by Lian Slayford-Wei

Created on: June 12, 2010

Biography: Bai Lang

Bandits and rebels have sparked off an interesting debate amongst scholars, a subject receiving much scholarly attention in recent years. For many scholars, bandits are a form of ‘primitive’ rebels; instead of being a form of political protest, brigandage is more socially discriminating. For some scholars, however, brigands were a primitive form of rural protest.

Bai Lang (which means ‘White Wolf’, as he is mostly known in Western Literature), is one of the most famous bandits in Chinese history. Born in 1873 (d. 1914), assaulted more than 50 cities in North China, somewhat like the Robin Hood character in British literature. His assaults mainly landed on those in authority traditional enemies of those less well off - government offices, jails and wealthy households. There are records of Bai Lang giving the army a portion of his plunder as well as the local populations.

Bai Lang was born in modern day Henan province, an area known well for its bandits. He did not turn to banditry until 1911 when a severe hailstorm destroyed the wheat and bean crop in the area around his native village. This, along with a harsh drought the previous year, turned many of the population here to banditry. It is estimated that anywhere from 20% to 60% of the inhabitants left to beg for food from neighbouring Hebei Province and only returned to their homes in the autumn.

He was born into a fairy wealthy family and although they did not own their own land, they did hire labourers to work for them. He had only one sister and was sent off to school but left after only one year.

Later, he married a woman who had the surname Guan and together had five children; one son and four daughters. “In addition to farming activities, Bai Lang (probably during the agricultural slack period) drove an oxcart with government salt. Because of his commanding personality and martial skills, he began to play a protective role toward the other salt carters when they met up with bandits or other dangers. These forays gradually earned Bai Lang a reputation for leadership among the local populace”.

We know that when he was 25 he had an argument with a man named Wang Zhen and was thrashed. Bai Lang, along with a group of supporter’s, marched to Wang’s house to protest. Bai Lang pushed the old man and subsequently died. Bai Lang was jailed and it was here that his life turned. Before he left jail he claimed that he was ready to become a bandit.

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