MILLET AND RIFLES AGAINST JAPANESE INVASION

    Under pressure to defend China against invasion from Japan, the Kuomintang was forced to collaborate with the Communists. The Communist military forces were integrated into the National Revolutionary Army led by the Kuomintang, forming the Eighth Route Army in the north and the New Fourth Army in the south. Li was a battalion officer in the Eighth Route Army.

    Though better equipped, "xiaomi jia buqiang" or "millet and rifles", were the basic equipment of the military forces. The two military groups used primarily guerrilla tactics but also managed to fight a number of conventional battles with the Japanese.

    "We have no food and uniforms, but enemies will deliver them to us,

    we have no guns and cannons, but enemies will make them for us."

    This became a famous couplet from the "Song of the Guerilla", written in 1938, and sung by Li and his fellow soldiers during the war. It is still sung today.

    Following the victory over Japan in 1945, the Kuomintang-Communist collaboration collapsed and the two armies were once again embroiled in civil war.

    Armed with more advanced weapons imported from the United States, the Kuomintang troops were superior to the Communist army, which now fought under a new name, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), in every aspect from weaponry and manpower to logistics.

    Few people anticipated that the PLA, with its simple "millet and rifle" approach, could overwhelm the Kuomintang troops in just a few years and drive them to Taiwan. Its sweeping victory led to the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949.

    NEW CHINA

    Shortly after the founding of New China, Li and his troops, under the name of the People's Volunteer Army, crossed the Yalu River to join the Korean War as international forces led by the United States neared the Chinese border.

    With virtually no air defenses, the Chinese troops suffered hugely from air attacks led by the U.S. forces. Thousands of soldiers were killed and the army's logistic supply was seriously damaged.

    Li, then a deputy commander of the 67th army corps, said the fiercest battle occurred at Jinchengchuan in October 1951, which lasted 10 days and left nearly 15,000 Chinese soldiers killed. "But we also killed more than 23,000 enemy troops," Li said.

    The 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire, served as a catalyst for the rapid modernization of the PLA.

    Mao Zedong, the late Chinese leader and one of the founders of the PLA, set to work on strengthening its navy and air force, which were set up in late 1949, using technological and financial aid from the Soviet Union.

    In 1956, China unveiled its first jet fighter and developed its own atom bomb in the late 1950s and a hydrogen bomb in the late 1960s.

    Establishing a professional military force equipped with modern weapons and doctrines was one of the "Four Modernizations" announced by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1964.

    In 1966, the PLA set up its strategic missile troops, the Second Artillery Force. Li, who entered a military academy after returning from Korea, continued his career in the Army. In 1977, Li, now a major general, was appointed commander of the Second Artillery Force.