People's Liberation Army

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA; Chinese: 中国人民解放军) is the armed forces of the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of China (CPC). 1 August is celebrated annually as the Army Day commemorating Nanchang Uprising on 1 August 1927. The PLA consists of five professional service branches: the Ground Force, the Navy, the Air Force, the Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force. The PLA is the world's largest military force, with a strength of approximately 2,285,000 personnel, 0.18% of the country's population. In September 2015, President Xi Jinping announced that he would reduce the country's military personnel by 300,000. The PLA's insignia consists of a roundel with a red star bearing the Chinese characters for Eight One, referring to August 1.

The PLA is under the command of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the CPC. Following the principle of civilian control of the military, the commander in chief is the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (usually the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China). The Ministry of National Defense, which operates under the State Council, does not exercise any authority over the PLA and is far less powerful than the CMC. A system of political officers embedded within the military assures party authority over the armed forces, so that the primary role of the Ministry of Defense is that of a liaison office with foreign militaries. The political and military leadership have made a concerted effort to create a professional military force restricted to national defence and to the provision of assistance in domestic economic construction and emergency relief. This conception of the role of the PLA requires the promotion of specialised officers who can understand modern weaponry and handle combined arms operations. Troops around the country are stationed in five military theaters and more than 20 military districts.

Liberation Army

Liberation Army may refer to:

General

Africa

Asia

Europe

America

Chinese people

Chinese people are the various individuals or groups of people associated with China (or Greater China), either by reason of ancestry or heredity, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, place of residence, or other affiliations.

Ancestry or heredity

A number of ethnic groups within the region of China, as well as people elsewhere with ancestry in the region, may be referred to as Chinese people.

Han Chinese, the largest ethnic group in China, are often referred to as "Chinese" or "ethnic Chinese" in English. Han Chinese also form a majority or large minority in other countries, and may comprise as much as 19% of the global human population.

Other ethnic groups in China include the Zhuang, Hui, Manchu, and Uyghurs, among many others. The People's Republic of China (PRC) officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, some of whom live in special administrative regions of the country. Taiwan officially recognizes 14 tribes of Taiwanese aborigines, who together with unrecognized tribes comprise about 2% of the country's population. The list of ethnic groups in China includes the major ethnic groups of China (PRC) and Taiwan.

Zheng Lücheng

Zheng Lücheng (Chinese 郑律成, Korean 정률성, Kwangju; 13 August 1918 – 7 December 1976) was a Korea-born Chinese composer. He is most notable for having composed the music to the Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army, to words by Gong Mu (公木; real name: Zhang Yongnian; Chinese: 张永年).

Early life

Zheng was born Cheong Buk'un (郑富恩) in the South Jeolla Province of what is now South Korea in either 1914 or 1918. Official records show his year of birth at 1918, but it is believed he may have concealed his age to maintain cover as an agent in Nanjing.

In 1933, Zheng moved to Nanjing in China, where he became associated with the Chinese Korean anti-Japanese movement and then with the communists.

Career

In 1937, in Yan'an, Zheng composed the song which was to become the military anthem of the People's Liberation Army.

In 1945, Zheng returned to Korea or, precisely, North Korea, where he worked as chief of the North Korean army's band and taught music at Pyongyang University. Zheng wrote the anthem of the North Korean Army, Tumen River, East Sea Fisherman and other songs.