Yeh Ting

Born 1896; died Apr. 8, 1946. Chinese military leader. Born in Kwangtung province into the family of a peasant, he graduated from military school in the city of Paoting. In 1922 he served as an officer in the personal bodyguard regiment for Sun Yat-sen. In 1924 he studied in Moscow and became a member of the Communist Party of China. He returned to China in 1925. During the Northern Campaign of 1926-27, he commanded the Detached Regiment of the Fourth Corps of the Nationalist Revolutionary Army and then its 24th division. He was also one of the leaders of the Nanch’ang uprising of 1927. During the Kuangchou rebellion of 1927 he was head commander of the revolutionary armed forces. After the outbreak of war against Japan in 1937, he was commander of the New Fourth Army. In January 1941 he was treacherously seized by the Kuomintang and imprisoned on the orders of Chiang Kai-shek. He remained in prison until Mar. 4, 1946. He was killed in an airplane crash four days after his release.