In early December 1941, an urgent classified intelligence report was delivered to the U.S. Navy headquarters at the Pentagon. The report, sent by the Chinese Military Commission, warned of an imminent Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, U.S. Navy officials dismissed it as unreliable, stamping it with a blue seal reading: “Source Questionable.”
Just days later, Japan launched a sudden and devastating attack, shocking the world.
This pivotal intelligence report came from Jiang Yiying, a brilliant Chinese cryptographer and the only woman ever to attain the rank of general in China’s Military Intelligence Bureau.
From telegraph operator to the director of the Fourth Radio Station
Born in 1908 to a carpenter’s family, Jiang Yiying (姜毅英, originally named Jiang Hegen) displayed an extraordinary talent for mathematics from a young age. In 1927, she achieved a perfect score in mathematics and was admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial Women’s Normal School.
Her life took a dramatic turn in 1932 when Dai Li, the notorious head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, recognized her exceptional numerical abilities. He personally approved her admission to the elite training program at the Zhejiang Police Academy. Among her classmates was Mao Renfeng, who later became a key figure in the intelligence network.
Under the mentorship of Wei Daming, China’s foremost expert in military communications, Jiang Yiying quickly mastered cryptography.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, she proved her exceptional skills and psychological resilience in high-risk situations, successfully completing numerous critical missions. She rose through the ranks, from an ordinary telegraph operator to the director of the Fourth Radio Station of the Military Intelligence Bureau.
Deciphering Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack: A historic breakthrough
On an early December morning in 1941, inside an air-raid shelter at No. 19 Tongluowan in Chongqing, Jiang Yiying, who at the time was in the final stages of pregnancy, focused on a recently intercepted Japanese transmission. For 72 intense hours, she worked tirelessly to decode the message.
What she uncovered was shocking: Japan was planning a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Without a moment’s delay, she rushed the intelligence to Dai Li, who immediately reported it to Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang wasted no time and urgently relayed the warning about a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to the United States.
However, when the message about Pearl Harbor finally reached the U.S. Navy headquarters in the Pentagon, it was met with skepticism. American officials, who had long dismissed China’s intelligence capabilities, paid little attention. When they learned that the breakthrough had been made by a woman, they scoffed and refused to take the information seriously.
Only after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor did the U.S. government realize the significance of the intelligence it had ignored.
Later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally requested that China send a military intelligence expert fluent in English and Japanese to the U.S. to improve intelligence-sharing efforts.
Jiang Yiying’s reputation soared. She was promoted to Major General, becoming the only female general in the history of the Military Intelligence Bureau. This incident also greatly elevated the international status of China’s intelligence network, earning newfound respect from the U.S. military.
A life of sacrifice and legacy
Shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, Jiang Yiying was rushed to the hospital due to severe labor pains. Tragically, one of her children did not survive due to birth complications. This loss placed immense strain on her marriage with Ye Wenzhao, and the couple eventually parted ways.
In 1949, following the Nationalist retreat to Taiwan, Jiang Yiying remarried a businessman named Ni and began a new chapter in her life. Her granddaughter, Ni Yalun (Emma Ni), who inherited her beauty, later became a famous model in Taiwan.
Jiang dedicated the rest of her life to education, serving as the principal of Taipei’s Yunong Elementary School, shaping future generations with the same discipline and intellect that once made her a legendary cryptographer.
The unsung heroine who shaped history
In 2006, at the age of 98, Jiang Yiying passed away, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy. Time may obscure history, but the light of forgotten heroes will always shine through.
In China’s darkest hours, Jiang Yiying’s pencil scratched against paper in a dimly lit bunker, writing a crucial chapter in the war against Japan. Her efforts not only showcased the resilience of China’s intelligence network, but may have had the power to change the course of the entire Pacific War — if only her warning about Pearl Harbor had been heeded.
Translated by Katy Liu
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