William Henry Donald
William Henry Donald (1875-1946), born in Australia, was a newspaperman in China from 1904 until World War II[1]. He was a friend and advisor to Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek[2]. He was also an advisor to Zhang Xueliang, the general who kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek at Xian in December 1936; some years before the kidnapping, Donald had arranged a cure for Zhang's drug addiction[3].
The Japanese invaders in China dubbed Donald "the evil spirit of China." They offered growing rewards for his capture, dead or alive. Once they almost got him, when Zero fighters attacked his plane over China -- but his pilot escaped into a cloud bank. In February 1945, it turned out that they had held him for more than three years, without knowing it, in one of the Manila prison camps. Donald had been a prisoner since 1942, when the Japanese caught him on his way back to China from New Zealand via the Philippines. During his captivity, he had used a false name to fool his captors[4].
After a brief visit to New York City in 1945, Donald returned to Shanghai, where he died in 1946. As he lay dying in 1946, Donald dictated his recollections to Earl Albert Selle, who produced a biography called Donald of China[5].
References
- ^ Earl Albert Selle (1948). Donald of China.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Jonathan Fenby (2004). Chiang Kai Shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost. ISBN 0786714840.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Obituary: Zhang Xueliang". The Independent. 2001-10-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Hard to get". TIME. 1945-02-19.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Jonathan Fenby (2003-12-07). "BUILDING A LIBRARY: Twentieth-century China". The Independent on Sunday.
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