He served as an officer in the imperial army and in the republican force that succeeded it. He became a communist in 1925, presenting his inherited wealth to the party. With Mao Zedong he organized and trained early units of the People’s Liberation Army (1931) in Jiangxi and served as its commander-in-chief until 1954. He was a leader of the Long March of 1934–35 and commanded the 8th Route Army against the Japanese between 1939 and 1945 before overseeing the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. He became marshal in 1955 and remained influential until purged during the Cultural Revolution. He was restored to favour in 1967 and lived out his life in honoured retirement.