Lin Biao was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Communist victory during the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeast China from 1946 to 1949. Lin was the general who commanded the decisive Liaoshen and Pingjin campaigns, in which he co-led the Manchurian Field Army to victory and led the People's Liberation Army into Beijing. He crossed the Yangtze River in 1949, decisively defeated the Kuomintang and took control of the coastal provinces in Southeast China. He ranked third among the Ten Marshals. Zhu De and Peng Dehuai were considered senior to Lin, and Lin ranked directly ahead of He Long and Liu Bocheng.

Yuanshuai was a Chinese military rank that corresponds to a marshal in other nations. It was given to distinguished generals during China's dynastic and republican periods. A higher level rank of Dayuanshuai, which corresponds to generalissimo was awarded to Chiang Kai Shek of the Republic of China. It was also proposed for Mao Zedong on the mainland, but he ultimately never accepted it.