Yang Shangkun and Yang Baibing: Brothers and colleagues, welcome to read the 4555th issue of Shiyuan's History Column. In the late 80s of the 20th century, the post of secretary general of the ** Military Commission was concurrently held by state leaders, and Comrade Yang Shangkun was one of them. However, in 1988, Yang Shangkun was elected president of the People's Republic of China, and due to his busy daily work, he was no longer suitable to serve in the army. After deliberation by the Military Commission, in November 1989, Yang Shangkun's younger brother, General Yang Baibing, succeeded him and became the new Secretary-General of the Military Commission.
It is rare for these two brothers to achieve a handover of posts at the top of our army. The Yang family had a total of 13 siblings, most of whom participated in the Red Revolution, but their personal development trajectories varied. Yang Shangkun is the fifth, and Yang Baibing is the twelfth brother, whose real name is Yang Shangzheng. Yang Shangkun's military and political resume is extremely prominent, he served as the political commissar of the Red Third Army Corps during the Red Army, and he is on a par with Marshal ***, and the two are tacit military and political partners. During the reform and opening up period in the 80s, Yang Shangkun actively promoted national policies and was highly valued by the best comrades.
This is not the first time he has served as the secretary general of the ** Military Commission, he took office as early as the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and he took up the post again in 1981. However, at the end of the 80s, Yang Shangkun was in a high position and really had no time to take care of military affairs, so the post of secretary general of the Military Commission was taken over by Yang Baibing. This personnel adjustment has nothing to do with kinship, and it is entirely because Yang Baibing has obtained an important position with his outstanding ability. Although Yang Baibing's reputation is not as good as that of his brother, he is also an important political general of the people's army, and his characteristics are very similar to Yang Shangkun.
In 1988, Yang Baibing won the rank of general. A total of 17 generals were selected that year, including Yang Baibing, director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army. Although Yang Shangkun is in a high position in the party and government, he missed the two major awards after the founding of the People's Republic of China due to the needs of his work. His younger brother, Yang Baibing, who was born in 1920, only received the rank of colonel when he was initially evaluatedHowever, after years of experience and promotion, in the 80s, Yang Baibing became the political commissar of the Beijing Military Region and served as the head of the large military region.
Although he respected his brother Yang Shangkun very much, Yang Baibing's early impression of him was not direct: when Yang Baibing was 6 years old, Yang Shangkun went to the Soviet Union to study. In the 30s of the last century, Yang Baibing joined the unit of the head of "Liu Deng", participated in long-term battles, and participated in the offensive in the southwest of Erye until the end of the Liberation War. In the war, he performed well, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he stayed in the southwest army system, successively serving as deputy director of the Political Department of the Chengdu Military Region until the end of the 70s, when he was transferred to Beijing.
As the last secretary general of the Military Commission in the history of our army, Yang Baibing's position ceased to exist after 1992 due to structural and functional adjustments. His elder brother Yang Yangong had organized the famous Lushun Uprising in 1926 and was one of the elders of our party, but during his tenure in the Military Committee of the Chongqing Prefectural Committee, Yang Yangong was betrayed by traitors in April 1927 and died heroically. Yang Baibing's other brother, Yang Shangkun, died in 1998, while he himself died in 2013.
In addition, Yang Bailin, the youngest sister of the Yang family, married Liao Hansheng, a famous founding lieutenant general and former vice minister of defense.