Li Liejun

Who was Li Liejun?

Li Liejun, 李烈钧, was a Chinese revolutionary leader and general.

Li was born in Wuning, Jiangxi, China. He went on to get a higher education and was sent to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy where he joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance. After returning to China he took part in several anti-Qing movements.

Following the Xinhai Revolution Li was appointed Military Governor of Jiangxi Province 1912. He was deposed by Yuan Shikai in 1913 as a step to weaken the Kuomintang democratic bloc control gubernatorial posts. Li rose up against Yuan at Hukou, Jiangxi, on 12 July 1913, with the support of Sun Yat-sen. In 1916 after Yuan Shikai tried to become Emperor of China, province after province rebelled starting with Yunnan, and Jiangxi, led by Li Liejun. The revolutionaries formed the National Protection Army and began the National Protection War. This was followed by other provinces declaring independence from the Empire. In 1917, he took the post of chief of staff of the Constitutional Protection Movement.

He remained an important decision-maker in the Kuomintang government after Chiang Kai-shek took power in 1925. Appointed as a State Councilor of the Nationalist Government in 1931 he was nominated a member of the National Military Council in 1932 and served until 1945. He died on February 20, 1946, in Chongqing.