World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseChen Daqing was born in Jiangxi, China. After graduating with the first class of the Whampoa Military Academy, he joined the Chinese Nationalist military and participated in various campaigns against warlord and communist forces through the 1920s and 1930s. At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, he was the commanding officer of the Chinese 4th Division, and would rise to corps-level command mid-war, and by the end of the war he was commanding the 19th Army. After the war, he was named the deputy chief of the Suiyuan military area. In 1946, he was transferred to the capital of Nanjing as the deputy commander of the city's garrison. In 1948, he was transferred to Quzhou, Zhejiang Province to serve in a political position, and was soon placed as the second-in-command of police forces in Shanghai. After fleeing to Taiwan with the government after the communist victory in the civil war, he remained in military and government service, becoming the deputy chief of the National Security Bureau in 1954. Between Jul 1959 and Jul 1964, he was the head of the National Security Bureau. In 1960, he was promoted to the rank of general second-class (equivalent to a full general). In Nov 1962, he was named the commander of all police forces in Taiwan. Between Jun 1967 and Jun 1973, he was the head of the Ministry of National Defense. Between Jul 1967 and Jun 1969, he was the commanding general of the Army of the Republic of China. Between 1969 and 1972, he was also the provincial governor of Taiwan. He passed away in 1973 and was posthumously promoted to the rank of general first-class (equivalent to the rank of field marshal or five-star general).

Chen Daqing Timeline

Photographs