View source for Chen Yi (marshal)

{{Short description|Chinese general, People's Republic of China (1901–1972)}}
{{distinguish|Chen Yi (Kuomintang)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Chen (surname)|Chen]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{more footnotes|date=March 2013}}
{{expand Chinese|date=March 2023|topic=bio}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[Yuan Shuai|Yuanshuai]]
| name                = Chen Yi
| native_name         = {{nobold|陈毅}}
| native_name_lang    = zh-Hans-CN
| birth_name          = Chen Shijun ({{lang|zh-hans|陈世俊}})
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|df=yes|1901|8|26}}
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1972|1|6|1901|8|26}}
| birth_place         = [[Lezhi County]], [[Sichuan|Sichuan Province]], [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]]
| death_place         = [[Beijing]], [[China|People's Republic of China]]
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Xiao Juying (萧菊英)|1930|1932|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Lai Yueming (赖月明)|1932}} (later separated due to war, each believing the other deceased. She later remarried.)<br>{{marriage|Zhang Qian (张茜)|1940}}<ref name="lishi">{{cite web |editor=maokaikai |title = 陈毅的子女后代 陈毅有几位妻子 |trans-title = The descendants of Chen Yi. How many wives did Chen Yi have? |url= http://www.lishiquwen.com/news/8062_all.html |date = 7 January 2016 |access-date = 9 February 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170211082631/http://www.lishiquwen.com/news/8062_all.html |archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}
| children            = [[Chen Haosu]], [[Chen Xiaolu]] 
| relations           = [[Wang Guangya]]
| image               = Chen Yi(communist).jpg
| caption             = 
| order               = [[Vice Premier of China]]
| term_start          = September 1954
| term_end            = January 1972
| premier             = [[Zhou Enlai]]
| order1              = 2nd [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (China)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| term_start1         = 11 February 1958
| term_end1           = 6 January 1972
| premier1            = Zhou Enlai
| predecessor1        = Zhou Enlai
| successor1          = [[Ji Pengfei]]
| deputy1             = [[Luo Guibo]]
| order2              = [[Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai]]
| term_start2         = 1950
| term_end2           = 1954
| predecessor2        = [[Rao Shushi]]
| successor2          = [[Ke Qingshi]]
| order3               = 8th [[Mayor of Shanghai]]
| term_start3          = May 1949
| term_end3            = November 1958
| predecessor3         = [[Zhao Zukang]]
| successor3           = Ke Qingshi
| order4              = 1st President of the [[China Foreign Affairs University]]
| term_start4         = 1955
| term_end4           = 1969
| predecessor4        = none
| successor4          = [[Liu Chun]]<br><small>Closed until 1980</small>
| allegiance          = {{PRC}}
| nickname            = 元帅诗人 (''yuán shuài shī rén'', "The poet marshal")<br> {{lang|zh-Hans|陈老总}} (''Chén lǎozǒng'', "Old Chief Chen")<br> 501 ([[military call sign]])
| serviceyears        = 1927–1972
| rank                = [[Yuan shuai|Marshal of People's Republic of China]]
| commands            = {{plainlist|
* Commander, PLA Eastern China Field Army
* Deputy Commander, PLA Central China Field Army
}}
| branch              = {{Army|China|1949}}
| battles             = {{flatlist|
* [[Northern Expedition]]
* [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Sino-Japanese War]]
** [[Hundred Regiments Offensive]]
* [[Chinese Civil War]]
** [[Long March]]
}}
| mawards            = {{plainlist|
* [[File:Order of Bayi 1st Class.svg|22px]] [[Order of Bayi]] (First Class Medal)
* [[File:Order of Independence and Freedom 1st Class.svg|22px]] [[Order of Independence and Freedom]] (First Class Medal)
* [[File:Order of Liberation 1st Class.svg|22px]] [[Order of Liberation (China)]] (First Class Medal)
}}
}}

'''Chen Yi''' ({{zh |s = 陈毅 |p = Chén Yì |w = Chen I }}; August 26, 1901 – January 6, 1972) was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as [[Mayor of Shanghai]] from 1949 to 1958 and as [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (China)|Foreign Minister of China]] from 1958 to 1972. He is one of [[Yuanshuai|Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China]].

==Early life==
Chen was born in [[Lezhi County]] near [[Chengdu]], [[Sichuan]], into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family.

[[File:Jacob Rosenfeld.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Jakob Rosenfeld]] (center), [[Liu Shaoqi]] (left), and Chen Yi (right)]]
[[File:Chen_Yi_in_CFAU_campus.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Bust of Chen Yi in [[China Foreign Affairs University]] campus.]]

==War==
A comrade of [[Lin Biao]] from their guerrilla days, he was prominent in the Jiangxi Soviet. Later, due to a leg injury, he was the only one of the later Ten Marshals to have not participated in the Long March. Thus, Chen was later made a commander under Ye Ting in the New Fourth Army. After the Wannan Incident, Chen succeeded Ye Ting as commander of the [[New Fourth Army]] during the [[Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)]]. He played a pivotal role as commander of the 3rd Field Army working closely with his close friend and comrade [[Su Yu]]. When Su Yu showed his expertise and talent in large formational warfare, the division of labour between them meant that Chen Yi remained in command of 3rd Field Army, but mainly focused on rallying support for Su Yu's plans as well as focusing on political work, which was his area of expertise. Thus, he and Su Yu spearheaded the [[Shandong]] counter-offensive during the [[Chinese Civil War]], and later commanded the Communist armies that defeated the KMT forces during the [[Huaihai Campaign]] and conquered the lower [[Yangtze River|Yangtze]] region in 1948–49. After the capture of Shanghai, he remained in Shanghai as Mayor where he oversaw the economic stabilisation and reconstruction. In 1950, he offered to take command of the People's Volunteer Army in Korea, but Mao declined, possibly because Chen's partner [[Su Yu]] was in poor health due to shrapnel injury and selected Peng Dehuai instead. He was promoted to [[Marshal of the People's Republic of China|marshal]] in 1955.

==People's Republic==
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chen became mayor of Shanghai. He also served as vice premier from 1954 to 1972 and foreign minister from 1958 to 1972 and president of the [[China Foreign Affairs University]] from 1961 to 1969. As vice premier, he was present during the breakup of Sino-Soviet relations. In August 1960, Chen Yi attempted to ease tensions with the Soviets, declaring on one instance to the [[Stepan Chervonenko|Soviet Ambassador to Beijing]] that Moscow should stop "severing the friendship between the two nations," and two weeks later to the Soviet ''deputy'' foreign minister that Moscow and Beijing should ''both'' try to save the alliance.<ref>Shu Guang Zhang, 2010, The Sino-Soviet alliance and the Cold War in Asia, 1954-1962. The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Vol 1, p.371.</ref>

Like other Chinese policymakers, Chen viewed the July 1963 [[Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]] as demonstrating a US-USSR re-alignment against China.<ref name="Crean">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=96-97}} Chen described it was "targeted against us."<ref name="Crean" />{{Rp|page=96}} 

During the [[Cultural Revolution]], Chen was one of the most vocal leaders in the [[February Countercurrent]], which criticized the Cultural Revolution for creating social disorder and undermining China's leadership.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Hou |first=Li |title=Building for Oil: Daqing and the Formation of the Chinese Socialist State |date=2021 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |isbn=978-0-674-26022-1 |edition= |series=[[Harvard-Yenching Institute]] monograph series |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=154}} As a result, he was required to request a leave of absence and undertake [[Self-criticism (Marxism–Leninism)|self-criticism]],<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|page=154}} but he was never dismissed, so [[Zhou Enlai]] performed the duties of foreign minister in his place. 

He was a member of the [[8th Politburo of the Communist Party of China|8th CPC Politburo]] from 1956 to 1967 but was not admitted to the [[9th Politburo of the Communist Party of China|9th Politburo]] (1969), though he was a member of the [[9th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China|9th CPC Central Committee]].

After Marshal [[Lin Biao]]'s death in 1971, he was restored to favour, although not to his former power. [[Mao Zedong]] attended Chen's funeral in 1972.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/07/world/asia/a-student-leader-in-maos-cultural-revolution.html?pagewanted=2|newspaper=New York Times|last=Perlez|first=Jane|access-date=26 December 2013|date=6 December 2013|title=A Leader in Mao's Cultural Revolution Faces His Past}}</ref> This was Mao's last public appearance and his first appearance at anyone's funeral during the Cultural Revolution.

==Other work==
When not in military uniform, Chen Yi was known for his trademark sunglasses and white shirt. He was an avid [[Weiqi]] player and was prominent in promoting the game to a professional level in the People's Republic of China.

==See also==

* [[List of officers of the People's Liberation Army]]
* [[Historical Museum of French-Chinese Friendship]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
*[[Long March]] Leaders: [http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Long-March/Long-March-Chen-Yi.html Chen Yi] (by Paul Noll)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050921051751/http://chenyi.chinaspirit.net.cn/ 陈毅纪念馆] (Chen Yi memorial site; {{in lang|zh}})
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051027184557/http://www.xtu.edu.cn/html/wuzhuangbu/web/yuanshuai/chenyi.htm 诗人元帅——陈毅] (The poet-general Chen Yi; {{in lang|zh}})
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061025213630/http://www.nwc.navy.mil/chinesecs/ Handbook for the Chinese Civil War] (US Naval War College)

{{S-start}}
{{S-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Zhao Zukang]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mayor of Shanghai]]|years=1949–1958}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ke Qingshi]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Zhou Enlai]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Foreign Affairs (China)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]|years=1958–1972}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ji Pengfei]]}}
|-
{{S-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Rao Shushi]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Politics of Shanghai|Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Committee]]|years=1950–1954}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ke Qingshi]]}}
|-
{{S-aca}}
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[China Foreign Affairs University]]|years=1955–1969}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Liu Chun]]<br><small>Closed until 1980</small>}}
|-
{{S-end}}

{{Ten Marshals}}
{{1st State Council of China}}
{{2nd State Council of China}}
{{3rd State Council of China}}
{{8th Politburo of the Communist Party of China}}
{{Foreign Ministers of the People's Republic of China}}
{{Vice Premiers of the People's Republic of China}}
{{CPPCC Vice-Chairpersons}}
{{Shanghai leaders}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Yi}}
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in China]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Marshals of the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Mayors of Shanghai]]
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:New Fourth Army generals]]
[[Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Sichuan]]
[[Category:Politicians from Ziyang]]
[[Category:People of the Chinese Civil War]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China politicians from Sichuan]]
[[Category:Chinese expatriates in France]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the 8th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Secretaries of the Communist Party Shanghai Committee]]
[[Category:Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery]]