BEIJING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Military Commission(CMC) conferred the rank of general on three senior military officers here on Friday, bringing the total number of generals to 167.

　　CMC Chairman Hu Jintao awarded the officers certificates of command at the promotion ceremony. An order for the promotion was announced by CMC Vice-Chairman Guo Boxiong.

　　The senior officers are deputy chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Xu Qiliang, political commissar of the PLA General Logistics Department Sun Dafa, and PLA Navy commander Wu Shengli.

　　China began to confer military ranks to military and police officers in 1955, when Chairman Mao Zedong promoted 10 senior officers to the rank of marshal, which was later abolished.

　　Premier Zhou Enlai then issued a decree conferring the rank of general on 55 officers in 1956 and two more in 1958.

　　Two of the generals who had participated in the revolution that founded the People's Republic of China are still alive -- 102-year-old Lu Zhengcao, former vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and 99-year-old Xiao Ke, who was a member of the Kuomintang before joining the Communist Party of China.

　　In 1988, the CMC resumed the system which had been abandoned in1965. Since then, 111 senior military and police officers have been promoted to the rank of full general.

　　Hong Xuezhi, who became a member of the CMC in 1988, was the only officer to receive the honor twice in 1955 and 1988.

　　The PLA recognizes 10 military ranks for officers in active service: general, lieutenant general and major general; senior colonel, colonel, lieutenant colonel and major; captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant.