Du Yuesheng

Chinese mobster (1888–1951)

Du Yuesheng (22 August 188816 August 1951), also known by Dou Yu Seng or Tu Yueh sheng or Du Yueh sheng, nicknamed "Big Eared Du", was a Chinese mob boss who spent much of his life in Shanghai. He controlled China's opium trade and was the head of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Bank of China and the Central bank of China. He was a key supporter of Chiang Kai shek and the Kuomintang in their battle against the Communists in the 1920s, and was a figure of some importance during the Second Sino Japanese War. After the Chinese Civil War and the Kuomintang's retreat to Taiwan, Du went into exile in Hong Kong and remained there until his death in 1951.

Du was born in Gaoqiao and his family moved to Shanghai in 1889, a year after his birth. By the time he reached 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 for his public beating of Lu Xiaojia, son of the then Shanghai ruling warlord Lu Yongxiang. It required Du's diplomacy and finances to save his mentor, who after the release stood down almost immediately, turning his criminal empire over to Du. Now known as the "zongshi" (宗師) or "grandmaster" of the criminal underworld, Du controlled gambling dens, prostitution, and protection rackets, as well as setting up a number of legitimate companies — including Shanghai's largest shipping corporation and two banks. 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.

As the leader of the Green Gang, Du dominated Shanghai's opium and heroin trade in the 1930s, and secretly funded the political career of Chiang Kai shek. while Chiang appointed him as the president of the Shanghai Board of Opium Suppression Bureau. The result was that Du came to officially control the entirety of China's opium trade. 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".

Du's original name was Du Yuesheng Later, on the advice of Zhang Binglin, Du changed his name to Du Yong , pseudonym Yuesheng (; same pronunciation as his original name but written differently in Chinese).