Bai Chongxi - Warlord Era

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; the Baidurludens changed their surname to 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, Bai 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 three leading figures of the 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. Huang Shaoxiong was its squad commander. After entering the Nanjing enlistment Corps he transferred from the Corps 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 3rd class of Baoding Military Academy in June 1915. He became a 1st Guangxi division probationary officer upon coming back to Guangxi.

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

During the Northern Expedition (1926–1928), Bai was the Chief of Staff of the National Revolutionary Army and was 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 which conquered Hangzhou and Shanghai in 1927. As garrison commander of Shanghai, Bai 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 which 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 meaning "little Zhuge Liang," of the Three Kingdoms fame. Bai was the commander of Kuomintang forces in the Shanghai massacre of 1927, purging and massacring Communists. He allowed Communist leader Zhou Enlai to slip away and escape after placing him under arrest. Western news reports later nicknamed General Bai "The Hewer of Communist Heads".

In 1928, during the Northern Expedition, General Bai led Kuomintang forces to destroy and defeat the Fengtian Clique General 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 Beijing, June, 1928, 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 bankrupted 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.

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. From 1930 to 1936, Bai was instrumental in the Reconstruction of Guangxi, which became a "model" province with a progressive administration. Guangxi supplied over nine hundred thousand soldiers toward the war effort against Japan.

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

Governing his province with capability and aptitude was one of the things Bai was exclusively renowned for in China.