Bai Lang Rebellion
Encyclopedia
The Bai Lang Rebellion, was a Chinese "bandit" rebellion that lasted from mid-1913 to late-1914. Launched against the Republican government of Yuan Shikai
, the rebellion was led by Bai Lang (which can be translated as "White Wolf", hence the rebellion's more common title of White Wolf Rebellion in western media). His army was an eclectic mix of anti-Yuan Shikai troops and rebels, bandit groups, and Gelaohui
(secret society) members, and also allied to southern Guangdong based revolutionaries.
, to a wealthy family. As a youth Bai took a variety of "hands-on" jobs including employment a government salt transporter and service as an anti-bandit militiaman. Nevertheless, his life changed in 1897 when he was arrested for getting into a fight with an man named Wang Zhen, who died during the altercation. After getting out of jail Bai was only dissuaded from becoming a bandit by his family, and instead turned his martial interests towards a legal outlet (namely, military service). During the last years of Manchu rule he served in China's Beiyang Army
and was trained in tactics and weaponry in Japan. Upon his return he served as an adjutant to Wu Lu-chen, Imperial commander at Shijiazhuang
. During the Chinese Revolution of 1911 the pro-revolutionary General Wu was assassinated by Manchu
or Beiyang Army
troops loyal to Yuan Shikai, and Bai was forced to return home. After a series of storms ravaged the region's crops in late-1911, Bai and other local people fell in with the bandit Du Qibin
troops and ravaging no less than fifty cities in central China. His actions caused mixed outpourings of mass-support and popular outrage, with his army variously called by itself and supporters "The Citizen's Punitive Army", "Citizen's Army to Exterminate Bandits" and "The Army to Punish Yuan Shikai" among others. As his fame grew, deserters, bandits and revolutionaries bolstered his divisions and he swiftly moved through Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu, disrupting swathes of Northern China. In Henan, the city of Yuxian, famed for its vital pharmaceutical industry, was ransacked of everything from medicine to guns and the military governor, Chang Chen-fang, was dismissed for his failure to suppress the uprising. Support from peasants grew due to Bai's anti-gentry and anti-tax stance (slogans like "take from the rich and give to the poor" increased rural support, as did the murder of magistrates and the distribution of grain stores). Upon entering Gansu, however, the rebellion encountered strong civil and military resistance.
Here, the traditionalist and Confucianist Muslim generals Ma Anliang
and Ma Qi
backed Yuan Shikai
. Bai Lang faced opposition from nearly everyone, from the Tibetans serving under the Gansu-allied Yang Jiqing, the Gansu and Sichuan provincial armies, ethnic Hui
and Han
militia, and Yuan Shikai's own National Beiyang Army
. Muslim imam
s preached anti-Bai announcements, claiming that Shaxide (Shahid
or martyrdom) awaited those who died to fight him off. Unlike the rural areas in Central and Eastern China, where peasants had helped Bai's armies hide and strike out, Muslim families actively refused to support Bai's troops, even going so far as to burn themselves to death rather than deal with them.by a mix of ethnic Han
and Hui
militia commanded by Ma Qi and Ma Anliang. Ma Qixi
's Muslim Xidaotang
humiliated and defeatd Bai's bandit forces, who looted the city. The Muslim Generals were reported to be reactionary.
Protracted warfare and this lack of public support led to a reversal in the rebels' treatment of the population; there was an increase in acts of looting and pillage, as well as strikingly brutal massacres.
Eventually, General Ma Anliang's passive defence, rather than chasing the far more agile rebel army, succeeded in wearing down Bai. The Tibetans attacked and drove Bai's army into retreat, with Ma Qixi's troops chasing them out of the Province. According to Gansu legend, Bai Lang died at Daliuzhuang, with his corpse decapitated and head put on display.. However, official Chinese documents say he vanished in Shanxi and his body was never found. Yuan Shikai ordered Bai Lang's family tombs destroyed, and had the corpses cut to pieces. Bai's headless body was left to rot.
Yan Xishan
crushed the remnants of Bai Lang's bandit army in late 1914.
, a friend of Sun, sent letters to Bai as well as weapons and ammunition. Sun hoped for further bandit uprisings in Shaanxi, calling on the population to "return to glory" like Bai Lang's gangs. Yuan Shikai's Beiyang regime knew of Bai Lang's connections with Sun Yatsen, but refused to make public of them for fear it would cause greater support for the rebellion.
Outside of arms and supplies, however, Sun's influence on Bai Lang's bandit troops was minimal. Mostly uneducated, most could be divided between Robin Hood
"freedom fighters" who believed they were taking on a corrupt regime, and brigands who lived for plunder and survival. Though Sun Yatsen and Huang Xing promised to make him Governor of Gansu, along with crates of propaganda posters on the subject.
However, when Sun Yatsen turned to the Soviets for support, and ressurected the Kuomintang
in the 1920's he sharply turned against the western style, federalist democracy he preached during this time when he was aligned with Bai Lang. He then turned to the Soviet style single party model, and organized the Northern Expedition without the help of bandit gangs like Bai Lang. This nationalist Kuomintang later included the muslim warlords who Bai Lang fought against.
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...
, the rebellion was led by Bai Lang (which can be translated as "White Wolf", hence the rebellion's more common title of White Wolf Rebellion in western media). His army was an eclectic mix of anti-Yuan Shikai troops and rebels, bandit groups, and Gelaohui
Gelaohui
The Gelaohui , also called Futaubang, or Hatchet Gang , as every member allegedly carried a small hatchet inside the sleeve, was a secret society and underground resistance movement associated with the revolutionary Tongmenghui led by Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren.Originating in western china,...
(secret society) members, and also allied to southern Guangdong based revolutionaries.
Bai Lang: The Individual
Bai Yung-chang, more commonly known by his pseudonym Bai Lang, was born in 1873, in HenanHenan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
, to a wealthy family. As a youth Bai took a variety of "hands-on" jobs including employment a government salt transporter and service as an anti-bandit militiaman. Nevertheless, his life changed in 1897 when he was arrested for getting into a fight with an man named Wang Zhen, who died during the altercation. After getting out of jail Bai was only dissuaded from becoming a bandit by his family, and instead turned his martial interests towards a legal outlet (namely, military service). During the last years of Manchu rule he served in China's Beiyang Army
Beiyang Army
The Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
and was trained in tactics and weaponry in Japan. Upon his return he served as an adjutant to Wu Lu-chen, Imperial commander at Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang is the capital and largest city of North China's Hebei province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about south of Beijing...
. During the Chinese Revolution of 1911 the pro-revolutionary General Wu was assassinated by Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
or Beiyang Army
Beiyang Army
The Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
troops loyal to Yuan Shikai, and Bai was forced to return home. After a series of storms ravaged the region's crops in late-1911, Bai and other local people fell in with the bandit Du Qibin
The Rebellion
From 1913, Bai was leading the bandit group. During the Second Revolution he threw his lot in against Yuan Shikai's government. For a year his troops waged a guerrilla war, evading government Beiyang ArmyBeiyang Army
The Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
troops and ravaging no less than fifty cities in central China. His actions caused mixed outpourings of mass-support and popular outrage, with his army variously called by itself and supporters "The Citizen's Punitive Army", "Citizen's Army to Exterminate Bandits" and "The Army to Punish Yuan Shikai" among others. As his fame grew, deserters, bandits and revolutionaries bolstered his divisions and he swiftly moved through Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu, disrupting swathes of Northern China. In Henan, the city of Yuxian, famed for its vital pharmaceutical industry, was ransacked of everything from medicine to guns and the military governor, Chang Chen-fang, was dismissed for his failure to suppress the uprising. Support from peasants grew due to Bai's anti-gentry and anti-tax stance (slogans like "take from the rich and give to the poor" increased rural support, as did the murder of magistrates and the distribution of grain stores). Upon entering Gansu, however, the rebellion encountered strong civil and military resistance.
Here, the traditionalist and Confucianist Muslim generals Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang
Ma Anliang , a Hui, was born in 1855, in Linxia, Gansu, China. He became a general in the Qing dynasty army, and of the Republic of China. His father was Ma Zhanao, and his younger brother was Ma Guoliang...
and Ma Qi
Ma Qi
Ma Qi was a Chinese Muslim warlord in early 20th century China.-Early life:His grandfather Sa-la Ma , is a Salar. He was born in 1869 in Daohe, now part of Linxia, Gansu, China. His father was Ma Haiyan...
backed Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...
. Bai Lang faced opposition from nearly everyone, from the Tibetans serving under the Gansu-allied Yang Jiqing, the Gansu and Sichuan provincial armies, ethnic Hui
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
and Han
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
militia, and Yuan Shikai's own National Beiyang Army
Beiyang Army
The Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
. Muslim imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
s preached anti-Bai announcements, claiming that Shaxide (Shahid
Shahid
Shahid is an Arabic word meaning "witness". It is a religious term in Islam, meaning both "witness" and "martyr." While a martyr may die as a consequence of fighting, a shahid is a "witness" because he gives his life out of passion for truth. The shahid exchanges himself for the divine and thereby...
or martyrdom) awaited those who died to fight him off. Unlike the rural areas in Central and Eastern China, where peasants had helped Bai's armies hide and strike out, Muslim families actively refused to support Bai's troops, even going so far as to burn themselves to death rather than deal with them.by a mix of ethnic Han
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
and Hui
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
militia commanded by Ma Qi and Ma Anliang. Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi
Ma Qixi , a Hui from Gansu, was the founder of the Xidaotang, a Chinese-Islamic school of thought.-Education and teaching:Ma was born into the family of a Taozhou ahong of the Beizhuang menhuan, a Sufi order. At 11 years of age, he studied with a non-Muslim who was an examination graduate at the...
's Muslim Xidaotang
Xidaotang
Xidaotang is a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. It was founded by Ma Qixi , a Chinese Muslim from Lintan in Gansu, at the beginning of the 20th Century...
humiliated and defeatd Bai's bandit forces, who looted the city. The Muslim Generals were reported to be reactionary.
Protracted warfare and this lack of public support led to a reversal in the rebels' treatment of the population; there was an increase in acts of looting and pillage, as well as strikingly brutal massacres.
Eventually, General Ma Anliang's passive defence, rather than chasing the far more agile rebel army, succeeded in wearing down Bai. The Tibetans attacked and drove Bai's army into retreat, with Ma Qixi's troops chasing them out of the Province. According to Gansu legend, Bai Lang died at Daliuzhuang, with his corpse decapitated and head put on display.. However, official Chinese documents say he vanished in Shanxi and his body was never found. Yuan Shikai ordered Bai Lang's family tombs destroyed, and had the corpses cut to pieces. Bai's headless body was left to rot.
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. Yan effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War...
crushed the remnants of Bai Lang's bandit army in late 1914.
Atrocities done by Bai Lang's Bandit gangs
Bai Lang's forces raped, killed, and pillaged. His troops became notoriously anti-Muslim, with some Shaanxi men in his army holding vendettas with Muslims that dated back to the Dungan revolt. Henan and Shaanxi troops were notable for anti-Manchu and anti-Muslim sentiment, massacring thousands of Muslims at Taozhou. Mass rape, looting, and killing also took place in Minzhou.Support from Southern Revolutionaries
Staunchly against Yuan Shikai's government, Bai developed an alliance with Dr. Sun Yatsen. Huang XingHuang Xing
Huang Xing or Huang Hsing , was a Chinese revolutionary leader, militarist, and statesman, was the first army commander-in-chief of the Republic of China. As one of the founders of the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, his position was next to Sun Yat-sen. Together they were known as...
, a friend of Sun, sent letters to Bai as well as weapons and ammunition. Sun hoped for further bandit uprisings in Shaanxi, calling on the population to "return to glory" like Bai Lang's gangs. Yuan Shikai's Beiyang regime knew of Bai Lang's connections with Sun Yatsen, but refused to make public of them for fear it would cause greater support for the rebellion.
Outside of arms and supplies, however, Sun's influence on Bai Lang's bandit troops was minimal. Mostly uneducated, most could be divided between Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
"freedom fighters" who believed they were taking on a corrupt regime, and brigands who lived for plunder and survival. Though Sun Yatsen and Huang Xing promised to make him Governor of Gansu, along with crates of propaganda posters on the subject.
However, when Sun Yatsen turned to the Soviets for support, and ressurected the Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
in the 1920's he sharply turned against the western style, federalist democracy he preached during this time when he was aligned with Bai Lang. He then turned to the Soviet style single party model, and organized the Northern Expedition without the help of bandit gangs like Bai Lang. This nationalist Kuomintang later included the muslim warlords who Bai Lang fought against.