Yang Huaiqing

Yang Huaiqing (Chinese: 杨怀庆; February 1939 – 12 December 2012) was an admiral in the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) of China. He was a member of the 15th and 16th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party. He was a delegate to the 8th National People's Congress.

He attained the rank of rear admiral (shaojiang) in July 1990, vice admiral (zhongjiang) in July 1994, and admiral (shangjiang) in June 2000.

Yang was born in Shouguang County (now Shouguang), Shandong, in February 1939. He enlisted in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in January 1958, and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in May 1960. He was assigned to the East Sea Fleet in August 1970. He moved up the ranks to become deputy head of Cadre Division of the Political Department in September 1981 and head in June 1983. He became director of the Political Department of the Zhoushan Naval Base [zh] in August 1985, and two years later entered the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party. In January 1988, he became deputy political commissar of the Zhoushan Naval Base [zh], rising to political commissar six months later. He served as deputy director of the PLA Navy Political Department in June 1990, and two years later promoted to the director position. He was promoted to deputy political commissar of the PLA Navy in December 1993. In July 1995, he was promoted again to become political commissar. He was removed from public office and forced into retirement alongside Shi Yunsheng in May 2003 due to the military disaster of Chinese submarine 361. He died of an illness in Beijing, at the age of 73.