Li Zuocheng (born October 1953) was the commander of the People's Liberation Army from January 2016, the first to hold that post.
Biography[]
Li Zuocheng was born in October 1953 in Anhua, Hunan, China, and he joined the People's Liberation Army in 1970 at the age of 17. He served with the Guangxi Military District during the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979, and his company was called a "hero company" by the Central Military Commission. In 1982, he joined the National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the young age of 29, and in 1994 he became a division commander. In 1997, he made the rank of Major-General. In the 2000s, Li Zuocheng held a variety of military commands, serving as commander of the Guangzhou Military Region in 2002, the Chengdu Military Region in 2013, and the People's Liberation Army Ground Force on 1 January 2016. He was the first commander of the ground force, and he was promoted on the same day as the reformation of the Chinese military.