Deng Yanda

Deng Yanda (simplified Chinese: 邓演达; traditional Chinese: 鄧演達; pinyin: Dèng Yǎndá; Jyutping: dang⁶ jin²daat⁶, 1 March 1895 – 29 November 1931) was a military officer in the Chinese Nationalist Party. He broke with party leaders in 1927, denouncing them as traitors to the party's original principles and in 1930 attempted to form a new party, which he called the Provisional Action Committee of the Chinese Nationalist Party (later renamed Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party). In 1931 he was convicted of treason by the Nationalist government and executed.

Life

Deng Yanda was born in Huizhou County, Guangdong province. He was educated in military schools in Guangdong and Wuhan, graduating from Baoding Military Academy in 1919. Deng was recruited to the Guangdong Army in 1920 and fought under the Nationalist officer Deng Keng. When Sun Yat-sen announced his policy of alliance with the Soviet Union in 1923, Deng strongly supported it and was appointed to the preparatory committee for the Whampoa Military Academy which the Russians helped the Chinese Nationalists build. He was an important commander in the Northern Expedition (1926–1928) which the Nationalists launched to unify China. When Chiang Kai-shek broke with the Chinese Communist Party and Russia, Deng denounced Chiang and left China for Russia and Europe, where he lived from 1927 to 1930. On his return to China, Deng attempted to form a new party, which he called the Provisional Action Committee of the Chinese Nationalist Party (renamed Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party in 1947). Deng vigorously attacked Chiang Kai-shek as a dictator, angering the Nationalist government in Nanjing. He further angered them when he supported an anti-Chiang secessionist movement in Guangzhou in 1931. He was arrested in Shanghai's International Settlement on 17 August 1931, and extradicted to Nanjing, where he was executed on 29 November 1931. His tomb is located near Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum on Zhongshan Mountain near Nanjing

Political beliefs

Deng's views were socialist but after he left the Nationalists, he did not align with other parties, insisting that China's revolution should not managed to fit the needs of Russia or the Comintern. After Deng's death, his party supported the short-lived Fujian People's Government which opposed Chiang Kai-shek and sought an alliance with the Chinese Communists. The party eventually became one of the eight legal non-Communist parties in the People's Republic of China, where Deng is now recognised as a "Revolutionary Martyr." Although Deng's views are sometimes identified with those of Soong Ching-ling, Sun Yat-sen's widow, Soong did not join Deng's party and refused an offer to become its leader after his death.

References

• Boorman, Howard L. ed. Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967-71.
• Epstein, Israel. Woman in History: Life and Times of Soong Ching Ling (Mme. Sun Yatsen). 2nd ed. Beijing: New World Press, 1995.
• Rulers, De-Dh
• Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism