Ye Ting

Ye Ting () (September 10, 1896 – April 8, 1946), born in Huiyang, Guangdong, was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the Northern Expedition to reunify China after the 1911 Revolution. He started out with the Kuomintang but later joined the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Ye was the eighth child of Ye Xi and Wu Shi.
Ye joined the Kuomintang when Sun Yat-sen founded it in 1919 and became a battalion commander in the National Revolutionary Army in 1921. In 1924 he studied in the Soviet Union, joining the CPC in December of that year, and transferred to the Institute of Red Professors for his military education in February 1925. In September 1925 he returned to China to serve first as staff officer, then as independent regiment commander, in the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army. In mid-January 1926, Ye joined the attack on Hainan Island. Due to Fourth Army commander Li Jishen's orders in May, the 12th Division joined the Northern Expedition and ordered Zhang Fakui to send Ye's 34th regiment ahead. In May 1926 he led an advance detachment in the Northern Expedition, with several victories in August. In September he besieged Wuchang, breaking through the defenses on the 10 October. He had led the entire effort to blast through the city walls. In 1927 he was a) deputy division commander of the 15th Division, b) division commander of the 24th Division of the 11th Army, and c) deputy army commander of the 11th Army.
On August 1, with Chen Yi, Zhou Enlai, He Long, Zhu De, Ye Jianying, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng and Guo Moruo, he participated in the failed Nanchang Uprising, when the "Chinese Red Army" was founded. After Nanchang, he went to Hong Kong, whence on December 11 he led the Canton Uprising. After this uprising failed, he was persecuted as a scapegoat and as a result, he was exiled to Europe and when he returned to Asia went into hiding in Macao.
In 1937 he served as army commander of the New Fourth Army. During New Fourth Army Incident, Ye, wanting to save his men, went to Shangguan Yunxiang's headquarters 13 January 1941 to negotiate terms. Upon arrival, Ye was detained. (One source specifies by the 52nd division of the 156th regiment.) Chiang Kai-shek ordered the New Fourth Army disbanded on January 17 and sent Ye to a military tribunal. Ye was then jailed for five years, until 1946. On April 8 of that year, after he was released, en route from Chongqing to Yan'an, he died in a plane crash. Among the victims were his wife, Li Xiuwen; daughter, Ye Yangmei; son, Ye Ajiu; nanny for his children, Gao Qiong; and several senior CPC leaders such as Bo Gu, Deng Fa, and Wang Ruofei. There are rumors that Chiang Kai-shek arranged the crash. On April 17, held a public memorial at the Lan County airport.
Ye had a total of nine children including aircraft designer Lt. Gen. Ye Zhengda. One of his granddaughters, Ye Xiaoyan (叶小燕), through Ye's second son Ye Zhengming (叶正明), is married to Li Xiaoyong (李小勇), son of former Chinese premier Li Peng.
Early Life 
Reference: 
April 10th, 1896 (August 4th of Guagnxu 22nd year in Qing Dynasty), Ye Weixun was born at Zhoutian village, Danshui town (close to Danshui sub-district at present), Guishan county in Guangdong province. Ye's ancestor migrated from Ye county in Henan to the south, through Meizhou and Hingning, eventually staying in Guangdong. Ye's grandfather was Ye Hanchu, who was good at medical skills; Ye's father was Ye Xisan, who crossed the ocean to Malaysia in his early life to work on a plantation which taught him how to plant tropical fruits. After returning to his hometown, he rented 11 mus' of farmland and planted fruit trees to make a living. Ye's mother's last name is Wu. Ye is the eighth child in the family. 
Ye was energetic and helped his father with farming when he was young. He was sent to nearby Tengyun school to study. Ye studied at the Sericultural School of Huizhou in 1911. Before he left the school, his teacher Chen Jingru suggested that change his name to Ye Ting. Under the influence of the Second Guangzhou Uprising, Ye lead his schoolmates to cut the queue and was expelled by his school. After this experience, Ye got into Huizhou middle school. After Xinhai Revolution, Ye's father made Ye marry Huang Chun, who was 2 years older, to get him to calm down. 
Ye got into Guangzhou landforce primary school in 1912. Ye graduated from the landforce primary school in December of 1914 and traveled north to Hubei, ended up studying military knowledge in Hubei army second preparatory school. At the end of 1916, Ye was recommended for admission to Baoding landforce military academy with his place on the Dean's list. During his studying at the military academy, Ye got access to a large amount of new ideas through reading "New Youth" and other journals and books. Ye has written to "New Youth" journal and raised the statement that, "the root of morality" is at consciousness, and expressed his ideal of "reviving the dirty world and helped the weaks and the drowns". In 1918, he graduated from Baoding landforce military academy. He had decided to study abroad in Europe but failed because of lack of money. At this time, old guangxi clique leader Lu Rongting wanted Ye to be the county magistrate of Huiyang but was refused by Ye. Ye followed Sun Yat-sen to attend revolution in 1919 introduced by He Ziyuan, the general headquarter senate of Sun's Guangdong Army and was also one of the founding member of Xinhai Revolution, then joined the Guangdong Army in changchow of Fukien, and at that time Ye joined the Kuomintang. 
In 1920, Sun ordered Guangdong Army to attack of old guangxi clique. Ye's reputation spread after the Huangpijing battle when his troops defeated an enemy who had 4 times as many troops as his army. In October 1920, Ye took office as deputy battalion commander of the sapper battalion. In 1921, he was transferred to the position of the battalion commander of guards regiment's second battalion of Sun's Marshall House of land and naval forces. In June, 1922, troop of the commander-in-chief of Guangdong army bombarded the Marshall House. Ye was ordered to guard the forecourt of the Marshall House and helped Sun's wife Soong Ching-ling to escape from danger. In 1924, Ye went to study at Communist University of the Toilers of the East in the Soviet Union. During this time, Ye joined the Communist Youth League of China and accepted Marxism. In December 1924, Lvmo branch of Communist Party of China accepted Ye as candidate for Communist Party member of China introducing by Wang Ruofei and . In February of 1925, Ye transferred to the Chinese class of the Institute of Red Professors to learn military knowledge. 
KMT-CCP Split and the Northern Expedition
Reference: Fourth Army (National Revolutionary Army), Northern Expedition, Tingsi Bridge Battle, Hesheng Bridge Battle
April of 1925, Ye came back from Soviet Union to China and was appointed as the chief of staff of the Forth Army, then he was appointed as the commander of 34th regiment of 12th division of the Forth Army. After his entry, he recommended Zhou Shidi as the chief of staff of the regiment. He formulated officer and recruit training plan, and strictly applied “4 exercises” and "3 lessons" rules to the army. Ye paid a lot of attention towards political education and hold several anti-violence and anti-corruption activities, which resulted in a higher quality army. In the middle of January of 1926, Ye followed the national revolutionary army to attack Hainan Island. The forth army then reorganized the 34th regiment to be the independent regiment of the forth army and ordered it to travel to Hunan.
In May of 1926, Ye leaded his troop as the advanced force in the north expedition He left from Zhaoqing and Xinhui, then headed to the frontline in Hunan to crusade Wu Peifu. After a two-day battle started by June 5th, the independent regiment attacked and occupied You County in Hunan. On July 3rd, the 12th division of the forth Army came back from Hainan, which the independent regiment was belong to, met with the 35th regiment and the 36th regiment and reform as the complete 12th division in You County, and later attacked and occupied Liuyang on July 20th. In August, the 12th division attacked the Tingsi Bridge in Xianning, Hubei. During this battle, Ye’s independent regiment was used as the reserve team of the division. When the direct attack on Tingsi Bridge was not successful, Ye investigated a small path towards the back of Tingsi Bridge. After the deputy army commander of the forth army Chen Keyu ordered Ye to take a surprising attack on the back of Wu’s army, the army took a complete win. After this battle, the independent regiment attacked and occupied several territories include Taolinpu and Yindoushan. 
On August 30th, the Fourth and Seventh Army of the national revolutionary army started to battle with Wu’s Army. Ye was the first one to attack into the position of Wu’s army, and other troops followed to increase the outcome of the battle and eventually took down Hesheng Bridge. In April, Ye leaded his troop and hemmed the enemies in Wuchang. During the battle in Wuchang, Ye leaded the whole process of the city wall blowing up. On October 10th, Ye leaded to troop to attack into Wuchang. Ye was so-called one of the “famous generals in North Expedition” and the Forth Army was called by the “Iron Army” when the army commander was Zhang Fakui. During the attack in Wuchang, Ye’s independent regiment lost dramatically, the battalion commander of the first battalion died, while the second division of the north expedition army, leaded by Liu Chi, did not help and move. After Wuchang was attacked and occupied, the second division entered into the city faster than Ye’s and Liu Chi was then ordered to be the Wuhan garrison commander. Ye was angry about this order and left the army. He went back to Shanghai and saw his relatives, and then received penalty of being supervised under the Party for half a year.
Kuomintang government moved from Guangzhou to Wuhan in January of 1927. National revolutionary army was expanded and Ye was appointed as the deputy division commander of the 25th division, and division commander of the 24th division of the eleventh army. In may of 1927, Nanjing-Wuhan Split happened. On May 13, the division commander of the independent fourteenth division, Xia Douyin, announced through a phone call to crusade the communist party in the KMT and attacked Wuhan, which was controlled by KMT left-wing at the meantime, while the Wuhan government was expended north to attack Henan. Ye leaded the troop to fight back and soon defeated Xia. In June, Ye was appointed as deputy army commander of the eleventh army. 