Legendary Life of Jiang Baili

Jiang Baili (1882-1938) is a legendary man in the history of the Republic of China (1911-1949). In his fifty-six-year life， he was largely known as a military scientist. He went to Japan in 1901 and studied in a military academy and graduated as the very top student. He went to Germany in 1906 and studied in a military academy there. In 1912， he was appointed the president of Baoding Military Academy and in May 1938， he was appointed acting president of China Military Academy shortly before he passed away. In 30-plus years between the two appointments to military education， he acted as military advisor or chief of staff for the government or high-ranking military strongmen.

In his early adult years， Jiang Baili was an active scholar. From 1918 to 1919 he traveled two years in Europe and wrote a history on European Renaissance after his return to China. He was also a co-founder of Crescent Society， an influential literary organization founded in 1923. Jiang Baili never fought a battle in his lifetime. Jiang Baili is largely remembered as the man who brought modern western military theories into China and he was the founding father of modern Chinese military theories.

Jiang Baili was born in Xiashi Town， Ninghai City in northern Zhejiang Province. His grandfather was a famed collector of precious books. Jiang Baili was a brilliant scholar. At the age of 16， he passed his first imperial examination and became a designated scholar. In the spring of 1900， he came to Hangzhou and studied at Qiushi Academy， the predecessor of today’s Zhejiang University. Financially assisted by the magistrate of Haining County and the president of the academy， Jiang went to Japan to study military science in 1901.

Suicide

At five o’clock in the morning of June 17， 1913， 2，000 cadets and faculty members were summoned urgently in front of the president’s office. The young officers and staffers were puzzled by the occasion and the time. Jiang Baili spoke. “When I took the post， I asked you to fulfill what I instruct you to do and I will fulfill what you hope me to do. If you fail to deliver， you will get punished. If I fail， I will punish myself. You have done quite well so far and done nothing that let me down. But I haven’t performed well as the president. I am sorry. You stand still now and have the courage to shoulder the responsibility for China’s future.”

With these words said， Jiang Baili walked back into his office and shot himself.

It was just six months after he took the presidency at the military academy. During the period， he introduced western military practices into the curriculum in the hope of producing best military officers for the country. Jiang was popular with the young cadets and faculty for his innovated programs. They shared Jiang’s ambition. But Duan Qirui， a military strongman and a high-ranking government leader， disliked Jiang’s plans. Jiang soon ran into snags and his plans and programs were thwarted. The worst was that funds stopped coming to the academy. The academy sent telegrams to the government， but received no reply. Jiang Baili went to the capital and his appeal came to nothing. He telegraphed his resignation to Yuan Shikai， but it was turned down. Facing such a dilemma， he had no way out but to commit suicide.

Fortunately， his guard had noticed his situation the night before. The guard was somewhat on alert. When he became aware of what Jiang Baili was going to do， he rushed into the office and prevented the president from shooting himself fatally just in time. The bullet shot into the left lung.

The Chinese government immediately called Japanese Embassy to China for medical help. A Japanese doctor and a nurse were sent to Baoding to rescue Jiang Baili. The nurse was Sato. Jiang Baili made it and recovered under the care of the nurse. In 1914， Jiang Baili married Sato. The romance between the two is another story.

Imprisonment

In the second half of 1929， Tang Shengzhi， a warlord， sent a cable to his teacher Jiang Baili， asking whether it was all right to start a war against Chiang Kai-shek. Jiang Baili replied saying ambiguously “West is better than east”， advising the warlord to follow the strategy of Zuo Zongtang (1812-1885)， a prominent general of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and go westward to develop his influence. Tang Shengzhi overestimated his strength and decided to start an uprising against Chiang. He failed. On the New Year’s Day of 1930， Shanghai Mayor Zhang Qun came to visit Jiang Baili and advised him to go abroad and stay away from China for a while. Jiang Baili turned the proposal down. Chiang Kai-shek later had soldiers search Tang Shengzhi’s headquarters in Shanghai and Jiang Baili’s home. The telegrams were found. After reading the telegrams， Chiang thought Jiang Baili was involved in the conspiracy and decided to kill him. Acting under the instruction of Chiang， a former student visited Jiang Baili and asked him to take a vacation in Hangzhou. Jiang Baili thought nothing of the invitation and came to Hangzhou.

He was arrested in Hangzhou and was jailed. The arrest of Jiang shocked the nation. Xu Zhimo， a friend and a native of Xiashi， Haining County， decided to sit in jail together with Jiang Baili. For a while， many scholars and hot-headed young people wished to go to jail with Jiang Baili. Jiang Baili spent twenty months in jail. Chiang Kai-shek decided not to kill him for two reasons: the death of the prominent scholar could cause chaos and many of Jiang’s students appealed to Chiang. After his release， Jiang Baili and Chiang Kai-shek made it up.

Xi’an Incident

Knowing Jiang Baili could still be a threat to him， Chiang sent him on a study tour to Japan and Europe. Jiang spent years abroad. After Jiang Baili came back， Chiang asked Jiang to join him in Xi’an. Jiang arrived in Xi’an on December 11， 1936， just a day before Xi’an Incident occurred.

Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng put Chiang Kai-shek under house-arrest and asked him to adopt anti-Japan policies and stop the policy of wiping out the communists. Chiang Kai-shek turned them down first. There was an impasse. The two sides could not reach an agreement. The government officials in Nanjing intended to take military actions and bomb Xi’an. Zhang Xueliang came to see Jiang Baili and asked him to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to change his mind.

At four o’clock on the afternoon of December 16， Jiang Baili came to see Chiang Kai-shek. Jiang analyzed the international situation and predicted that as Japan would start an all-out war against China in 1937， the situation for China was very grave. Jiang Baili said that given the situation， the crisis should go away peacefully. What Jiang Baili suggested was to give top priority to national reconciliation and unity and to get China ready for the imminent all-out invasion.

Chiang Kai-shek thought Jiang Baili was right. After the talk with Jiang Baili， Chiang wrote two letters， asking He Yingqin in Nanjing not to bomb Xi’an and not to start any military action. Jiang Baili’s talk with Chiang paved the way to the peaceful solution to Xi’an Incident.

Jiang Baili was right about the situation. At that time， Japan had already occupied the three provinces in northeastern China. Jiang wanted to lead an army to fight the imminent invasion but his application was turned down several times. In his “On National Defense” in 1937， Jiang Baili concluded that an all-out war between China and Japan was inevitable and that China would survive.

Appointment and Death

Though Chiang Kai-shek thought highly of Jiang Baili， he never appointed him to any military position. In the autumn of 1938， Jiang Baili was appointed acting president of China Army Academy， the highest military institution in China at that time. Jiang Baili set out on his journey to Zhunyi， Guizhou where the academy was located. He stopped for a few days in Guilin， the capital of today’s Guangxi Autonomous Region. He was diagnosed heart disease. On October 30， Jiang Baili reached Yishan Guangxi. He felt bad and decided to take a rest there. November 4 was a busy day for Jiang Baili. Zhu Kezhen’s diary revealed what Jiang Baili did that day. Jiang Baili had a talk with Zhu Kezhen， the president of Zhejiang University. At seven o’clock that evening， Jiang Baili had a talk with Zheng Zonghai， a professor with Zhejiang University. Jiang then met with Zhou Yawei， the chief of the educational administration of the Army Academy. At ten o’clock that night， Jiang’s wife heard her husband cough strangely. She nudged him. He did not respond. She switched on a torch only to see Jiang have froth on the lips. When doctors arrived， Jiang was already dead.

Tombs

He was buried in Yishan， Guangxi. In November， 1948， he was reburied in 10，000-Pine Hill in Hangzhou. After the founding of New China in 1949， his tomb was moved to Nanshan Cemetery at the foot of Jade Emperor Hill. In 1978， Jiang Baili’s wife Zuo Mei passed away at the age of 88. The man and wife were buried together. The tomb was built by Qian Xuesen and his wife Jiang Ying (Qian was the founding father of modern China’s rocket science and Jiang Ying was the third daughter of Jiang Baili).

In the winter of 2009， we went to the cemetery in the hope of visiting the tomb of Jiang Baili and his wife. We had had no idea where the tomb was located. The cemetery is the oldest existing public cemetery in Hangzhou where there are more than 50，000 tombs. It was a fine afternoon. The sunshine on the woods created a polychromatic visual effect. We walked along a path scattered with the black seeds of camphor trees. We could hear the light noise of the seeds squashed under our feet. After making inquiries at the management office of the cemetery， we finally located the tomb. We had thought Jiang Baili， a man with the military title of admiral， would have a very big tomb. It is an ordinary tomb that occupies a plot about one square meter large. It looked like other tombs around it. In front of the tomb was a fresh bundle of chrysanthemum. The cemetery official who took us to the tomb observed that people like us come to visit the tomb now and then around the year. □