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It is said that among the senior generals of the National Revolutionary Army, Bai Chongxi is a relatively special existence, and he has established the "four noes" rule in his life, that is, no alcohol, no tobacco, no gambling, and no belief in God. It can be said that this was an extremely rare existence in the circle of generals of the National Revolutionary Army at that time, with the status of Bai Chongxi.
Bai Chongxi is relatively strict with himself, not only does he not smoke, but he also never touches big cigarettes, and he often reprimands those who smoke big cigarettes. In the early years, when Bai Chongxi was the commander of the garrison company in Baise, Guangxi, he hated the smokers very much.
At that time, Bai Chongxi refused to accept all kinds of bribes and threats from opium merchants, nor was he afraid of any power, it can be said that he had zero tolerance for the smuggling of opium by the Baise Daoyin Office, and his handling was even more selfless, and once discovered, he would inevitably confiscate it.
When he was the minister of the Military Training Department, he persuaded the patriotic general Zhang Zizhong to use it with reason and affection, hoping that he would be able to quit smoking in half a year, otherwise, he would take turns to train him, which might bring some inconvenience at that time.
As a result, in less than half a year, General Zhang Zizhong quit his addiction to smoking. Lieutenant General Huang Jianping of the Fifth Theater is the superintendent of law enforcement, but this person has the bad habit of smoking big cigarettes. Bai Chongxi directly proposed to his face that Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater, transfer this person from his post, and Huang Jianping felt deeply guilty when he learned of this, and expressed his determination to quit smoking, and soon after he quit opium.
Bai Chongxi also appointed the editor-in-chief of the Guilin Education Association's "Popular Words Newspaper", who was not greedy for money and was also Bai Chongxi's uncle Bai Shaolan as the director of the Wuzhou Anti-Smoking Bureau. He once said: If the nation does not seriously ban smoking, the country will be in danger! During his tenure, his uncle was extremely strict about smoking bans and refused to accept all kinds of intercession gifts, which was greatly appreciated by Chongxi.
On the issue of smoking, even his old friend Li Zongren is in awe of it, although Li Zongren has the vice of smoking cigarette addiction, but whenever There is a bureau where Bai Chongxi is present, he will certainly not smoke, even if there are guests present, everyone will bear not to smoke, which shows how "hate" Bai Chongxi is about "smoke"!
This point about the "prohibition of alcohol" Bai Chongxi is also quite praised, Bai Chongxi has not been drunk since childhood, and later in the banquet needs, he also always maintains self-control and sobriety, in order to socialize, he also just touches the wine glass, lips stained to make a courtesy look. This point has been explained in the "Memoirs of Bai Chongxi" and is also very clear.
Bai Chongxi also hated gambling to the bone, in his early years as a company commander he strictly prohibited soldiers from gambling, in 1925 Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi in the unification of Guangxi, the local gambling style is extremely popular, especially the streets and alleys of Guilin are almost full of casinos.
In order to rectify and build Guangxi, Bai Chongxi made up his mind to ban gambling, and the first knife must be used in Guilin, and he stipulated that no matter who it was or what kind of background, all gamblers who were caught should be subject to administrative detention in addition to confiscating gambling equipment.
For example, Liang Huatang, who had organized the "Self-Defense Army," ignored Bai Chongxi's ban and gathered gambling, was directly arrested and detained for three days, and afterwards was dismissed from his post as a colonel's staff officer, which directly played a role in "punishing one arrogant hundred".
Bai Chongxi has not been superstitious since childhood, and he does not believe in God. When he was a child, he despised the land lord and dared to pee directly in front of the land lord's temple in front of many children. In Bai Chongxi's hometown, there is a small land temple on the side of the mountain, which contains land ministers and land wives, and often good men and women come to burn incense and pray for blessings.
Bai Chongxi was studying at the Army Elementary School at that time, and once when he was sick and went home to recuperate from his illness and felt irritable, he strolled to the side of the mountain and happened to encounter the Land Temple, and when he saw that he was not angry, he directly threw the Land Gong and the Land Lady into the deep pond at the end of the village.
The statue of the god disappeared, directly fried the pot among the villagers, making everyone panic, the village was more like boiling water that opened the pot, making a fuss for several days, Bai Chongxi felt like he had retaliated against the land god, and felt much more comfortable in his heart.
Why did Bai Chongxi establish the "four noes" rule in his lifetime? In fact, this is related to the fact that they are Hui, who believe in Islam. The teachings of Islam are taboos against tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and the worship of bodhisattva idols, which in turn forms a custom of the Hui people.
Bai Chongxi's ancestor Bai Ronghua was directly subordinate to Zhizhou in the Qianlong period, and he tried his best to do Hui Islamic affairs, once inscribed the idea of "confessing the uniqueness of the Lord", and gave a plaque to the mosque in Kaixian County, and the local Muslims regarded it as a treasure.
When it was passed on to Bai Chongxi's father and successors and Bai Chongxi's parents-in-law's family, the clan members were all zealous in Islam, and after Bai's founding, they also specially hired the family A xun to take charge of the family's teaching affairs.
Bai Chongxi as a Hui people must be influenced by Hui Islamic culture, and he has natural feelings, although Bai Chongxi is in the political and military circles, he has always maintained the true color of Hui Islam in all exchanges and entertainment. Therefore, Bai Chongxi's life has this "four no's", which is inevitable!
References for this article: "Biography of Bai Chongxi", "Memoirs of Bai Chongxi", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - Biography of Bai Chongxi"