Draft:Li Yingfu

Li Yingfu

Li Yingfu (June 30, 1908 - May 4, 1991), also known as Li Guangrong, was a native of Fengtian, Liaoning (now Shenyang). He was a Major General.. in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. He graduated from the 20th class of the Japanese Army Academy, specializing in infantry. He served as the Chief of Staff of the 35th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, Brigade Commander of the 2nd Brigade of the Suiyuan National Militia, Major General and Chief of Staff at the headquarters of the 7th Group Army, and Chief of Staff of the Suiyuan Province Wartime General Mobilization Committee. After the victory of the War of Resistance, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Security Office of the Hebei Provincial Government and Chief of Staff of the Hebei Provincial Security Command. He was a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from the first to the fifth sessions, and a member of the sixth National Committee of the CPPCC.

Biography
Born on June 30, 1908, in Fengtian. In 1923, he joined the Military Instruction Team of the Three Eastern Provinces and the Northeast Army Lecture Hall, both founded by Zhang Xueliang. In 1924, he was selected by the Chinese Fengtian clique military leader Guo Songling to study at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy.

In October 1925, while studying Japanese at Seijo School in Ushigome, Tokyo, he received a telegram from Guo Songling, summoning him and nine other classmates back to China to join Guo’s revolt, demanding Zhang Zuolin step down. Upon returning, he joined Guo Songling’s forces and became a battalion commander. The campaign started on November 22, but after Guo Songling was defeated and captured on December 24, he was killed.

In early 1926, with support from General Feng Yuxiang, Li Yingfu returned to Tokyo to continue his studies. The Chinese Students' Association in Japan held a memorial service at the Chinese Youth Association in Tokyo for Guo Songling and the fallen soldiers of the Northeastern Army. As Guo Songling's subordinate, Li Yingfu delivered a eulogy. The famous Japanese social activist Miyazaki Ryusuke also spoke at the event, condemning the crimes of the Japanese warlords.

In the same year, he was admitted to the 20th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. During his studies, he encountered leftist cultural figures and Communist Party members, read Japanese translations of Marxist-Leninist books, and frequently participated in patriotic activities at the Chinese Young Men's Christian Association in Kanda. He later secretly joined the Chinese Communist Party with his classmate Shu Yuzhang and others.

In 1928, opposing Japan’s invasion of Shandong and the "May Thirtieth Movement," he, along with Su Kaiyuan and other classmates, left Japan to join the Northern Expedition in China and met with He Yingqin in the Nanjing Nationalist Government.

In 1929, introduced by Zhang Xueliang, he, along with Su Kaiyuan, Li Dachao, and other classmates from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, accepted an invitation from Fu Zuoyi, then the Commander of the Tianjin Garrison, to serve as a major staff officer, responsible for military education and training.

In 1930, he participated in the Central Plains War against Chiang Kai-shek led by Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan. Li Yingfu and two others fought bravely, significantly contributing to Fu Zuoyi’s efforts and quickly earning Fu’s trust and promotion. They were known as the "Three Heroes" of Fu’s forces.

On June 17, 1931, the Jin-Sui Army was reorganized into four corps: the 32nd Corps (Shang Zhen), the 33rd Corps (Xu Yongchang), the 34th Corps (Yang Aiyuan), and the 35th Corps of the National Revolutionary Army (Fu Zuoyi). Li Yingfu served as the Chief of Staff of the 73rd Division. In 1932, Yan Xishan added a brigade to each division of the Jin-Sui Army, and Li continued as Chief of Staff of the 73rd Division.

In November 1931, a group of eleven members of the Northeast Anti-Japanese National Salvation Propaganda Team, led by Feng Jiping, a member of the Chinese Communist Party who served as Director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and Vice Mayor of Beijing after the founding of the People's Republic of China, set off from Peiping (now Beijing) to Northeast China to conduct anti-Japanese propaganda and organize resistance activities. Li introduced Su Kaiyuan to Feng and passed on Communist Party propaganda materials from Feng to Su.

In early 1934, Fu Zuoyi sent Li Yingfu, then Chief of Staff, along with Li Shanglin, from Linhe to Sanshenggong to disarm Sun Dianying’s forces, known for looting the tombs of Empress Dowager Cixi and Qianlong Emperor in Eastern Qing Tombs.

In autumn 1935, the Suiyuan Provincial Government established a "Special Affairs Office" to handle negotiations with the Japanese intelligence agency in Suiyuan. Li Yingfu was appointed director, responsible for liaising with the Japanese intelligence agency.

In 1936, the Japanese Kwantung Army established an intelligence agency in the capital of Suiyuan Province, Guisui (now Hohhot), headed by Hiyama Yoshio. In response, Fu Zuoyi appointed Li Yingfu, Chief of Staff, as the Director of the Suiyuan Provincial Security Office and the head of the provincial special operations group.

In August of the same year, Hiyama Yoshio notified the Suiyuan Provincial Government that the Kwantung Army's Chief of Staff, Itagaki Seishiro, would visit the next day. Hiyama informed Li Yingfu that "General Itagaki will make the final decision on Sino-Japanese issues." The next afternoon, Itagaki Seishiro arrived in Suiyuan on a Kwantung Army special plane, accompanied by Colonel Kato Akira and others. Zeng Houzai, the then-Secretary General of the Suiyuan Provincial Government, and the Japanese-speaking Li Yingfu welcomed them at the airport. Itagaki and his party first visited Hiyama's residence before proceeding to the provincial government for a meeting. Fu Zuoyi received Itagaki, the two Japanese colonels, and Hiyama in the reception room, with Li Yingfu attending and serving as the interpreter.

In November 1936, Japanese Army and its puppet forces the Collaborationist Chinese Army invaded eastern Suiyuan, sparking the first battle of the Suiyuan Campaign, which was part of the broader resistance effort. The Suiyuan army ultimately drove out the invaders and reclaimed the lost territory.

On December 15, 1936, after the Xi'an Incident, Fu Zuoyi received a telegram from Zhang Xueliang, detailing the event. Fu, sensing that Zhang and Yang Hucheng did not intend to harm Chiang Kai-shek, decided to go to Xi'an personally. He aimed to persuade Zhang and Yang to release Chiang and to request leniency for Zhang and Yang from Chiang. To deceive the Kwantung Army, he discussed with Li Yingfu the idea of conveying through Hiyama that Fu would visit Taiyuan to meet Yan Xishan and follow Yan's instructions, thus putting the Kwantung Army at ease.

After the Marco Polo Bridget Incident on July 7 1937, the Northeast Advance Army of the National Revolutionary Army formed three brigades of provincial militia in Suiyuan Province. Li Yingfu served as the Major General and brigade commander of the second brigade and also as Fu Zuoyi’s adjutant general.

On August 24, 1937, Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, and Xu Xiangqian arrived in Datong from Taiyuan to meet with Fu Zuoyi. Li Yingfu participated in the meeting and was responsible for seeing them off afterward.

From December 1939 to April 1940, the Suiyuan army engaged in three battles against Japanese forces in the central and western parts of Suiyuan Province. During the early stages of the war, Suiyuan was vulnerable. Li Dachao led the Suiyuan National Militia Corps to Baotou and established the Suiyuan Guerrilla Army based on the militia corps. Li Dachao served as the commander, with Ma Bingren as deputy commander and Li Jing as chief of staff. Li Yingfu returned to Suiyuan from Shanxi and reorganized the guerrilla army.

In May 1940, Fu Zuoyi established the "Provincial Wartime Mobilization Committee," with Fu as the director and Li Yingfu as the chief of staff responsible for overseeing operations. The committee’s main tasks included secretly contacting the Collaborationist Chinese Army troops, subverting and persuading them to defect, gathering Japanese military intelligence, establishing authority in occupied areas, dispatching guerrilla county heads to carry out activities, directing various guerrilla units to penetrate enemy-occupied zones, expanding guerrilla territories, and combating Japanese forces. This was part of the Chinese Anti-Fascism War effort. In autumn 1944, the committee was reorganized, adding a standing committee and several operational areas. All standing committee members were appointed by Fu Zuoyi, and Li Yingfu served as a standing committee member and deputy director of the Northeast Area.

In August 1945, Li Yingfu was appointed as a senior staff officer in the headquarters of the 12th War Zone (under Commander-in-Chief Fu Zuoyi) and chief of staff of the Suiyuan Provincial Wartime Work Committee. On August 31, he was sent to Datong to handle the Japanese surrender.

In March 1947, he was transferred to serve as a senior staff officer at the Zhangjiakou Pacification Office. In December of the same year, he was appointed deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Security Office and chief of staff of the provincial security command.

In August 1948, he became the chief of staff of the Hebei Provincial Security Command. During this time, he protected underground Communist workers and helped Fu Zuoyi's eldest daughter, Fu Dongju, a Chinese Communist Party member, relay information about Fu Zuoyi.

The Siwei Drama School (the predecessor of the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts (NACTA)), co-founded by the famous Chinese playwriter Tian Han, split into two parts in 1948. One part merged with the Zhangjiakou Drama School affiliated with Fu Zuoyi's army, managed by opera educator Li Zigui, and was renamed "Peking Security Drama School." Li Yingfu, then chief of staff of the Hebei Provincial Security Command, also served as the school’s principal.

At the end of 1948, he participated in peace negotiations with the representatives of the People's Liberation Army during the Pingjin Campaign, including Lin Biao, Luo Ronghuan, and Nie Rongzhen.

In January 1949, Li Yingfu arranged for the Hebei Provincial Security Forces commander, Luan Leshan, stationed at Guang'anmen in Peking, to open the city’s defenses and welcome the People's Liberation Army. He subsequently joined Fu Zuoyi’s forces in peacefully transitioning to the People's Liberation Army, resulting in the peaceful liberation of Peking.

From 1949 to early 1950, he temporarily served as deputy director of the Peking Public Security Bureau, maintaining local security.

From 1951, he served as a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from the first to the fifth sessions.

Throughout the 1950s, he was involved in receiving official and civilian delegations from Japan visiting China

In 1968, he was arrested by the Military Control Commission of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and imprisoned in Qincheng Prison until his release in 1973. On March 24, 1979, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a certificate acknowledging his wrongful imprisonment, stating that "it was a miscarriage of justice, which has been reviewed and corrected, and his wages during detention have been compensated." They confirmed his status as a revolutionary cadre

From 1983 to 1988, he served as a member of the sixth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Li Yingfu died at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing on May 4, 1991, His ashes were scattered at Wanhuashan (Fragrant Hills) in the western suburbs of Beijing.