Chen Geng

Chen Geng
陈赓
Chen Geng
Vice-Minister of National Defense
In office 16 September 1959 – 16 March 1961
Minister	Lin Biao
Deputy Chief of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department
In office 31 October 1954 – October 1959
Chief	Su Yu→Huang Kecheng
President of PLA Military Engineering Institute
In office 11 July 1952 – 16 March 1961
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Liu Juying
Political Commissar of PLA Military Engineering Institute
In office September 1953 – May 1958
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Xie Youfa
Chairman of Yunnan Government
In office January 1950 – April 1955
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Guo Yingqiu
Military Advisor to Democratic Republic of Vietnam
In office 1949–1955
Personal details
Born	(1903-02-27)February 27, 1903 Xiangxiang, Hunan, Qing Empire
Died	March 16, 1961(1961-03-16) (aged 58) Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Spouse(s)	Wang Genying Fu Ya
Children	5
Parent(s)	Chen Daoliang Peng Xuexian
Alma mater	Whampoa Military Academy Counter-Japanese Military and Political University
Awards	Order of Bayi (First Class Medal) Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class Medal) Order of Liberation (First Class Medal)
Military service
Allegiance	People's Republic of China
Branch/service	People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Years of service	1923–1961
Rank	Senior general
Battles/wars	Chinese Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War First Indochina War Korean War
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	陳賡
Simplified Chinese	陈赓
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chén Gēng

Chen Geng (Chinese: 陈赓; 27 February 1903 - 16 March 1961) was a Chinese military officer who served as a senior general in the People's Liberation Army. Enlisting in a warlord's army at the age of 13, Chen Geng joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1922 and was accepted into Whampoa Military Academy in 1924. He approached Chiang Kai-shek and even saved his life by preventing him from committing suicide. He served as a Communist spy in the National Revolutionary Army for 6 years. After being discovered, he joined the Communist base in Jiangxi and participated in the Long March. He fought the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and then the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War. Once victory was obtained, he went to Vietnam to help Hồ Chí Minh against the French during the First Indochina War and then participated in the Korean War with the People's Volunteer Army. He became a senior general in 1955. He then founded an academy of military technologies but died before finalizing the ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.