Bai Chongxi

Bai Chongxi
Bai Chongxi
白崇禧
1st Minister of National Defense
	In office; 23 May 1946 – 2 June 1948
Preceded by	Chen Cheng as Minister of War
Succeeded by	He Yingqin
Personal details
Born	18 March 1893; Guilin, Guangxi, Qing Empire
Died	2 December 1966 (aged 73); Taipei, Taiwan
Party	Kuomintang
Spouse	Ma P'ei-chang
Children	10, including Kenneth
Education	Guangxi Military Cadre Training School; Baoding Military Academy
Awards	Order of Blue Sky and White Sun; Order of the Sacred Tripod; Order of the Cloud and Banner (1st class); Order of Loyalty and Diligence; Commander of the Legion of Merit; Medal of Freedom (1945); Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour; Order of the Bath
Nickname(s)	The Wise Man, Little Zhuge
Military service
Allegiance	Qing Empire; Republic of China
Branch/service	New Army; National Revolutionary Army
Years of service	1907–1949
Rank	General
Unit	New Guangxi Clique
Commands	Minister Of National Defense, Central China Pacification Director
Battles/wars	Xinhai Revolution; Northern Expedition Shanghai Massacre; ; Central Plains War; Chinese Civil War Long March; ; Second Sino-Japanese War Battle of Xuzhou Battle of Taierzhuang; ; Battle of Wuhan; 1st Battle of Changsha; Battle of South Guangxi Battle of Kunlun Pass; ; 2nd Battle of Changsha; 3rd Battle of Changsha; Operation Ichi-Go Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou; ; ; Chinese Civil War Campaign to Defend Siping; ;

Bai Chongxi (18 March 1893 – 2 December 1966) was a Chinese military general in the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China (ROC) and a prominent leader of the Kuomintang. He was of Hui ethnicity and of the Muslim faith.

From the mid-1920s to 1949, Bai and his close ally Li Zongren ruled Guangxi province as regional warlords with their own troops and considerable political autonomy. His relationship with Chiang Kai-shek was at various times antagonistic and cooperative. He and Li Zongren supported the anti-Chiang warlord alliance in the Central Plains War in 1930, then supported Chiang in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Bai was the first defense minister of the Republic of China from 1946 to 1948. After the Republic of China's loss in 1949, he fled to Taiwan alongside the government, where he died in 1966.