Provisional Government of the Republic of China (1937–1940)
Provisional Government of the Republic of China 中華民國臨時政府 Zhōnghuá Mínguó Línshí Zhèngfǔ Chūka Minkoku Rinji Seifu | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937–1940 | |||||||||||
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| Motto: Xinminism | |||||||||||
| Anthem: The Song to the Auspicious Cloud[1] | |||||||||||
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| Status | Unrecognized State Puppet state of the Empire of Japan | ||||||||||
| Capital | Beiping | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Chinese | ||||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||||
| Acting Chairman | |||||||||||
| Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||||
| July 1937 | |||||||||||
• Government established | 14 December 1937 | ||||||||||
• Merged into Reorganized National Government | 30 March 1940 | ||||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | CN | ||||||||||
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The Provisional Government of the Republic of China (traditional Chinese: 中華民國臨時政府; simplified Chinese: 中华民国临时政府; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó Línshí Zhèngfǔ, or Template:Lang-ja) was a Chinese provisional government protected by the Empire of Japan that existed from 1937 to 1940 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.[2]
History
After the conquest of Northern China, Japanese Imperial General Headquarters authorized the creation of a collaborationist regime as part of its overall strategy to establish an autonomous buffer zone between China and Japanese-controlled Manchukuo. It nominally controlled the provinces of Hopei, Shantung, Shansi, Henan and Kiangsu.[3]
The Provisional Government of the Republic of China was officially inaugurated by Wáng Kèmǐn, former Kuomintang Minister of Finance, on 14 December 1937, with its capital at Beijing. Wang was assisted by Tang Erho, who served as chairman of the Legislative Yuan and Minister of Education.
Its activities were carefully prescribed and overseen by advisors provided by the Japanese Northern China Area Army. The failure of the Japanese to give any real authority to the Provisional Government discredited it in the eyes of the local inhabitants, and made its existence of only limited propaganda utility to the Japanese authorities.[4]
The Provisional Government was, along with the Reformed Government of the Republic of China, merged into Wang Jingwei's Nanjing-based reorganized national government on 30 March 1940, but in practical terms actually remained virtually independent under the name of the "North China Political Affairs Commission" [5] (華北政務委員會) until the end of the war.
Provisional Government Army
The security of the first Provisional Government was at first based around a 5,000-man police force. The Provisional Government Army began to be organized in May 1938 with the organization of a Japanese-run military academy in Tongzhou. Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) began six months of training in February 1939 and the army officially formed in September 1939. At first the Army had to fill most of the officer and NCO slots with former Nationalist officers until the newly trained officers could take charge.[6]
The army consisted of 13,200 men in eight infantry regiments of 1,650 men each. Six of the regiments were organized in three brigades of two regiments each and put under the command of a Chinese Major General with a Japanese advisor. In addition, a 400-man-strong bodyguard was formed to protect government officials after all of Wang Ke-min's Japanese bodyguards were assassinated.
The order of battle as of September 1939 was as follows:[6]
- 1st Brigade 'Peking' (Maj. Gen. Liu Feng-chih)
- 1st Regiment (Peking)
- 2nd Regiment (Tongzhou)
- 2nd Brigade 'Paotingfu' (Maj. Gen. Huang Nan-peng)
- 3rd Regiment (Paotingfu)
- 4th Regiment (Chengtingfu)
- 3rd Brigade 'Kaiping' (Maj. Gen. Lu Cheng-sheng)
- 5th Regiment (Kaiping)
- 6th Regiment (Tangshan)
- 7th Independent Regiment 'Tientsin' (Col. Sun Chi-chang)
- 8th Independent Regiment 'Tsinanfu' (Col. Ma Wen-chi)
See also
References
- ^ China 1921-1928 at nationalanthems.info
- ^ Brune, Chronological History of US Foreign Relations, page 521
- ^ Jennings, John M.; The Opium Empire: Japanese Imperialism and Drug Trafficking in Asia, 1895-1945, pg. 92
- ^ Black, World War Two: A Military History, pg. 34
- ^ Li, Lillian M., et al; Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City, pg. 166
- ^ a b Philip, pp. 44-45
- Black, Jeremy (2002). World War Two: A Military History. Routeledge. ISBN 0-415-30535-7.
- Brune, Lester H. (2002). Chronological History of US Foreign Relations. Routeledge. ISBN 0-415-93916-X.
- Jowett, Phillip S. (2004). Rays of the Rising Sun, Vol. 1. Helion and Company Ltd. ISBN 1-874622-21-3.
- Wasserman, Bernard (1999). Secret War in Shanghai: An Untold Story of Espionage, Intrigue, and Treason in World War II. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-98537-4.
- Li, Lillian M.; Dray-Novey, Alison J.; Kong, Haili (2007). Beijing: From Imperial Capital to Olympic City. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-230-60527-3.
External links
