1Events
General of the New Fourth ArmyCHN

Ye Ting

1896 – 1946 (49 years)
Biography

Ye Ting was one of the military figures through whom the Chinese revolutionary crisis moved from alliance politics into open communist-nationalist struggle and anti-Japanese resistance. His significance lies not only in his early role in the Northern Expedition and communist uprisings, but in his later command of the New Fourth Army, where questions of coalition warfare, guerrilla resistance, and political mistrust converged. He was historically important less for a single victory than for the conflicts his career connected. Ye Ting was connected to the first United Front period, the communist turn toward armed struggle after 1927, and the New Fourth Army Incident, which exposed the fragility of nationalist-communist cooperation. Chinese twentieth-century war cannot be understood without figures like him, who stood at the fault line between revolution, civil war, and resistance to Japan.

Quick Facts
Nationality
CHN
Born:
September 10, 1896
Died:
April 8, 1946
Key Events (1)
1896
Born:
31 years
1927
08-01Nanchang UprisingArmy Commander
19 years
1946
Died:
Sources & References
Ye Ting Mattered Because His Career Linked Early Revolutionary Alliance to Later Armed Schism
Revolutionary Transition

His importance begins with a career that crossed the frontier between cooperation and civil conflict in modern China.

Ye Ting mattered because he was present at decisive transitions in Chinese revolutionary warfare. His career moved from joint anti-warlord campaigning into communist insurgent struggle after the Nationalist-communist partnership collapsed.

Some commanders become historically significant by standing at the moment when coalition politics gives way to civil war.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
He Also Mattered Because He Helped Define the Communist Turn Toward Armed Resistance
Armed Struggle After 1927

The relevance of his early role lies in the shift from political partnership to military confrontation.

Ye was a Chinese military leader whose involvement in the uprisings of 1927 places him near the point where the Chinese Communist movement became durably military as well as political.

Revolutions often harden through failed cooperation and violent reorientation.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
The Importance of Ye Includes His Leadership of the New Fourth Army Against Japan
New Fourth Army Role

He mattered because anti-Japanese resistance and civil rivalry were entangled in the same command history.

Ye remains significant because the New Fourth Army became a major communist force operating behind Japanese lines while still formally situated within a united-front structure. His command role illustrates how resistance war and internal rivalry could coexist uneasily.

Coalition warfare often contains the seeds of later rupture.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
The New Fourth Army Incident and the Limits of United Front Warfare
Coalition Breakdown

Ye Ting's later career was shaped by the violent breakdown of Nationalist-communist cooperation.

Ye Ting's arrest and the destruction of the New Fourth Army revealed the depth of Nationalist-communist distrust. The incident showed that common resistance to Japan did not remove the logic of internal power struggle.

Wartime alliances can remain strategically temporary even when they appear ideologically necessary.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
Ye Ting
Assessment Notes

Ye Ting should be understood as a key Chinese revolutionary commander whose importance lies in the overlap of alliance warfare, communist militarization, and coalition breakdown.

Ye matters in conflict history because he links the Northern Expedition, communist armed struggle, anti-Japanese resistance, and the violent limits of united-front cooperation.

Concise reference entries compress internal party debates, yet they clearly support Ye's significance as a major conflict figure.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
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