Dai Li

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General Dai Li (戴笠) (Tai Li) (May 28, 1897-1946) was born in Zhejiang Province, China, the home province of President Chiang Kai-shek. He studied at the Whampoa Military Academy, where Chiang served as president, and later became head of Chiang's secret police.

[edit] Early life

Dai Li was born in the town of Baoan in Jiangshan county, Zhejiang province on May 28th, 1897. At age four, his father died and his mother was left to raise him by herself. By age six, Dai was enrolled in a private academy to begin studying the Chinese Classics, and later graduated valedictorian at the high school level Wenxi County Elementary School. Rather than attend university, Dai enlisted in the student battalion of the 1st Division, Zhejiang Province, during the tumultuous period following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. Soon after he enrolled in the sixth class of the Huangpu Military Academy, also known as the Whampoa Military Academy. Headmaster of the school was Chiang Kai-shek, who later requested Dai join his efforts to unify China and defeat the Communists.

[edit] Role in the KMT

As the Chief of the Kuomintang (KMT) Army in China, Dai Li helped to develop China's Bureau of Investigation and Statistics. The benign title of the department belied the true nature of its secret police work, making Dai one of the most feared men in China, and earning him the nickname "the Himmler of China". Dai was also the head of the Blue Shirts Society, a fascist organization that did security and intelligence work for Chiang. His agents were very successful at penetrating the Chinese Communist and Imperial Japanese puppet organizations.

Dai worked with the United States during World War II and was taught new methods of espionage, and his guerrilla force grew to 70,000 men. In return for this partnership, he made available maps of the South China coast, intelligence on Japanese maneuvers and a safe haven for downed Allied pilots. After the signing of the SACO Treaty in 1942, Dai was placed as head of Sino-American intelligence activities.

While he avoided public entertainments and remained a mysterious figure to his countrymen, Dai was privately known for his wild drinking parties.

He died in a plane crash on March 17, 1946. The plane crash was likely engineered by Dai's rivals within the KMT, contrary to rumors that Dai's counterpart and rival in the Communist Party of China (CPC), the notorious CPC security and intelligence chief Kang Sheng, somehow arranged his assassination.

[edit] References

• Wakeman, Frederic E. Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
• Taiwanese government website on Dai Li.