Fu Zuoyi

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Fu Zuoyi (傅作义, Wades-Giles: Fu Tso-yi) (June 2, 1895-April 19, 1974) was a Chinese military leader.

Fu began his career as an officer in Yen Hsi-shan's Shanxi army. He served with distinction during the Northern Expedition, after Yen had declared his allegiance to the Kuomintang, but later participated in the failed coup against Chiang Kai-shek (1929-1930).

In the early 1930s, he began a close relationship with Zhang Xueliang and became governor of Suiyuan Province and resisted Japanese incursions from Manchukuo into Chahar and more successfully in the Suiyuan Campaign (1936). During Second Sino-Japanese War, he held numerous commands in North China. As Commander of 7th Army Group he fought in the Operation Chahar, Battle of Taiyuan and the 1939-40 Winter Offensive winning the Battle of Wuyuan. He ended the war as Commander of the 12th War Area (Jehol, Chahar, and Suiyuan).

During the Chinese Civil War, Fu's forces (500,000 men) controlled the critically important Suiyuan-Peiping Corridor that separated Manchuria from China proper. After the Communists captured the Manchurian provinces in late 1948, communists infiltrated Fu's inner circle, and pressured Fu to negotiate a peaceful solution for the inevitable communist take over. Fu began secret negotiations with Lin Biao, in which he arranged the surrender of the Beiping garrison on January 31, 1949.

Fu’s contributions to the Communist Party of China's success were rewarded with high posts such as the Minister of Hydraulics and those in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and in the People's Republic of China government. However, Fu was unable to protect his own family members during the Cultural Revolution, including his own daughter, Fu Dongmei, an ardent communist who was an undercover communist agent that played a critical part in infiltrating Fu's inner circle which lead to his eventual surrender in 1949. Fu Dongmei was struggled by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution and committed suicide.

Military career

1928 - 1929 General Officer Commanding Tientsin Garrison Command
1929 - 1930 General Officer Commanding 10th Army
1930 - 1932 General Officer Commanding 35th Army
1931 - 1946 Chairman of the Government Suiyuan Province
1933 - 1941 Commander in Chief 7th Army Group
1937 - 1941 General Officer Commanding 35th Corps
1938 Commander in Chief Northern Route Force, 2nd War Area
1939 - 1945 Deputy Commander in Chief 8th War Area
1945 Commander in Chief 12th War Area
1945 - 1947 Director of Kalgan Pacification Headquarters
1946 - 1947 Chairman of the Government of Chahar Province
1947 - 1948 Commander in Chief General Headquarters for Bandit Suppression in North China