Celebrity of the Jinsui Revolutionary Base Area (254) - Li Quan, political commissar of the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division

Li Quan is the founding major general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the former deputy political commissar of the Xinjiang Military Region.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Quan served as the political commissar of the 717th Regiment and the 718th Regiment of the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and the deputy political commissar and political commissar of the 359th Brigade.

General Li Quan

Li Quan, born in 1912, is a native of Tangdong Village, Wanfu Town, Ji'an County, Jiangxi Province. Born into a peasant family. In 1928, he began to participate in the activities of the Yanfu Revolutionary Base Area, and in 1929 he joined the Communist Youth League of China. In 1930, he joined the 20th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and participated in the Battle of Jiutai Ji'an. In the same year, he transferred to the Communist Party of China and served as an instructor of the 173rd Regiment Company of the Red 20th Army. He participated in many anti-"encirclement and suppression" battles in the Xianggan revolutionary base areas.

At the end of July 1934, Li Quan began the Long March with the Red 6th Army as the anti-Japanese advance team in the north, and Li Quan was then the technical secretary of the Political Department of the 49th Regiment of the 17th Division of the Red 6th Army. In late October, he joined the Red 2nd Army at Shiliangchang in Matsumoto. A new base area centered on Yongshun was created. Li Quan successively served as the director of the Confiscation Committee of the Fourth 19th Regiment of the 17th Division, and the deputy political commissar and political commissar of the Special Affairs Regiment of the 17th Division. Later, he was transferred to the director of the political department of the 18th Division of the Red 6th Army and the political commissar of the teaching regiment.

After the 6th Red Army arrived in Xikang in June 1936, the 2nd and 6th Armies were named the 2nd Front of the Red Army. In July, he arrived in Ganzi County to meet the Division of the Fourth Front. Li Quan served as deputy director of the political department of the Red Second Front's accompanying battalion school, and later as the political commissar of the teaching regiment. In October, the Long March ended in victory.

After the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Quan served as the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. Li Quan and others founded the Pingshan Regiment in Pingshan County, Gangshan County, Hebei Province, with Li Quan as the political commissar, which was later reorganized into the 718 Regiment of the 359th Brigade, and still served as the political commissar. In August 1939, Li Quan and the regimental commander Chen Zongyao led the 718th Regiment back from Yandong and stationed at the line of Mizhicheng, Jizhengdian, Dingjiapan and Majiacha to defend the river defense. In 1940, the 359th Brigade responded to the call of the Party Central Committee and, under the leadership of Wang Zhen, reclaimed Nanniwan and became a red flag for the large-scale production movement of the whole army.

In October 1944, the Party Central Committee decided to let the 359th Brigade select a regimental commander to lead the main force to the south and open up the Anti-Japanese Base Area in Central Hunan centered on Hengshan. Wang Zhen personally went out on horseback, and Li Quan, deputy political commissar of the 359 Brigade, volunteered to actively support Wang Zhen in forming a detachment to the south. On November 9, more than 5,000 soldiers from the south set out. Li Quan was ordered to first lead the first detachment of the southward detachment to reach the Wushan Mountain in northern Hubei at the end of the year to meet li Xiannian's Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army. In February 1945, it met with the Dongjiang Column in northern Guangdong to establish an anti-Japanese guerrilla base area on the Hunan and Guangdong borders. Japan surrendered on August 15. Chiang Kai-shek attempted to eliminate the southward force. In early October, the 359th Brigade opened a bloody road, once again met with Li Xiannian's division, and was incorporated into the Second Column of the Central Plains Military Region. Li Quan served as the political commissar of the first detachment of the Hunan People's Anti-Japanese Salvation Army. Later, the "National Salvation Army" was restored to the 359th Brigade, and Li Quan served as deputy political commissar, and won victories in the battles of Zaoyang, Xicangshan, and Han'ao. During the Peace Talks between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the 359th Brigade was besieged by Nationalist troops in Xianshan County for half a year. They carried forward the spirit of Nanniwan and overcame extreme difficulties.

On June 27, 1946, he was ordered to break through, get rid of the front blockage and rear pursuit of Liu Zhi's five armies, and was besieged by Hu Zongnan's two armies. Fighting almost every day, fighting for more than 60 days, arriving at Tunzi Town, Longdong Special District, Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and being able to rest. In order to ensure Wang Zhen's safety, Li Quan was wounded in his left hand, but still insisted on fighting, and later his left hand became crippled. This southward march was hailed by Mao Zedong as the "Second Long March."

In July 1947, the 359th Brigade was incorporated into the Northwest Field Army, and Li Quan served as the commander and political commissar of the Liberation Brigade of the 2nd Column of the Northwest Field Army, and participated in a series of battles such as Qinghua, Yangmahe, Panlong and Yulin, Shajiadian, Yuncheng, and Fumei, liberating Xining, crossing the Qilian Mountains, inserting into Zhangye and Jiuquan in the Hexi Corridor, and finally marching into Xinjiang.

On February 1, 1949, the 2nd Column was renamed the 2nd Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, under the formation of the First Field Army. The 359th Brigade was renamed the 5th Division, and Li Quan served as the political commissar of the division. On September 10, it arrived in Xining to join the 1st Army. In mid-October, it marched into Xinjiang.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Quan served as director of the Political Department of the 22nd Corps, military political commissar, secretary of the CPC Ili District CPC Committee, political commissar of the Ili Military Region, deputy political commissar of the Xinjiang Military Region, and secretary of the Secretariat of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee of the CPC.

In 1955, Li Quan was awarded the rank of major general. (Ren Huming)