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Bai Chongxi

Chinese general (1893–1966)

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From the mid-1920s to 1949, Bai and his close ally Li Zongren ruled Guangxi province as regional warlords with their own troops and considerable political autonomy. His relationship with Chiang Kai-shek was at various times antagonistic and cooperative. He and Li Zongren supported the anti-Chiang warlord alliance in the Central Plains War in 1930, then supported Chiang in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Bai was the first defense minister of the Republic of China from 1946 to 1948. After the Republic of China's loss in 1949, he fled to Taiwan alongside the government, where he died in 1966.

Early life and Warlord era

Bai was born in Guilin, Guangxi, and given the courtesy name Jiansheng (健生). He was a descendant of a Persian merchant of the name Baiderluden (Badruddin), whose descendants adopted the Chinese surname Bai. His Muslim name was Omar Bai Chongxi.

He was the second of three sons. His family was said to have come from Sichuan. At the age of 14 he attended the Guangxi Military Cadre Training School in Guilin, a modern-style school run by Cai E to modernize Guangxi's military. Bai and classmates Huang Shaohong and Li Zongren would become the three leading figures of Guangxi's military. For a time Bai withdrew from the military school at the request of his family and studied at the civilian Guangxi Schools of Law and Political Science.

With the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, Bai joined a Students Dare to Die corps led by Huang. After entering the Nanjing Enlistment Corps, Bai transferred from the Corps to the Second Military Preparatory School at Wuchang. He graduated from the school in 1914, then underwent pre-cadet training for six months before attending the third class of Baoding Military Academy in June 1915. He became a 1st Guangxi Division probationary officer upon returning to Guangxi.

Bai rose to fame during the warlord era after allying with Huang (a deputy commander of the Model Battalion of the Guangxi First Division) and Li in support of Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-sen. This alliance, called the New Guangxi Clique, proceeded to move against Guangxi warlord Lu Rongting in 1924. The coalition's efforts brought Guangxi Province under ROC jurisdiction, and Bai and Li represented a new generation of Guangxi leaders.

The Nationalist chief of staff (acting) was Bai. The 13th Army had him as the commander. The Nationalist Northern Punitive Expedition was participated in by Bai.

During the Northern Expedition (1926–28) Bai was the Chief of Staff of the National Revolutionary Army and credited with many victories over the northern warlords, often using speed, maneuver and surprise to defeat larger enemy forces. He led the Eastern Route Army that conquered Hangzhou and Shanghai in 1927. As garrison commander of Shanghai, he also took part in the purge of Communist elements of the National Revolutionary Army on April 4, 1927, and of the labor unions in Shanghai. Bai also commanded the forward units that first entered Beijing and was credited with being the senior commander on site to complete the Northern Expedition. For many of his battlefield exploits during the Northern expedition, he was given the laudatory nickname Xiao Zhuge, literally "Zhuge Liang Jr.", of the Three Kingdoms fame. Bai was the commander of Kuomintang forces in the Shanghai massacre of 1927, where he directed the KMT purge of Communists in the party.

In 1928, during the Northern Expedition, Bai led Kuomintang forces in the defeat and destruction of Fengtian Clique Gen. Zhang Zongchang, capturing 20,000 of his 50,000 troops and almost capturing Zhang himself, who escaped to Manchuria.

Bai personally had around 2,000 Muslims under his control during his stay in Beijing in 1928 after the Northern Expedition was completed; it was reported by Time magazine that they "swaggered riotously" in the aftermath In June 1928 in Beijing, Bai Chongxi announced that the forces of the Kuomintang would seize control of Manchuria and the enemies of the Kuomintang would "scatter like dead leaves before the rising wind".

Bai was out of money and bankrupt in December 1928. He planned to lead 60,000 troops from east China to Xinjiang province and construct a railroad as a barrier against Russian encroachment in Xinjiang. His plan was perceived by some to be against Feng Yuxiang. The Military Council refused to authorize him leaving Beiping to go to Hankou.

At the end of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek began to agitate to get rid of the Guangxi forces. At one time in 1929 Bai had to escape to Vietnam to avoid harm. Hubei and Guangxi were subjected to the Hankou subcouncil of Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. Li and Bai's Hankou and Canton self-ruling governments were terminated by Chiang. Hankou was captured by Chiang during the dispute between the Guangxi faction and Nanjing. From 1930 to 1936, Bai was instrumental in the Reconstruction of Guangxi, which became a "model" province with a progressive administration. Guangxi supplied over 900,000 soldiers to the war effort against Japan.

During the Chinese Civil War Bai fought against the Communists. In the Long March he allowed the Communists to slip through Guangxi.

Bai was known for his administration of the province.

Prominent Muslims like Generals Ma Liang, Ma Fuxiang and Bai met in 1931 in Nanjing to discuss intercommunal tolerance between Hui and Han.

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