Ye Ting () (April 10, 1896 – April 8, 1946), born in Huiyang, Guangdong, was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the Northern Expedition to reunify China after the 1911 Revolution. After serving with the Kuomintang, Ye later joined the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Early life
Ye was born on April 10, 1896 (August 4 of Guangxu 22nd year in Qing Dynasty) at Zhoutian village, Danshui town, in Guishan county, located in the Guangdong province. Ye's ancestors migrated from Ye county in Henan to the south, through Meizhou and Hingning, eventually settling in Guangdong. Ye's grandfather was Ye Hanchu, who had experience in medicine. Ye's father was Ye Xisan, who travelled to Malaysia in his early life to work on a plantation, learning how to plant tropical fruits. After returning to his hometown, Ye's father rented 11 mus' of farmland and planted fruit trees to make a living. Ye's mother's last name is Wu and he is the eighth child in the family.
Ye was energetic and helped his father with farming when he was young. He was sent to the nearby Tengyun school to study. Ye also studied at the Sericultural School of Huizhou in 1911. Before he left the school, his teacher Chen Jingru suggested that he change his name to Ye Ting. Under the influence of the Second Guangzhou Uprising, Ye led his schoolmates to cut their queue hairstyles and was expelled by his school. After this experience, Ye entered Huizhou middle school. After the Xinhai revolution, Ye's father made Ye marry Huang Chun, who was 2 years older, in an attempt to encourage his son to settle down.
Ye entered into Guangzhou Landforce Primary School in 1912. Ye graduated from the school in December 1914 and traveled north to Hubei, studying military knowledge in Hubei Army Second Preparatory School. At the end of 1916 after earning a place on the Dean's list, Ye was recommended for admission to Baoding Landforce Military Academy. During his studies at the military academy, Ye gained access to a number of new ideas through reading New Youth and other journals and books. Ye wrote to New Youth journal and raised the idea that "the root of morality" is at consciousness", and expressed his ideal of "reviving the dirty world and helped the weaks and the drowns". In 1918, he graduated from Baoding Landforce Military Academy. He planned to study abroad in Europe but failed due to lack of money. At this time, the old Guangxi clique leader Lu Rongting wanted Ye to be the county magistrate of Huiyang, but Ye refused. Ye followed Sun Yat-sen to participate in the revolution of 1919 introduced by He Ziyuan, the general headquarter senate of Sun's Guangdong Army and one of the founding members of the Xinhai revolution. Ye then joined the Guangdong Army in Changchow of Fukien, eventually joining the Kuomintang.
Military career
Ye joined the Kuomintang when Sun Yat-sen founded it in 1919, becoming a battalion commander in the National Revolutionary Army in 1921. In 1920, Sun had ordered the Guangdong Army to attack Mo Rongxin of the Old Guangxi clique. Ye's reputation had spread after the Huangpijing battle when his troops defeated an enemy who had four times as many troops as his own army. In October 1920, Ye took office as Deputy Battalion Commander of the Sapper Battalion. In 1921, he was transferred to the position of Battalion Commander of the guard regiment's second battalion of Sun's Marshall House of Land and Naval Forces. In June 1922, troops from the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong army bombarded the Marshall House. Ye was ordered to guard the forecourt of the Marshall House and helped Sun's wife, Soong Ching-ling, to escape danger. In 1924, Ye went to study at Communist University of the Toilers of the East in the Soviet Union. During this time, Ye joined the Communist Youth League of China and accepted Marxism. In December 1924, Lvmo branch of the Communist Party of China, who accepted Ye as a candidate Party member, having been introduced by Wang Ruofei and Wang Yifei. Ye transferred to the Institute of Red Professors February 1925 for training in military tactics and history.