Mao Sheng, Department of History, Lingnan University
Bai Xianyong (Zhang Jing)
Ninety years ago, in 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army created the "September 18" Incident that shocked China and foreign countries, marking the beginning of Japanese imperialism's attempt to conquer China by force. Six years later, the Japanese garrison launched an attack on Wanping City and Lugou Bridge, which was met with stubborn resistance from the Chinese defenders, and the "July 7" Incident broke out, and the Chinese nation's all-out War of Resistance began. In the course of the 14-year heroic War of Resistance against Chinese Min, the Great Victory of Taierzhuang in 1938 was the first major victory won by China's frontal battlefield. Bai Chongxi, a famous anti-Japanese general, participated in the command of this battle. Bai Chongxi (1893-1966), Hui, a native of Shanwei, Huixian Town, Lingui District, Guilin, Guangxi, was a general of the Republic of China and a representative of the warlord Xingui. During the Northern Expedition, he led the Guangxi army to attack Shanhaiguan. After the success of the Northern Expedition, it fought many wars with Chiang Kai-shek and other local forces. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the army in Guangxi was mobilized to resist the Japanese army.
The writer Mr. Bai Xianyong has devoted himself to compiling the biography of his father, General Bai Chongxi, for nearly a decade, and has published a number of important research results. In 2012, the photo collection "Father and the Republic of China" was published, and in 2014, it continued to work hard to publish "Pain Relief and Healing: General Bai Chongxi and 228", which caused a great response. In 2020, Bai Xianyong collaborated with historian Liao Yanbo to launch a three-volume "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy: Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek", which was combined into the "Father Trilogy". There are three volumes of "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy", and Mr. Bai is the author of the third volume, "Taiwan Years". On the eve of the anniversary of the July 7 Incident, Dr. Mao Sheng of the Department of History of Lingnan University interviewed Mr. Bai Xianyong on behalf of the Shanghai Review of Books. The interview reviews Bai Chongxi's life and helps to enhance our understanding of the general's contributions in the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the defeat of the Kuomintang in Chinese mainland.
Bai Xianyong in front of Bai Chongxi's tomb (Photo by Xu Peihong)
Your father, Mr. Bai Chongxi, was an important leader of the New Gui clan. What kind of organization is the New Gui Department?
Bai Xianyong: The New Gui clan was originally a local military group in Guangxi, headed by Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and Huang Shaohu, the so-called "Three Masters of Guangxi". Later, Huang Shaohu left Guangxi and defected to the central government, where he was replaced by Huang Xuchu. During the Northern Expedition (1926-1929), Bai Chongxi was invited by Chiang Kai-shek to serve as chief of staff of the National Revolutionary Army, and Li Zongren led the Seventh Army to participate in the Northern Expedition. At the end of the Northern Expedition, the power of the Guangxi Army extended from liangguang and two lakes to Pingjin, becoming a nationally important military group. Although the middle and high-ranking generals of the Gui army are mainly gui nationals, such as Li Pinxian, Ye Qi, Liao Lei, and Xia Wei, most of whom are classmates of Bai Chongxi's Baoding Military Academy, there are also many soldiers from other provinces who join the Gui army, such as Hu Zongduo, Tao Jun (Hubei), and Zhang Dingpan (Jiangxi), and later in the thirties when Guangxi was built into a "model province of the Three People's Principles", more people from other provinces joined the Gui clique. The more famous ones are Qiu Changwei (Hunan), doctor of political science from Columbia University, who served as the director of the Guangxi Department of Education and the Director of the Department of Civil Affairs; Huang Jilu (Sichuan), who studied in Japan, the United States, and Canada, and served as the political minister. As a result, the Gui clan has also attracted many outstanding talents from other provinces and become a military and political force headed by Li and Bai in addition to the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek's central concubines.
In 1928, the Beiyang Pictorial published a report on Bai Chongxi.
Chinese have always longed for national reunification and have often made negative evaluations of local power factions that support the military and respect themselves. How do you evaluate the relationship between the local government and the central government during the Republic of China period? How to evaluate the "warlord division" during the Republic of China period?
Bai Xianyong: The relationship between local power factions and the central government during the Republic of China period was extremely complicated and depended on individual cases. In the early days, such as Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu, and Zhang Zuolin, who were directly subordinate to the Beiyang warlords, completely stood on the opposite side of the center, and began the Northern Expedition. Later Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi also participated in the Central Plains War and unanimously opposed Chiang Kai-shek and the Central Committee. However, in the rise of the anti-Japanese army, all local forces unanimously submitted to the central authorities and resisted Japan externally.
The so-called "warlord division" has negative connotations and ignores the fruits of local self-government. For example, in the 1930s, guangxi confronted the central government, which was the most progressive period of Guangxi's modernization. At the same time, Yan Xishan's governance of Shanxi has also achieved certain results.
How should the historical position of the Gui clan in the history of the Republic of China be evaluated?
Bai Xianyong: The contribution of the Gui clan to the Republic of China was first in the Northern Expedition, the Gui Seventh Army was known as the "Steel Army", during the Northern Expedition, such as the Battle of Hesheng Bridge and Tingsi Bridge, the great victory over Wu Peifu's army, and the Most Critical Battle of Longtan in the Northern Expedition, Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren led a joint attack on Sun Chuanfang's department and reversed Qiankun. Later, Bai Chongxi, as chief of staff and commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the Eastern Route Army, led the Fourth Army north, straight into Beijing, and completed the final Northern Expedition. During the Northern Expedition, the Generals and Soldiers of the Gui Clan made great contributions.
Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren during the Northern Expedition
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Guangxi sent one million troops, accounting for almost one-tenth of Guangxi's population, making it the province with the highest proportion of troops in the country. The Gui army resisted Japan and made heroic sacrifices, and the Gui generals Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi commanded the Battle of Xuzhou, taierzhuang won a great victory, defeated the Banyuan Division and the Isoya Division of the Japanese Army, which are known as the "Steel Army", broke the myth of "the imperial army is invincible" and "destroyed China in March", established the first major victory since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and swept away the pessimistic atmosphere of the whole country after the fall of Nanjing.
In the 1930s, the Gui clan built Guangxi into a model of local autonomy throughout the country.
You are not satisfied with the biography of Bai Chongxi that is currently circulating on the market, which prompted you to decide to spend ten years writing about your father yourself. What are the main aspects of your dissatisfaction?
Bai Xianyong: The biography of Bai Chongxi, which is popular in the market now, has many untruths, citing its big ones:
(1) General biographies mostly focus on the contradictions and struggles between Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek. Bai Chongxi is described as an ambitious warlord who seizes power and forces the palace. However, the relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi in the past forty years is extremely complicated and extremely entangled, not in three words, black and white are clearly stated, which is why I and co-author Mr. Liao Yanbo spent six years of work to collect historical materials and write the origin of "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy: Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek", which is divided into three volumes and a total of 400,000 words.
(2) In late 1948, at the Battle of Xu Beng (i.e., the Battle of Huaihai), Chiang Kai-shek commanded the Kuomintang army, which was defeated and the Kuomintang lost power on the mainland. The Kuomintang propaganda organs have repeatedly spread rumors that Bai Chongxi, commander-in-chief of the Central China Suppression Campaign, will not move his troops and will not be saved in the face of death; after the defeat at the Battle of Xu Beng, the media and the biography of Bai Chongxi issued by the Chinese mainland, such as Cheng Siyuan's "Biography of Bai Chongxi", all follow this line. In fact, at the first time (a week after the Battle of Xu Beng) Bai Chongxi dispatched Huang Wei's 12th Corps, the best equipped army in central China, with a total of 120,000 officers and soldiers to Xuzhou to rescue, passing through Anhui, and was surrounded by the People's Liberation Army at Shuangduiji, and Huang Wei was captured. At the Battle of Xu Beng, Chiang Kai-shek commanded with full authority and was to bear the greatest responsibility. The Kuomintang propaganda apparatus framed Bai Chongxi for not moving his troops, but he was paying tribute to Chiang Kai-shek.
(3) For many years, the media on both sides of the strait have made a statement about the cause of Bai Chongxi's death: Chiang Kai-shek ordered agents to poison Bai Chongxi. This false rumor stems from the article of Gu Zhengwen, a retired agent of the Kuomintang. Gu Zhengwen claimed to be the head of the special agent group monitoring Bai Chongxi, and was ordered to hire a nurse to poison the wine and kill Bai Chongxi. This rumor was purely fabricated, and Gu Zhengwen was removed from his post for offending his superior Ye Xiangzhi. The person in charge of monitoring Bai Chongxi is Xiang Yiguang.
Bai Chongxi died of a myocardial infarction and has been verified by doctors.
Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy (three volumes), by Bai Xianyong and Liao Yanbo, Tiandi Books, published in October 2020, 1044 pages, HK$488.00
Most people will think that it is inevitable that the son will give the father a biography, which is inevitably biased. How do you and Mr. Liao Yanbo achieve an objective and equal evaluation of Bai Chongxi in writing?
Bai Xianyong: Historical discourse, the author's historical outlook or his own opinion, but the use of historical materials must be objective and not allowed to be arbitrarily added or subtracted. I and my co-author, Mr. Liao Yanbo, set out to write "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy: Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek", and our highest goal is to write a "history of letters" and let reliable historical materials speak. As the Son of Man, it may arouse the reader's doubts about "keeping a secret for His Holiness", but from the son's point of view, the father's biography also has its advantages that cannot be surpassed, because the son has the clearest and deepest understanding of the father's life in the world. My evaluation of my father, General Bai Chongxi: I never doubted that he was an outstanding military strategist who loved the country and the nation.
What new historical materials are used in this biography?
Bai Xianyong: Mr. Liao Yanbo, my co-author, spent six years collecting a large number of historical materials on both sides of the strait and in the United States, totaling 600,000 words, of which the more important new puzzles were: "Chiang Kai-shek's Diary", "Wu Zhongxin's Diary", "Xu Yongchang's Diary", "Chen Cheng's Diary", "Qian Dajun's Diary", "Huang Xuchu's Diary", and "Huang Xuchu's Memoirs".
After the outbreak of the Taierzhuang War, Bai Chongxi tactically adopted the policy of closely integrating position warfare, guerrilla warfare, and mobile warfare, thus winning the Battle of Taierzhuang. Was this his personal military decision? What do you think of the views in the biography written by Cheng Siyuan?
Bai Xianyong: Cheng Siyuan's "Biography of Bai Chongxi", many views are not accurate. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Bai Chongxi commanded Taierzhuang Dajie, and it was impossible to follow the instructions of others. Bai Chongxi himself was an outstanding strategist, fighting against the Japanese army and having his own set of strategic views.
Bai Chongxi proposed "accumulating small victories for big victories" and "exchanging space for time", which later became the guidelines for the Nationalist government to fight against Japan. Was Bai's view influenced by On Protracted War?
Bai Xianyong: During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in 1938, the Military Commission of the National Government held a military conference in Wuhan, and Bai Chongxi, deputy chief of staff, put forward the anti-Japanese grand strategy of "accumulating small victories into big victories, exchanging space for time", supplementing regular warfare with guerrilla warfare, and fighting a protracted war with the Japanese army. This set of strategies was adopted by the Central Military Commission and became the guiding principle of the Nationalist Government's highest strategy of resisting Japan. According to his father, General Bai Chongxi, he came up with this anti-Japanese strategy inspired by Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The situation of the nationalist army and the Russian army at that time was similar, facing a strong enemy, it was impossible to fight head-on, and only by using the vast space of the country could we lead the enemy army inland, extend the enemy's supply line, fight a protracted war against the enemy army, and drag the enemy down. According to the research of mainland scholar Yang Tianshi and others, Bai Chongxi proposed this strategy in early 1938, and its content was not the same as the speech "On Protracted War" delivered at the end of May 1938.
In 1943, Bai Chongxi (front row, first from right) returned to his home in Guilin and took a group photo with Bai Xianyong (first from left in the front row) and six other children.
Twelve members of the Bai family gathered after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and the left one in the front row was Bai Xianyong.
Scholars generally believe that Chiang Kai-shek's three times in the wilderness were caused by the Gui clan forcing the palace, which is also Chiang Kai-shek's statement. Do you agree?
Bai Xianyong: Commentators often say that Chiang Kai-shek's three dismissals were caused by the Gui clan forcing the palace, which is exaggerated and untrue, in fact, the premise of Chiang Kai-shek's every time he went to the wilderness was forced by the general environmental situation. During the Northern Expedition, in 1927, the Ninghan and Han dynasties split, and the Wuhan government headed by Wang Jingwei opposed Chiang Kai-shek; if Chiang Kai-shek did not leave the wilderness, Hankou Tang Shengzhi, Zhang Fakui, and other generals would have to use troops against Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing, and the great cause of the Northern Expedition would be in danger. Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and others of the Gui clan did not take the initiative to force Chiang Kai-shek to step down, but they did oppose Chiang Kai-shek's war with Wuhan, because Sun Chuanfang's army was looking at the tiger and counterattacking Nanjing at any time, so Chiang Kai-shek had a gap with the Gui clan.
In 1931, Chiang Kai-shek's second resignation, caused by Chiang Kai-shek's house arrest of Legislative Yuan, Hu Hanmin, was in Tangshan, angering people in Guangdong, Chen Jitang took the opportunity to raise an anti-Chiang kai-shek banner and gather various anti-Chiang factions, and Guangxi also joined the anti-Chiang coalition. After Hu Hanmin was released and returned to Guangdong, he continued to oppose Chiang Kai-shek, when the "9.18" incident occurred, the national public opinion was in an uproar, and Jiang resigned as the chairman of the Nanjing State Government and the chief executive on December 25 for unity, and went to the field for the second time. This anti-Chiang Kai-shek movement was led by Guangdong, and Bai and others were only followers.
At the end of 1948, when the Battle of Xu Beng was nearing its end and the Kuomintang regime was crumbling, Bai Chongxi sent two telegrams from Hankou in a row, and Hai Jing and Hai Quan sent telegrams to Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing, proposing to urge the United States to mediate the civil war and rule by river. In early December, the Truman administration had secretly communicated with Ambassador to China Stuart Layden to force Chiang Kai-shek to step down before he was willing to aid China. Without U.S. aid, the Nationalist army could not continue to fight. The original intention of Bai Chongxi's telegram was not to accept the fate of the fall of the Kuomintang regime, and the United States came forward, and Chiang Kai-shek was bound to step down. The two telegrams angered Chiang Kai-shek, who believed that Bai Chongxi had "betrayed the coercive system." Judging from the objective situation, Bai Chongxi's two telegrams absolutely do not constitute the conditions for Chiang Kai-shek's descent. Chiang's third dismissal was forced by an even more urgent situation. The Truman Administration of the United States pressed forward step by step, using the cut off of US aid as a threat, and at the end of the battle, Chiang Kai-shek looked at the situation in the world and understood in his heart that the Kuomintang's general trend on the mainland had gone, so he had begun to deploy Taiwan as a "base" before going to the field, and Ren Chen Cheng was the chairman of Taiwan Province, and at the end of December began to transport treasury gold to Taiwan, and air force aircraft and naval ships were also sent to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek left the mainland and shipped the treasury gold to Taiwan, and there must always be a saying for the people, and "the Gui clan forced the palace" is the best excuse. Li Zongren's memoirs state that in mid-December, Chiang Kai-shek summoned him to reveal his intention to go down, and Li panicked and refused, but Chiang insisted, and Li was able to succeed him as president.
What is the relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and the Gui clan?
Bai Xianyong: The relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and the Gui clan is extremely complicated, and between the division and integration, it must be divided into stages. In the early days of the Northern Expedition, Jiang needed the assistance of the Gui clan, and the central government and the Gui clan got along quite well, but after the Northern Expedition was completed, the Gui clan was highly powerful, and Jiang launched the Jiang-Gui War, which completed the Collapse of the Gui Clan. In the 1930s, Guangxi confronted the central government for six years. In the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the Gui clan heeded Chiang Kai-shek's call to resist Japan and submitted to the central authorities to assist Chiang Kai-shek in resisting Japan for eight years. After the war, the Gui clan and the central government gradually diverged, and in the 1948 vice presidential election, Li Zongren defeated Chiang Kai-shek's chosen candidate Sun Ke, and Chiang kai-shek and the Gui clan were completely separated, so that in the end, Jiang and Li struggled, and there was no room for fire.
Bai Xianyong went to his father's tomb to greet him, which was the first time he had visited after the book was completed.
Chiang Kai-shek admired Bai Chongxi's talents, but "always couldn't get along" and "didn't like him", why?
Bai Xianyong: After Chiang Kai-shek established the army in Huangpu, he has always regarded himself as a military leader, and Chiang Kai-shek's political skills have swept across the border to knock down political enemies one by one, but militarily, strategy and command are not his strengths. During the Battle of Nanchang during the Northern Expedition, Jiang personally led an army to engage Sun Chuanfang's forces, but was defeated and rescued by Bai Chongxi, crushing Sun's army. Bai Chongxi is a military strategist, often attacking the masses with a small number of people, using strategy to win, Chiang Kai-shek knows Bai Chongxi's military commanders, but he is often suspicious of Bai Chongxi, which is the so-called Yuliang complex where the two males cannot stand side by side. Jiang Ge had to reuse Bai Chongxi to fight the world for him, but he felt that Bai was often arbitrary and "did not keep the scope", so the Northern Expedition had just been completed, the birds were hidden, the rabbits were cooked, and they moved to Bai to launch the Jiang-Gui War and collapse the Gui system.
How does Bai Chongxi view Chiang Kai-shek?
Bai Xianyong: When Bai Chongxi looks at Chiang Kai-shek, I am afraid that he also scores several levels, which is quite complicated. First of all, the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance, the Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek are the leaders, and the big goal and general direction of these major wars are: overthrowing the Beiyang government, unifying China, and resisting Japanese aggression, Bai Chongxi's goals of the war are the same as Chiang Kai-shek's, so he respects him as the leader, but Bai's strategic concept is often chiseled and incompatible with Chiang Fangfang, especially in the civil war, the Battle of Siping Street in the northeast, the Battle of Xu Beng, the two are even more in the opposite direction, repeatedly quarreling, especially in military command, Chiang often oversteps the command and interferes with the action plan of the frontline commander. Bai was heartbroken by this, and in Bai's heart, he was afraid that he would not be convinced of Chiang Kai-shek as a military leader.
What is the relationship between Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren? For them, are the interests of the Republic of China contradict the interests of the Gui clan?
Bai Xianyong: The relationship between Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren must be traced back to before the Northern Expedition, Guangxi was unified, the new Gui clan was headed by Li Zongren, Huang Shaohu, and Bai Chongxi, and the so-called "Guangxi Three Jies" stood out, and since then, the Northern Expedition, the War of Resistance, and the Civil War, Li and Bai have cooperated seamlessly in the military. For example, the Battle of Longtan, the most critical part of the Northern Expedition, defeated Sun Chuanfang's army, and during the War of Resistance, Li and Bai jointly commanded, creating a great victory in Taierzhuang and reversing the decline of the War of Resistance. Politically, Li and Bai jointly governed Guangxi in the 1930s and built Guangxi into a model province. Li and Bai, long-term cooperation, once had good results, but in the end the friction gradually rose, and even parted ways, cutting the robe and breaking the righteousness.
In 1948, Li Zongren announced his candidacy for vice president, Bai Chongxi opposed, dissuasion was ineffective, Bai knew that Chiang Kai-shek's choice for vice president had been set as Sun Ke, Li Zongrenqiang came forward to run, if he won, the central government and the Gui clan would split again, and later Bai came out to help Li run because of the Gui clan's relationship and personal feelings with Li Zongren, Li Zongren defeated Sun Ke, the central government and the Gui clan split again, Bai himself admitted that helping Li Zongren to elect vice president, it was a major political mistake he made.
Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren, who was then the acting president. They are about to part ways.
In 1949, when Li Zongren became the acting president, because Chiang Kai-shek was constrained at every turn and did nothing, and finally when the Kuomintang regime was crumbling, Li Zongren ignored Bai Chongxi's persuasion, abandoned his countrymen, did not confess, and flew to the United States, where Bai was quite unforgiving. Lee often made anti-Chiang remarks in the United States, embarrassing Bai's situation in Taiwan. Subsequently, Li Zongren returned to the motherland, making it more difficult for Bai and Gui's overseas members to live with themselves.
Except for the six years in a corner of Guangxi in the 1930s, the Gui clan participated in the central military for other periods, the Northern Expedition assisted Chiang Kai-shek in fighting the world, the War of Resistance Against Guangxi sent a million troops, Guangxi's sons died heroically, and fought to the last soldier and pawn. On the whole, the members of the Gui clan put the national interest at the forefront.
Today's scholars' interpretation of the history of the Republic of China usually regards Chiang Kai-shek as orthodox, representing the central authorities, and is accustomed to evaluating the non-loyalty and treachery of the figures of the Republic of China from Chiang's point of view. Is there any limitation to this perspective? Did your biography attempt to reinterpret the history of the Republic of China with the Gui clan as the center?
Bai Xianyong: The history of the Republic of China that prevails in Taiwan can be said to be the history of the two Chiang Kai-shek republics, and the expansion of the personal history of the two Chiang Kai-shek is, of course, centered on Chiang Kai-shek's father and son, with the "central authorities" as the orthodoxy, and most of the other factions within the Kuomintang are regarded as heretics. For example, Bai Chongxi's position in the nationalist army, as well as his military exploits at various stages of the Northern Expedition and the War of Resistance, were greatly weakened and erased in the history of the two Chiang Kai-shek republics. The "Father Trilogy" is an attempt to restore the historical truth, restore Bai Chongxi's due position in the national army, and remove many rumors and slanders about Bai Chongxi, such as the Battle of Xu Beng, bai Chongxi's soldiers did not move, and so on.
The third volume of "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy", the cover picture is on February 26, 1956, Bai Chongxi and the Relatives of the Bai Clan of Changhua.
Bai Chongxi "has neither military power nor political power" in Taiwan, which is very unsatisfactory, after all, there is no trouble. Why did Bai Chongxi die in Taipei?
Bai Xianyong: Bai Chongxi still has a certain position in the national army, and in the Taiwanese people, Bai went to Taiwan to preach because of the "February 28th", saving the lives of many Taiwanese people, and the common people are grateful and have a certain reputation in the Taiwanese people. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Bai Chongxi made great contributions, was awarded medals by the British, American, French and other governments, and also had a certain reputation in Western countries, when the American "ambassador" Karl L. Rankin had personal relations with Bai and often had contacts. Bai Chongxi has been the chairman of the Islamic Association for more than 20 years, is the leader of Islam in China, and enjoys a high reputation among the Islamic countries in the world. Because of these reasons, Chiang Kai-shek did not dare to rush to act against Bai Chongxi under the consideration of all parties. My father, General Bai Chongxi, once said to me personally: A high-level Figure in the Kuomintang once revealed to him that once the situation in Taiwan changes, the first person the Kuomintang will have to deal with is himself.
Was your father's and gui's experience in Taiwan the prototype for your creation of "Taipeier"? Is the "Father Trilogy" and "Taipeier" intertextual?
Bai Xianyong: "Taipei People" is to write the vicissitudes of history with literature, and "Father Trilogy" is to write about the vicissitudes of history. Some of the characters in "Taipei" may be based on the figure of their father's generation, but they are not limited to the experience of the Gui family in Taiwan. The "Father Trilogy" can be said to be a historical commentary on "Taipeier".
Twenty-one-year-old Bai Xianyong (right) re-entered the Department of Foreign Languages at National Taiwan University, and Bai Chongxi (left) wears a military uniform and takes a photo with his son at home.
What new perspective does this biography provide for us to understand the defeat of the Kuomintang on the mainland?
Bai Xianyong: There are many reasons for the Kuomintang to lose the mainland: politics, economy, education, culture, Chinese and foreign scholars and experts have discussed, but the most direct reason is the military, and the military war has been defeated and retreated, which has further triggered other economic, political and other crises. Although the biography "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy: Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek" focuses on the complex relationship between Chiang Kai-shek and Bai, the theme behind it is to highlight the differences in military strategic thinking between Chiang and Bai during the war and their consequences. The Battle of Siping in 1946 and the Battle of Xu Beng in 1948 are obvious cases that prove that when Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi had a difference in strategic thinking, it affected the overall situation and led to the defeat of the Nationalist army.
Many people use the "Diary of Chiang Kai-shek" to study the history of the Republic of China. What should we pay attention to when using Chiang Kai-shek's diary?
Bai Xianyong: After the publication of Chiang Kai-shek's Diary, many historians who study the history of the Republic of China have cited it one after another. Jiang's diary part of the narrative of historical events has its objective basis, and this part has the value of historical reference, but in the diary, he often loses his authenticity by virtue of his personal subjective likes and dislikes, especially after he was defeated by the Communist Party and took refuge in Taiwan, often revealing his various psychological obstacles, paranoia, and obsession, such as demonizing Bai Chongxi in his diary, and slandering the Kuomintang's military defeat on the mainland. On December 2, 1966, Bai Chongxi died, and Jiang recorded in his diary:
Yesterday morning, I mourned the death of Bai Chongxi, but in fact, this person was also one of the major sinners in the corruption of the party-state and the civil strife.
Therefore, it is not appropriate to quote the "Diary of Chiang Kai-shek" and accept it in its entirety, but should have an attitude of objective judgment so as not to be misled.
"Taiwan Years" allows us to see Bai Chongxi as a father and an ordinary person. You have recalled that when I received the nightmare of my father's death, "my first reaction was not sadness, but a shock of awe." What kind of paternity is this?
Bai Xianyong: My father, General Bai Chongxi, has multiple images in my mind. First of all, for me, he is a hero. When I was young, I always remembered that my father was always dressed in a military uniform, riding a tall black and shiny horse, heroic and triumphant, which was the years of victory in the War of Resistance. In the family the father is a strict father and a loving father. My father disciplined us very strictly, did not allow us to have the habit of clumsy children, and demanded on our studies, which was even more "step by step". I have said that the status of our siblings in the family is ranked by the school's report card. But my father was also a loving father, because I suffered from lung disease when I was young, and I was very sick, but fortunately my parents took good care of it and was able to recover. So my father was extra tolerant of me.
Childhood Bai Xianyong and father Bai Chongxi
In 1966, when my father suddenly returned to life, the first thing I felt was a shock, because my father was a hero, and the death of a hero was awe-inspiring.
As early as the late 1970s, you said that your lifelong desire was to write a biography of Bai Chongxi that would be acceptable to the public. But today has entered an era of anti-heroism and anti-elite, and historical research also emphasizes writing more social history and mass cultural history. And this biography you wrote emphasizes a view of war and heroic history. Why should today's readers read this biography?
Bai Xianyong: The Chinese tradition of historiography, flowing down from the source of the "History of History", "Book of Han", and "Zizhi Tongjian", has always been based on biographies, the rise and fall of dynasties, and the records of wars, and I believe that this great tradition of Chinese historiography will continue to be passed down. The biographer of "Forty Years of Sorrow and Joy: Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek", although Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek, but more importantly, this book describes the role of the differences in the military strategy of Chiang Kai-shek and Bai in the end of the Kuomintang's loss of the mainland. Why the Kuomintang lost the mainland is a historical fact that every reader is eager to know.
In 1963, Bai Xianyong went to the United States to study, and Bai Chongxi left his last group photo when he was sent off at Matsuyama Airport.
(This interview has been slightly abridged, and Mr. Bai Xianyong's collaborator, Mr. Liao Yanbo, also contributed to this article))
Editor-in-Charge: Ding Xiongfei
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang