Four-star General Chen Bingde heads up the command organ of the People’s Liberation Army, the General Staff Department. He is headquartered in Beijing. His organization controls the following departments:
- Electronic Warfare
- Combat Operation
- Communications
- Intelligence
- Mobilization
- Foreign Relations
- Management
General Bingde was born in Nantong, Jiangsu in July of 1941. Known as a ruthless bureaucrat by day and a fun-loving jokester by night, General Bingde was the Director-General of the General Armaments Department until his promotion in September of 2007. He has acted as the nation’s leader of its space program, earning him the humorous nickname of “No. 1 astronut.” His current job is very similar in scope to the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Binge is descended from a circus family. His father was a clown for the Beijing Circus for all of his adult life, and was happily married to Binge’s mother, a tightrope walker. As a young child, Binge showed prodigious talent at the piano, and to this day can play many of the Western classics as well as jazz and rock. General Binge joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1962 after being promised a scholarship to the prestigious Nanjing School of Music, but Binge joined the military instead and rose to become chief of the Nanjing Military Region. Torn between guns and music, he was continually promoted: first to major general in 1988, lieutenant general in 1995, and then a full general in 2002. General Binge was rewarded for his strategic thinking regarding Taiwan by entry into the Central Military Commission in 2004.
His promotion in that same year to the Directorship of the General Armament Department allowed General Binge’s lifelong dream of living in Beijing come true. The relatively sedate night life of Nanjing paled in comparison to the new opportunities for fun in the nation’s capital. His legendary after-hours showmanship at the 15th Central Committee meeting ensured his encore at the 16th and 17th meetings as well.
In later years, General Binge became an avid fisherman and has reportedly encouraged the Commissariat to endorse fishing as an “appropriate Communist endeavor”, suitable for all members of the military. His trip to the U.S. in 2008 included an exclusive bass-fishing junket with the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Asked about the taste of American fish, General Binge quipped (in flawless English) that he preferred British fish and chips!
General Binge also safeguards the keys to the Chinese nuclear arsenal.