Sometime following the end of the war the unit was reassigned, redesignated and reorganized as the 9th Column of the Eastern China Field Army.

The 9th Column then participated in the battle of Huaihai where it confronted and destroyed the KMT Huang Bo Tao Army Group.

In June 1989, the 27th Group Army actively participated in suppressing the student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and imposing martial law on Beijing.

A declassified cable from the U.S. embassy in Beijing states that an unnamed Western military attaché alleged the 27th "was responsible for most of the death and destruction at Tiananmen Square on June 3."

The report stated that "some leaders may have envisioned an outcome that would blame most of the atrocities on the 27th Army, relieve its top commanders, and remove senior officials who ordered armed action against civilians.

"[7] That same day an embassy cable alleged that, as the 27th was withdrawing from Beijing as part of a troop rotation, its soldiers had sealed off the Jianguomenwai diplomatic compound and fired above the rooftops of the apartments apparently in an attempt to flush out a sniper.