Nie Rongzhen

Biography

Nie was born in Jiangjin County in Sichuan (now part of Chongqing municipality), the cosmopolitan and well-educated son of a wealthy family. In his 20s, Nie applied to the Université du Travail (University of Labour) in Charleroi, Belgium, with a scholarship from the Socialist Party, and was thus able to study science in Charleroi.

Political leanings

Zhou Enlai spent a night in Charleroi and met with Nie. Nie agreed to join the group of Chinese students in France on a work-study program, in which he studied engineering and became a protégé of Zhou Enlai. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1923.

A graduate of the Soviet Red Army Military College and Whampoa Academy, Nie spent his early career first as a political officer in Whampoa's Political Department, where Zhou served as the deputy director, and in the Chinese Red Army.

World War II

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, he was first assigned as the deputy division commander of the 115th division of the Eighth Route Army, with the commander being Lin Biao, and in the late 1930s he was given a field command close to Yan Xishan's Shanxi stronghold. This assignment was one of the 8th Route Army's first moves was to build guerrilla bases. A unit of 2,000 troops from the 115th Division under General Nieh Jung-chen moved to Wutai Mountain to establish what was to be called the Chin-Ch'a-Chi Border Region.

Civil War

In the Chinese Civil War he commanded the Northern China Military Region, and with his deputy Xu Xiangqian, his force defeated Fu Zuoyi's forces in Tianjin near Beijing in the Pingjin campaign alongside Lin Biao and Luo Ronghuan. During the Korean War, Nie took part in high level command decision making, military operations planning, and shared responsibility for war mobilization. Nie was promoted to marshal in 1955 and later ran the Chinese nuclear weapons program.

He established the Bayi School in 1947.

People's Republic of China

Nie was one of the leaders of the Scientific Planning Commission, which the State Council established in March 1956.

In June 1958, Mao changed the party and government structure by establishing groups in charge of finance, legal matters, foreign affairs, science, and culture and education which bypassed the State Council. Nie was made the head of the science group.

He later served as vice chairman of the Central Military Committee, which controlled the nation's armed forces, and also became the vice chairman of the National People's Congress.

Chinese nuclear programme

In 1958, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission (NDSTC) was established with Nie as its director to oversee the Second Ministry of Machine Building, the Lop Nur Nuclear Weapon Test Base, and the Fifth Academy of the Defense Ministry (which focused on missile programs). As director of the NDSTC, Nie made China's minimum deterrence doctrine explicit, stating, "To free ourselves of the frequent bullying and oppression of the imperialists for over one century, we must develop advanced weapons, missiles and atomic bombs, so that we have the minimum means of reprisal when we are attacked by the imperialists nuclear weapons."

In Nie's view, China's development of nuclear missiles was important because "[w]ithout nuclear missiles, we cannot break the nuclear blackmail of the imperialists."

By spring 1969, "The whole Chinese nuclear weapons program [was] under the authority of Nieh Jung-chen [Rongzhen], the head of the Seventh Ministry for Machine Building."

Cultural Revolution

Nie was among those criticised the Cultural Revolution Group in early 1967. He was part of the February Countercurrent.

He was variously accused of factionalism by opponents and engaged in political maneuvering to preserve his role as director of China's military technological commission.

Afterwards

During the debate regarding the Two Whatevers, Nie criticised the idea, writing in a 5 September 1977 article in Red Flag that seeking truth from facts was the most important part of Mao Zedong's theoretical legacy.

Nie retired from the Central Committee in September 1985.

He retired in 1987 and died in Beijing.

Personal life

Nie had a daughter with Zhang Ruihua (张瑞华) in 1930, named Nie Li. Li and Zhang Ruihua were imprisoned by the Kuomintang in 1934 and reunited with Nie in 1945. Nie Li was the first woman to be a lieutenant general in the PLA.

References

References

1. link
2. (2018-06-01). "What we can learn from Xi's childhood". [[China Daily]].
3. Zheng, Qian. (2020). "An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China". Royal Collins.
4. Chen, Jian. (2024). "Zhou Enlai: A Life". [[Harvard University Press]].
5. Zhang, Hui. (2025). "The Untold Story of China's Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing: A Technical History". [[The MIT Press]].
6. [[Francis James]]. (August 9, 1969). "The first Western look at the secret H-bomb centre in China". [[The Toronto Star]].
7. Guoyou, Wu. (2020). "An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China". Royal Collins.
8. link. (10 April 2008)