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People's Liberation Army

PLA - Order of Battle

The Chinese military divides its units into two categories, Category A and Category B. Category A covers "full-training units" with complete armaments and full establishment. They have modern armaments, and undergo full-time, high-intensity military training. Category B units are "non-full-training units" which have out-of-date armaments, are under-manned, have low budgets, receive less training, often participate in productive labor, and have to have their weapons replaced and receive basic training before they can go into battle. China's Category B units are similar to the US National Guard.

As of the late 1980s the strength of the Category A units of the Chinese ground force was about 700,000, grouped into seven rapid response group armies (the 1st Army, 13th Army, 21st Army, 27th Army, 38th Army, 39th Army, and the 54th Army). Category B (Category 1 reserve) units of the Chinese ground force were in 19 group armies, 60 motorized infantry divisions, and some independent artillery divisions (or brigades).

People’s Armed Police (PAP) was created in 1983 when the PLA transferred most of its internal police and border responsibilities to the new force. The PAP is still primarily composed of demobilized PLA personnel. As a result of the 1,000,000-man reduction in the PLA in the 1980s, the People's Armed Police grew by about 500,000 troops, to a total of roughly 800,000.

As of the late 1980s main forces included about 35 group armies, comprising 118 infantry divisions, 13 armored divisions, 17 artillery divisions, 16 antiaircraft artillery divisions, plus 71 independent regiments and 21 independent battalions of mostly support troops (artillery, antiaircraft artillery, signal, antichemical warfare, reconnaissance, and engineer). Regional forces consisted of 73 divisions of border defense and garrison troops plus 140 independent regiments.

As a result of the troop reductions announced in the July 1998 White Paper on National Defense, a number of PLA Divisions have been transfered to the PAP.By the late 1990s the Army had been reduced to 24 Group Armies incorporating a total of 90 divisions. Of these Armies, 17 are deployed in the north and northeast, positioned to repel Russia from the north, and Japan and Western powers from the east and over the Korean Peninsula. In August 1999 Major-General Zhu Wenquan, commander of the PLA's First Group Army was made commander of the Nanjing military region, which oversees the Taiwan area. Zhu, who was also promoted to lieutenant-general, is known in military circles as an expert in amphibious warfare.

Under the old system, a field army consisted of three partially motorized infantry divisions and two regiments of artillery and antiaircraft artillery. Each field army division had over 12,000 personnel in three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one armored regiment, and one antiaircraft artillery battalion. Organization was flexible, the higher echelons being free to tailor forces for combat around any number of infantry divisions. At least theoretically, each division had its own armor and artillery -- actual equipment levels were not revealed and probably varied -- and the assets at army level and within the independent units could be apportioned as needed.

The new, main-force Group Armies typically include 46,300 troops in up to four divisions, believed to include infantry, armor, artillery, air defense, airborne, and air support elements. Although the new Group Armies were supposed to reflect a move to combined-arms operations, because of a lack of mechanization they continue to consist of infantry supported by armor, artillery, and other units. The armored divisions each have 3 regiments and 240 main battle tanks but lack adequate mechanized infantry support.

Detailed information concerning the PLA order of battle is not readily available in the unclassified literature. The single most authoritative source, indeed the only source, of such information is the Directory of PRC Military Personalities, produced for many years under the sponsoship of the US Military Liasion Office at the US Consulate in Hong Kong. This estimable work lists thousands of PLA military officers and their associated posts and units. From this unique reference work, it is possible to piece together a reasonably illuminating depiction of the PLA order of battle at the division level as of the late 1990s.

In addition to the familiar unit designation nomenclature, such as "112th Mechanized Infantry Division," PLA units have five-digit numerical designations -- the 112th Division is also designated "Unit 51033." This numerical designation system, evidently similar to the American system of Unit Identification Codes [UIC], is rather more extensively documented than the more conventional alpha-numerical designations. Although faint patterns may be discerned in the PLA numerical designators, these patterns are not so robust as to suggest a systematic basis for their assignment, and certainly not so robust as to suggest a method for interpolating missing unit numerical designations.

Sources and Resources

• Directory of PRC Military Personalities Serold Hawaii Inc, June 1998 [This is apparently the final edition of this publication, since the Military Liasion Office at the US Consulate in Hong Kong does not have a more recent edition, and repeated attempts to locate the publisher have failed.]

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