Yan Hongyan

Who was Yan Hongyan?

Yan Hongyan was a general of the People's Liberation Army of China.

Yan was born in Anding County, Shaanxi province in 1909. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1924. He participated North Expedition. Later he became the commander of Red 30th Army. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was the vice political commissar and director of political department of the third army group in No. 2 Field Army.

After formation of the People's Republic of China, he was the vice governor and vice secretary of CPC's committee in Sichuan Province. He was made a general in 1955. In August 1959, he became the No. 1 secretary of CPC's committee in Yunnan Province, No.1 political commissar in Kunming Military Region, and secretary of secretariat in Southwest bureau of CPC. In December 1963, he became the chairman of Yunnan commission of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and also an alternative member of the 8th CPC Central Committee. He ran afoul of the Maoist leadership in Beijing shortly after the beginning of the Cultural Revolution and committed suicide on 8 January 1967, once of the most senior so-called "capitalist roaders" to do so.