Du Yuesheng
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杜月笙
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| Born | Du Yuesheng (Chinese: 杜月生; pinyin: Dù yuèshēng) (1888-08-22)22 August 1888
Gaochang, Pudong, French Concession
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| Died | 16 August 1951(1951-08-16) (aged 62) |
| Resting place | Du Yuesheng Cemetery, Xizhi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Occupation | Underworld Leader |
| Height | 5'10 |
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(m. 1950; div. 1951) |
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| Du Yuesheng | |||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 杜月笙 | ||||||||||||
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| Du Yong | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 杜鏞 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 杜镛 | ||||||||||||
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| Du Yuesheng (original name) | |||||||||||||
| Chinese | 杜月生 | ||||||||||||
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Du Yuesheng (22 August 1888 – 16 August 1951), nicknamed "Big-Eared Du",[1] was a Chinese mob boss who spent much of his life in Shanghai. He made his fortune in the opium trade before transforming into a financial tycoon. He supported Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang in their fight against the Communists and Japanese. In April 1949, on the eve of the fall of Shanghai, Du moved to Hong Kong, where he lived until his death in 1951.
Du's original name was Du Yuesheng (Chinese: 杜月生; pinyin: Dù Yuèshēng; Wade–Giles: Tu4 Yüeh4-sheng1). Later, on the advice of Zhang Binglin, Du changed his name to Du Yong (traditional Chinese: 杜鏞; simplified Chinese: 杜镛; pinyin: Dù Yōng; Wade–Giles: Tu4 Yung1), pseudonym Yuesheng (Chinese: 月笙; pinyin: Yuèshēng; Wade–Giles: Yüeh4-sheng1; same pronunciation as his original name but written differently in Chinese).[2] Other than pinyin, Du Yuesheng is variously transliterated as Dou Yu-Seng, Tu Yueh-shengorDu Yueh-sheng,
Du was born in Gaoqiao and his family moved to Shanghai in 1889, a year after his birth. By the time he was nine years old, Du had lost his immediate family — his mother died in childbirth, his sister was sold into slavery, his father died, and his stepmother vanished — so he went back to Gaoqiao and lived with his grandmother. He returned to Shanghai in 1902 and worked at a fruit stall in the French Concession but was later fired for theft. He wandered around for some time before becoming a bodyguard in a brothel, where he became acquainted with the Green Gang. He joined the gang at the age of 16.
Du was soon introduced by a friend to Huang Jinrong, the highest-ranked Chinese detective in the French Concession Police (FCP) and one of Shanghai's most notorious gangsters. Huang's wife Lin Guisheng was a notable criminal in her own right, and she favoured the young Du. Even though Huang was not a member of the Green Gang, Du became Huang's gambling and opium enforcer. A stickler for fine clothing and women, Du was now cemented; he wore only Chinese silks, surrounded himself with White Russian bodyguards, and frequented the city's best nightclubs and sing-song houses. Du was also known for having a superstitious streak — he had three small monkey heads, specially imported from Hong Kong, sewn to his clothes at the small of his back.
Du's prestige led him to purchase a four-storey, Western-style mansion in the French Concession and have dozens of concubines, four legal wives and six sons, but his meteoric rise as Shanghai's best known mobster only came after Huang Jinrong's arrest in 1924 by the Shanghai Garrison police[3] for his public beating of Lu Xiaojia, son of the then Shanghai-ruling tuchun Lu Yongxiang. By various accounts, Lu Xiaojia either booed the singer Lu Lanchun off the stage or started pursuing her, who married Huang in 1922. It required Du's diplomacy and finances to save his mentor, after which Du, Huang, and Zhang Xiaolin, another Green Gang member, became sworn brothers, together known as the "Three Tycoons of Shanghai."
By the 1930s, Du controlled much of Shanghai's gambling dens, prostitution, and protection rackets. With the tacit support of the police and colonial government, he also now ran the French Concession's opium trade, and became heavily addicted to his own drug.[1]
Du had close ties with Chiang Kai-shek, who in turn had ties to both the Green Gang and other organised secret societies from his early years in Shanghai. In April 1927, Du, along with his sworn brothers Huang Jinrong and Zhang Xiaolin, conspired with Chiang to form the Chinese Progress Association (中华共进会), a para-militant group masquerading as a left-wing group to prepare for Chiang's coup. On the night of April 11, Du's right-hand man, Wan Molin, killed Wang Shouhua, Shanghai's labor leader, at Du's residence. Du's gang members, wearing armbands marked "Labor" (工), then set upon the city's workers and left-wing activists, leading up to Chiang's Shanghai massacre.
Chiang established the Nanjing Nationalist Government after the coup, rewarding Du with a title of major general and advisory positions to the military headquarters and the Executive Yuan. The French Concession authorities also appointed Du as an advisor to the Chinese director of the Public Council. Du also helped the Kuomintang with the intelligence gathering in Shanghai, forging a brotherhood with Dai Li and Yang Hu.
Starting in 1928, Du ventured into the financial world, founding Zhonghui Bank and later becoming a director or supervisor at the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications. He also became a director at the Shanghai Cotton Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
After the Mukden Incident in 1931, Du became active in wartime services, organizing donation drives, boycotts of Japanese goods, and funding academic and artistic activities. In the same year, Du used his financial and political clout to open a temple dedicated to his ancestors, celebrating its opening with a grand three-day party attended by hundreds of celebrities and a gifted plaque from Chiang Kai-shek. However, within months, the temple's private wings were converted into a heroin manufacturing facility, making it one of East Asia's largest drug factories.[4]
Du established the Heng Society in November 1932 as a front for political activities. When the Second World War broke out in 1937, Du, unlike his sworn brother Zhang Xiaolin, refused to cooperate with the Japanese and eventually fled to Hong Kong. Green Gang operatives cooperating with Dai Li, Chiang's intelligence chief, continued to smuggle weapons and goods to the Nationalist forces throughout the war. Du served as a board member of the Chinese Red Cross, and also established several companies and factories in the free area of China.
After the war, Du returned to Shanghai, founded the newspaper Shang Pao, with the intention to be the mayor but eventually gave up to Wu Shaoshu under Chiang's pressure. Du instead was elected representative of the People's Congress of the Nationalist Government in 1948. He was also president or director of over 70 commercial organizations, and held leadership roles in more than 200 enterprises and institutions. The relationship between Du and Chiang, however, further soured when Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, launched an anti-corruption campaign in Shanghai in 1948, with Du's son, Du Weiping, was targeted and eventually sentenced to six months.
In 1949, on the eve of the fall of Shanghai, Du moved to British Hong Kong, despite the olive branches from both the Kuomintang and Communists. His health deteriorated rapidly due to asthma. He died in Hong Kong in 1951.[4] Allegedly, his body was taken by one of his wives to Taiwan, and buried in Xizhi District, New Taipei, though some are skeptical that his tomb actually contains his body.[5] Following his internment the Taiwanese authorities constructed a statue of Du in Xizhi. The four-character inscription on the statue praises Du's "loyalty" and "personal integrity".[1]
Du Yuesheng had five wives during his lifetime: Shen Yueying, Chen Yuying, Sun Peihao, Yao Yulan and Meng Xiaodong (wed 1950; divorced 1951). Du had eight sons and three daughters. His eight sons are Du Weiping, Du Weishan, Du Weixi, Du Weihan, Du Weiwei, Du Weining, Du Weixin and Du Weiwei. His three daughters are Du Meiru, Du Meixia and Du Meijuan.
Du Weishan, Du's seventh son, served as one of the first secret intermediaries between Taipei and Beijing in the early 1980s, when the two administrations did not have official channels of communication.[6] He was also a numismatist who then lived in Vancouver, Canada, and passed away on March 2020[7]; later in his life he donated ancient coins to the Shanghai Museum for a value of 1.8billion yuan.[8]
Du Meiru, Du's eldest daughter, settled with her husband in Jordan in the 1960s and operated a restaurant.[9] She also took part as herself in the film I wish I knewbyJia Zhangke.[10]
Some depictions of Du in popular culture include:
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