Li Bai (spy)
Li Bai (Chinese: 李白; 1910–1949), alternate names Li Huachu, Li Pu, Li Xia and Li Jingan, was a famous spy of the China Communist Party, born in Liuyang, Hunan.
Biography
Li Bai was born in a peasant's family. In 1925, he joined the China Communist Party, and in 1930, he joined the Chinese Red Army Red 4th Regiment. Soon, he studied wireless technology at Red Army Telecommunication School at Ruijin, Jiangxi. After graduation, he was assigned to the Red 5th Regiment as the chief and political commissar of radio station. In 1934, he followed the main force of the Red Army for Long March.
After the outburst of the Second Sino-Japanese War in October 1937, Li Bai was sent to coordinate and establish a secret radio station in Shanghai. In 1942, his radio station was discovered by the Japanese Army; Li Bai and his wife were arrested. After being rescued by the CCP, the Japanese Army thought it was only his private radio station, so they were released in May 1943.
His technology skills were recognised by the Kuomintang, and he was hired as a wireless operator at the Institute of International Issues of the Republic of China (中华民国国际问题研究所) in Chun'an, Zhejiang. After World War II, the institute moved back to Shanghai, and he became an important CCP spy inside the Kuomintang.[1]
During the Chinese Civil War, Li Bai sent a large amount of secret information to the communists. On December 29, 1948, he got top secret intelligence about the KMT's whole defence line across the Yangzi River. At dawn the next day, while he was sending this intelligence by telegraph, the radio was detected and he was arrested by the KMT. On May 7, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, the Chief President of KMT, signed a writ of execution.[2] He was executed in the Yangzi River, Pudong.[3] Thanks to these telegraphs, the CCP sent less than two months to bring soldiers across the Yangzi River, and then occupy Nanjing (the capital of the Republic of China), Hangzhou, and Shanghai.Memento
Li Bai is the model of the Chinese movie The Eternal Wave. Some of his remains were deposited in the National Museum of China. The site of his death, currently named Century Park, has abust statue.[2] Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications also has his sculpture on campus.