Geng Zhiyuan with his father Geng Biao in the courtyard of their residence on June 24, 1996.

There was a person in China Mao Zedong (1893–1976) referred to as a "good ambassador who dares to speak the truth" and Ye Jianying (1897–1986) praised as a "rare talent." That person was Geng Biao (1909–2000), an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a tried and true communist fighter, a proletarian revolutionary, a strategist and a diplomat.

"My father's life was just like what his name suggests — big wind, big fire, frank and straightforward. His life of fame is a priceless cultural treasure left to his children." In his second son Geng Zhiyuan's recollection, Geng Biao was a loyal member of the CPC, and since receiving his Party certificate in 1932, "my father had always kept it close to him until his death."

In June 2022, Geng Zhiyuan was interviewed by China News Release.

Talking about his father's military career: "He dedicated his life to the cause of liberation and construction of the Chinese people"

Geng Biao was born in a poor family in Liling, Hunan in 1909. Since his family had no land and no house, Geng Biao had to live with his parents at the Geng's Ancestral Hall. The ancestral motto, "Emphasize filial piety, fulfill your duty as a brother ... love your country ... and do the right thing" was carved on the stone tablet of the ancestral hall. These ancestral rules, distilled from daily life, not only greatly shaped Geng Biao's words and actions, but also had an important impact on his later thinking and conduct.

From a guerrilla leader who led seven militias to a corps chief of staff who commanded thousands of troops in the battlefield, General Geng Biao had numerous war achievements in his 24-year military career. During the Long March (1934–1936), he fought to cross the Xiang River and the Wu River, attacked the Loushan Pass and crossed the Chishui River four times; during the 14-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931–1945), he fought to defend the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and recover Zhangjiakou; during the War of Liberation War (1946–1950), he led the famous Yang-Luo-Geng Corps together with Yang Dezhi (1911–1994) and Luo Ruiqing (1906–1978). On the centenary of his birth, his widow Zhao Lanxiang said of Geng Biao that he had "maintained the simple and unpretentious nature and open-minded character of the working class and revolutionary soldier throughout his life."