He received private education when he was 9 and in 1924, went back to his hometown in Hunan to become a teacher. Li joined the Kuomintang in 1926, and was an elected member of the Gaoping District Division. In April 1927, Li decided to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In March 1928, Li was involved in the formation of guerrilla units and carrying out armed struggles.[1] In the same year in December, he participated in the invasion of Changsha under the post of the Red Fifth Army General Secretary. As the Political Commissar for the Red Fifth Army, he took part in the invasion of Changsha. In the spring of 1932, as the director for the Political Department of the Second Division he took part in the Battle of Ganzhou.[2] This was an attempt to cover the main force of the CCP breaking out of the Fifth Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet.
During the Sino-Japanese War, he had posts on both the front and support lines of the communist forces. In 1944 he served as the deputy political commissar of the Military and Political Department.[4]
In December 1946, Li was the political commissar for the second column of the Jinchaji Field Army,[5] spearing heading many assaults in this area. During the Pingjin Campaign, he fought in Zhangjiakou and other regions. Li participated in the Battle of Taiyuan in 1949 as the director of the Political Department of the People's Liberation Army 20th Corps.[6] Following the Battle of Taiyuan, Li replaced Luo Ruiqing as the political commissar of the 19th Corps and led his troops to engage in the Battle of Lanzhou and Battle of Ningxia.[7]
After the Formation of the PRC
Li Zhimin as the "general chorus" conductor during the performances in the People's Great Hall in 1959
In late 1949, Li Zhimin served as political commissar of the Military District of Shaanxi.[8] During the Korean War, he was appointed as the 19th People's Volunteer Army political commissar.
After his return to China in 1957, Li was appointed as the Political Commissar of the Military Academy. Despite being persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, Li assumed role of political commissar for the Fuzhou Military Region in 1972.[9]
Li Zhimin was an alternate member of the 8th CCP Central Committee, member of the 10th and 11th Central Committee, representative at the 1st and 4th National People's Congress. He was elected to the CCP's Central Advisory Committee in 1982. On November 11, 1987, Li died in Beijing.[10]
References
^Tang Bofan (唐伯藩) (1993). 群星灿烂 [The Stars are Shining]. Beijing: Military Science Press. p. 11.
^Yang Dezhi, ed. (1993). 中国工农红军第一方面军史 [History of the First Front Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]. Beijing: PLA Publishing House. p. 298. ISBN978-7-5065-5396-4.
^Ouyang Qing (欧阳青) (2011). 大授衔:1955共和国将帅授衔档案 [Grand Titles: General Titles Archives of the Republic of 1955] (in Chinese). Beijing: Great Wall Publishing House. pp. 391–393. ISBN978-7-5483-0058-8.
^Writing Group (2010). 中国人民解放军军史 [History of the People's Liberation Army] (in Chinese). Vol. 2. Beijing: Military Science Press. p. 298. ISBN978-7-80237-381-5.
^Gao Cuilian (高翠莲), ed. (1998). 戎马双星 [Twin Stars of the People's Liberation Army] (in Chinese). Beijing: Central Party Literature Press. p. 442. ISBN7507304671.
^Shanxi Provincial Institute of History and Records, ed. (1997). 山西通志 军事志 [Military Annals of Shanxi Annals] (in Chinese). Taiyuan, Shanxi: Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 88–90. ISBN9787101016444.
^Office of Lanzhou Army Party History Information Collection Committee, ed. (1983). 兰州战役 [Lanzhou Campaign] (in Chinese). Lanzhou, Gansu: Gansu People's Publishing House. p. 1.
^Zhang Mingjin (张明金); Liu Liqin (刘立勤) (2010). 中国人民解放军历史上的200个军区 [200 Military Districts in the History of the People's Liberation Army] (in Chinese). Beijing: PLA Literature and Art Publishing House. p. 512. ISBN978-7-5033-2252-5.
^Writing Group (2011). 中国人民解放军军史 [History of the People's Liberation Army] (in Chinese). Vol. 6. Beijing: Military Science Press. p. 246. ISBN978-7-80237-427-0.
^Editorial Department, ed. (2007). 中国人民解放军将帅名录 [List of People's Liberation Army Generals] (in Chinese). Beijing: PLA Publishing House. p. 81. ISBN978-7-5065-5031-4.