Blue Shirts Society: A secret Fascist clique inside the KMT

The Blue Shirts Society (藍衣社 in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the BSS) also known as the Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People (三民主義力行社 in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the SPTPP), the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社 in Chinese) and the China Reconstruction Society (中華復興社 ，hereinafter referred to as the CRS in short), was a secret clique in the Kuomintang (KMT). Under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek it sought to lead the KMT and China by following the ideology of Fascism and was a secret police or para-military force.

Although in its early stage the society's most important members came from the Whampoa Military Academy, and part of it constituted the Whampoa Clique of the KMT, its influence had extended from the military to the political system, the economy and the social life of 1930s China as well. The rise and fall of the Blue Shirt Society was rapid, but obscure, and was seldom mentioned again by either the KMT or the Communist Party of China after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the following KMT domination on Taiwan.

After the Northern Expedition, Chiang and the KMT took over most of China's territories. But the government established by the KMT was far from the republic envisioned by Sun Yat-sen. In some degree the social crisis was deepening rather than disappearing. Firstly, the tension between Japan and China increased day by day, for Japan's ambition to dominate China was never satiated with the conquest of Manchuria. Secondly, with the split of the first KMT-CPC alliance (which contributed to the downfall of the warlords), the KMT and the CPC (Communist Party of China) turned against each other. The CPC had developed its power base both in the cities and in the countryside, which was a great threat to the KMT’s governance. Finally, the KMT itself was divided into several cliques, resulting in power struggles among Chiang, Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei. The courage and passion previously shown in the Northern Expedition subsequently disappeared. Ordinary Chinese people and even some KMT members were disappointed to find out that, although they had brought down the old warlords, the KMT's power structure resembled that of the defeated warlords. China was still scourged by corruption, poverty, and civil wars from time to time. Chiang, the man people once regarded as their savior, did little to quell such discontent and concentrated on the power struggle.

As the base of Chiang's rule, some Whampoa graduates felt that it was time to take action. This feeling was especially strong among those who had studied in Japan but subsequently developed an intense hatred of the Japanese due to their encroachments upon China. Consequently, in July 1931, Teng Jie (滕傑) and Xiao Zanyu (蕭贊育), were sent back to China to report on the threat from Japan and the forthcoming war to KMT leaders.

When Teng and Xiao arrived in China, they were upset to find out that the KMT, the party which used to be progressive and energetic, was now gravitating toward decadence. After careful thinking, Teng designed a blueprint to reform the KMT, in which he suggested that only a great and powerful leader could save China and the KMT. The leader could rule by all means, even as a benevolent dictator. Chiang was the sound candidate and therefore the only hope in Teng’s plan. Teng decided to dedicate all his life to this grand plan. In the following months, Teng traveled around Nanjing, which was the capital of the KMT government at that time, seeking support from his Whampoa schoolfellows.

Teng was lucky to get acquainted with Zeng Kuoqing (曾擴情), who was among the first graduates of Whampoa, and later was appointed to be in charge of the Whampoa Alumni Association. Zeng showed great enthusiasm and passion for Teng's plan and spared no effort to support it. However, because the KMT banned the freedom to organize political parties, Teng and Zeng had to do this job all in secrecy. Zeng used his influence and personal relations among Whampoa graduates to organize a periodic party to discuss Teng’s plan and its enforcement. Of course, they also needed to enroll new members.

After several months of hard work, they found sympathizers who became the members of this group. Among them were Whampoa graduates, the most prominent figures were He Zhonghan (賀衷寒), who was regarded as one of The Three Most Outstanding among Whampoa graduates (the other two were CPC members Jiang Xianyun (蔣先雲) and Chen Geng (陳賡), the patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group at that time; Hu Zongnan (胡宗南)，the rising young general of Chiang’s army; Deng Wenyi (鄧文儀 )，another patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group and a secretary of Chiang; Feng Ti (丰悌), the Commissar of the 1st Division of the KMT army. Except for these young elites of the KMT, there was one person unknown to the public, but later he became prominent and notorious as the Beria of China, his name was Dai Li (戴笠).

In September 1931, in the third meeting of this group, they decided to set up an organization to reform the KMT and fight against Japan. Under the direction of He, this group was named the Society of the Practice of Three Principles of People (三民主義力行社, hereinafter referred to as the SPTPP in short). Teng was elected General Secretary. The party also issued guidance on the establishment, discipline and organization of this group, and confirmed that its main missions were as follows:

1. using secret measures to fight against the Japanese, the CPC, other cliques of the KMT and to ensure the Whampoa clique's domination of the KMT and China;
2. using the public image of the Whampoa Alumni Association to enroll new members and to set up a formal, well-organized and highly disciplined group.

The funds were mainly raised by Deng, who could make use of his charge of a KMT propaganda tool- the Party Book Shop. Furthermore, to avoid being arrested under the KMT's ban on political organizations, members decided to keep secrets from Chiang temporarily, although they had regarded Chiang as their spiritual mentor and the leader of their group from the very beginning.

Before long, Kang Ze (康澤) joined the group. He published a newspaper China Daily with the permission of Chiang, which became the mouthpiece of the SPTPP.

In December 1931, under great pressure from opponents both inside and outside the KMT, Chiang had to resign. In his hometown in Zhejiang, Chiang began to show great interest in Mussolini's fascism. Deng then let Chiang know of the existence of their group. Chiang summoned He, Teng and Kang to meet with him. In this secret meeting, Chiang did not blame them for their secret actions, and instead expressed his support. Moreover, he announced his will to be the group's mentor and leader, and he preferred a more formal and disciplined organization like those in Italy and Germany. Thus they decided to draft specific rules and articles to guide the party as soon as possible.

With support from Chiang, these young and ambitious talents moved quickly. In writing the articles of the association, Teng designed a hierarchical organization style, the top was Chiang, and the base was the elite among Whampoa graduates. New members could only be accepted with two recommendations and approval from Chiang himself. Members were not allowed to resign unless the party itself faced dissolution. If there was any violation of discipline, members would receive severe punishment and even suffer execution.

In 1932 Chiang regained power thanks to the power struggle between his opponents. He sped up the reform of the SPTPP . In a secret meeting in February, Gui Yongqing (桂永清)， a member of the SPTPP, recommended Liu Jianqun (劉健羣) to Chiang. Liu, He Yingqin’s (何應欽) secretary at that time, later contributed much to the group.

Liu was greatly influenced by the book The Truth of Fascism written by a famous liberal Italian leader, which made him the earliest member of the SPTPP to advocate fascism. Liu was in fact the most enthusiastic advocate of fascism in China. He wrote a pamphlet called Some Opinions On The Reform of the KMT. In this pamphlet, Liu proposed that the reform of the KMT be enforced by way of a group consisting of elites, which should be established and organized along the lines of Mussolini’s MVSN or Blackshirts. Members wore blue shirts to pledge their allegiance which distinguished them from others. According to the group, the leader should encourage members by his sublime and super spirit. Under the direction of the leader, all members should live in a simple and highly disciplined way as dervishes. All cadres should be treated as equally as ordinary members, whose incomes and lives should be under strict supervision. Any violation should be severely punished. Only by these measures could this group lead the people. In return, the people should entrust their property and their families to the country and the supreme leader. People had great responsibilities varying from military service to absolute obedience of orders including surveillance of their neighborhoods. In order to bring up this obedience, everyone's lives should be divided into several stages, among which he should join the child group of the BSS, when he reached youth and qualified, he became a formal member of this group. Thus, China would be turned into a militarized society by a three level organization of Leader-BSS-People.

Chiang met with Liu and appreciated his theory, this meeting made a great contribution to the evolution of the SPTPP into the BSS. In March 1932, on the cover of another existing club called the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社)，the SPTPP walked out of the shadow and officially announced its establishment. Although Liu’s proposal that members wear blue shirts and name their society after the blue shirts was not accepted, the SPTPP was known as the BSS from then on. In this ceremony, Teng was elected General Secretary, with He, Kang as Standing Secretariat. The BSS consisted of six divisions, which were the secretariat, organization, propaganda, military, special agency and logistics. The era of the secret society in China reached its peak, and the BSS began its infiltration of the Chinese political system and even of everyday life.

[edit] Rise and Achievements

Chiang was busy carrying out his Suppression of the CPC’s Red Army in the countryside. With Chiang’s permission, the BSS took over the defense of the capital, and most of the prominent Whampoa graduates who now got promotions as commanders became BSS members. Besides increasing its influence in the army, the BSS took over the police and other security services in China's major cities. Furthermore, it recruited members in the youth leagues of the KMT too, which had great influence in labor unions, publishing houses and schools. The force of the BSS had extended to every block of all major cities in China. A new structure of power had emerged, the BSS was the core of the Whampoa Clique, it coexisted and competed with the other two cliques which had a longer history and were much well- known, the CC Clique led by Chen Lifu (陈立夫) and Chen Guofu (陈果夫)，whose orbit was dealing with party issues; the Politics Research Group (政学系) led by Yang Yongtai (杨永泰) and Zhang Qun (张群), whose orbit was daily KMT government running.

Liu’s pamphlet was accepted as the guidance of the BSS, and part of it was revised to be the Regulation of Life Discipline. In accordance with this regulation, BSS members would be paid a low wage, and part of it would be donated to the BSS. Gambling and opium were banned. Anti-corruption laws and laws prohibiting male BSS members from having a mistress were strictly abided by. The practice of BSS members was quite distinct from that of other corrupt KMT bureaucrats.

After the BSS’s Organization Construction and Spirit Construction, now it was time for Action Construction. In June 1932, an anti-graft campaign was launched under the direction of BSS member, Deng Wenyi. He led the special force mainly composed of BSS members who cracked down on corrupt police officers in Wuhan. After several arrests and executions, the police force improved its working style greatly. Then Deng waged war against organized crimes such as prostitution, opium and gambling. After 3 months of hard work, the mess was cleaned up and Deng later won Chiang’s appraise. Chiang wanted this effort to be promoted around the country. Chiang later launched a campaign in Nanjing to purify the capital, although it ended with less significant success.

At the same time, the BSS played an active role in the Suppression of the CPC as well. Zeng Kuoqing using his status in the Whampoa Alumni Association, wrote a letter to Xu Jishen (许继慎), who was commander of Zhang Guotao’s 4th Red Army and a whampoa graduate also, asking Xu to defect to the KMT’ s camp. Xu didn’t reply. But when Zhang got this letter, this raised his suspicions and he decided to carry out a purge. Thousands of commanders and soldiers were tortured and executed, which greatly weakened the CPC’s resistance to KMT forces. This plot was just a warm-up for the BSS. In October 1932, Hu Zongnan led his army mainly consisting of BSS members in a cruel and decisive battle against Xu Xiangqian in Hekou Anhui. In contrast to other KMT armies, this army was fearless and picked, and it had more advanced weapons and strong support from other armies also led by BSS members such as Yu Jishi (俞济时) and Huang Jie (黄杰), Xu’s failure was unavoidable. After more than 10,000 casualties , Zhang and Xu led their army in an inner retreat. Hu and his troop kept tracking them closely. When Zhang and his army reached Sichuan and set up another base. Hu remained in Gansu nearby, and began his era as King of Northwestern China.

Coinciding With the BSS's ever-increasing power and influence, disagreements among the leaders of the BSS mounted. Chiang, only regarded the BSS as a tool for his dictatorship, hence he would not allow the BSS to be more powerful and influential than himself, so he used his usual tricks to manipulate these protégés. As a young man with high ethics and ideals, Teng couldn’t accept this fact. He preferred a government run by a political institution rather than government run by a supreme leader. The conflicts between him and Chiang were frequent. Then Teng’s sack was destined. In 1933, Chiang chose He Zhonghan to succeed Teng as General Secretary of the BSS.

In 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Fascism then became popular around the world. The BSS found more room for prosperity. As a more ambitious and skilled politician, He won the power struggle with Liu Jianqun, who was regarded as the Chinese Strasser due to his power of instigation in the training of new members. Then He decided to set up a propaganda network, which was run by Kang Ze, who was regarded as the Goebbels of the BSS. And the special agency under the direction of Dai Li, who was regarded as its Himmler and his deputy Zheng Jiemin (郑介民) evolved into a network infiltrating every corner of China. The most important work of He was to extend the BSS’s influence into Northern China, which was under direct threat of invasion by Japan at that time. In 1933 the Japanese army invaded Rehe. KMT armies mainly consisting of BSS members fought against them along the Great Wall, although they suffered more than 65,000 casualties , the BSS promoted its prominence. And He made the most important decision, to change the BSS from an elite group into an anti-Japanese mass movement. He decided to send Liu to set up a Northern China division of the BSS, which was called the China Reconstruction Society (中华复兴社，hereinafter referred to as the CRS in short). Most of the members would work in the universities and student groups to enroll new members and carry out campaigns against the Japanese. In the summer of that year, the CRS had divisions in 24 provinces of China with more than 40,000 members. With the CRS controlling the political training system of the KMT, new recruits were always available. With thousands of members, political instructors and different organizations, the BSS had set up a huge kingdom under the direction of He.


Besides the achievement of setting up the CRS, the other blueprint of He was the Second Stage Revolution. First to ensure the reunification of China. The BSS used its influence in Northern and Southwestern China, to persuade local warlords to pledge allegiance to Chiang. And the reform of the KMT armies was carried out by those BSS members such as Gui Yongqing who studied in Germany to train new armies, and to establish an air force and an armored force. Along with the war against corruption, opium and poverty, the reconstruction of rural areas was undertaken, roads were wre built and bank loans were provided to peasants. The most significant part of this movement was Kang Ze’s New Jiangxi Style and Special Detachment (别动队，hereinafter referred to as the SD in short).

In 1933 during the 5th Suppression campaign against the CPC, in order to maintain law and order in the territory that used to be the CPC’s base, Chiang decided to set up a paramilitary force modeled after the SS of Nazi. Kang was appointed to lead this SD, which was the only direct military group in the BSS. At first, the SD was a copycat of the SS. Its members came from the trainees of KMT officers. It was organized like the SS and members even dressed in uniforms resembling those worn by SS members. But soon the SD had more power than its mentor, in that it was a monstrous integration of military, political, police, military police and secret policy power. At its peak it had 24,000 members and three divisions of regular troops. The SD mobilized those peasants who lived near Soviet Territory occupied by the CPC in Jiangxi and Northern Anhui to be categorized into groups and confined them in places where they had limited access to the outside world. Every family in this group that could prove itself to be made up of good citizens needed to have the guarantee of four other families, and they had to promise not to collaborate with the CPC, accommodate any suspect, or provide any support to the CPC. Once there were any violations such as not reporting on CPC actions, the whole family would be executed, and the other four guarantor families would be executed as well. The SD set up hundreds of concentration camps around Shangrao, Jiangxi, where they tortured and executed residents and CPC captives. Under this system of cruelty, the network worked quite well as a deterrence. Fewer and fewer peasants supported the CPC. Kang and his SD also crack down on the merchants who used to smuggle materials to the CPC by implementing cruel measures, and peasants were organized into groups to build roads to blockade the Soviet Territory. With the shortage of supplies, accompanied by heavy attacks from the KMT army, the CPC suffered great losses and had to launch its now-famous Long March in order to retreat.

At the same time, Kang and his SD started the New Jiangxi Style. They provided compulsory education and free medical treatment to peasants. With the effective anti-corruption campaign, they provided loans, seeds and pesticides to peasants also. When Mao Zedong led the Red Army on the Long March, spring ploughing, trade and bazaars began to flourish again in the territory that used to be occupied by them. But the other side of the story was full of blood and tears. The SD spared no effort to terminate CPC members and supporters. They had committed countless massacres in CPC occupied territories. The most extreme case occurred in Mount Dabie, which used to be the base of the 4th Red Army of the CPC in Northern Anhui. In that incident, more than half a million were massacred. At the same time, in accordance with SD and New Jiangxi Style, Kang reached the peak of his career, and he earned enough capital to challenge He as the only leader of the BSS.

Xiao Zuolin(肖作霖), one of the BSS members from the early stage, drafted a plan called the Whole New Culture Movement and proposed the establishment of an organization called the Chinese Culture Academy to increase the BSS’s influence in culture. Xiao got Deng Wenyi’s support and began to carry out his plan. By taking over several newspapers and journals, and by enrolling its members in universities ,this academy succeeded in the fields that used to be dominated by members of the CC Clique. Above all, its scheme of a new culture movement was adopted by Chiang.

On February 19th 1934, Chiang announced the start of the New Life Movement at a meeting in Nanchang, in which he planned to reconstruct the moral system of the Chinese and welcome a renaissance, and reconstruct Chinese national pride as a result. In March, Chiang issued his guidance consisting of 95 rules of the New Life Movement, which was a mixture of Chinese traditions and western standards. It was a vast propaganda movement, with war mobilization and military maneuvers seen on a scale that China had never experienced before. But because its plan was too ambitious and its dogmatism too rigid , and because its policies created too much inconvenience in the everyday lives of the people, this movement was destined to fail just like prohibition. Nearly three years later in 1936, Chiang had to accept the fact that his favorite movement had failed. Although this movement had no happy ending, the BSS showed its influence again. It took over the movement very soon. Deng, Kang and Jiang Xiaoxian (蒋孝先), Chiang’s nephew and bodyguard, also BSS members were appointed General Secretariats of this movement, and the limitations on and supervision of life styles was enforced by the BSS. By controlling the mouthpieces of the KMT, the BSS openly expressed advocacy of fascism in its publications.


[edit] Fall

As a professional politician, unlike Teng, He never concealed his ambition for power. He used his relations to foster a Hunan Clique in the BSS, which aroused the suspicion of Chiang, who was concerned that the BSS might use its abuse of power to threaten his governance one day. So Chiang decided to take action and let his protégés know that their leader was still Chiang and that nobody else was the paramount leader of the BSS. In 1934 Chiang used the excuse of corruption and malfunction of the BSS after its quick expansion to dismiss He as General Secretary of the BSS. Liu Jianqun was appointed to succeed He. With the rise of Kang and the SD , and the Southwestern Clique behind him; and the Zhejiang Clique led by Hu Zongnan and Dai Li, BSS faced the same fate as the old KMT.

At the same time, with the continuation of the New Culture Movement, the BSS spread its influence into the cultural centers of Shanghai and other major cities, which used to be the CC Clique’s power base. Though cultural conflicts occurred on paper, they were in fact bloody struggles for power. Chen was greatly irritated, but he was still waiting for a good chance to fight back.

In June 1934, the Nanchang Airport ,which was built by donations from Chinese all over the world for training the KMT air force, was burned down. The Aviation Commissioner, Xu Peigen (徐培根) ,who was also a BSS member ,was the primary suspect. Deng was sent to investigate this case. He reached the conclusion that the fire was accidentally caused by a cigarette that had been dropped by a soldier. But Chen Lifu and Yang Yongtai argued that Xu masterminded the fire to eliminate evidence of his corruption, and that Deng had colluded with Xu in the cover-up. Upon Yang's suggestion, Xu was kept in custody, Deng was sacked and all his titles were removed. The Chinese Culture Academy was banned. Dai Li was recommended by Yang to investigate this case. Dai saved no time in taking over Deng’s investigation agency and integrated it into his own special agency, which later evolved into the Military Statistical Bureau, the notorious secret police agency of the KMT. Of course, Dai left the BSS to set up his own kingdom.

Taking advantage of this heavy blow to the BSS, the Politics Research Clique began to consummate the Administrative Office System, which was to add a new level of administration offices between the provincial level and the county level although the two level system had been followed in China for more than one thousand years. With the appearance of new offices, the Politics Research Clique was able to control the county level which used to be absent. Many bureaucrats who used to be loyal to the CC Clique and the BSS defected to the Politics Research Clique. The Politics Research Clique began to take over the promotion of, Categorizing, and the Guaranteeing of Group Systems, and then the security forces, the police and the militia step by step.

Liu was replaced by Feng Ti under the excuse that he had health problems and was sent to Northern China to work with Zeng Kuoqing for the BSS there. In 1935, two chief editors of pro-Japanese newspapers were assassinated. The Japanese troops in Northern China thought that these actions were taken by the BSS. They argued that it was a violation of the Tanggu Accord between China and Japan which was signed in order to keep the status quo of Northern China. Under the leadership of Yoshijiro Umezu (梅津美治郎),who was commander of Japanese troops in Northern China at that time, the Japanese spy agency under the direction of Kenji Doihara (土肥原贤二) provided information about its Investigation of the BSS as the appendix of a memo sent to He Yingqing, who was the commander of Northern Chinese troops at that time. He agreed with all of the recommendations proposed by the Japanese in this memo, which later was called the He-Umezu Accord. According to this accord, all forces having relations with the BSS including military police, regular forces such as the 2nd Division and the 25th Division should be evacuated from Beijing and out of Hebei province. The BSS had to retreat from Beijing in humiliation.

When Feng Ti took over civilian military training for the KMT, he used this opportunity to enroll new members into the BSS. Hu Zongnan, Dai Li and other former BSS members also strengthened their grip on power by enrolling members into their own force. The pyramid of the BSS had been set up again. On the top were hundreds of whampoa graduates. below were more than 30,000 mid and low level officers, university teachers and public servants. And below them were more than 200,000 members of the CRS. At the bottom were hundreds of thousands of boy scouts. With the organization undergoing such a huge and rapid expansion, corruption and inefficiency plagued BSS divisions all over the country. Furthermore in 1935, there was a serious security leak in the headquarters of the BSS, and the BSS was involved in the assassination of Wang Jingwei, under heavy pressure, Feng Ti was sacked. And Liu Jianquan took over, then Zheng Jiemin succeeded him in turn.

In 1936 Deng Wenyi became the General Secretary of the BSS. In December 1936, the Xi'an Incident took place in this chaotic atmosphere. After Chiang was arrested and kept in custody by General Zhang Xueliang’s army, there were disagreements between KMT leaders on whether to solve this incident by peace talks or by military action. In the meeting held by the BSS, He Zhonghan and Deng expressed their determination to use military action and called for the mobilization of BSS members around the country. 176 young generals issued a statement to denounce Zhang Xueliang and announce war on his army. Under the direction of He, more than 2000 officers and BSS members held a meeting pledging their allegiance to Chiang and agreeing to mobilize military action against general Zhang. Gui Yongqing led an army of more than 12,000 men in heavily armored vehicles across the Yangtze River as avant-couriers. But this reckless action received a cold shoulder from Chen and other KMT leaders, even He Yingqing, who was in charge of the KMT military didn’t agree with the BSS’s movement and sent them no support troops.

Chiang’s wife Soong May-ling came to Xian for peace talks. Due to the efforts of the CPC delegation led by Zhou Enlai, who wanted to set up an alliance with the KMT against the Japanese, Chiang was released several weeks later. After his release, Chiang took revenge on his protégés’ for their reckless action and lack of control which might have wreaked havoc on his governance and might even have killed him in the Xian Incident. Deng was sacked with all titles removed again and he was replaced by Kang Ze.He was out of favor with Chiang and had to travel around Europe. In March 1937, Chiang issued his order that all activities of the BSS should be temporarily suspended.

With the Chinese-Japanese general war breaking out on July 7th 1937, Japanese troops conquered vast areas of China quickly. Before Nanjing fell to Japanese troops, Kang led the retreat of the BSS from its headquarters. In 1938 the BSS held its first and last national congress in Wuhan. In this congress members of the BSS and SPTPP were permitted to have their memberships automatically transferred to the KMT , members of the CRS could be transferred to the Youth League of Three Principles of the People (三民主义青年团, hereafter referred to as the YLTPP in short ). Most of the 500,000 members of the BSS and CRS didn’t transfer to the KMT, they chose the YLTPP instead, which was the basis of another new and rising force within the KMT and the reason why Hu Zongnan kept the position of Director of the YLTPP all along, and Kang only acted as his agent. But the biggest winner was Dai Li, his new spy agency, the Military Statistical Bureau was set up, and he took all the agents of the BSS, CRS and SD, which made him almost more powerful than Himmler. He kept his control over this secret empire until his death in an airplane crash in 1946, but only on the condition that Chiang never express doubt about Dai’s loyalty, otherwise he would have been purged without any mercy just like his BSS fellows.

This was the end of the BSS. But Kang still wanted to keep it alive under the cover of the YLTPP. In the following 7 years he endeavored to increase YLTPP membership from 400,000 to more than 1.5 million. Kang used the SD style to re-organize the YLTPP and turned it into a group that was much more efficient and disciplined than the KMT, which aroused Chiang’s suspicion again. Moreover, when Chiang sent his son Chiang Ching-kuo to the Soviet Union where he learned numerous CP political organization and propaganda skills, he sought to take over the YLTPP after his return home. Kang was reluctant and tried to resist junior Chiang’s efforts. Consequently, Kang’s fall was destined. In 1945 Kang was sent to Europe. During the Chinese Civil War, many members of the YLTPP were killed or captured in the battles against CPC armies. When the fall of the KMT became an undeniable fact, some YLTPP members fled to Taiwan, those left behind were purged after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Some of them were executed, others were thrown in jail, others were discriminated against,but few were lucky enough to survive the Cultural Revolution. Only those prominent YLTPP figures such as Kang survived the purges as the best examples of the CPC’s clemency toward successfully modified war criminals.

[edit] Legacy

The following were some of the most prominent and earliest members of BSS.

Teng was later appointed as mayor of Nanjing temporarily. He went to Taiwan with KMT troops and later retired from the position of chairman of Central Trust Bureau of KMT.

He lived in idleness for quite while and then was appointed as director of Labor Bureau. When KMT retreated to Taiwan, he was Minister of Communication and Policy Counsellor, but never gained great power as before.

Liu's wife was an agent working for Kenji Doihara, and later brought many confidential documents with her on defecting to the Japanese. Liu had to be a fugitive to escape from the hunting of his former colleague Dai Li. Liu became a monk and spent years in Guizhou before Chiang found him by chance. Chiang showed his mercy by asking Liu back to politics. Liu was once vice-speaker of the KMT Congress. When he went to Taiwan, Liu lived in poverty and unknown to outside world. Before his death in 1960's, Liu's last contribution was providing valuable details for an article on the BSS written by an American professor.

After several times rise and fall, Deng showed little interest in politics. He arrived in Taiwan and retired as Director of Political Work Bureau.

Feng Ti was appointed as commander of guard for Changsha, but was executed in 1938 as scapegoat for a big fire set by KMT force to resist the invasion of Japanese army which killed thousands of civilians.

Kang was sent to the battlefront after his return from Europe and was POW. Although KMT propaganda departments pictured him as a martyr, Kang lived well in custody and confessed to CPC.In 1963 he was released in CPC amnesty and died 4 years later.

Hu’s troops were annihilated by CPC armies. When he retreated to Taiwan, he was impeached by 46 members of Control Yuan for his incompetence in military command. Although Hu was released with no charge, he was appointed a defense commander for a little island and never returned to the central stage of political stage. After his retirement, Hu died in peace in 1962.

Zeng was a POW in the civil war, and later released by the CPC. He died in 1983.

Gui later became commander of the KMT navy, then went to Taiwan and died during his term as Chief of Staff of KMT army in 1954.

Dai Li became head of secret police and espionage of the KMT, and died in an air crash in 1946. Zheng succeeded Dai in leading the secret police for the KMT. He died in 1959 in Taiwan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_Society