Background
This locale, added to the fact that Yii was later a Szechwan deputy to the NPC, suggests that he may be a native of Szechwan.
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Yii Ch’iu-li
Edit ProfileEducation
He was probably no more than a teenager and of no particular importance in this period, because when the Communists created national military honors in 1955 (covering service from 1927 to 1950), Yii’s award was only for the final period (19451950), an indication that he had not achieved a very significant position before that date.
Career
Although documentation is lacking, it is probable that Yii made the Long March with Jen and then worked with the Red Armies in northwest China. In any event, he was in the northwest at the close of the civil war with the Nationalists, because when the Tsinghai Military District was formally established on October 1, 1949, Yii was named as deputy political commissar under Commissar Liao Han-sheng. Sometime in the early 1950’s Yii was transferred from northwest to southwest China and by July 1952 was director of the Rear Services (logistics) Department of the Southwest Military Region. He remained in this position until at least early 1954.
In 1955 the Communists created personal military ranks and awarded national military honors for past performances in the Red Armies. Yii was given a first class Order of Liberation (September 1955), implying a significant role in the civil war against the Nationalists in the late 1940’s. At about this same time he was also made a lieutenant-general in the PLA, equivalent to a two-star general in the U.S. Army. Less than a year later, in August 1956, YU was appointed as director of the Finance Department of the PLA. However, he only held the post until November 1957 when he was named as political commissar of the General Rear Services Department of the PLA. Shortly afterwards, Yii changed jobs with Li Chii-k’uei, succeeding Li as minister of the Petroleum Industry in February 1958 during a general governmental reorganization. In the following month Li replaced Yii as political commissar in the Rear Services post. Thus by the winter of 1957-58 Yii had given up his active posts in the PLA and turned to a purely civilian career.
Although the head of one of the most vital ministries, Yii has been infrequently reported in the national press. Interestingly, when he has been mentioned it has often been when he was away from Peking. For example, he was reported in Szechwan in April 1958, in the Harbin (Manchuria) area in March 1960, and again in Szechwan in July 1960. Yii’s importance in the hierarchy was also suggested in November 1960 when he was in Wuhan virtually assuring that he attended the important Sixth Party Plenum, at which time the Party decided to slow down the pace and the severity of the communalization of China.
Politics
Yii was elected a deputy from Szechwan to the Second NPC (1959-1964) and was re-elected from the same province to the Third NPC. At the first session of the Third NPC (December 1964- January 1965), Yu spoke before the Congress on the achievements of the petroleum industry in the previous years. Like so many other ranking government officials, he attends nationwide conferences, serves on funeral committees for colleagues, and authors articles for the Communist press and publications. For example, he was a member of the preparatory committee for a national conference of “advanced producers,” and when the conference was held in October 1959 served on the presidium. He was a funeral committee member for two veteran political officers, Chu Ming and Kan Szu-ch'i, who died, respectively, in January 1964 and February 1964. And he was also on the funeral committee for P，eng T’ao (the Minister of Chemical Industry) with whom Yii had served at the cabinet level.
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Born
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Nationality
China -
Ethnicity
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Political Party
Chinese Communist Party
Career
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October 1, 1949
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1955
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November, 1957