Yan Jen-yuan

1908

Liu-yang, China

In 1928 or 1929 Yuan went from Hunan to Shanghai, and from there the Party sent him, in August 1929, to Kwangsi to take part in the development of the Red Seventh Army (see under Chang Yun-i). Yuan went with this army to the soviet area in southern Kiangsi in 1930. Subsequently he must have been transferred to the western part of the province, for in 1934 he set out on the Long March with the Sixth Army Corps (see under Hsiao K'o). Unlike the forces led by Mao Tse-tung, which concluded the Long March in October 1935, those with whom Yuan was involved did not complete the march until the latter part of 1936. In 1936-37, Yuan served as a political commissar with the forces led by Ho Lung. In 1937, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in mid-year, Ho’s forces were organized into the 120th Division, one of the three divisions under the Eighth Route Army, the principal Communist military force in north and northwest China. The 120th Division had as one of its major components the 359th Brigade, led by Wang Chen, a man with whom Yuan had been associated on the Long March. In the early stages of the war Yuan was head of the Political Department in Wang’s brigade and fought with Wang in campaigns in Shansi, Shantung, and northern Hopeh. Toward the latter part of the war he is known to have been back in Shensi, he commanded troops under Wang in Nanniwan (south of Yenan), a place made famous as an area reclaimed by the Red armies and one in which these armies lived off the land tilled by the soldiers. Into the 1960’s the Communists were still citing the “spirit of Nanniwan” as being synonymous with self-reliance in agricultural production. The other post held by Yuan toward the end of the war was that of commissioner of the Sui-te district, one of the major sub-divisions of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region government. This was apparently the first of the many non-military posts Yuan was to hold in the years ahead. He is known to have taken part in the combat against Nationalist General Hu Tsung-nan during the civil war (1946-1949) with the Nationalists. However, by 1948 he had been transferred to Manchuria where he was serving as a vice-governor of those portions of Kirin province then controlled by the Communists; the Kirin governor at that time was the veteran Manchurian guerrilla leader Chou Pao-chung. Toward the end of the civil war with the Nationalists, Yuan was assigned to the Fourth Field Army led by Lin Piao, which swept out of Manchuria, captured Peking and Tientsin in early 1949, and then continued its conquest of central and south China through that year. Yuan accompanied these forces as far as his native Hunan, which Lin Piao’s forces reached by August 1949; there he remained as a major civil official for the next four years. The Communists’ governmental structure for Hunan was somewhat more complex than in most other areas. Aside from a military control commission in the capital (Changsha) of which Yuan was a member in 1949 there was also the Hunan People’s Military and Administrative Committee (HP- MAC) and the Hunan Provisional Government (HPG). The Communists at first made use of the two Nationalists leaders, Ch’eng Ch’ien and Ch’en Ming-jen，who had surrendered Hunan without a fight. The former was named as the ostensible head of the HPMAC, but it was no doubt led by the deputy director, Huang K'o-ch’eng a veteran CCP leader. (Yuan was named as a member of this politico-military organization.) In similar fashion, Ch'en Ming-shu, the other Nationalist leader, was named to head the provisional government, but with a veteran Communist (in this instance Yuan) as the vice-governor. This structure of military and governmental control was erected in the closing days of August and early September 1949, but in March-April 1950 the provisional government was dissolved in favor of the permanent Hunan Provincial People’s Government. At this time Yuan was reappointed as a vice-governor, serving now under Governor Wang Shou-tao, then an alternate member of the Party's Seventh Central Committee. In addition, in July 1950, Yuan was appointed to the Hunan Finance and Economics Committee, and in November 1951 was named as chairman of the government’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee. By 1953 he was identified as a member of the Hunan Party Committee, although it is likely that he had been deeply involved in the Hunanese Party affairs from his arrival there in 1949. In any event, in 1953 Yuan was removed and assigned to Peking (December 1953) as a vice-minister of Internal Affairs, a position he held until still another transfer in 1958. Relatively little was heard about Yuan during the four and a half years that he was a vice-minister of Internal Affairs. This ministry is engaged in various relief programs, census taking, and veterans’ welfare work. Thus Yuan made two reports in January 1956 before the State Council on the work of a school for disabled servicemen and on the activities of a home for disabled veterans. In July 1957, during the nationwide rectification campaign, relief work by the central government came under attack. The government replied to these charges, but in an apparent attempt to improve work in calamity areas the State Council established on July 26, 1957, the Central Relief Committee; Yuan was named as one of the members. A persistent problem in the control of the populace, one of the partial responsibilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has been the steady influx of people from rural areas into the cities, a phenomenon described by the Communists as the “blind outflow” of the rural populace to the cities. Yuan was apparently involved in measures to prevent this, because in December 1957 he made a report before the State Council on a joint State Council-Party Central Committee directive regarding this matter. In the late spring of 1958 Yuan was removed as a vice-minister in Peking and suddenly transferred to Tsinghai province in the northwest. In retrospect, this seems to have been a troubleshooting mission. Early in 1958 the Tsinghai governor, Sun Tso-pin, was charged with being a “rightist.” By June 1958 Yuan was identified as the acting governor, and then at a Tsinghai congress which ended in July he was formally elected as the governor. At the same time as these events were transpiring, Yuan also was identified (June 1958) as one of the secretaries of the Tsinghai provincial Party committee under First Secretary Kao Feng. At the session when Yuan was elected governor, he was also elected a Tsinghai deputy to the Second NPC (1959-1964), but because of a transfer away from Tsinghai in 1962, he was not re-elected to the Third NPC in 1964.

Yan Jen-yuan

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government administrator CCP member

Background

Yan Jen-yuan is a native of Liu-Yang in northeast Hunan.

Education

Yan Jen-yuan was educated locally.

Career

In 1928 or 1929 Yuan went from Hunan to Shanghai, and from there the Party sent him, in August 1929, to Kwangsi to take part in the development of the Red Seventh Army (see under Chang Yun-i). Yuan went with this army to the soviet area in southern Kiangsi in 1930. Subsequently he must have been transferred to the western part of the province, for in 1934 he set out on the Long March with the Sixth Army Corps (see under Hsiao K'o). Unlike the forces led by Mao Tse-tung, which concluded the Long March in October 1935, those with whom Yuan was involved did not complete the march until the latter part of 1936.

In 1936-37, Yuan served as a political commissar with the forces led by Ho Lung. In 1937, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in mid-year, Ho’s forces were organized into the 120th Division, one of the three divisions under the Eighth Route Army, the principal Communist military force in north and northwest China. The 120th Division had as one of its major components the 359th Brigade, led by Wang Chen, a man with whom Yuan had been associated on the Long March. In the early stages of the war Yuan was head of the Political Department in Wang’s brigade and fought with Wang in campaigns in Shansi, Shantung, and northern Hopeh. Toward the latter part of the war he is known to have been back in Shensi, he commanded troops under Wang in Nanniwan (south of Yenan), a place made famous as an area reclaimed by the Red armies and one in which these armies lived off the land tilled by the soldiers. Into the 1960’s the Communists were still citing the “spirit of Nanniwan” as being synonymous with self-reliance in agricultural production. The other post held by Yuan toward the end of the war was that of commissioner of the Sui-te district, one of the major sub-divisions of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region government. This was apparently the first of the many non-military posts Yuan was to hold in the years ahead. He is known to have taken part in the combat against Nationalist General Hu Tsung-nan during the civil war (1946-1949) with the Nationalists. However, by 1948 he had been transferred to Manchuria where he was serving as a vice-governor of those portions of Kirin province then controlled by the Communists; the Kirin governor at that time was the veteran Manchurian guerrilla leader Chou Pao-chung.

Toward the end of the civil war with the Nationalists, Yuan was assigned to the Fourth Field Army led by Lin Piao, which swept out of Manchuria, captured Peking and Tientsin in early 1949, and then continued its conquest of central and south China through that year. Yuan accompanied these forces as far as his native Hunan, which Lin Piao’s forces reached by August 1949; there he remained as a major civil official for the next four years. The Communists’ governmental structure for Hunan was somewhat more complex than in most other areas. Aside from a military control commission in the capital (Changsha) of which Yuan was a member in 1949 there was also the Hunan People’s Military and Administrative Committee (HP- MAC) and the Hunan Provisional Government (HPG). The Communists at first made use of the two Nationalists leaders, Ch’eng Ch’ien and Ch’en Ming-jen，who had surrendered Hunan without a fight. The former was named as the ostensible head of the HPMAC, but it was no doubt led by the deputy director, Huang K'o-ch’eng a veteran CCP leader. (Yuan was named as a member of this politico-military organization.) In similar fashion, Ch'en Ming-shu, the other Nationalist leader, was named to head the provisional government, but with a veteran Communist (in this instance Yuan) as the vice-governor. This structure of military and governmental control was erected in the closing days of August and early September 1949, but in March-April 1950 the provisional government was dissolved in favor of the permanent Hunan Provincial People’s Government. At this time Yuan was reappointed as a vice-governor, serving now under Governor Wang Shou-tao, then an alternate member of the Party's Seventh Central Committee. In addition, in July 1950, Yuan was appointed to the Hunan Finance and Economics Committee, and in November 1951 was named as chairman of the government’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee. By 1953 he was identified as a member of the Hunan Party Committee, although it is likely that he had been deeply involved in the Hunanese Party affairs from his arrival there in 1949. In any event, in 1953 Yuan was removed and assigned to Peking (December 1953) as a vice-minister of Internal Affairs, a position he held until still another transfer in 1958.

Relatively little was heard about Yuan during the four and a half years that he was a vice-minister of Internal Affairs. This ministry is engaged in various relief programs, census taking, and veterans’ welfare work. Thus Yuan made two reports in January 1956 before the State Council on the work of a school for disabled servicemen and on the activities of a home for disabled veterans. In July 1957, during the nationwide rectification campaign, relief work by the central government came under attack. The government replied to these charges, but in an apparent attempt to improve work in calamity areas the State Council established on July 26, 1957, the Central Relief Committee; Yuan was named as one of the members. A persistent problem in the control of the populace, one of the partial responsibilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has been the steady influx of people from rural areas into the cities, a phenomenon described by the Communists as the “blind outflow” of the rural populace to the cities. Yuan was apparently involved in measures to prevent this, because in December 1957 he made a report before the State Council on a joint State Council-Party Central Committee directive regarding this matter.

In the late spring of 1958 Yuan was removed as a vice-minister in Peking and suddenly transferred to Tsinghai province in the northwest. In retrospect, this seems to have been a troubleshooting mission. Early in 1958 the Tsinghai governor, Sun Tso-pin, was charged with being a “rightist.” By June 1958 Yuan was identified as the acting governor, and then at a Tsinghai congress which ended in July he was formally elected as the governor. At the same time as these events were transpiring, Yuan also was identified (June 1958) as one of the secretaries of the Tsinghai provincial Party committee under First Secretary Kao Feng. At the session when Yuan was elected governor, he was also elected a Tsinghai deputy to the Second NPC (1959-1964), but because of a transfer away from Tsinghai in 1962, he was not re-elected to the Third NPC in 1964.

Politics

Then, after Yuan's final appearance in Tsinghai in July 1962, Wang Chao became the acting governor of the province, and Yuan's whereabouts have not been reported since that time. However, two subsequent appointments virtually assure that he is again working in Peking. His first appointment came at (or soon after) the 10th plenum of the Party Central Committee in September 1962. It was decided at that meeting to expand the Control Commission, the Party organ charged with discipline and inspection functions. Yuan was named as a member of the commission and was also named to the commission standing committee; because the latter is the organ which manages the commission when all the members are not in session, it seems likely that these men are stationed in Peking. Two years later Yuan was named as a representative of CCP to the Fourth National Committee of the CPPCC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965. At this session he was elected to the permanent body of the CPPCC, the Standing Committee. Because one of the chief functions of the CPPCC is to organize the work and channel the activities of the many non-Communists working for the regime, it is logical that Yuan, a Control Commission member, should be associated with the CPPCC.

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Yan Jen-yuan

Background

Education

Career

Politics

Born

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Career

1936 - 1937

1948

1951

1953

1959 - 1964