Li Zongren

Li Zongren or Li Tsung-jen (Chinese: 李宗仁; 13 August 1890 – 30 January 1969), courtesy name Delin (Te-lin; 德鄰), was a prominent Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang (KMT) military commander during the Northern Expedition, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War. He served as vice-president and acting president of the Republic of China under the 1947 Chinese Constitution.

Biography

Early life

Li Zongren was born in Xixiang Village (西鄉村), near Guilin in Guangxi Province, the second eldest in a Zhuang family of five boys and three girls. Li's father, Li Peiying (李培英), was a village schoolmaster. After a patchy education Li enrolled in a provincial military school. Li joined the Tongmenghui, the revolutionary party of Sun Yatsen, in 1910, but had little understanding at that time of Sun's wider goals of reform and national reunification. Li's native province of Guangxi was also the home province of the Taiping general Li Xiucheng, who Li's family claimed to be related to.

Early military service