Cheng Qian was a Chinese military general and revolutionary. He occupied a number of significant military and political posts in the Kuomintang and in Sun Yat-Sen's government from the late 1910s through the 1940s. By the late 1940s he was one of the most powerful members of the Kuomintang, and in 1948, he was a successful candidate for the vice-presidency of the KMT Nationalist government. He was also Governor of Hunan, his native province and in whose political affairs he had been active all his life. In August 1949, he peacefully surrendered to the Communists, who were rapidly advancing on Guangzhou, then the seat of the KMT government, hastening the collapse of the defense of the KMT National Revolutionary Army. After 1949, Cheng held several important political positions in the People's Republic of China until his death in 1968.
After having studied at a private school and having passed examination in 1889, Cheng joined the Yuelu Academy in Changsha. Here he began to understand the current political situation and decided to give up imperial exams and a civil career in favor of the military. In 1903, when he was 21, he was admitted first to the Hunan Military Academy, and was sent the following year to study in Japan at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko, a military preparatory academy. While in Tokyo, he met Huang Xing, Li Liejun, and Song Jiaoren, future nationalist leaders, who fascinated him with their ideas. In 1905 Cheng joined Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui a secret revolutionary society, committed to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and modernize China. After serving as a cadet for one year in an artillery battalion in Himeji, he was admitted to the artillery school of the 6th class of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1907. One of his classmates was Tang Jiyao. After graduation in 1908, Cheng returned in China, where he was put in charge of training a New Army in Sichuan Province under Zhu Qinglan. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Cheng took part in the Wuchang Uprising and immediately after he participated in the Battle of Changsha. With the establishment of the Republic of China, Cheng was appointed military commander of Hunan. However, as Yuan Shikai staged his coup to control the Republic, Cheng tried to revolt, but his failure prompted him to flee to Japan, where he joined the Kuomintang and entered the Waseda University. Shortly after, Yuan Shikai tried to proclaim himself Emperor, causing the National Protection War. Cheng returned to Hunan to enlist rebel soldiers in Cai E's army. During the Constitutional Protection Movement he was first appointed military commander of Changsha, then Vice Minister of War in Sun Yat-sen's Guangzhou Government. He was put in charge of training troops in Guangzhou, and then took part in the Northern Expedition. From 1925 to 1927 he was the General commanding 6th Army, and briefly served as Chairman of the Government of the Hunan Province in 1928. In 1926 he was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.
