Hu Kexian

Infobox_President | name= Hu Ke-Xian
胡克先
nationality=Republic of China


predecessor="Hu Xiangpu (胡香圃)"
order=Major General of The National Revolutionary Army (Republic of China)
order2=
Son=Hu Shaoning, Hu Shaoyrong, Hu Shaoyu
birth_date=11 September 1909
(民國前三年)
birth_place=Chengdu, Sichuan, China
(成都, 四川, 中國)
death_date=19 September 1961
(民國四十九年)
(aged 52 / 享年五十二歲)
death_place=Tainan (台南), Taiwan (台灣)
spouse=Wang Xiu-yuan (王修園)
party=KMT (國民黨)
religion= Buddhism|

Hu Kexian (胡克先) was one of the generals of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of China (ROC) during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. The 6th year graduate of the famous Huangpu Army Academy (黃埔軍校) at the age of 19, Hu Kexian became a major general at the age of 28 and was in charge of the only heavy artillery regiment (10th regiment/第十團重炮兵團長) of the ROC army during his time. His heavy artillery regiment played a major role during the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945) such as the Battle of Shanghai (淞滬會戰) because the artillery regiment was trained under the German Nazi instructors and possessed the most effective weaponry in both skill and technology for its time.

Son of an ex-government official (華陽縣縣長) from the last dynasty of Qing (清朝), Hu Kexian was sent away by his parents to study business in Chongqing (重慶) when he was a teenager; However, Hu Kexiang ran away during the trip to Chongqing and joined the Huangpu army academy in the old Chinese capital of Nanjing/Nanking (南京). The young man had the ambition of helping Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kaishek) to restore order to China during the period of chaos with warlords throughout the country. By the time Hu Kexian graduated the academy, the campaign against the warlords had already ended, but the invasion of the Japanese had just begun.

Hu Kexian was very talented in the skill of Chinese calligraphy. During his trip to join the Huangpu academy, Hu Kexian had run out of money by the time he reached GuangZhou (廣州), where the academy used to be before it relocated to Nanking. Hu was able use his calligraphy skill to make some fast cash to help him reach the academy in Nanking successfully.

After the Chinese Civil war, Hu Kexian became the head of security in the southern region of Taiwan (南區警備司令) and often accompanied Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kaishek) to patrol and inspect the cities in the region. Hu Kexian passed away in Tainan, Taiwan due to cerebral hemorrhage. He was survived by three sons: Hu Shaoning (胡紹寧), Hu Shaorong (胡紹蓉), and Hu Shaoyu (胡紹渝). His eldest son, Hu Shaoning, was the most trusted one and would often be called in by his father to consult on different matters.

Military Strategy

During one of the battles in Yunnan (雲南), Hu Kexian's unit had the Japanese army surrounded and trapped in the caves. The Japanese refused to come out while they were being attacked by Hu's heavy cannons. In response, Hu ordered his troops to use the smaller cannons to fire at the Japanese, making the enemy believe Hu's unit had ran out of ammo for the heavy artillery. Unable to reach the caves with the smaller cannons, the Japanese came out of the caves and prepared for a full-scale flanking on Hu's unit. After tricking the Japanese out of their caves, Hu Kexian re-ordered his unit to blast the enemy again with the heavy artillery and successfully annihilated them.

A Quick Story

One of the most interesting stories Hu Kexian had told his son, Hu Shaoning, is this one paranormal event that happened during the war. One night during the war against the Japanese, Hu Kexian and his unit were seeking refugee in this old cabin for the night. While the soldiers in his unit were all catching a short nap after fighting non-stop for days, Hu Kexian stayed up to study the map of the surrounding cities... when all of the sudden, the telephone started to ring very loudly. Hu noticed none of soldiers even noticed the ringing of the phone, including the ones that were also staying up guarding the cabin. He thought he must have imagined it and ignored it. Moments later, the phone started to ring again... and once again, nobody in the cabin heard the phone ringing but himself. This time, Hu Kexian tied the phone cord around his finger and thought to himself that if the phone is really ringing, he would be able to feel the electric pulse going through the cord. Sure enough, when the phone started ringing again for the third time, Hu did not feel anything from the cord. Feeling awkward about the phenomenon, Hu Kexian ordered his unit to wake up and evacuate the cabin immediately. Strange enough, few minutes after Hu Kexian's unit had evacuated away from the cabin, a bomb was dropped onto the cabin from the Japanese bombers and the strange phone call (whether it was real or imaginative) had saved the lives of Hu Kexian's unit and the general himself.

References

黃埔軍校網 The Official Huangpu Military Academy Website: http://www.hoplite.cn/templates/hoplite%20centor.htm
超級軍事鋒火台 Website: http://www.superarmy.com
春秋戰國中文網 Website: http://www.cqzg.cn
Hsu, Long-Hsuen, “"History of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)", Taipei: Chung Wu Publishing Co., 1971
Su, Chen-Shen, "A Pictorial General History of China Vol. 12".", (中國歷史圖說), Taipei: Xin Xin Wen Hua Publishing Co., 1980
Hu, S. Personal interview. December 2006.