Dai Li

Lieutenant General Dai Li (Tai Li; ; May 28, 1897 – March 17, 1946) was a Chinese spymaster. His courtesy name was Yunong (雨農). Born Dai Chunfeng (Tai Chun-feng; 戴春風) in Bao'an, Jiangshan, Zhejiang province, he studied at the Whampoa Military Academy, where Chiang Kai-shek served as Chief Commandant, and later became head of Chiang's military intelligence agency: the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics () or ("jūntǒng" (军统) in short) of Republican China (1912-1949).

Early life

Born Dai Chunfeng, he was just four years old when his father died, leaving his mother to raise him. By age six, Dai was enrolled in a private academy to begin studying Chinese Classics, and later graduated valedictorian from Wenxi County Elementary School. His mother could not afford to send him to university, so at 16 he was forced to leave home and find his own way in the world. With neither secure income nor any guidance, he began living the rough life of the streets of Shanghai. Until 1923, he was mentored by labor organizer and contract killer Wang Yaqiao. Dai Chunfeng soon became a skilled gambler who could often be found in one of Shanghai's many casinos, trying to win enough money to make ends meet. It was in a Shanghai casino that he met Du Yuesheng, head of the criminal organisation known as the "Green Gang".

Through Du Yuesheng he later met Chiang Kai-shek. It is unclear when Chiang and Dai first met, but it was likely around 1921. He later lost all of his money and was forced to return home to Bao'an. In 1927, Dai met his elementary school friend Mao Renfeng who suggested that he enroll in the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou, where Chiang was then Superintendent-Commandant. Dai took the suggestion, obtained a letter of recommendation from Du Yuesheng and set off for Guangzhou. Dai enlisted in the 1st Student Regiment of the sixth class of the KMT Officer Training Academy. It was then that he changed his name to Dai Li which in Chinese refers to an assassin's hooded veil, reflecting the clandestine nature of his planned future career. Chiang soon made him a student informant within the academy to spy on Communist activities, where he played an instrumental role in the Zhongshan Warship Incident.

Role in KMT

As the Chief of the Kuomintang (KMT) Army's secret service in China, Dai Li helped to develop China's first modern intelligence organization in 1928: the "Clandestine Investigation Section" directly under the Northern Expeditionary Army's Headquarters with the aim of an early victory of the war to quell the nationwide unrest and minimize the loss of life by making the most of military and political intelligence. By the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, this small section would evolve to the very complex and controversial Investigation and Statistics Bureau of Chinese National Military Council, which was the predecessor of the Military Intelligence Bureau in the Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan.

The benign title of the Investigation and Statistics Bureau belied the true nature of its secret police work, which made Dai one of the most powerful men in republican China. Dai was also the head of the Blue Shirts Society, an ultranationalist organization that did security and intelligence work for Chiang. In 1930s and 1940s, his agents from '' Military-Statistics Bureau'' (the then military intelligence agency of the KMT) were successful in penetrating the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as well as Imperial Japanese puppet organizations.

Dai worked with the United States during World War II and was taught new methods of espionage resulting in his guerrilla force growing to some 70,000 men. In return for the partnership, he made available maps of the South China coast and intelligence on Japanese maneuvers and provided safe haven for downed Allied aircrew. After the signing of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization Treaty in 1942, Dai was appopinted the 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.

Death

Dai died in a plane crash on March 17, 1946. It was speculated that this was possibly arranged by the Chinese Communist Party's intelligence and security chief, Kang Sheng, of the Central Social Affairs Department (SAD). Rumors circulated that the crash had been arranged by the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) because of Dai's anti-Americanism since it had happened on an American plane.

In popular culture

* In the Nickelodeon animated TV series ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', the intelligence service and secret police of the Earth Kingdom capital city, Ba Sing Se, is named “Dai Li” in reference to him.

References

*
* Wakeman, Frederic E. ''Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
Military Intelligence B..-History

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dai, Li
1897 births
1946 deaths
Politicians from Quzhou
Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang
Spymasters
Members of the Kuomintang
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in China
People from Jiangshan
Chinese nationalists
Chinese fascists
Politicide perpetrators
Directors of intelligence agencies