Ye Jianying Ye Jianying ( ; 28 April 1897 – 22 October 1986 ) was a Chinese communist general , Marshal of the People ' s Liberation Army , and the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People ' s Congress from 1978 to 1983 . Biography . Born Ye Yiwei ( ) into a wealthy Hakka merchant family in Mei County , Guangdong his courtesy name was Cangbai ( ) . After graduation from the Yunnan Military Academy in 1919 , he joined Sun Yat - sen and the Kuomintang ( KMT ) . He taught at the Whampoa Military Academy , and in 1927 joined the Communist Party . That year , he participated in the failed Nanchang Uprising and was forced to flee to Hong Kong with two other uprising leaders , Zhou Enlai and Ye Ting ( unrelated to Ye Jianying ) , with only a pair of handguns to share between them . Shortly after , he faithfully carried out his assigned duties during the Guangzhou Uprising , although he had been opposed to it ; upon this uprising ' s failure he was once again obliged to flee to Hong Kong with Ye Ting and Nie Rongzhen . However , Ye was far more fortunate than Ye Ting , who was made a scapegoat for the Comintern ' s failures and forced into exile . Ye was not blamed , and subsequently studied military science in Moscow . After returning to China in 1932 he joined the Jiangxi Soviet , serving as Chief of Staff of Zhang Guotao ' s Fourth Front Army . However , after Zhang ' s fighters met up with Mao Zedong ' s force during the Long March , the two leaders disagreed on the subsequent move of the Chinese Red Army . Zhang insisted on turning southward to establish a new base in the regions inhabited by Tibetan and Qiang minorities . ( This later proved to be a disaster , as Mao had anticipated , with Zhang losing over 75 % of his men and retreating to the Communist base at Shaanxi . ) During the two leaders ' disagreement , Ye – though he was Zhang ' s Chief of Staff – sided with Mao ; and instead of supporting Zhang unconditionally as he had during the Guangzhou Uprising , Ye absconded to Mao ' s headquarters with Zhang ' s code books and maps . As a result , Zhang ' s communications with Comintern were cut , while Mao was able to establish a radio link , leading to Comintern ' s acceptance of Mao ' s leadership in the Communist Party of China . Mao would never forget the Ye ' s contribution , observing later that " Ye Jianying saved the ( Chinese Communist ) Party , the ( Chinese ) Red Army , and the ( Chinese ) Revolution " . During the Long March , Ye assisted Liu Bocheng in directing the crossing of the Yangtze River at Anshunchang and Luding Bridge . After 1936 , Ye became director of the offices that liaised with the KMT , first in Xi ' an , then in Nanjing and finally in Chongqing . He worked together with Zhou Enlai in this capacity . After the establishment of the People ' s Republic of China , Ye was placed in charge of Guangdong , which was to cost him his political career under Mao ' s reign . Ye understood that the economic conditions in Canton were very different than those in the rest of China , since most Cantonese landlord s were peasants themselves who participated in production without exploiting their tenants . He therefore declined to dispossess the landlords , and instead protected their businesses and land . However , Ye ' s policies contradicted the general directives of the Party - mandated land reform , which emphasized class struggle . His policies deemed too soft , Ye and his local cadres were soon replaced by Lin Biao ' s , and a much harsher policy was implemented , with Ye ' s political career effectively over . However , Mao did not forget what Ye had done for him during the Long March , and thus removed him only from political posts while preserving his military positions . As a result , until 1968 , Ye remained active in various military functions , having been made a marshal in 1955 . Ye was clever in using his military influence to provide limited support and protection for reformers like Zhao Ziyang , and he was responsible for interfering with assassination attempts on Deng Xiaoping during the Cultural Revolution . After Lin Biao was overthrown in 1971 , Ye ' s influence grew , and in 1975 he was appointed Defense Minister , taking Lin Biao ' s post . From 1973 , he was also a Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China . He led the conspiracy of generals and Party elders that overthrew Jiang Qing and the Gang of Four ; during initial planning at his residence , he and Li Xiannian communicated by writing , although they sat next to each other , because of the possibility of bugging . Thanks to Ye ' s support of Hua Guofeng , he was confirmed as vice - chairman at the Eleventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1977 . A year later he was appointed Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People ' s Congress ( i . e . Head of State ) , filling a post left unoccupied since Zhu De ' s death in 1976 . Because the physical demands Defense Minister were too great for the octogenarian Ye , he resigned from that position in 1980 , retaining only the mostly - ceremonial job of vice - chairman . Ye retired completely from the Politburo in 1985 and died a little over a year later at the age of 88 .