Zou Yan (general)

Zou was born into a family of farming background in Xingguo County, Jiangxi, in 1915.^[1]

He enlisted in the Red Army in 1930, and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1935. During the Long March, he was communication foreman of the General Political Department. After graduating from the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, he worked in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and was rated as a model worker in 1942 due to his outstanding achievements in mass production movement. During the Chinese Civil War, he successively served as a political commissar in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, Mudanjiang Military District, Northeast Field Army, and Fourth Field Army.^[1]

After establishment of the Communist State in 1951, he was assigned to the Northeast Public Security Force as deputy political commissar, capturing the CIA spies Donnay and Fecteau.^[2][3][4] He attained the rank of major general (shaojiang) in 1955.^[2] In August 1969, he rose to become deputy political commissar of Shenyang Military Region, and served until December 1980. He retired in 1988.^[2][1]

On 2 April 2022, Yan died in Shenyang, Liaoning, at the age of 106.^[1]