Zou Yan (general)

In this Chinese name, the family name is Zou.

Zou Yan (Chinese: 邹衍; 5 November 1915 – 1 April 2022) was a Chinese military general and politician. He was a founding major general (shaojiang) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). He was a representative of the 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, and a member of the 12th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.^[1]

Zou Yan
邹衍
Deputy Political Commissar of Shenyang Military Region
In office August 1969 – December 1980
Political Commissar	Pan Fusheng Mao Yuanxin Wang Huiqiu [zh] Gan Weihan [zh] Liao Hansheng
Personal details
Born	(1915-11-05)5 November 1915 Xingguo County, Jiangxi, China
Died	1 April 2022(2022-04-01) (aged 106) Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party
Military service
Allegiance	People's Republic of China
Branch/service	Red Army Eighth Route Army  People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Years of service	1930–1988
Rank	Major general
Battles/wars	Chinese Civil War
Awards	1 August Medal (3rd Class) Order of Independence and Freedom (2nd Class) Order of Liberation (1st Class)
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	邹衍
Traditional Chinese	鄒衍
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zōu Yǎn
Zou Yan
Simplified Chinese	邹衍桃
Traditional Chinese	鄒衍桃
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zōu Yǎntáo

Biography

Zou was born into a family of farming background in Xingguo County, Jiangxi, in 1915.^[1]

He enlisted in the Red Army in 1930, and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1935. During the Long March, he was communication foreman of the General Political Department. After graduating from the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, he worked in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and was rated as a model worker in 1942 due to his outstanding achievements in mass production movement. During the Chinese Civil War, he successively served as a political commissar in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, Mudanjiang Military District, Northeast Field Army, and Fourth Field Army.^[1]

After establishment of the Communist State in 1951, he was assigned to the Northeast Public Security Force as deputy political commissar, capturing the CIA spies Donnay and Fecteau.^[2][3][4] He attained the rank of major general (shaojiang) in 1955.^[2] In August 1969, he rose to become deputy political commissar of Shenyang Military Region, and served until December 1980. He retired in 1988.^[2][1]

On 2 April 2022, Yan died in Shenyang, Liaoning, at the age of 106.^[1]