Dai Li

Born Dai Chunfeng, he was just four years old when his father died, leaving his mother to raise him. By age six, Dai was enrolled in a private academy to begin studying Chinese classics; he later graduated valedictorian from Wenxi County Elementary School. His mother could not afford to send him to university, so at the age of 16 he had to leave home and find his own way in the world. With neither secure income nor any guidance, he began living rough on the streets of Shanghai. Until 1923, he was mentored by labor-organizer and contract-killer Wang Yaqiao. Dai Chunfeng soon became a skilled gambler who could often be found in one of Shanghai's many casinos, trying to win enough money to make ends meet. In a Shanghai casino, he met Du Yuesheng, head of the criminal organisation known as the "Green Gang".

Through Du Yuesheng he later met Chiang Kai-shek. It is unclear when Chiang and Dai first met, but it was likely around 1921. Dai later lost all his money and was forced to return home to Bao'an. In 1927, Dai met his elementary-school friend Mao Renfeng, who suggested that he enrol in the Whampoa Military Academy in Guangzhou, where Chiang served (1924-1947) as Superintendent-Commandant. Dai followed the suggestion, obtained a letter of recommendation from Du Yuesheng, and set off for Guangzhou. Dai enlisted in the 1st Student Regiment of the sixth class of the KMT Officer-Training Academy in 1925.[1] At this time, he changed his name to "Dai Li", which in Chinese refers to an assassin's hooded veil, reflecting the clandestine nature of his planned future career.[2] Chiang soon made him a student informant to spy on Communist activities within the academy, where he played an instrumental role in the Zhongshan Warship Incident of March 1926.

As the Chief of the Kuomintang (KMT) Army's secret service in China, Dai Li helped to develop China's first modern intelligence organization in 1928: the "Clandestine Investigation Section" directly under the Northern Expeditionary Army's Headquarters with the aim of an early victory of the war to quell the nationwide unrest and minimize the loss of life by making the most of military and political intelligence. By the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, this small section would evolve to the very complex and controversial Investigation and Statistics Bureau of the Chinese National Military Council, which was the predecessor of the Military Intelligence Bureau in the Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan.

The benign title of the Investigation and Statistics Bureau belied the true nature of its secret police work, which made Dai one of the most powerful men in republican China. Dai was also the head of the Blue Shirts Society, an ultranationalist organization that did security and intelligence work for Chiang. In the 1930s and 1940s, his agents from the Military-Statistics Bureau (the then military intelligence agency of the KMT) were successful in penetrating the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as well as Imperial Japanese puppet organizations.

Dai worked with the United States during World War II and was taught new methods of espionage resulting in his guerrilla force growing to some 70,000 men. In return for the partnership, he made available maps of the South China coast and intelligence on Japanese maneuvers and provided safe haven for downed Allied aircrew. After the signing of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization Treaty in 1942, Dai was appopinted the head of Sino-American intelligence activities.

While he avoided public entertainments and remained a mysterious figure to his countrymen, Dai was privately known for his wild drinking parties.

Dai died in a plane crash on March 17, 1946. It was speculated that this was possibly arranged by the Chinese Communist Party's intelligence and security chief, Kang Sheng, of the Central Social Affairs Department (SAD). Rumors circulated that the crash had been arranged by the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) because of Dai's anti-Americanism[3] since it had happened on an American plane.[4]

• In the Nickelodeon animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the intelligence service and secret police of the Earth Kingdom capital city, Ba Sing Se, is named “Dai Li” in reference to him.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dai Li.

• Lovell, Stanley P (1964). Of spies & stratagems. Pocket Books. ASIN B0007ESKHE.
• Wakeman, Frederic E. Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
• Military Intelligence B..-History