Bai Chongxi (18 March 1893-2 December 1966) was a Chinese Muslim general in the National Revolutionary Army during the Chinese Civil War.
Biography[]
Bai Chongxi was born in Guilin, Guangxi, Qing China in 1893, and he came from a family of Hui Chinese heritage. He took part in the xinhai Revolution as a student before allying with Huang Shaohong during the Warlord era and forming the New Guangxi Clique to move against Guangxi warlord Lu Rongting and bring Guangxi under republican jurisdiction. He became chief of staff of the Nationalist cause, serving as chief of staff of the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition of 1926-1928. In 1927, he conquered Hangzhou and Shanghai, and he oversaw the purge of communist elements of the NRA and the labor unions of Shanghai in the Shanghai massacre of 1927. In 1928, he defeated Zhang Zongchang's Fengtian Clique army and almost captured Zhang himself. However, he was forced to flee to Vietnam in 1929 after Chiang Kai-shek turned against him. He was later captured by Chiang during the dispute between his faction and Nanjing, having supported the anti-Chiang warlord alliance during the Central Plains War. From 1930 to 1936, he rebuilt Guangxi under Nationalist oversight and supplied over 900,000 soldiers to the war effort against Japan. However, he allowed the Communists to slip through Guangxi during the Chinese Civil War. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Bai and his elite soldiers were among the strongest members of the Nationalist cause, and he often refused to obey flawed orders from Chiang. During the Chinese Civil War, he served as the Nationalist Defense Minister, but Chiang bypassed him on several major decisions. Bai was ultimately forced to abandon the "rice bowl" of Hankou to the Communists in 1949 and flee to Taiwan, where he died in 1966, never having reconciled with Chiang.