Article Posted on : - Jul 25, 2011

BEIJING (PTI): China has conferred the rank of General on six senior military officers, taking the total number of Chinese top commanders to 191, to lead the world's largest army, a media report has said.

President Hu Jintao, who is also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) awarded the officers certificates of command at a promotion ceremony.

An order for the promotions was announced by CMC Vice Chairman Xi Jinping, who is regarded as a successor to Hu.

Over two million-strong China Peoples Liberation Army, (PLA) directly functions under the ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC), whose General Secretary will also be the Chairman of the CPC.

The senior officers, who were promoted, included deputy chiefs of the PLA Sun Jianguo and Hou Shusen, deputy chief of the PLA General Political Department Jia Ting'an, the navy's political commissar Liu Xiaojiang, commander of the Shenyang Military Area Command Zhang Youxia, and political commissar of the Lanzhou Military Area Command Li Changcai, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

China began to confer military ranks on officers in 1955, when 10 senior officers were promoted to the rank of marshal, a rank which was later abolished.

Premier Zhou Enlai then issued a decree conferring the rank of general on 55 officers in 1955 and one each in 1956 and 1958.

In 1965, the CMC abolished the military ranking system, resuming it again in 1988.

Since then, 135 senior military officers and armed police officers have been promoted to the rank of general.

Hong Xuezhi, who became a member of the CMC in 1988, is the only officer to have received the rank of general twice. He was promoted as general in 1955 and 1988, respectively.

The PLA recognises 10 military ranks for officers in active service, which included General, Lieutenant General and Major General; Senior Colonel, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major; Captain, First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant.