Ding Delong was born in You County, Hunan Province, China in 1904. At the age of 20, he enrolled in a military academy; later in the same year, in Nov 1924, the school became one of the institutions that merged to become the Whampoa Military Academy. He was named the commanding officer of the 6th Regiment of the 1st Division of the Nationalist Chinese 1st Army. In 1931, he was named the commanding officer of the Independent Brigade in the 1st Division. In 1936, he was named the commanding officer of the 78th Division after the 1st Division was expanded to become the 1st Corps, in which role he participated in battles against local warlords and in actions against Chinese communists. He remained with the 1st Corps as the war began in 1937, seeing action in Shanghai, Henan Province, and Wuhan. In 1940, he graduated from the war college at the head of his class, and was personally named him the commanding officer of the 1st Corps by Chiang Kaishek. In 1942, Ding was given command of the 57th Corps, and later in the year given the concurrent duty as the deputy commanding officer of the 38th Army. In 1944, he became the commanding officer of the 37th Army. In Mar 1945, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, in which rank he served as a senior military adviser to the government and oversaw units in training in Xi'an, China. In 1949, when the Nationalists lost the civil war to the Chinese communists, he fled to Taiwan with the Nationalist government. After retirement from the military, he became a member of the National Assembly representing Hunan Province and was a committee member for the liberation of China. Ding passed away in Taipei, Taiwan in 1996.