Kuan Hsiang-ying

1910

China

He went again to the USSR to attend the Sixth National CCP Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928 to escape the vigilance of the Nationalist police, and perhaps also to seek closer guidance from the Comintern, whose Sixth Congress opened a week after the CCP closed its Congress on July 11. The CCP Congress elected Kuan to the Central Committee, and at the Fifth Youth League Congress held immediately afterwards (also in Moscow) he succeeded Jen Pi-shih as League secretary, a post he apparently retained until replaced by Ch’in Pang-hsien in the spring of 1931, shortly after Kuan had been deprived of his seat on the Party Central Committee (see below). Returning to China, Kuan was working by 1930 on the Military Committee of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and serving in the CCP Yangtze Bureau, although his whereabouts during that year are not known. During this period, when the CCP was dominated by Li Li-san, Kuan may well have been involved in the power struggle that eventually caught up with Li and caused his dismissal from the Party Politburo in the fall of 1930. Li’s place was taken by leaders of a group of Chinese students who had attended Sun Yet-sen University in Moscow and had become close followers of the Stalinist chancellor of the university, Pavel Mif (see under Ch’en Shao-yii). In the spring of 1930 Mif went to China at the behest of the Comintern, bringing with him a number of his former protégés and students. He and his group, the so-called “28 Bolsheviks,” proceeded to take over the CCP’s governing bodies and to oust Li Li-san and his supporters. The final accomplishment of the change-over in leadership came when the Party met in January 1931 for its Fourth Plenum, at which time a new Central Committee was elected. Among the Central Committee members removed were Li Wei-han and Kuan Hsiang- ying. By approximately the time of the Fourth Plenum, Kuan had returned to Shanghai where he was secretary-general of the Shanghai Federation of Labor Unions, which the Communists were attempting to reactivate under extremely difficult circumstances in view of the Nationalists’ control of the city. Like many leading Communists still operating in Shanghai, Kuan was arrested in 1931 and apparently remained in jail throughout most of the year. About the time of his release, the Communists who had been working and fighting in the hinterlands convened the First All-China Congress of Soviets in Juichin (November 1931). Although Kuan may not have been present, he was elected to the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the governing body for the newly established Chinese Soviet Republic. Moreover, immediately afterwards the CEC appointed him as a member of the Central Revolutionary Military Council, of which Chu Te was the chairman. At this juncture Kuan was assigned to Ho Lung’s area, the territory in west Hunan-Hupeh where Ho had been building a guerrilla base since the abortive attempts to capture Nanchang and Swatow in 1927. At the time when Kuan went to the Hunan-Hupeh Soviet, there was considerable dissension within the CCP leadership over the political program to be followed and the military strategy to be employed. Two of the political officers who had preceded Kuan to Ho’s area have come under attack from one faction or another of the CCP leadership. In this connection, Teng Chung-hsia had been recalled from Hunan, and Hsia Hsi, once an associate of Mao Tse-tung, has been criticized by Mao’s military leadership.“ Because Kuan had already been dropped from the Central Committee it is not clear why he was sent to Ho’s area. Ho had not known Kuan before the latter came to him as a political officer, but the team they established proved successful enough to remain intact until the end of the Sino- Japanese War and they remained close colleagues until Kuan’s death in 1946. Kuan’s functions upon his arrival at the Hunan-Hupeh base are not known, but by the latter half of 1932 he had replaced Hsia Hsi as political commissar of Ho’s forces. At the Second All-China Congress of Soviets in January-February 1934, Kuan was elected to the Second CEC (almost certainly in absentia). In the meantime he had taken part in the developments of the Hunan-Hupeh Soviet, the campaigns fought against Nationalist forces, and the establishment of the Szechwan-Hupeh- Hunan-Kweichow Soviet in late 1934.

Kuan Hsiang-ying

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politician

Background

Nothing is known about his background.

Education

He was educated locally.

Career

He went again to the USSR to attend the Sixth National CCP Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928 to escape the vigilance of the Nationalist police, and perhaps also to seek closer guidance from the Comintern, whose Sixth Congress opened a week after the CCP closed its Congress on July 11. The CCP Congress elected Kuan to the Central Committee, and at the Fifth Youth League Congress held immediately afterwards (also in Moscow) he succeeded Jen Pi-shih as League secretary, a post he apparently retained until replaced by Ch’in Pang-hsien in the spring of 1931, shortly after Kuan had been deprived of his seat on the Party Central Committee (see below).

Returning to China, Kuan was working by 1930 on the Military Committee of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and serving in the CCP Yangtze Bureau, although his whereabouts during that year are not known. During this period, when the CCP was dominated by Li Li-san, Kuan may well have been involved in the power struggle that eventually caught up with Li and caused his dismissal from the Party Politburo in the fall of 1930. Li’s place was taken by leaders of a group of Chinese students who had attended Sun Yet-sen University in Moscow and had become close followers of the Stalinist chancellor of the university, Pavel Mif (see under Ch’en Shao-yii). In the spring of 1930 Mif went to China at the behest of the Comintern, bringing with him a number of his former protégés and students. He and his group, the so-called “28 Bolsheviks,” proceeded to take over the CCP’s governing bodies and to oust Li Li-san and his supporters. The final accomplishment of the change-over in leadership came when the Party met in January 1931 for its Fourth Plenum, at which time a new Central Committee was elected. Among the Central Committee members removed were Li Wei-han and Kuan Hsiang- ying.

By approximately the time of the Fourth Plenum, Kuan had returned to Shanghai where he was secretary-general of the Shanghai Federation of Labor Unions, which the Communists were attempting to reactivate under extremely difficult circumstances in view of the Nationalists’ control of the city. Like many leading Communists still operating in Shanghai, Kuan was arrested in 1931 and apparently remained in jail throughout most of the year. About the time of his release, the Communists who had been working and fighting in the hinterlands convened the First All-China Congress of Soviets in Juichin (November 1931). Although Kuan may not have been present, he was elected to the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the governing body for the newly established Chinese Soviet Republic. Moreover, immediately afterwards the CEC appointed him as a member of the Central Revolutionary Military Council, of which Chu Te was the chairman. At this juncture Kuan was assigned to Ho Lung’s area, the territory in west Hunan-Hupeh where Ho had been building a guerrilla base since the abortive attempts to capture Nanchang and Swatow in 1927. At the time when Kuan went to the Hunan-Hupeh Soviet, there was considerable dissension within the CCP leadership over the political program to be followed and the military strategy to be employed. Two of the political officers who had preceded Kuan to Ho’s area have come under attack from one faction or another of the CCP leadership. In this connection, Teng Chung-hsia had been recalled from Hunan, and Hsia Hsi, once an associate of Mao Tse-tung, has been criticized by Mao’s military leadership.“ Because Kuan had already been dropped from the Central Committee it is not clear why he was sent to Ho’s area. Ho had not known Kuan before the latter came to him as a political officer, but the team they established proved successful enough to remain intact until the end of the Sino- Japanese War and they remained close colleagues until Kuan’s death in 1946. Kuan’s functions upon his arrival at the Hunan-Hupeh base are not known, but by the latter half of 1932 he had replaced Hsia Hsi as political commissar of Ho’s forces.

At the Second All-China Congress of Soviets in January-February 1934, Kuan was elected to the Second CEC (almost certainly in absentia). In the meantime he had taken part in the developments of the Hunan-Hupeh Soviet, the campaigns fought against Nationalist forces, and the establishment of the Szechwan-Hupeh- Hunan-Kweichow Soviet in late 1934.

Politics

At this juncture Ho’s forces were merged with the Sixth Army Corps, led by Hsiao K’o and Jen Pi-shih, and known thereafter as the Second Front Army. Ho Lung was the commander and Jen Pi-shih, senior to Kuan, became the political commissar, with Kuan serving as his deputy. The Second Front Army later embarked on its own Long March, moving along much of the route traveled earlier by Mao’s Long Marchers until coming to Sikang province, where they followed a less hazardous and more westerly course to reach the encampment of Chang Kuo-t’ao’s Fourth Front Army in Sikang in the late spring of 1936. From Sikang Ho’s units made the next lap of the journey into north Shensi, where they joined forces with Mao Tsc-tung’s in the latter part of 1936. Kuan’s part in these endeavors has been singled out for praise by two important Maoist historians, Ho Kan-chih and Hu Ch’iao-mu. Kuan is linked with Chu Te, Jen Pi-shih, and Ho Lung for having displayed “persistent efforts ... in the face of Chang Kuo- t’ao’s opposition,” which enabled them to bring their units northward to join Mao’s forces.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: The hardships of civil war and of fighting the Japanese were beginning to tell on Kuan, who had contracted tuberculosis, and he had to be recalled to Yenan in the first half of 1940 for rest and recuperation. He remained there only briefly and then returned to northwest Shansi. However, by October of that year his illness had become so serious that he was forced to return again to Yenan, where he remained as a hospital case for the balance of his life.

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Kuan Hsiang-ying

Background

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Career

1928

1931

1934