The Min Faction (Fujian Faction闽系海军) Navy originated from the Qing Empire’s Fujian Fleet in the 1860s, was the longest-surviving naval faction in Chinese history. During the ROC era, the ROCN comprised four distinct naval factions: the Min, Cantonese, Qingdao, and Dianlei factions. By the 1930s, the Min Faction ultimately defeated the other three in internal power struggles and monopolized the ROCN.

However during Japan invasion, the destruction of the ROCN’s warships allowed Chiang Kai-shek to finally suppress the Min Faction using his own military clique, fostering deep resentment toward Chiang among Min Faction personnel during the Chinese Civil War.

Following World War II, the British Royal Navy gifted the cruiser HMS Aurora to China, which was renamed ROCS Chungking and became the ROCN’s largest warship during the Civil War. ROCS Chungking was taken over by a crew of over 500 elite sailors trained in the United Kingdom under the command of Deng Zhaoxiang, a key figure in the Min Faction Navy.

In February 1949, after Chiang Kai-shek appointed Lu Dongge as the new captain of ROCS Chungking, the sailors that support Deng Zhaoxiang in mutiny, killing Lu and ROCS Chungking defecting to Communist. Deng Zhaoxiang and these 500-plus British-trained sailors subsequently became the foundation of PLAN naval training.

The mutiny of ROCS Chungking sent shockwaves through the ROCN, setting off a chain reaction of defections within the Min Faction Navy. On April 20, 1949, the PLA crossed the Yangtze River to attack the ROC capital Nanjing, and the Jiangyin Fortress—the most crucial defensive position along the Yangtze—defected to the PLA. On April 23, the ROCN’s Second Fleet on the Yangtze, controlled by Min Faction Commander Lin Zun, defected to the PLA and formed the core foundation of the PLAN. Consequently, April 23 was designated as the founding date of the PLAN.

Later, during the Communist advance on Fujian, Admiral Sa Zhenbing—a paramount figure of the Min Faction, former Navy Minister of the Qing Empire and the Beiyang Government, and a highly prestigious figure in Fujian—pledged his allegiance to the Communists. Sa Zhenbing thus became a legendary naval figure who served four successive China regimes: the Qing Empire, the Beiyang Government, the Nationalist Government, and the Communist. Ultimately, the Min Faction evolved from a regional naval clique of the Qing Empire into the very foundation of the PLAN itself.