PARTNER

OBJECT ID

ddr-njpa-1-863 (G323.004)

PARENT COLLECTION

Nippu Jiji Photograph Archive, "Gaijin" Collection

DESCRIPTION

Caption on front [translation]: "Person of the Times. Li Zongren. With the recent reported arrest and confinement of Yan Xishan, the 'king' of Shanxi province, following the execution of defeated Shanxi Army Commander Li Fuying and Shandong Warlord Han Fuju, and with the fall of Xuzhou and withdrawal from Longhai imminent, Longhai Front Commander Li Zongren has become the center of attention.

Chiang Kaishek has embraced the regional cliques under his jurisdiction and has shifted his position towards his mortal enemy the Communists; rather than resisting them with every fiber of his being, he is actually holding hands with them. He is making use of the war against the Japanese to proceed mercilessly with his drive to absorb the regional cliques so as to preserve his own strengthened authority. Han Fuju and Yan Xishan were thus pulled into the fight against the Japanese because of pressure from the members of the command staff surrounding them rather than from their own desires. It is seen as inevitable that Li Zongren, who had worked together with Han Fuju in military matters after the retreat from Shandong, is destined to repeat Han's mistake. The combination of Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, the driving forces behind the build-up of Guangxi, is said to be like that of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu. Li Zongren silently rode on Bai Chongxi's coattails as he gained power and cultivated the model province of Guangxi and its elite army. He put up with his enemy Chiang Kaishek stoicly for ten years. Once the war against the Japanese began, Li Zongren entered Nanjing with Bai Chongxi and gave his support to the Chiang regime, serving as the figurehead chief of it's National Military Council. After the war entered its second stage with the fall of Nanjing, Li had no choice but to head to the Longhai Front and lead the six divisions of the Guangxi Army.

The crafty Chiang Kaishek divided Guangxi's strength in two by separating Li and Bai and thereby successfully castrated the last remaining anti-Chiang military clique. Bai headed to Guangxi after the withdrawal from Nanjing to recruit and train new troops; whether or not Li will be able to coordinate with Bai while he is enveloped withing Chiang's supervision will determine his fate.

Li Zongren is extremely frugal in his private life and doesn't even have a home of his own. He is always in uniform and is said to show a nobility rare within the Chinese military cliques in his manner when working with common officers at headquarters. His character is praised for having accomplished so much in impoverished Guangxi, achieving an annual per capita tax of 3 yuan (an unbelievably good level of governing for China) and population of 13 million. (photograph is of Li Zongren)."

CONTRIBUTOR

Hawai'i Times Photo Archives Foundation

PREFERRED CITATION

Courtesy of the Hawai'i Times Photo Archives Foundation

RIGHTS