Shi Yousan

Chinese general known for series of defections

In this Chinese name, the family name is  Shi.

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Shi Yousan

石友三

Shi Yousan as pictured in The Most Recent Biographies of Chinese Dignitaries

9th Governor of the Chahar Province
Preceded by| Liu Ruming
Succeeded by| Hua Zeyu
3rd Governor of Anhui Province
Preceded by| Fang Zhenwu
Succeeded by| Wang Jinyu
Personal details
Born| December 12, 1891
Changchun, Jilin, Qing China
Died| December 12, 1940(1940-12-12) (aged 48–49)
Puyang, Henan, Republic of China
Political party| Kuomintang
Nickname(s)| "Defector General"
"Shi who turns three times"
Military service
Allegiance|  Republic of China
Empire of Japan
Branch/service| New Army
Guominjun
National Revolutionary Army
Rank| Lieutenant general

Shi Yousan (Chinese: 石友三; pinyin: Shí Yǒusān) (December 12, 1891 - December 12, 1940) was a Chinese general of the National Revolutionary Army who served as the 9th Governor of the Chahar and 3rd Governor of Anhui provinces during the Republican era of China.

Shi is also notable for joining/defecting to, and subsequently betraying the forces of Wu Peifu, Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, Zhang Xueliang, the Chinese Communist Party, and Japan, in that order.

While leading the 39th Army Group of the National Revolutionary Army, he planned to defect to the Japanese, but before he could do so he was kidnapped and buried alive by his sworn brother and subordinate Gao Shuxun, who later gained command of Shi's unit.

For his many betrayals and defections he is known as the "Defector General" (Chinese: 倒戈將軍; pinyin: Dǎogē Jiāngjūn) or as Shi Sanfan (Chinese: 石三翻; pinyin: Shí sānfān, "Shi [who] turns three times").[1]

## Early life[edit]

Shi was born in 1891 in Changchun, Qing China, to an impoverished local family. In his youth, Shi worked as an apprentice at the Bijia Grain Store in Changchun. There, Shi befriended a member from the wealthy Bi family and was able to attend the government-run Dongguan Elementary through said friendship. In 1908, he ditched his studies to join the army, becoming a member of Wu Peifu's forces in the Third Division of the New Army, in the unit under Cao Kun's command,[2] stationed in Changchun.

## Career[edit]

### Warlord Era[edit]

In 1912, Shi switched allegiance to Feng Yuxiang and gradually rose through his ranks.

In October 1924, Feng launched the Beijing Coup and subsequently established the Guominjun. Shi became one of the "thirteen guardians/protectors"(十三太保) considered the most important commanders of the Guominjun, and subsequently the commander of the 8th Mixed Brigade of the 1st Army. In 1925, he was promoted to the commander of the 6th Division.

In 1926 during the Anti-Fengtian War, Shi's troops were stationed at Nankou (Now Changping, Beijing). Yan Xishan attacked the rear of the Guominjun from Shanxi, due to which Shi, along with Han Fuju's forces were sent to fight against Yan's army. Due to the inferiority of their strength, they were forced to abandon Nankou in August of the same year, the main force of Feng subsequently retreated from Beijing. Abandoned by the main force, Shi and Han decided to surrender to Yan.

In July of the same year, Chiang Kai-Shek launched the Northern Expedition. In September, Feng swore allegiance to Chiang and the Kuomintang. Shi returned to Feng's forces, and was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the 5th division of the Guominjun Army in Shaanxi. In June of the following year, the Guominjun was reorganized into the 2nd Army Group of the National Revolutionary Army, and Shi became the deputy commander-in-chief of the 1st Front Army and the commander of the 5th Army. Subsequently, Shi defeated Sun Chuanfang's forces loyal to the Beiyang government in Shandong. During the second phase of the Northern Expedition, areas controlled by the National Revolutionary Army in Henan Province was attacked and captured by the forces of Fan Zhongxiu. Feng ordered Shi's troops to move south from Shandong to engage in battle with Fan's forces along with the forces of Song Zheyuan.

In 1928, Shi's troops set fire to the Shaolin Monastery, burning it for over 40 days, killing more than 200 monks and destroying 90 percent of the buildings including many manuscripts of the temple library.[3][4]

By the end of 1928, the Northern Expedition was declared over, and with the demobilization, Shi was reassigned to the of commander of the 24th Division of the National Revolutionary Army and was stationed at Nanyang.

### Nanjing Decade[edit]

During the Central Plains War, Shi continued to serve under Feng until late May, 1930, when Shi's secretary Liu Yidan arrived in Wuhan bearing a letter for He Yingqin, in which he agreed to side with the KMT government along with Han Fuju and all the soldiers under their command, totalling a third of all of Feng's forces. Shi had been incentivised by He's promise of generous concessions to generals under Feng willing to defect. It was this substantial loss that greatly contributed to Feng announcing his "retirement" and following flight to Taiyuan with Yan Xishan.[5]

In 1932, Shi was suspected of having taken part in the killing of warlord Zhang Zongchang, who had been a personal friend of his, in cooperation with his former allies Feng Yuxiang and Han Fuju, who had by then become military governor of Shandong. The day before Zhang's assassination, on September 2, 1932, Shi hosted a banquet in Han's name for Zhang to discuss a possible military operation to fight the Japanese, who had invaded Manchuria the previous year. Shi expressed great interest in the revolver Zhang carried with him and received the same gun as a present by the end of the festivities. The event was later alleged to have been a ploy intended to get Zhang drunk and disarm him before he left the province to depart for Beijing by ways of Jinan's train station, where Zhang would be shot to death by Zheng Jicheng [zh], the vengeful adoptive son of Zheng Jinsheng [zh], a general under Feng and one of his brothers-in-law, who was killed by Zhang during the Warlord Era.[6][7]

### Second Sino-Japanese War[edit]

In the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War in mid-1937, Shi pledged to aid the KMT in the resistance against the invasion of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, but secretly planned to overthrow Chiang from his leadership position, both in collaboration with and separately from several other ex-warlords.[8]

During the Battle of Wuhan, Shi briefly held Jinan with a garrison of 1,000 soldiers.

Starting around 1938, while serving as commander of the Nationalist 69th Corps, Shi colluded with the Chinese Communist Party in Hebei, after he gave them vital intel that allowed for the capture of guerrilla leader Qin Qirong, who was a trusted friend to Shi.[9] He ended up double-crossing the communists when he staged a mutiny in July, 1939 and fled to Shanxi, subsequently being tracked down by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on January 30, 1940. Preparations were made by Nie Rongzhen to attack Shi's location, but before any action could be taken, Shi and his troops fled south with those of Sun Liangcheng [zh], suffering substantial casualties before he was able to make it across the Weihe River to Henan's Qingfeng County. The PLA troops found Shi on March 4 and attacked his location the same day, consolidating 17 regiments for this purpose, leading heavy losses for Shi, who again managed to escape and head for Shandong, where he was able to make contact with Kuomintang general Ding Shuben in the village of Xiaohanji near Huangjia. He made plans to strike back north with the units under Ding's command, but said troops ended up being almost completely annihilated by attacks by the PLA who had caught wind of this. Shi went into hiding in Dingtao and avoided being discovered by the PLA for two months. He was eventually found out in June and driven out of Shandong, across the Yellow River, by communist forces.[10]

## Death[edit]

In December, 1940, while leading the 39th Army Group of the National Revolutionary Army, he planned to defect to the Japanese, but before he could do so he was kidnapped under the orders of Chiang by his sworn brother and subordinate Gao Shuxun. Shi had previously let Gao in on his plans and tried to convince him to join him in doing so. Gao was disgusted by the offer and declined, saying that he'd rather be an "èguǐ" than a traitor. Although he first kept quiet about Shi's treachery, after Gao suspected that a Japanese attack on a KMT headquarters in Dingtao that resulted in many deaths in the summer was made possible by Shi's collaboration with the enemy, he reported Shi and received orders from Chiang Kai-Shek to have Shi executed for treason. Shi was kept under close watch for a few days until the evening of December 12th, when he was restrained by Gao's men during a meeting between him, Gao, and Sun Liangcheng. In response to Shi's visible bewilderment, Gao reportedly told him, "不是我，是天堂。不是天堂，是人间。不是人间，是蒋!" ("It's not me, it's heaven. It's not heaven, it's the earth. It's not earth, it's Chiang!")[a], to reveal that he had informed his superiors and that what was happening was an order of Chiang Kai-Shek. Gao's troops took Shi to the bank of the Yellow River just outside of Puyang, had a grave dug for Shi and proceeded to bury him alive.[b] Initially, Shi vehemently protested and scolded Gao for being a disloyal friend, before he began pleading for his life. The burial took 30 minutes and Gao gained command of Shi's unit.

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ The exact wording varies, with some reports claiming and documentaries depicting that it was said before Shi was kicked into his open grave by Gao.
2. ^ It was speculated in contemporary news reports that this was done due to Shi's own infamous tactic of burying captives alive by the Yellow River during the Warlord Era. This had earned him various morbidly-themed nicknames, the most often circulated one being "阴间" and similar variations thereof. English-written media often translated it to "Hades", though an alternative and more literal translation would be "Nether Realm" i.e. Hell.

## See also[edit]

* Lü Bu

## References[edit]

1. ^ D. Lary (2006): Treachery, Disgrace and Death: Han Fuju and China's Resistance to Japan", War in History, 13 (1) 65-90 (footnote 8 on p. 70)
2. ^ Dryburgh, Marjorie E (1993). "Song Zheyuan, the Nanjing government and the north china question in Sino-Japanese relations, 1935-1937". Durham e-Theses. Durham University. p. 140.
3. ^ Gene Ching. Kungfumagazine.com Archived 2003-01-02 at the Wayback Machine, Bak Sil Lum vs. Shaolin Temple].
4. ^ "石友三为何要火烧少林寺？石友三烧少林寺始末". www.qulishi.com. 2018-12-04. Archived from the original on 2018-12-05. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
5. ^ Worthing, Peter (2016). General He Yingqin: The Rise and Fall of Nationalist China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 126–127.
6. ^ Wang, Weinong. "韩复榘的特跌和张宗昌的被杀". 中国青年党 (in Chinese). p. 197.
7. ^ Zheng, Jicheng (1983) [5 June 1936]. 我殺死國賊張宗昌之經過詳情 (in Chinese).
8. ^ Hirayama, Nagatomi (2022). The Making and Unmaking of the Chinese Radical Right, 1918–1951. University of Nottingham Ningbo China: Cambridge University Press. p. 134.
9. ^ Lawson, Konrad (2012). "Wartime Atrocities and the Politics of Treason in the Ruins of the Japanese Empire, 1937-1953". Harvard Library: 295.
10. ^ Chu, SK (1999). "On Chiang Kai-Shek's Position On Resisiting Japan". University of British Columbia.