ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role that the military has played in Chinese politics, and the changes that have occurred in the military, and its relations with the Party in the post-Mao period. The revolutionary movement in the 1930s and 1940s made clear how integral the growth of the Chinese military was to the emergence of the Chinese state. The networks of leadership of the CCP and the army overlapped, which strengthened the ties between the political and military wings of the post-revolutionary state. The chapter examines how this complex relationship was managed in the post-revolutionary period. The formation and the role of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have been of particular significance in Chinese political history. The army in China developed out of the revolutionary process and therefore its relationship with the political wing of the movement was a very close one. The Chinese Red Army is an armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution.
