Published : 2025-08-11
In mid-August 1945, during the critical juncture of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De (朱德) issued seven orders in succession. Among them, in the fourth counterattack order issued on August 11, the name "Liberation Army" was proposed for the first time.
The predecessor of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (中國工農紅軍).
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in accordance with the agreement reached with the Kuomintang, the Communist Party of China (CPC) reorganised the main force of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army (i.e., the Eighth Route Army), appointing Zhu De as its general commander and Peng Dehuai (彭德懷) as deputy general commander.
On October 2, 1937, the Central Committee of the CPC also reorganised the Red Army guerrilla forces in 13 regions of 8 provinces including Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hubei, Henan, and Anhui into the newly formed Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, abbreviated as the New Fourth Army, with Ye Ting (葉挺) appointed as the army commander and Xiang Ying (項英) as the deputy army commander.
After the "September 18 Incident," the people of Northeast China rose against the Japanese invaders under the call of the Communist Party of China, forming anti-Japanese guerrilla forces, the Northeastern People's Revolutionary Army, and anti-Japanese volunteer armies.
By the end of 1934, the Manchurian Provincial Committee of the CPC successively reorganised these anti-Japanese armed forces into 11 armies. In February 1936, they formed the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (東北抗日聯軍).
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army merged with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army that had advanced to the Northeast to form the Northeast Democratic United Army.
In 1945, after Commander-in-Chief Zhu De issued the fourth order, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the Northeast Democratic United Army were successively renamed as the People's Liberation Army.
By November 1, 1948, after the Central Military Commission (CMC) issued a general order, all units of the army were uniformly renamed the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The general order explicitly stipulated that all units from the regiment and regional levels upward must bear the name "Chinese People's Liberation Army" (中國人民解放軍).
