On October 22, 1986, Marshal Ye Jianying died in Beijing at the age of 89. He had been one of the ten marshals given their rank in 1955, and he had held senior posts in the party, the government and the army for more than thirty years. He was born in Guangdong in 1897 and had trained at the Yunnan military academy. The rank was high. The government notice described him as a founder of the People's Liberation Army.
His career ran through the whole period of the revolution. He joined the communists in 1927 and took part in the Guangzhou rising that year, and he worked as a staff officer and a negotiator during the war against Japan, when he was based in Chongqing and dealt with the Nationalist government and with foreign missions. In the civil war he was chief of staff of the army. He took part in the founding of the republic in 1949 and then held posts in Guangdong and in the central government. The posts were many.
He was close to the centre of power in the years after 1966. He was attacked during the Cultural Revolution, and he was later brought back and given military responsibilities, and in October 1976, after the death of Mao Zedong, he was one of the leaders who took part in the removal of the group that had held influence at the end of that period. He then supported the return to office of Deng Xiaoping and the opening of the reform period.
His last years were quieter. He was elected president of the country in 1978 and served until 1983, when the post was given to Li Xiannian under the new constitution. He withdrew from most public work in the 1980s because of his health. He was the last of the ten marshals to die, and the funeral was held in Beijing.