PLA Troops Enter Beijing 60 Years Ago this Week

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pla-beijing

PLA troops entering Beijing

BEIJING, Feb. 4 – In this year of important Chinese anniversaries, 60 years ago communist troops from the People’s Liberation Army took control of Beijing following the city’s occupation by Kuomingtang troops during the Chinese civil war.

Following negotiations between the surrounded KMT forces and the PLA, KMT general Fu Zuoyi agreed to evacuate the city peacefully on January 2o, 1949. KMT troops evacuated the city on January 27, and afterwards, around 30,000 PLA troops began entering the city. According to eyewitness accounts, the arrival of the PLA in Beijing was greeted with relief and celebrations – the city’s citizens had suffered as the increasingly desperate KMT troops to hoard food. The PLA held a victory parade in the city on February 3.

Following the PLA’s victory in Beijing, communist forces continued south, crossing the Yangtze on April 21 and taking the Nationalist capital of Nanjing. By that time, Chiang Kai-shek and the remains of the Nationalist had largely begun their retreat to Taiwan.

pla_flagDepicted here is the PLA flag, with the yellow star at the Canton and the Chinese numerals 8 and 1, being the date of the establishment of the Army. The PLA dates back to 1927 when it was formed as the security force for the nascent Communist Party of China.

The flag of the People’s Republic of China, with its five yellow stars on a red background, has flown over Tiananmen Square every day since, replacing the KMT flag which is still used in Taiwan.