[Hong Kong Kowloon Battalion] Tsang Sang
Description:
Birth:
1910
Death:
1995
Pre-war:
Zeng Sheng, originally named Zeng Zhensheng, was born in Pingshan (now Pingshan, Longgang District, Shenzhen). His father was an overseas Chinese in Australia, and both of his parents were Hakka. He received education in his hometown at a young age. At 10 years old, he enrolled in the Chiu Yin School on Kwong Wah Road, Hong Kong, but seemed to have trouble adapting to school life there, so he dropped out and continued his studies at the Guangzu Middle School in Pingshan. From 1923 to 1928, however, he attended Fort Street High School in Sydney, Australia. In 1929, he went to the affiliated middle school of Sun Yat-sen University for high school education, where he began to be exposed to communist ideas. In 1933, he enrolled in the Faculty of Education at the School of Arts of Sun Yat-sen University, during which he actively participated in leftist activities and became a member of the Chinese Youth League. In January 1936, he became chairman of the Sun Yat-sen University Staff and Workers' Resistance Association Executive Committee and participated in the anti-Japanese movement. However, as Chen Jitang, then ruler of Guangdong, cracked down on student movements, Zeng Sheng was also wanted. He then went to Hong Kong, first taught at a school for children of seamen, and later worked on Canadian Pacific Railway and Steamship Company's SS Empress of Japan, which sailed between Canada and Hong Kong. In his spare time, he set up the Huiping Philanthropic Society to organize other crew members. In September, after Chen Jitang left Guangzhou, he returned to continue his studies at Sun Yat-sen University and joined the Chinese Communist Party in October.
From the end of 1936, he went to Hong Kong and worked with Qiu Jin and Ye Pan to establish the Seamen Work Committee, and also founded the Hoi Wah School. He also set up organizations such as the Leisure Society and Hong Kong Huiyang Youth Association in Hong Kong to recruit young people. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Seamen's Union of Hong Kong was established, and he served as the head of the organization department. The union launched strikes against Japanese shipping, but in December 1937 the Hong Kong government decided to close the union to avoid giving the Japanese any excuse to cause trouble.
Zeng Sheng then served as secretary of the Seamen Work Committee of the CCP Hong Kong Branch from January 1938. In October after Guangzhou fell, Liao Chengzhi, member of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee and director of the Eighth Route Army Office in Hong Kong, discussed with Wu Yougong, secretary of the CCP Hong Kong Municipal Committee, and Zeng Sheng on starting guerrilla warfare in Guangdong according to CCP Central Committee instructions. That same month, Zeng Sheng led dozens of people to Huizhou to organize forces and obtained guns and ammunition from local Nationalist troops. On December 2, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla was established in Zhoutian Village with about 100 men. This force also gained the support of the 151st Division of the Nationalist garrison in Huizhou (Waichow). In the spring of 1939, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army was reorganized as a new battlaion of the 3rd Column of the East River Guerrilla Command of the 4th War Zone, nominally becoming a Nationalist guerrilla force. At that time, Wang Zuoyao's Dongbao Huibian People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Brigade became the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Guerrilla Column of the East River Guerrilla Command of the 4th War Zone. The Communist and Nationalist forces later clashed in southern Guangdong, and the troops of Zeng Sheng and Wang Zuoyao were foreced to retreat. By the autumn of 1940, the two forces were stationed at Daling Mountain in Dongguan and Yangtai Mountain in Baoan respectively, and were renamed the 3rd and 5th Brigades of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army.
Wartime:
Before the fall of Hong Kong, the 3rd and 5th Battlaions had sent personnel to Sai Kung and other places to establish bases. In February 1942, the CCP guerrilla forces in Hong Kong formed the Hong Kong-Kowloon Battlion under the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force. The troops were mainly active in Sai Kung and the central part of Lantau Island, and assisted Allied soldiers who had escaped from prisoner-of-war camps, including Professor Lindsay Ride of HKU, medical officer of the British Army Aid Group. The guerrillas cooperated with the British Army Aid Group until the autumn of 1943, and also attempted to raid the Japanese forces and assassinate collaborators. In February 1943, Zeng Sheng attended a meeting in Wu Kau Tang to discuss the specific implementation of guerrilla warfare in Hong Kong.By the end of that year, in view of the possible Allied counterattack along the southern coast of China, the CCP guerrilla forces in southern Guangdong were reorganized into the East River Column of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force, while the Hong Kong-Kowloon Battalion became the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Battalion. At that time, guerrilla forces were active throughout Hong Kong. In addition to the main force, the Hong Kong-Kowloon Battalion had the Sai Kung, Sha Tau Kok, Yuen Long, Lantau Island, Maritime, and Urban Company. In February 1944, after Lieutenant Donald Kerr of the U.S. Army was shot down and then rescued, he also met with Zeng Sheng. From mid-1944, the East River Column began to cooperate with personnel from the American Office of Strategic Services to provide intelligence to the United States Army Air Forces.
Post-war:
After Japan's surrender, the East River Column moved north and later participated in the Chinese Civil War. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region, first deputy chief of staff of the South China Military Region, director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Commission, president of the Guangzhou Sport University, political commissar of the Guangzhou Military Sub-district, first secretary of the Guangzhou Military Sub-district Party Committee, vice chairman of the Guangzhou Municipal Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and so on. He was also conferred the military rank of Major General in 1955. He successively served as a member of the Party Committee of the PLA Navy, first deputy commander of the South China Sea Fleet, standing committee member of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee, vice governor of Guangdong Province concurrently Guangzhou mayor and other positions. In June 1962, he quelled an unrest at Guangzhou East Railway Station caused by false rumors (that one could freely travel to Hong Kong within three days). Later, he was also attacked and imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. After 1974, he successively served as Deputy Minister and then Minister of Transportation, and advisor of the State Council.
Further-readings
Leung Po Lung, "The East River Column and Hong Kong Workers", link: https://leungpolung.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post_27.html
Birth:
1910
Death:
1995
Pre-war:
Zeng Sheng, originally named Zeng Zhensheng, was born in Pingshan (now Pingshan, Longgang District, Shenzhen). His father was an overseas Chinese in Australia, and both of his parents were Hakka. He received education in his hometown at a young age. At 10 years old, he enrolled in the Chiu Yin School on Kwong Wah Road, Hong Kong, but seemed to have trouble adapting to school life there, so he dropped out and continued his studies at the Guangzu Middle School in Pingshan. From 1923 to 1928, however, he attended Fort Street High School in Sydney, Australia. In 1929, he went to the affiliated middle school of Sun Yat-sen University for high school education, where he began to be exposed to communist ideas. In 1933, he enrolled in the Faculty of Education at the School of Arts of Sun Yat-sen University, during which he actively participated in leftist activities and became a member of the Chinese Youth League. In January 1936, he became chairman of the Sun Yat-sen University Staff and Workers' Resistance Association Executive Committee and participated in the anti-Japanese movement. However, as Chen Jitang, then ruler of Guangdong, cracked down on student movements, Zeng Sheng was also wanted. He then went to Hong Kong, first taught at a school for children of seamen, and later worked on Canadian Pacific Railway and Steamship Company's SS Empress of Japan, which sailed between Canada and Hong Kong. In his spare time, he set up the Huiping Philanthropic Society to organize other crew members. In September, after Chen Jitang left Guangzhou, he returned to continue his studies at Sun Yat-sen University and joined the Chinese Communist Party in October.
From the end of 1936, he went to Hong Kong and worked with Qiu Jin and Ye Pan to establish the Seamen Work Committee, and also founded the Hoi Wah School. He also set up organizations such as the Leisure Society and Hong Kong Huiyang Youth Association in Hong Kong to recruit young people. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Seamen's Union of Hong Kong was established, and he served as the head of the organization department. The union launched strikes against Japanese shipping, but in December 1937 the Hong Kong government decided to close the union to avoid giving the Japanese any excuse to cause trouble.
Zeng Sheng then served as secretary of the Seamen Work Committee of the CCP Hong Kong Branch from January 1938. In October after Guangzhou fell, Liao Chengzhi, member of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee and director of the Eighth Route Army Office in Hong Kong, discussed with Wu Yougong, secretary of the CCP Hong Kong Municipal Committee, and Zeng Sheng on starting guerrilla warfare in Guangdong according to CCP Central Committee instructions. That same month, Zeng Sheng led dozens of people to Huizhou to organize forces and obtained guns and ammunition from local Nationalist troops. On December 2, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla was established in Zhoutian Village with about 100 men. This force also gained the support of the 151st Division of the Nationalist garrison in Huizhou (Waichow). In the spring of 1939, the Huibao People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army was reorganized as a new battlaion of the 3rd Column of the East River Guerrilla Command of the 4th War Zone, nominally becoming a Nationalist guerrilla force. At that time, Wang Zuoyao's Dongbao Huibian People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Brigade became the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Guerrilla Column of the East River Guerrilla Command of the 4th War Zone. The Communist and Nationalist forces later clashed in southern Guangdong, and the troops of Zeng Sheng and Wang Zuoyao were foreced to retreat. By the autumn of 1940, the two forces were stationed at Daling Mountain in Dongguan and Yangtai Mountain in Baoan respectively, and were renamed the 3rd and 5th Brigades of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army.
Wartime:
Before the fall of Hong Kong, the 3rd and 5th Battlaions had sent personnel to Sai Kung and other places to establish bases. In February 1942, the CCP guerrilla forces in Hong Kong formed the Hong Kong-Kowloon Battlion under the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force. The troops were mainly active in Sai Kung and the central part of Lantau Island, and assisted Allied soldiers who had escaped from prisoner-of-war camps, including Professor Lindsay Ride of HKU, medical officer of the British Army Aid Group. The guerrillas cooperated with the British Army Aid Group until the autumn of 1943, and also attempted to raid the Japanese forces and assassinate collaborators. In February 1943, Zeng Sheng attended a meeting in Wu Kau Tang to discuss the specific implementation of guerrilla warfare in Hong Kong.By the end of that year, in view of the possible Allied counterattack along the southern coast of China, the CCP guerrilla forces in southern Guangdong were reorganized into the East River Column of the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force, while the Hong Kong-Kowloon Battalion became the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Battalion. At that time, guerrilla forces were active throughout Hong Kong. In addition to the main force, the Hong Kong-Kowloon Battalion had the Sai Kung, Sha Tau Kok, Yuen Long, Lantau Island, Maritime, and Urban Company. In February 1944, after Lieutenant Donald Kerr of the U.S. Army was shot down and then rescued, he also met with Zeng Sheng. From mid-1944, the East River Column began to cooperate with personnel from the American Office of Strategic Services to provide intelligence to the United States Army Air Forces.
Post-war:
After Japan's surrender, the East River Column moved north and later participated in the Chinese Civil War. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as deputy commander of the Guangdong Military Region, first deputy chief of staff of the South China Military Region, director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Commission, president of the Guangzhou Sport University, political commissar of the Guangzhou Military Sub-district, first secretary of the Guangzhou Military Sub-district Party Committee, vice chairman of the Guangzhou Municipal Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and so on. He was also conferred the military rank of Major General in 1955. He successively served as a member of the Party Committee of the PLA Navy, first deputy commander of the South China Sea Fleet, standing committee member of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee, vice governor of Guangdong Province concurrently Guangzhou mayor and other positions. In June 1962, he quelled an unrest at Guangzhou East Railway Station caused by false rumors (that one could freely travel to Hong Kong within three days). Later, he was also attacked and imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. After 1974, he successively served as Deputy Minister and then Minister of Transportation, and advisor of the State Council.
Further-readings
Leung Po Lung, "The East River Column and Hong Kong Workers", link: https://leungpolung.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-post_27.html
