View source for Yu Qiuli

{{Short description|Chinese military and political leader (1914–1999)}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2015}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Yu (Chinese surname)|Yu (余)]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Yu Qiuli
| image               = Yu Qiuli.jpg
| imagesize           = 200px
| smallimage          = 
| caption             =
| office              = Director of the [[People's Liberation Army General Political Department]]
| term_start          = September 1982
| term_end            = November 1987
| order1              = [[Vice Premier of China]]
| premier1              = [[Zhou Enlai]]<br>[[Hua Guofeng]]<br>[[Zhao Ziyang]]
| term_start1         = January 1975
| term_end1           = May 1982
| order2              = [[Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission|Director of the State Planning Commission]]
| premier2              = Zhou Enlai<br>Hua Guofeng
| term_start2         = January 1975
| term_end2           = August 1980
| predecessor2      = [[Li Fuchun]]
| successor2        = [[Yao Yilin]]
| order3              = Minister of Petroleum
| premier3              = Zhou Enlai
| term_start3         = February 1958
| term_end3           = 1966
| predecessor3      = Li Jukui
| successor3        =
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1914|11|15|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Ji'an County]], [[Jiangxi]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1999|2|3|1914|11|15|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Beijing]], China
| nationality         = [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]]
| party               = [[Chinese Communist Party]]
| spouse              = Liu Suge
| children            = 
| native_name         = 余秋里
| native_name_lang    = zh
}}
'''Yu Qiuli''' ({{zh|c=余秋里|p=Yú Qiūlǐ}}; 15 November 1914 – 3 February 1999) was a Chinese [[Communist Party of China|Communist]] army officer and politician, general of the [[People's Liberation Army]]. A veteran of the [[Long March]], he held top military and government positions under both [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Deng Xiaoping]] and is considered the founding father of the Chinese [[petroleum industry]] and the [[China National Petroleum Corporation]].<ref name="bio">中国人民解放军《中国人民解放军高级将领传》编审委员会，中国中共党史人物研究会《中国人民解放军高级将领传》编撰委员会编. 中国人民解放军高级将领传 第24卷. 北京: 解放军出版社. 2013: 241–322. {{ISBN|978-7-5065-6608-7}}.</ref>

Following military service as a senior commander and [[political commissar]] in the [[Second Sino–Japanese War]] and the [[Chinese Civil War]], Yu then served as Minister of the Petroleum Industry (1958–1966), Chairman of the [[National Development and Reform Commission|State Planning Commission]] (1970–1980), [[Vice Premier of China|Vice Premier]] (1975–1982), and Deputy Secretary-General of the [[Central Military Commission (China)|Central Military Commission]] as well as Director of the [[PLA General Political Department]] (in effect, responsible for ensuring the political loyalty of the entire PLA) from 1982 to 1987.<ref name="bio"/>

==Early life and military service==
Yu was born in [[Ji'an]], [[Jiangxi]], in 1914, three years after the collapse of China's last imperial dynasty, into a poor peasant family. By the age of 14 he had taken part in a peasant uprising. At 16 he joined the [[Chinese Communist Party]]. Yu was among the tens of thousands of guerrillas and their supporters who from 1934 joined the [[Long March]] in an effort to break through the [[Kuomintang]] blockades around the Communist base in the south. In 1936, he was injured in the arm during a skirmish with pursuing nationalist forces. He continued on the journey north over treacherous terrain. Nine months later, after he had completed a journey of thousands of miles in terrible pain, his arm was amputated. "I am a man who has gone through nine deaths," Yu told the American journalist [[Harrison Salisbury]] in 1984.

From November 1936 to August 1937, he received advanced military and political training at the [[Counter-Japanese Military and Political University]].<ref name="bio"/>

During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] of 1937–1945, he served as Director of the Political Department of the 358th Brigade and in the subsequent [[Chinese Civil War]], as Commander and Political Commissar of the 1st Division of the 1st Field Army, he played a leading role in the capture of [[Qinghai]].<ref name="bio"/>

==Early People's Republic==
After the Communist victory in 1949, Yu Qiuli was transferred to the [[Southwest China|Southwest]], serving as a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Western [[Sichuan]] District of the CCP and as the Principal and Political Commissar of the Senior [[Infantry]] School. In December 1954, he was called to [[Beijing]] and was named Director of the General Finance Department of the PLA, holding that position until early 1957, when he became Director of the [[People's Liberation Army General Logistics Department|PLA General Logistics Department]]. In September 1955, he was awarded the rank of [[lieutenant general]].

==Petroleum Industry==
In February 1958, he became the Second Minister for the Petroleum Industry,<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=23}} and decided to focus on oilfield exploration. He replaced Li Jukui in this role, a change made at the recommendation of Peng Dehaui.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=23}} This move thrust him into a far more prominent role in the Communist government. In the following year, the discovery of huge oil reserves in [[Daqing oil field|Daqing]] in the desolate wastes of north-eastern China gave him a mission for which he is much remembered. Yu became the leader of the so-called "Petroleum Group" of officials which promoted the Daqing model of industrialization.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Hou |first=Li |title=Building for Oil: Daqing and the Formation of the Chinese Socialist State |date=2021 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |isbn=978-0-674-26022-1 |edition= |series=[[Harvard-Yenching Institute]] monograph series |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=3}}

=== Daqing Oil Field ===
Yu was in charge of the development of the [[Daqing Oil Field|Daqing oil field]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Meyskens |first=Covell F. |url= |title=Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China |date=2020 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-78478-8 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |doi=10.1017/9781108784788 |oclc=1145096137 |s2cid=218936313}}</ref>{{Rp|page=52}} During its 1960 construction as part of the [[Great Leap Forward]], Yu mobilized workers building the Daqing oil field through ideological motivation instead of material incentives, focusing enthusiasm, energy, and resources to complete a rapid industrialization project.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=52–53}} Yu read [[Mao Zedong]]'s writing to workers, urging them to engage in the hard labor at hand out of commitment to the building of Chinese socialism.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=52}} In April 1960, Yu stated that Mao's texts ''[[On Contradiction]]'' and with ''[[On Practice]]'' would be the ideological core of the campaign to develop the oil field.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=150}}  The Petroleum Ministry shipped thousands of copies by plane so that every Daqing oil worker would have copies and for work units to each set up their own study groups.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=150}}

Under Yu's direction, the mosquito-infested marshland - in winter, an expanse of ice<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=52}} - was transformed into China's biggest oil production centre. The economic benefits of the project were critical because without the production of the Daqing oil field, crude oil would have been severely limited after the Soviet Union cut off supplies as a result of the [[Sino-Soviet split]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=53}}

The successful construction of the Daqing oil field despite harsh weather conditions and supply limitations became a model held up by the Communist Party as an example during subsequent industrialization campaigns.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=52–54}} On February 5, 1964, the central Party promoted Daqing oil field to other industrial enterprises, instructing them to follow the "all-out battle" tactics of Daqing oil field.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=53}} Shortly afterwards, Mao Zedong praised the Daqing oil field at an education work conference, stating that with a "little investment" in a "short period of time" a "great achievement" had been finished.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=54}} Daqing oil field produced the famous Maoist icon [[Wang Jinxi|Iron Man Wang]], who, in order to stop a blow-out, leapt into a pool of liquid concrete to mix it using his own body. Yu chose Wang as the first model worker from Daqing oil field.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=137–138}}

=== After Daqing ===
After his success in Daqing, Yu went on to establish several more major production centres. In 1964, China declared itself self-sufficient in oil. That year, Yu was moved into the most important government ministry related to the economy, the [[State Planning Commission of China|State Planning Commission]], as vice director.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=103}} He also functioned as the ''de facto'' director of the commission until 1980.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=103}}

In 1965, Mao made Yu the top drafter of the Third [[Five-year plans of China|Five Year Plan]] and put him in charge of relocating major industries to the remote hinterland of south-western China.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=104}} Yu had a major role in the [[Third Front (China)|Third Front Construction]].<ref name=":0222">{{Cite book |last=Hirata |first=Koji |title=Making Mao's Steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-38227-4 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China series |location=New York, NY |doi=10.1017/9781009382281}}</ref>{{Rp|page=249}}

Yu was involved in the [[February Countercurrent]] of 1967, an intra-party conflict in which a group of military leaders opposed the direction of the [[Cultural Revolution]] and the [[Gang of Four]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}} Yu supported the military leaders who contended that the Cultural Revolution had disrupted the social order and undermined Party leadership, although his criticism was not nearly as forceful as the criticism from leaders like [[Chen Yi (marshal)|Chen Yi]] and [[Tan Zhenlin]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}} The radical side prevailed in the dispute and several leaders who had been a part of the February Countercurrent were required to take leaves of absence and make [[Self-criticism (Marxism–Leninism)|self-criticisms]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}} Given his lower rank than others who were part of the February Countercurrent, Yu was able to retain his position.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}}

However, Yu also became a frequent target of [[Red Guards]] in Beijing and was subjected to numerous denunciation sessions.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}} At one point, radical students confined him to the Beijing Oil Institute until [[Zhou Enlai]] contacted the [[Cultural Revolution Group]] to intercede with the students and allow Yu to return to work.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}}

Also during the Cultural Revolution, Petroleum Minister [[Kang Shi'en]] was told to denounce Yu.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}} Kang refused and was forced out of his position as a result.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=154}}

In 1975, Yu was appointed [[Vice Premier of China|Vice Premier]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1999-02-20 |title=Obituary: Yu Qiuli |url=https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/obituary-yu-qiuli-1071927.html |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

After the death of Mao in 1976, Yu was promoted to the Politburo. He was a member of what is commonly referred to as the "petroleum faction" or "petroleum group," a group of senior officials who advocated using the profits from petroleum exports to finance high technology imports from the West and Japan. These officials were essentially Stalinists in their economic thinking, favoring central planning and heavy industry - a strategy that clashed with that of the ascendant Deng. As Deng's political fortunes rose in the late 1970s, those of the petroleum faction waned. Yu was forced to make a self-criticism after the collapse of a Japanese-made oil rig in the [[Bohai Gulf]] in 1979, and in 1980 he was transferred from the chairmanship of the State Planning Commission to the less high-profile post of head of the State Energy Commission.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

==Political overseer of the PLA==
In 1982, however, Yu was back in uniform, as Deng named him Deputy Secretary-General of the [[Central Military Commission (China)|Central Military Commission]] and Director of the [[PLA General Political Department]], a position of massive influence in the PLA, being responsible for checking and ensuring the political reliability and loyalty of all military personnel, and often described as "Military Grand Inquisitor".<ref>Whitson, William and Huang Chen-hsia, ''The Chinese High Command: A History of Military Politics, 1927-71'' (Praeger, New York: 1973) p. 255, 550.</ref> Yu held these posts until 1987, when he retired.<ref name="bio"/>

During the First Plenary Session of the [[12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|12th Central Committee]], Yu was elected as a Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guoyou |first=Wu |title=An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China |last2=Xuemei |first2=Ding |date=2020 |publisher=Royal Collins Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4878-0392-6 |editor-last=Zheng |editor-first=Qian |volume=3 |location=Montreal, Quebec |pages=189 |translator-last=Sun |translator-first=Li |translator-last2=Bryant |translator-first2=Shelly}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Salisbury, Harrison E. ''The New Emperors'' {{ISBN|0-380-72025-6}}

==External links==
*[http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/3728] on ''chinavitae.com''
*[http://www.china.com.cn/chinese/zhuanti/208055.htm] on ''china.com.cn''  
"Obituary: Yu Qiuli", [[The Independent]], Feb 20, 1999  by James Miles

{{4th State Council of China}}
{{12th Politburo of the Communist Party of China}}
{{11th Politburo of the Communist Party of China}}
{{Vice Premiers of the People's Republic of China}}
{{State councillors}}{{Chairpersons of the National Development and Reform Commission}}{{Commanders of the PLA General Logistics Department}}
{{First PLA lieutenant generals}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Qiuli}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Cultural Revolution]]
[[Category:Members of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:People's Liberation Army generals from Jiangxi]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangxi]]
[[Category:Ministers of petroleum industry of the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Politicians from Ji'an]]
[[Category:State councillors of China]]
[[Category:Members of the 12th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 11th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Chinese amputees]]
[[Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangxi]]
[[Category:Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery]]