Jiang (rank)

Jiang (formerly romanized chiang and usually translated general or, for navies, admiral) is a general officer (or flag officer for navies) rank used by China and Taiwan. It is also used as jang in North and South Korea, shō in Japan, and tướng in Vietnam.

The same rank names are used for all services, prefixed by haijun (simplified Chinese: 海军; traditional Chinese: 海軍; lit. 'naval force') or kongjun (simplified Chinese: 空军; traditional Chinese: 空軍; lit. 'air force').

Under the rank system in place in the PLA in the era 1955–1965, there existed the rank of dajiang (Chinese: 大将; lit. 'Grand commander'). This rank was awarded to 10 of the veteran leaders of the PLA in 1955 and never conferred again. It was considered equivalent to the Soviet rank of army general. The decision to name the equivalent rank yiji shangjiang (Chinese: 一级上将; lit. 'Upper commander first class') when it was briefly re-established in 1988-1994 was likely due to a desire to keep the rank of dajiang an honorary one awarded after a war, much as General of the Armies in the United States Army. It was offered to Deng Xiaoping who declined the new rank. Thus it was never conferred and scrapped in 1994.

The same rank names are used for all services, prefixed by riku (Japanese: 陸, lit. 'land'), kai (Japanese: 海, lit. 'sea') or kū (Japanese: 空, lit. 'air'). The rank insignia of the Bakuryōchō-taru-shō (Japanese: 幕僚長たる将) was enacted on December 1, 1962, and before that, it was the same three-star as other Shō (Japanese: 将). The English notation of the Shō in the English version of the Defense White Paper until 2024 is as follows.

Ranks used in Chinese character-using countries