Author: Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
Date: 04-30-02 14:23
Zhu De, chief of the cooks
Reading through the old Hakka Forum I found this article
"Zhu De (朱德), the Chief of the Cooks" by me on Mon, 12 Jan 1998.
Many of our new Hakka readers may not have read it before. I think it
is interesting to repost it.
Zhu De was the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Red Army, the
present day People Liberation Army (PLA). He was born in 1886
into a poor Hakka farmer family in Yi Xian (義縣) of Sichuan province
(四川省). He studied the Chinese classic for six years in his home
village school. He was a primary school teacher before he enrolled in
the Military College of Yunnan province (雲南講武堂). After his graduation
he joined the army under the command of Cai E (蔡鍔) as a Lieutenant.
Zhu De took part in the revolution against the Qing Government (清朝).
He rose to the rank of Colonel when the Republic of China was established.
After the death of Cai E he became the commander of the police force in the province of Yunnan.
In 1921 Zhu De went to study Social Science in Germany. In Germany he
met Zhou En Lai (周恩來), Deng Xiao Ping (鄧小平) and many others who
later became the leaders in the Chinese Communist Party. Zhu De became
the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Red Army in 1932.
After the collapse of the Nanchang Uprising (南昌起義) on the first of August
1927 Zhu De led his forces and retreated to Swatow (汕頭) in Guangdong
province (廣東省). Later they were driven out of Swatow and they withdrew to
the provinces of Jiangxi (江西省) and then to Hunan (湖南省). Zhu De's forces
were reduced to about 900 men, 500 rifles and one machine gun and a few
rounds of ammunition each. Zhu De accepted the offer by Fan Shih-Sheng,
a Yunnanese general. Zhu De's forces were incorporated into the 16th army
of General Fan.
This is an excerpt from "Red Star Over China" by Edgar Snow
First published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz 1937.
"..........Communist influence in Fan Shih-sheng's army rapidly increased,
and soon an anti-Bolshevik faction, secretly connected with Chiang Kai-shek, planned a coup against Chu Teh. One night, he was staying in an inn with only
forty of his followers, when he was attacked by a force under Hu Chi-lung,
leader of the coup. Shooting began at once, but it was dark and the assassins
could not see clearly. When several of them aimed revolvers at (Zhu De's)
Chu Teh's head he cried out excitedly,
"Don't shoot me, I'm only the cook. Don't shoot a man who can cook for you!"
The soldiers, touched to the stomach, hesited, and Chu Teh was led outside
for closer inspection. There he was recognized by a cousin of Hu Chi-lung,
who shouted,
"Here is Chu Teh! Kill him!".
But Chu Teh pulled out a concealed weapon of his own, shot the man,
overcame his guard, and fled. Only five of his men escaped with him.
This incident explained the nicknamed by which Chu Teh had ever
since been known in the Red Army- "Chief of the Cooks"................."
Red Star Over China
by Edgar Snow
Edgar Snow was the first Western (American) reporter visited Yan An
(延安) in 1936 just after the Long March (長征).
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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