Ren Bishi

Ren Bishi (Chinese: 任弼时; pinyin: Rén Bìshí; Wade–Giles: Jen Pi-shih; 30 April 1904 – 27 October 1950) was a military and political leader in the early Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In the early 1930s, Ren commanded the Fifth Red Army and was a central figure in the Hunan-Jiangxi Soviet, but he was forced to abandon his base after being pressured by Chiang Kai-shek's Fifth Encirclement Campaigns. In October 1934 Ren and his surviving troops joined the forces of He Long, who had set up a base in Guizhou. In the command structure of the new Second Front Army, He became the military commander and Ren served as its political commissar. Under threat from advancing Kuomintang troops, Ren and He were forced to retreat and went on to participate in the Long March in 1935. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ren was the representative of the CCP at the Communist International and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Ren was considered a rising figure within the CCP until his death at the age of 46. He was the fifth most senior party member of the 7th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party before his death.