The Legend of Sheng Shicai

Author: Cai JinSong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Sheng Shicai (1894-1970), born in Kaiyuan County, Liaoning Province in Northeast China, came from a poor background. In his early years, he studied at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. In 1930, driven by his "ambitious aspirations" to achieve glory on the frontier, he arrived in the desert city of Dihua (now Urumqi) and rose from the rank of a colonel to gradually seize control of Xinjiang's military and political power, serving as the provincial governor and frontier defense supervisor for eleven years. During his tenure, to secure his ruling position, he once defied the policies of the Chiang Kai-shek government and implemented the Six Major Policies: anti-imperialism, pro-Soviet Union, ethnic equality, integrity, peace, and construction. He drove out the imperialist forces of Britain and Japan in Xinjiang and, relying on Soviet and CCP support, turned Xinjiang into a rear base for the anti-Japanese war. Once his power was firmly established, he claimed Xinjiang as a third political faction in China, separate from the Nationalist and Communist parties, to maintain its special status in the country. Later, due to the complex domestic and international circumstances, he reversed his past beliefs, turned against the Soviet Union and the CCP, and threw in his lot with Chiang Kai-shek's authoritarian government. He was a special historical figure shaped by unique historical conditions. In this popular book of over 200,000 words, readers can explore a series of mysterious stories: How did this once invincible ruler of Xinjiang ascend from the position of a colonel to the pinnacle of power in the region? How did he, who once believed in Marxism-Leninism and even attempted to join the CCP multiple times to support the anti-Japanese war in Yan'an and form an anti-Japanese national united front with the Communists, suddenly turn his gun on them, killing prominent CCP figures such as Sun Tanqiu and Mao Zemin as a gift to Chiang Kai-shek? How did he use Soviet support to defeat his political rivals? How did he leverage a group of CCP members and progressive individuals to achieve numerous accomplishments in finance, civil affairs, culture, education, publicity, military affairs, taxation, and the establishment of mass organizations? How did he employ secret police and conspiratorial tactics to repeatedly fabricate "sabotage plots," arresting or secretly executing his political opponents in batches? And how did he play political maneuvering during the Xi'an Incident? After being granted special permission to join the CCP after meeting Stalin, how did he later clash with the Soviet side, forcing the Red Eighth Army stationed in Hami and a large number of Soviet experts, advisors, and technicians to return to their homeland? As a frontier governor of the Nationalist government, how did he long refuse to join the Kuomintang, instead keeping the party's influence out of Xinjiang's Star Ridge pass for an extended period? Regarding Sheng Shicai's family, it is also shrouded in mystery: Yu Xiushong, one of the founders of the early CCP organization in Shanghai and a co-founder of the Communist Youth League, became his brother-in-law but was soon detained and sent to the Soviet Union, where he disappeared without a trace. His brother Sheng Shiqi, who graduated from the Soviet Red Army University, died mysteriously at home—was it suicide or murder? Who was the killer? And so on. Surrounded by these intricate and ever-changing political storms, the book vividly portrays Sheng Shicai's suspicious and fickle nature, as well as the diverse customs and traditions of Xinjiang, transporting readers to the unique frontier of the Western Regions in the 1930s and 1940s.