Mao Renfeng (; 5 January 1898 – 11 December 1956) was a Republic of China general and

spymaster A spymaster is a leader of a group of spies or an intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforce ...

who headed the

Bureau of Investigation and Statistics The National Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (NBIS or BIS; ), commonly known as Juntong (), was the military intelligence agency of the Republic of China before 1946. It was devoted to intelligence gathering and covert spying operation fo ...

(BIS, also known as the Counterintelligence Bureau and, after 1955, the Intelligence Bureau) from 1946 until his death, succeeding his childhood friend

Dai Li Dai Li (; 28 May 189717 March 1946), courtesy name Yunong, was a Chinese lieutenant general and spymaster. Dai was born in Jiangshan, Zhejiang and later studied at the Whampoa Military Academy, where Chiang Kai-shek served as Chief Commandant, ...

, who died in a plane crash in 1946. Between 1946 and 1949, his spy agency played a prominent role in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

. In 1949, he fled to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

with the rest of the

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

, where he died 7 years later. Beginning on 25 May 1955, Mao's BIS secret agents, in conjunction with political warfare officers and

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

, began arresting and torturing the subordinates of General

Sun Li-jen Sun Li-jen ( zh, t=孫立人 , s=孙立人 , p=Sūn Lìrén, first=t; December 8, 1900November 19, 1990) was a Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist (KMT) General officer, general, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute in the United States, bes ...

for being

pro-American Pro-Americanism (also called pro-American sentiment and Americophilia) describes support, love, or admiration for the United States, its government and economic system, its foreign policy, the American people, and/or American culture, typical ...

in an alleged coup against Chiang Kai-shek's regime, for collaborating with the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

to take control of Taiwan, and for declaring

Taiwanese independence The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an Independence, independent and Sovereign state, sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Stra ...

; by October, more than 300 officers had been arrested and detained by the BIS and the

Taiwan Garrison Command The Taiwan Garrison Command () was a secret police and national security body under the Republic of China Armed Forces on Taiwan. The agency was established at the end of World War II, and operated throughout the Cold War. It was disbanded on ...

on charges of high

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

for conspiring with Communist spies to stage a coup. General Sun was also placed under

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

for 33 years until 20 March 1988, which was one of the cases of

political persecution Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...

in the history of the

White Terror White Terror may refer to: Events France * First White Terror (1794–1795), a movement against the Jacobins in the French Revolution * Second White Terror (1815), a movement against the French Revolution Post-Russian Empire * White Terror (Rus ...

. His son, Robert Yu-Lang Mao, is currently chairman of

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

China.

References

1898 births 1956 deaths Taiwanese people from Zhejiang People from Jiangshan Politicians from Quzhou Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang Members of the Kuomintang Spymasters Torturers White Terror (Taiwan) {{China-mil-bio-stub