Throughout the history of the People's Republic of China, the position that effectively reigned as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces changed from time to time. During some periods, it was not exactly clear who was the supreme commander of the People's Liberation Army.
From 1954 to 1969, the de jure Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was the President of the People's Republic of China, who was also the Chairman of the National Defence Council. However, a similar command structure inside the communist party known as the Party Central Military Commission, whose Chairman was the de facto Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The CMC Chairman, Mao Zedong, who from 1954 to 1959, was PRC's 1st President. Vice-Chairs included Liu Shaoqi, who from 1959 to 1969, was PRC's second president. Even though the President was the de jure supreme commander of the military, it nonetheless was a subordinate of the CMC Chairman.
From 1969 to 1978, the head of the military was the Chairman of the Central Committee of the CPC. This gave constitutional power to the head of the Chinese Communist Party.
From 1978 onwards, the Commander-in-Chief was the Chairman of the CMC. This position, however did not always give the person entitled the top command as was the case with Hua Guofeng. Deng Xiaoping was able to effectively control the military as the Chief of Staff of the PLA from 1978-1980.
Famous quotes containing the words supreme, military, command, people, republic and/or china:
“For man, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive. Whatever the unborn may know, they cannot know the beauty, the marvel of being alive in the flesh. The dead may look after the afterwards. But the magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman pass by!”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“In Africa, there is much confusion.... Before, there was no radio, or other forms of communication.... Now, in Africa ... the government talks, people talk, the police talk, the people don’t know anymore. They aren’t free.”
—Youssou N’Dour (b. 1959)
“Absolute virtue is impossible and the republic of forgiveness leads, with implacable logic, to the republic of the guillotine.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“In a country where misery and want were the foundation of the social structure, famine was periodic, death from starvation common, disease pervasive, thievery normal, and graft and corruption taken for granted, the elimination of these conditions in Communist China is so striking that negative aspects of the new rule fade in relative importance.”
—Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989)