Background
Mr. Li was born in 1880 in Yi-hsien, Liaoning, China.
Mr. Li was born in 1880 in Yi-hsien, Liaoning, China.
Tu Li received military training at Fengtien Military Academy, graduating in 1906.
Mr. Li started his military career as an army scribe under the Manchu regime. Then he joined an army corps in Fengtien as a training instructor, served in various capacities in the Army during the early years of the Republic. Mr.Tu was commissioned to campaign against a Mongolian Bandit Force in Mongolia in 1917 and succeeded in suppressing it and was appointed a battalion Commander in Fengtien Army in 1919.
He was a Chief-of-Staff to the Defense Commissioner of Kirin and Changchun in 1920, Acting Director of the Kirin Arsenal in 1922 and concurrently Commander of 66th Regiment, Commander of the Garrison Force of Kirin in 1923 and in the following year, concurrently commander of the Martial Law Forces of Changchun, Commander of 10th Brigade of Fengtien Infantry Force in 1925, Defense Commissioner of Dan District and concurrently Commander of 24th Independent Brigade of Fengtien Army in 1926.
Li Tu served as Field-Commander of Chinese Forces operating along the valleys of the Sungari River during the Si no-Russian War in 1929, he promoted to the rank of Major-General for meritorious services in the War after the outbreak of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in September 1931, he was proclaimed Commander-in-Chief of the Self-Defense Forces of Kirin Province in opposition to the Japanese aggression in Manchuria. He held out for a considerable time against the Japanese occupation of Kirin, but his opposition finally collapsed and he was forced to take refuge in Russia, where he remained for three months and returned to China in 1933 by way of Europe, while his troops were repatriated into Sinkiang.