born in baoqing (in present-day shaodong county), hunan province, yuan joined the communist youth league in 1924, at the age of 18. in october 1925, he joined the communist party of china while attending whampoa military academy. in july 1926, he participated in the northern expedition as a member of the kuomintang fourth army. later, he joined communist uprisings against the kuomintang in nanchang, jiangxi province (august 1, 1927) and guangzhou, guangdong province (december 13, 1927) before going to southern jiangxi in defense of the chinese soviet republic against multiple kuomintang attacks.