This is the first of his two-volume autobiography and covered events all the way from his childhood years (which he considerately limited to the first two chapters) to the end of the Northern Expedition, rounding off with a brief mention of his role in Zhang Xueliang's (张学良) submission to the central government in what is known as the 'Northeast changing of flags' (东北易帜).
This book is invaluable for the details that he provided about the various important events that he was involved in such as the unification of Guangxi and Guangdong and the string of battles in the Northern Expedition. I regret not having anticipate this level of details otherwise I would have brought a map with me to follow the advances.I would also prepare myself to take notes for future reference. Beyond the historical facts that he wrote about, the book was also decorated with plenty of insider information and his opinion of the people that are known to us. The most scathing of his criticism was reserved for Chiang who came across as petty, suspicious, and devious, but highly savvy politically. There are other events which I hope he had given more coverage, for example the Shanghai Massacre in which many Communists were tortured and murdered in the name of cleaning up the Kuomintang and 东北易帜 mentioned above. Li being one of the insiders would have been able to throw much light on these events instead of the superficial treatment which he gave to them.
The reader would not fail to notice and surely lament on the condition that China was in at that time. Warlords, big and small, ran amok throughout the land. Some provided some semblance of governance, others were just exploiting the common men for what they were worth, every one of had to maintain a huge army, all of them hoping to exploit the weaknesses of the other to consolidate and expand their territories. The various regional armies were constantly going through 新编 (formation or constitution), 收编 (absorption by another army), or 重编 (re-consitution); that tells the reader how volatile and unreliable the warlord governments were. And almost exactly like how it was like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, alliances of convenience were easily formed and just as easily betrayed. Former enemies could one day sit down and reminiscent about the 'good old times' when they fought battles on opposite sides while seemingly paying no attention to the thousands who had died in those years, Han Chinese against Han Chinese. It is no wonder modern Chinese governments are most paranoid about not letting China descend into factions again. One wonder how the Sino-Japanese War would pan out had it not been for the wasteful civil wars fought in the decades prior to 1937.
The writing style is not easy for the modern reader. Although the style is not classified as traditional Chinese (文原文), it is by no means the modern Chinese that is used today. This makes reading difficult at first until I started getting used to it, and in fact started to appreciate the beauty of it.Readers must also be ready for the image that Li has portrayed himself in this book. He has made himself looked like an idealistic follower of Sun Yat San's revolution and had no interest in politics and power. Too many times, he also gave himself the roles of the wise seer who was able to counselled the right moves at critical junctures. Although I do not know enough to dispute these, I find too many of such incidents mentioned to make this book somewhat self-serving. But if you look beyond these, this hugely rewarding book is a must-read for all students of the modern history of China.
