Republic of China Military Academy


The Republic of China Military Academy, also known as the Chinese Military Academy, is the service academy for the Republic of China Army. It was founded as the Whampoa Military Academy at Whampoa, Canton in 1924. At the end of the Chinese Civil War the academy evacuated to the island of Taiwan and took its current name. Its graduates participated in the Northern Expedition, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.

Establishment

By 1924, the Kuomintang wanted to build a modern, and politically reliable armed force. The KMT received money, materiel, and advisors from the Soviet Union; military advisors provided training and began reorganizing the KMT's forces along Soviet lines. As part of the reforms, political commissars were introduced for political and technical training and, in 1924, the KMT's 1st National Congress approved the creation of the Whampoa Military Academy to train junior officers for the what would become the National Revolutionary Army. The academy was established in May 1924 on Dane's Island in Huangpu, Guangzhou with Chiang Kai-shek as superintendent. Liao Zhongkai, the KMT treasury secretary, was the party's representative to the academy. Sun Yat-sen took the ceremonial position of the academy's premier.

Early years

The Chinese faculty included graduates from the Baoding Military Academy, the Yunnan Military Academy, and the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. There were also a small number of Soviet instructors trained at the Frunze Military Academy; they were the academy's primary instructors. Members of the Chinese Communist Party were admitted as faculty and students as part of the First United Front. The political instructors were mostly Communists, as was their director, Zhou Enlai. The later People's Liberation Army also recruited Whampoa graduates.
The academy's provided a 6-12 month military-political program incorporating Western pedagogical methods and practical exercises. Military training was primarily infantry-focused, but also included classes for artillery, engineers, logistics, and heavy weapons. Political training was based on Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, KMT history, and Western politics and economics. The program was inferior to those provided by contemporary professional armies, but it gave the NRA an advantage over the less professional Chinese armies of the Warlord Era. The first class of 490 graduated in November.
The academy formed the first "model" regiment in October 1924, which suppressed an insurrection of angry merchants and their private militia forces late that month. The Whampoa force operated successfully during the Guangdong–Guangxi War and the Yunnan–Guangxi War before becoming the foundation of the NRA.
By the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 the majority of Chinese divisions were commanded by Whampoa graduates.

Relocations

The original academy operated until 1926. In 1928, following the Northern Expedition, it was relocated to Nanjing, the new capital, and renamed as the Central Military Academy. The CMA evacuated to Chengdu in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
At the end of the Chinese Civil War, the CMA evacuated to Kaohsiung on Taiwan and was renamed to the Republic of China Military Academy.
The site of the Whampoa Military Academy is now a museum.

In Taiwan

In June 2024, President Lai Ching-te visited the ROC Military Academy on the occasion of its 100th anniversary celebration.

List of superintendents

#StartEndNamePhotoClass yearNotability
1.2 May 1924October 1947Chiang Kai-shek—Generalissimo; 1st president of the Republic of China
2.October 1947September 1949Lt. Gen. Guan Linzheng —General; ROC Army Commander-in-Chief
3.September 1949December 1949Lt. Gen. Chang Yao-ming 1924Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
4.October 195031 October 1954Lt. Gen. Lo Yu-lun 1929General; ROC Combined Services Force Commander-in-Chief
5.1 September 195431 March 1957Lt. Gen. Hsieh Chao-chih 1929Lieutenant general; vice president of the Army, Navy and Air Force Joint Staff University
6.1 April 195731 December 1960Lt. Gen. Hsu Ju-cheng 1929Lieutenant general; deputy chief of the General Staff for Operations, MND-GSH
7.1 January 1961March 1965Lt. Gen. Ai Ai 1926Lieutenant general; deputy executive Minister of National Defense
8.March 196531 March 1970Lt. Gen. Chang Li-fu 1929Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
9.1 April 1970February 1973Lt. Gen. Lin Chu-yao 1933Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
10.February 197331 March 1976Lt. Gen. Chin Tsu-hsi 1937Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
11.1 April 1976December 1977Lt. Gen. Yen Pai-chien 1941General; director of the Joint Operations Training Department, MND
12.December 1977December 1979Lt. Gen. Hsu Li-nung 1939General; director of the General Political Warfare Department, MND
13.December 197930 June 1981Lt. Gen. Chu Chih-yuan 1939Lieutenant general; ROC Army Vice Commander-in-Chief
14.1 July 198130 June 1983Lt. Gen. Lu Kuang-yi 1949Lieutenant general; director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, MND
15.1 July 198330 June 1985Lt. Gen. Huang Hsing-chiang 1949General; ROC Army Commander-in-Chief
16.1 July 1985December 1986Lt. Gen. Huang Yao-yu 1952Lieutenant general; deputy director-general of the National Security Bureau
17.December 198630 June 1989Lt. Gen. Tang Yuan-pu 1960Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
18.1 July 198960 June 1991Lt. Gen. Hu Chia-chi 1961Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
19.1 July 1991September 1993Lt. Gen. Yang Te-chih 1964General; ROC Combined Services Force Commander-in-Chief
20.September 1993July 1996Lt. Gen. Ma Teng-ho 1960Lieutenant general; ROC Combined Services Force Vice Commander-in-Chief
21.July 1996July 1997Lt. Gen. Tung Chao-yang 1965Lieutenant general; ROC Army Vice Commander-in-Chief
22.July 1997January 1998Lt. Gen. Ting Yu-chou 1966General; secretary-general of the National Security Council
23.January 199828 February 2002Lt. Gen. Chang Yueh-heng 1965Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
24.1 March 200230 June 2005Lt. Gen. Yang Kuo-chiang 1972Lieutenant general; incumbent director-general of the National Security Bureau
25.1 July 200530 June 2006Lt. Gen. Wang Ken-lin 1971Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
acting1 July 200631 July 2006Lt. Gen. Chia Fu-yi 1970Lieutenant general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
The rank of the superintendent was demoted from lieutenant general to major general by the disarmaments policy of the then President Chen Shui-bian.
26.1 October 2006July 2010Maj. Gen. Chen Liang-pei 1979Major general; superintendent of the ROC Military Academy
27.July 201030 June 2012Maj. Gen. Chuan Tzu-jui 1981Lieutenant general; incumbent ROC Army Chief of Staff
28.1 July 2012February 2015Maj. Gen. Liu Te-king 1983Lieutenant general; incumbent director of the Telecommunications Development Office, MND-GSH
29.February 2015presentMaj. Gen. Chang Chieh 1985Major general; incumbent superintendent of the ROC Military Academy

Faculties