Remembering Admiral Liu Huaqing, who passed away on January 14, 2011.

Admiral Liu Huaqing is still regarded as a hero in China, a reformer who is widely credited with converting the PLAN from a brown water navy to its current standing.   He is also regarded as the father of the PLAN carrier fleet, who planed its expansion. 

From ONI’s China Navy 2009
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/oni/pla-navy.pdf

Admiral Liu Huaqing was the third commander of the PLA(N)(1982-1988)
and one of the foremost maritime strategists produced by the People’s
Republic of China. Born in 1916, Liu joined the PLA in 1930 and was a
veteran of its Long March. His transition from the army to the navy
began in 1952, after which he served in a variety of operational and
technical assignments including Deputy Commander of the North Sea
Fleet, Vice Minister of the 6th Ministry of Machine Building (Ship
Building), and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, before assuming the
position ofPLA(N) Commander in August 1982.

In a military dominated by the “great infantry” concept, Liu was much
more than just an army officer serving in naval assignments. Instead,
Liu proved himself to be a forward thinking maritime strategist who
developed the PLA(N),s current strategy of”offshore defense,” began the
now robust program of naval diplomacy and foreign engagement, and laid
the intellectual and technical foundations for the rapidly modernizing
PLA(N) of today. In the final phase of his military career, Liu served
on the Central Military Commission, where he would eventually become
the senior vice chairman and one of the most powerful men in the
Chinese military behind then-CMC Chairman Deng Xiaoping

Photo source http://www.defenseimagery.mil