page_title: Xi Zhongxun
section_title: Chinese Civil War and post-war transition
hierarchical_section_title: Xi Zhongxun / Career / Chinese Civil War and post-war transition
caption_attribution_description: English: In July 1952, Xi Zhongxun was appointed by the Central Committee of the CCP to Xinjiang Province to deal with the affairs of the insurgency of Osman Batur. This is Xi Zhongxun (middle), Saifuddin Azizi (left, vice chairman of Xinjiang Province), Burhan Shahidi(right, chairman of Xinjiang Province). 中文: 1952年7月，习仲勋受党中央委派，到新疆成功处理了乌斯满叛乱事件。图为习仲勋（中）与新疆省人民政府主席包尔汉（右）、副主席赛福鼎·艾则孜合影。
context_page_description: Xi Zhongxun was a Chinese communist revolutionary and a subsequent political official in the People's Republic of China. He is considered to be among the first generation of Chinese leadership. The contributions he made to the Chinese communist revolution and the development of the People's Republic, from the founding of Communist guerrilla bases in northwestern China in the 1930s to initiation of economic liberalization in southern China in the 1980s, are numerous and broad. He was known for political moderation and for the setbacks he endured in his career. He was imprisoned and purged several times. Xi was also the father of Xi Jinping, the current paramount leader of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party.
context_section_description: With the outbreak of full-scale civil war between Communists and Nationalists in early 1947, Xi remained in northwestern China to coordinate the protection and then recapture of the Yan'an Soviet Area.   As political commissar, Xi and commander Zhang Zongxun defeated Nationalists west of Yan'an at the Battle of Xihuachi in March 1947.   After Yan'an fell to Hu Zongnan on 19 March 1947, Xi worked on the staff of Peng Dehuai in the battles to retake Yan'an and capture northwest China.
  Xi directed the political work of the Northwest Political and Military Affairs Bureau, which was tasked with bringing Communist governance to the newly captured areas of the Northwest.   In this capacity, Xi was known for his moderate policies and the use of non-military means to pacify rebellious areas.
  In July 1951, following the Communists' defeat of the Ma Clique armies in Qinghai, remnants of the Muslim warlords incited rebellion among Tibetan tribesmen. Among those who took up arms was chieftain Xiang Qian of the Nganglha Tribe in eastern Qinghai.  As the PLA sent troops to quell the uprising, Xi Zhongxun urged for a political solution.  Numerous envoys including Geshe Sherab Gyatso and the Panchen Lama went to negotiate.  Though Xiang Qian rebuffed dozens of offers and the PLA managed to capture the chieftain's villages, Xi continued to pursue a political solution.  He released captured tribesmen, offered generous terms to Xiang Qian and forgave those who took part in the uprising.  In July 1952, Xiang Qian returned from hiding in the mountains, pledged his allegiance to the People's Republic and was invited by Xi to attend the graduation ceremony of the Nationalities College in Lanzhou.  In 1953, Xiang Qiang became the chief of Jainca County.  Mao compared Xi's deft treatment of Xiang Qian to Zhuge Liang's conciliation of Meng Huo in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
  Also in 1952, Xi Zhongxun halted the campaign of Wang Zhen and Deng Liqun to implement land reform and class struggle to pastoralist regions of Xinjiang.  Xi, based on experience in Inner Mongolia, advised against assigning class labels and waging class struggle among pastoralists, but was ignored by Wang and Deng who directed the seizure of livestock from landowners and land from religious authorities.  The policies inflamed social unrest in pastoralist northern Xinjiang where Ospan Batyr uprising had just been quelled.  With the support of Mao, Xi reversed the policies, had Wang Zhen relieved from Xinjiang and released over a thousand herders from prison.
  When the 14th Dalai Lama visited Beijing in 1954 for several months of political meetings and studies in Chinese and Marxism, Xi spent time with the Tibetan leader, who fondly recalled Xi as "very friendly, comparatively open-minded, very nice."  As a gift, the Dalai Lama gave Xi an Omega watch.  When the Dalai Lama's brother visited Beijing in the early 1980s, Xi was still wearing that watch.
caption: Xi Zhongxun (middle) with Xinjiang leaders Burhan Shahidi (right) and Saifuddin Azizi (left) in 1952.
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