薛岳
Liao Yiaoxiang was born into a rural gentry family in Hunan Province in 1906. He entered a local high school with Yang Kaihui, wife of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong. In 1926, he applied to enter the Whampoa Military Academy and graduated with top remarks. Some of his famous classmates included Chen Cheng, Xue Yue, Fan Hanjie, Dai Li, Hu Zongnan, Qiu Qingquan, Du Yuming, Zhang Lingfu, Hu Lien, Liu Yuzhang, Huang Wei, Li Mi, Wang Yaowu and Lin Biao. In 1930 he was chosen by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek as an exchange student to France. In 1936 he graduated from the famed École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr with best grades in the class. He returned home in the same year and was promoted as company commander of the Cavalry unit of the Whampoa Military Academy with the rank of major.