East Hebei Autonomous Council

East Hebei Autonomous Council
冀東防共自治政府
*Jìdōng Fánggòng Zìzhì Zhèngfǔ*
	East Hebei Autonomous Council; 冀東防共自治政府; Jìdōng Fánggòng Zìzhì Zhèngfǔ
	Puppet state of Empire of Japan
	Flag
Capital	Beijing
Language(s)	Mandarin Chinese
Government	Republic
Chairman	Yin Ju-keng
Historical era	Second Sino-Japanese War
- Established	25 November 1935
- Disestablished	1 February 1938
	Area
- 1937	8,200 km2 (3,166 sq mi)
	Population
- 1937 est.	6,000,000
Density	731.7 /km2 (1,895.1 /sq mi)
Currency	Chi Tung bank-issued Yuan, on par with Japanese yen and Manchukuo yuan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The East Hebei Autonomous Council (Chinese: 冀東防共自治政府; pinyin: Jìdōng Fánggòng Zìzhì Zhèngfǔ)^[1] also known as the East Ji Autonomous Council and the East Hopei Autonomous Anti-Communist Council, was a short-lived Japanese puppet state in northern China in the late 1930s.

[edit] History

East Hebei Autonomous Council Building

After the creation of Manchukuo, and subsequent military action by the Imperial Japanese Army, which brought northern China north of the Great Wall under Japanese control, the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China signed the Tanggu Truce which established a demilitarized zone south of the Great Wall, extending from Tianjin to Beijing. Under the terms of the Tanggu Truce, and the subsequent He-Umezu Agreement of 1935, this demilitarized zone was also purged on the political and military influence of the Kuomingtang government of China.

On 15 November 1935 the local Chinese administrator of the 22 counties in Hopei province, Yin Ju-keng, proclaimed the territories under his control to be autonomous, and on 24 November, to be independent of the Republic of China with its capital at T'ungchow. The new government immediately signed economic and military treaties with Japan. The Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps that had been created by the Tanggu Truce was disbanded and reorganized as the East Hopei Army with Japanese military support. The Japanese goal was to establish a buffer zone between Manchukuo and China, but the pro-Japanese collaborationist regime was seen as an affront by the Chinese government and a violation of the Tanggu Truce.

The East Hebei government survived the Tungchow Mutiny in late July 1937, but was absorbed into the collaborationist Provisional Government of China in December 1937.