these capacities, he was responsible for the suppression of the Communists who were then active in Wuchang and Hankow. In 1924, Mr. Li was promoted Commander-in-Chief of the 12th Route Revolutionary Army and marched his troops north-ward, pacifying Peking and Tientsin and suppressing the remnants of the Chihli-Shantung Army west of the Luan River.
When the Wuhan-Nanking split occurred in the spring of 1929, he was in command of the vanguard troops of the 4th Group Army (tinder command of Gen. Li Tsung-jen) and in this capacity, maintained peace and order in North China. Shortly afterward, his father died and he retired from military life. In 1930, he was appointed Chief-of-Staff of the 4th Group Army, member of the National Military Affairs Commission and Commander of the 8th Army, border Defense Commissioner of Kwangsi with headquarters at Lungchow in 1931-1935 and Chief-of-Staff of the Kwangsi Army.