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 Second Sino-Japanese War in October 1937, Li Bai was sent for coordinating and establishing a secret radio station in Shanghai. In 1942, his radio station was found by Japanese Army; Li Bai and his wife were arrested. After the rescue of the CCP, Japanese Army thought it was his private radio station, so they were released in May 1943.
His technology skill was favored by Kuomintang, and he was hired as 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 into Kuomintang.[1]
During the Chinese Civil War, Li Bai sent a great amount of secret information to the communists. On December 29, 1948, he got the top secret intelligence of the whole KMT's defense line across Yangzi River. At the dawn of the next day, when he was sending this telegraph, the radio was detected and he was arrested by KMT. In May 7, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek, the Chief President of KMT, signed the writ of execution.[2] He was executed in Yangsi, Pudong.[3] Thanks to these telegraphs, the CCP only spent less than two months to bring soldiers over Yangzi River, and then occupied 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 pasts were placed in the National Museum of China. The place of his death, currently named Century Park, has his bust statue.[2] Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications also has his sculpture on campus.