Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service (A Philip E. Lilienthal Book in Asian Studies)

674 Pages·2003·3.85 MB·English

by  Frederic Wakeman Jr.

Spymaster
A
B O O K
The Philip E. Lilienthal imprint
honors special books
in commemoration of a man whose work
at the University of California Press from 1954 to 1979
was marked by dedication to young authors
and to high standards in the field of Asian Studies.
Friends, family, authors, and foundations have together
endowed the Lilienthal Fund, which enables the Press
to publish under this imprint selected books
in a way that reflects the taste and judgment
of a great and beloved editor.
Spymaster
Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service
Frederic Wakeman Jr.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
contribution to this book provided by the Philip E.
Lilienthal Asian Studies Endowment Fund of the
University of California Press Associates, which is
supported by a major gift from Sally Lilienthal.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2003 by
The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wakeman, Frederic E.
Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese secret service / Frederic
Wakeman, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0–520–23407–3 (Cloth : alk. paper)
1. 880–06 Dai, Li, 1896–1946. 2. Secret service—China—
History—20th century. 3. Generals—China—Biography.
I. Title: Dai li and the Chinese secret service. II. Title.
ds777.488.d35 w353 2003
327.1251(cid:2)0092—dc21 2002013903
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
(cid:2)(cid:3) The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and totally
chlorine-free (TCF). It meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997)
He was a white-faced man, rather flat nose, lots of gold teeth in
the front of his mouth. I found out later he had his teeth knocked
down his throat by the Communists in South China and he had
them put back in, in gold. He had dark black hair and wide-set
eyes, and when I used a pair of binoculars, I’d have to open
them up to give them to him so he could use them. He was about
five feet eight and a very pleasant man generally, but with
delicate hands and I thought he was—well, a pansy, the way
I first sized him up there, but I found out that he was a ruthless
man, but personally, with him and me living in the same room
much of the time with an interpreter, because he didn’t
understand—or I didn’t understand his brand of Chinese,
I found out that he was a very kind person and I liked him. He
might have been a skunk and all those things—he might have
been a witch or all of the things that they accused him of being,
and an assassin, a poisoner, a saboteur of the first water, but
I found out he was a great man in the Generalissimo’s field of
vision and he liked him. He was the only man that was allowed
in the Generalissimo’s bedroom armed at any time of day or
night, and that showed a great deal of trust in China, if you
know what that means. Anyone else that came even in
Generalissimo’s Headquarters parked his gun at the entrance
when he went in, but not Dai Li.
admiral milton miles,
Talk Before the Conference
of the New York State Association of Police Chiefs,
Schenectady, New York, July24, 1957

contents
acknowledgments /
xi
preface /
xiii
abbreviations /
xvii
maps /
xix
1. Images of Dai Li / 1
2. Living off the Land / 12
3. Touben / 24
4. The League of Ten / 36
5. “Vigorous Practice”: The Chiang Freemasonry / 46
6. The Founding of the Lixingshe / 55
7. The Lixingshe and the Blue Shirts / 66
8. The Blue Shirts’ “Fascism” / 85
9. Ideological Rivalries: The Blue Shirts and the “CC” Clique / 98
10. The Blue Shirts in the Provinces / 110
11. The Shanghai Station, 1932–35 / 132
12. Death Squads / 157
13. Assassinations / 168
14. Police Academies / 187
15. Sleeping in Their Coffins / 206
16. Skirts and Sashes / 221
17. War and the Special Movement Corps / 237
18. The Training Camps / 250
19. Codes 000 / 272
20. Dai Li, Milton Miles, and the Foundation of SACO / 285
21. SACO Training Camps / 294
22. Spying / 308
23. Dai Li’s Wartime Smuggling Networks / 320
24. Juntong in Wartime Chongqing / 330
25. Falling Star / 347
Afterword: Daemons / 367
appendix a. organization of the general unit
of special training
/ 369
appendix b. organization of juntong headquarters,
1943–45
/ 371
appendix c. terms of the sino-american special
technical cooperation agreement
/ 377
appendix d. saco training units
/ 379
notes
/ 385
bibliography
/ 539
glossary-index
/ 579
illustrations
1. Dai Li’s hometown Baoan / 13
2. Baoan street scene / 15
3. Dai Li, his brother Dai Yunlin, and his son Dai Cangyi / 17
4. Lan Yuexi, Dai Li’s mother / 17
5. Dai Li as a young man / 18
6. Nationalist general Hu Zongnan / 21
7. Mao Renfeng, deputy director of Juntong and later director of
the Bureau to Preserve Secrets / 25
8. Chiang Kai-shek’s villa outside Nanjing / 56
9. Chinese Boy Scouts / 76
10. Chen Lifu, founder of the Central Statistics Bureau / 90
11. Dai Li and children at party, Christmas 1944 / 222
12. Dai Li’s Bao’an mansion / 229
13. Song Ziwen (T.V. Soong), Chiang Kai-shek’s brother-in-law
and minister of foreign affairs / 231
14. Du Yuesheng, leader of the Green Gang / 238
15. Xiao Bo, deputy Chinese military attaché and Dai Li’s agent
in Washington, D.C. / 276
16. Wartime Chongqing / 279
ix