FENG YU-HSIANG (188o— ), Chinese military leader, was born in Chaohsien in the province of Anhwei, and is generally known as "the Christian General" from his early adoption of Christianity of a Baptist and Evangelical type. His education and training were purely military, and he saw active service under Chao Erh-f eng in Tibet in 19o9. In 1912 he was in Sianfu in the 2oth Division under the command of Lu Yung-hsiang, whose daughter he married. At the Revolution he had attained the rank of major and was at Shanhaikwan; from there he was promoted brigade commander in the army controlling Chihli and the capital. His acceptance of, and consistent adherence to, Republican princi ples date from this period and have formed a salient feature of his subsequent career. Under Wu Pei-fu he took part in the de feat of the Anfu Group, and thereafter re-organized his famous 11th Division.
General Feng obtained his first independent command early in 1921 when his Division was despatched into Shensi to restore order in that province, and in August, upon the death of the military governor, he was given the acting appointment. Both as Tuchun of Shensi, and in Honan, to which province he was transferred in the following year, Feng and his troops earned the highest enco miums. The complete suppression of banditry, the discouragement of poppy cultivation, extensive road construction works, and an effort to re-establish honesty in public accounts, were among the measures standing to his credit, while strict discipline and an active if somewhat "corybantic" display of Christian practices in his army were evidence of his zeal for good administration.
In Oct. 1922 he attended a military conference with Tsao Kun and Wu Pei-fu at Paoting, and shortly afterwards his Division was transferred to Peking, where its disciplined efficiency and the strength of purpose of its commander, made their influence felt. In the spring of 1923 Feng was appointed, by mandate of Presi dent Li Yuan-hung, commissioner of frontier defence for the North-West, hut owing to the unstable political position in the capital he deferred taking up his new duties. With his assistance Li was driven from office in June by Tsao Kun, and upon the latter's assumption of the presidency, Feng addressed a memorial to him appealing for reforms in the administration. During the ensuing year he became convinced of Tsao Kun's inability to form a stable government and he opposed the resumption of the war against Chang Tso-lin. By a coup de main he descended upon Peking, causing the defeat and flight of Wu, and in co-operation with Chang he installed Tuan Chi-jui as "Chief Executive," there after leaving for the North-West. In Kalgan, Suiyuan and Paotow chen, his administrative gifts again found scope. Colonization plans for Mongolia, ruthless suppression of lawlessness, and other measures making for peaceful development marked his stay. He had depended for ammunition and military equipment upon Ger man importations via Urga, and in March 1926 he visited Moscow, returning in August. He was now formally enrolled as an adher ent of the Kuomintang, and his co-operation with the Nationalist allies throughout 1927 conduced to the success of the campaign. He was expelled from the Kuomintang in 1929.