Our army has always had a clear distinction between rewards and punishments, and the duties of the officers and men are determined according to merit. Thus, at the 1955 ceremony, the generals and soldiers were given ranks that matched their military merits. However, General Li Chiran was an exception; he served as a military political commissar during the Red Army period, but after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was demoted to the division level.
In 1914, Li Chiran was born in Anding, Shaanxi. The family conditions are superior, his father is a famous local silversmith craftsman, and he also attaches great importance to his son's education, so Li Chiran's father sent him to school for formal education. Fifteen-year-old Li Chiran was baptized by Marxist thought and has since thrown himself into the revolution.
After returning from normal school, he became a teacher in his hometown of Anding, but this was only a cover-up profession, in fact, he secretly participated in the activities of the underground party. In 1933, Li Chiran's underground organization was destroyed, and he was arrested and imprisoned, where Li Chiran was tortured, but he never said anything about the members of the underground party and secrets. After Li Chiran was rescued from prison, he joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. He had made many achievements in various battles and had a certain cultural attainment, so he was soon promoted by his superiors to the position of political commissar of the Eighty-first Division of the Red Army.
In 1937, Li Chiran's 81st Division was reorganized into the 27th Army of the Red Army, and he served as the military political commissar. Later, he fought in the south and the north, and participated in many battles in Ningxia, Shanxi and other places, and his achievements were outstanding. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, due to the reorganization of the army again, Li Chiran's post was demoted and used as the regimental political commissar. During this period, Li Chiran first suppressed bandits in Yanshuiguan and other places, and then fought many battles with the Japanese army, blocking the Japanese army's attempt to march into Yan'an.
In 1942, because of the shortage of soldiers, Li Chiran led the team out to recruit, he not only recruited thousands of new recruits, but also raised three million French tenders to replenish the military. Because of his excellent performance in recruiting troops, he was appreciated by Nie Shuai, and asked the central government to let Li Chiran continue to work in Jizhong. After much discussion, it was decided to let Li Chiran return to Yan'an with the recruits and military supplies he had recruited.
At that time, Yan'an was blockaded by the Kuomintang army, not to mention the army, and the life of the people was also very difficult. Later, it was a part of the Eighth Route Army that went to reclaim Nanniwan and solved the dilemma of Life in Yan'an. However, the medical and communication equipment urgently needed by the troops is not something that can be solved by the reclamation of the land. The three million French currency brought by Li Chiran can be described as a charcoal in the snow, and Li Chiran was also praised by his superiors. During the Liberation War, Li Chiran successively served in the Northwest Field Army as director of the political department and political commissar of the division.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as the director of the military political department and other positions. In 1952, Li Chiran was a deputy military cadre. However, when the order was awarded in 1955, according to Li Chiran's rank, the rank of major general was awarded according to regulations. However, when his Eighty-first Division was reorganized into the Twenty-seventh Army, he was the military political commissar, while the chief of staff of the army, Li Shouxuan, was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and the director of the military political department, Li Zhimin, was awarded the rank of general. After Li Chiran stepped down from the post of military political commissar, his successor was also awarded the rank of general, so in contrast, Li Chiran's appointment as major general seemed too low. Moreover, Li Chiran joined the revolution with the Communist Party at the age of fifteen and made great contributions to the agrarian revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and it is worth mentioning that if there were no three million French dollars brought by Li Chiran for Yan'an at that time, it is difficult to say whether Yan'an could survive the difficulties at that time, so this made Luo Ronghuan, who presided over the work of awarding titles, feel very difficult.
According to Li Chiran's revolutionary experience and military merits in the neutrality of revolutionary battles in various periods, he had to be awarded at least one rank of lieutenant general, but due to the restrictions on Li Chiran's rank at that time, he could only obtain the rank of major general. Therefore, Luo Shuai also asked Li Chiran to explain the situation and see what he thought about it. Unexpectedly, Li Chiran looked at this very lightly, saying that he did not value military ranks, as long as he could continue to contribute to the revolution and the country. Therefore, at the award ceremony in 1955, General Li Chiran was awarded the rank of founding major general. In 2006, General Lee died of illness at the age of 92. Major General Li Chiran has been fighting horses all his life and has made many military achievements, but he can be so humble that he has to be admired.