Xiong Zhaoren
Xiong Zhaoren (
Wartime career
Xiong was born in February 1912 in
The Chinese Civil War was suspended with the Japan invasion in 1937, and Xiong joined the communist New Fourth Army and fought in the resistance war against Japan. Starting as a company commander in the Fourth Regiment of the army, he rose through the ranks to become battalion commissar, chief of staff of the New Third Regiment, political commissar of the 47th Regiment, and deputy commander of the Third Military Subdistrict of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military District.[1]
After the
People's Republic of China
After the founding of the
After Xiong retired in 1983, he repeatedly lobbied the national government to invest in infrastructure in the poverty-stricken areas of western Fujian, and helped win approval for the construction of the Meizhou-Kanshi railway (梅坎铁路) and the Ganzhou–Longyan railway in the region.[1]
By the time Xiong celebrated his 107th birthday (108th in East Asian age reckoning) in February 2019, he had become the longest-living of China's founding generals.[1] He died at the 900 Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistic Support Force in Fuzhou on 7 April 2019.[3]
Legacy
Xiong's role in the 1949 Yangtze Crossing Campaign is celebrated in the 1954 film Reconnaissance Across the Yangtze (渡江侦察记),[1] directed by Tang Xiaodan.[4] He is the prototype of the leader of the People's Liberation Army unit glorified in the film, which became a major hit in the 1950s.[1] It won the Chinese government's Best Film Award in 1957 and was remade in colour during the Cultural Revolution.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Yue, Huairang (2019-04-08). "开国少将熊兆仁逝世,所部英勇事迹被拍成《渡江侦察记》". The Paper. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-096823-1.
- ^ "《渡江侦察记》原型人物开国少将熊兆仁逝世". Sina. 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-74553-1.