Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service (A Philip E. Lilienthal Book in Asian Studies)

The most feared man in China, Dai Li, was chief of Chiang Kai-shek's secret service during World War II. This sweeping biography of "China's Himmler," based on recently opened intelligence archives, traces Dai's rise from obscurity as a rural hooligan and Green Gang blood-brother to commander of the paramilitary units of the Blue Shirts and of the dreaded Military Statistics Bureau: the world's largest spy and counterespionage organization of its time. In addition to exposing the inner workings of the secret police, whose death squads, kidnappings, torture, and omnipresent surveillance terrorized critics of the Nationalist regime, Dai Li's personal story opens a unique window on the clandestine history of China's Republican period. This study uncovers the origins of the Cold War in the interactions of Chinese and American special services operatives who cooperated with Dai Li in the resistance to the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and who laid the groundwork for an ongoing alliance against the Communists during the revolution that followed in the 1940s. Frederic Wakeman Jr. illustrates how the anti-Communist activities Dai Li led altered the balance of power within the Chinese Communist Party, setting the stage for Mao Zedong's rise to supremacy. He reveals a complex and remarkable personality that masked a dark presence in modern China—one that still pervades the secret services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Wakeman masterfully illuminates a previously little-understood world as he discloses the details of Chinese secret service trade-craft. Anyone interested in the development of modern espionage will be intrigued by Spymaster, which spells out in detail the ways in which the Chinese used their own traditional methods, in addition to adapting foreign ways, to create a modern intelligence service. acknowledgments......Page 12 preface......Page 14 abbreviations......Page 18 maps......Page 20 1 Images of Dai Li......Page 24 2 Living off the Land......Page 35 3 Touben......Page 47 4 The League of Ten......Page 59 5 “Vigorous Practice”: The Chiang Freemasonry......Page 69 6 The Founding of the Lixingshe......Page 78 7 The Lixingshe and the Blue Shirts......Page 89 8 The Blue Shirts’ “Fascism”......Page 108 9 Ideological Rivalries: The Blue Shirts and the “CC” Clique......Page 121 10 The Blue Shirts in the Provinces......Page 133 11 The Shanghai Station, 1932–35......Page 155 12 Death Squads......Page 180 13 Assassinations......Page 191 14 Police Academies......Page 210 15 Sleeping in Their Coffins......Page 229 16 Skirts and Sashes......Page 244 17 War and the Special Movement Corps......Page 260 18 The Training Camps......Page 273 19 Codes......Page 295 20 Dai Li, Milton Miles, and the Foundation of SACO......Page 308 21 SACO Training Camps......Page 317 22 Spying......Page 331 23 Dai Li’s Wartime Smuggling Networks......Page 343 24 Juntong in Wartime Chongqing......Page 353 25 Falling Star......Page 370 Afterword: Daemons......Page 390 Appendix A: Organization of the General Unit of Special Training (later the Northwestern Youth Labor Camp) in Late 1939......Page 392 Appendix B Organization of Juntong Headquarters, 1943–45......Page 394 Appendix C: Terms of the Sino-American Special Technical Cooperation Agreement (Washington, D.C., April 1943)......Page 400 Appendix D: SACO Training Units......Page 402 notes......Page 408 bibliography......Page 562 Images of Dai Li Living off the land Touben The league of ten "Vigorous Practice" : the Chiang freemasonry The founding of the Lixingshe The Lixingshe and the blue shirts The blue shirts' "Fascism" Ideological rivalries : the blue shirts and the "CC" clique The blue shirts in the provinces The Shanghai station, 1932-1935 Death squads Assassinations Police academies Sleeping in their coffins Skirts and sashes War and the special movement corps The training camps Codes 000 Dai li, Milton Miles, and the foundation of Saco Saco training camps Spying Dai Li's wartime smuggling networks Juntong in wartime Chongqing Falling star. Annotation Wakeman's authoritative biography of the ruthlessly powerful man who led the Chinese Secret Service during the violent and tumultuous period after the fall of the Imperial system One foreign journalist later recalled Dai Li as a faceless fellow, always shrouded in the shadows of the room while others were openly holding forth.