Li Zongren - Personal Life

Personal Life

During the course of his career Li gained a reputation as an ardent militarist and confirmed anti-intellectual, but with a rugged sense of integrity. He was known for disliking music. Like many Chinese leaders in the 1930s, Li was once an admirer of European Fascism, seeing it as a solution to the problems of a once proud nation humbled by internal dissension and external weakness. His ethical attitudes were self-consciously drawn from Confucianism. After his falling out with Chiang Kai-shek in 1929, Li often expressed himself in terms of frustrated patriotism. Li was an admirer of the British historian Edward Gibbon (1737–94) and his monumental historical work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Li and his close staff member, the Muslim General Bai Chongxi, were powerful partners in politics and military affairs. They were once nicknamed them Li Bai (李白), after the famous poet.

Li was married to Li Xiuwen (李秀文) at 20 in an arranged marriage, but they separated soon afterwards. Li Zongren and Li Xiuwen had a son, Li Youlin (李幼鄰). In 1924, Li married Guo Dejie (郭德潔), who died of breast cancer soon after returning with Li to Beijing. Li and Guo had one son: Li Zhisheng (李志聖). Li then remarried, to Hu Yousong (胡友松), who was 48 years younger than Li. Hu changed her name to Wang Xi (王曦) after Li died, and remarried.

Li co-wrote Memoirs of Li Zongren with historian Te-Kong Tang (唐德剛). Li's memoir is notable for its vehement criticism of Chiang Kai-shek and its analysis of Japan's strategic failure to conquer China. A more detailed account of Li's life is depicted in the less popular biography My Trusted Aide (Wode Gugong), written by Li's distant relative Namgo Chai.