Liu Wenhui

Liu Wenhui (simplified Chinese: 刘文辉; traditional Chinese: 劉文輝; pinyin: Liú Wénhuī; 1895–24 June 1976) was one of the warlords of Sichuan province during China's Warlord era. Liu who rose to prominence in Sichuan in the 1920s and 1930s, came from a peasant family. At the beginning of his career, he was aligned with the Kuomintang (KMT), commanding the Sichuan-Xikang Defence Force from 1927 to 1929. The western part of Sichuan province was then known as Xikang. Bordering Tibet, the region had a mixed population of Tibetans and Han Chinese.

Biography

Liu was then made Chairman of the Government of Sichuan Province from 1929, but his relationship with Chiang Kai-Shek was unstable as was the province he governed. Sichuan was in the hands of Liu and four other warlords: Liu Xiang, Yang Sen, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao. No one warlord had enough power to take on all the others at once, so many small battles occurred, pitting one warlord against another. Large conflicts seldom developed, plotting and skirmishing characterized the Sichuanese political scene, and ephemeral coalitions and counter coalitions emerged and vanished with equal rapidity.