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Wang Jingwei Government

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The Nanjing Nationalist Government (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), also the "Republic of China-Nanjing" and known as the Wang Jingwei Regime (汪精衛政權, Wāng Jīngwèi Zhèngquán) by its detractors, or "Nanjing regime" was a government set up in China in 1940 by the Empire of Japan under the leadership of Wang Jingwei. The Wang Jingwei Government was one of several puppet states of the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War—which spanned the years 1937 through 1945—and was meant to rival the legitimacy the government of Chiang Kai-shek, which was of the same name in Chongqing. It was based in Nanjing, and was headed by Wang Jingwei, a Kuomintang leftist who had broken away from Chiang Kai-Shek's government in March 1940 and defected to the Japanese invaders. Claiming to be the rightful government of the Republic of China, it flew the same flag and displayed the same emblem as Chiang Kai-shek's National Government. However, it was widely regarded as a puppet state and enjoyed no diplomatic recognition, except from the Axis powers.

The Wang Jingwei Government was nominally a reintegration of several entities that Japan had established in northern and central China, including the Reformed Government of the Republic of China of eastern China, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China of northern China, and the Mengjiang government in Inner Mongolia, though in reality northern China and Inner Mongolia stayed relatively free of its influence.

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Political boundaries

In theory, the Reformed Government controlled all of China with the exception of Manchukuo, which it recognized as an independent state. In actuality, the Reformed Government controlled only Jiangsu, Anhui, and the north sector of Zhejiang, all of which were Japanese-controlled territories from 1937.

Therefore, the Reformed Government actually controlled this region:

The actual borders changed as the Japanese gained territory in the war. Thus, during the December 1941 Japanese offensive, the Reformed Government extended its control to Hunan, Hubei, and parts of Jiangxi province. The port of Shanghai and the towns of Hankou and Wuchang were also under control of the Reformed Government at various times.

The Japanese-controlled provinces of Shandong and Hebei were also theoretically part of this political entity, although they were actually administered by the Commander of the Japanese North Front, under a separate Japanese-controlled government based in Beijing. Like the Northern Front, the southern sectors had their own Japanese military commander and government. Each front acted as its own military unit with its own political and economic administration as well as its own Japanese military commander.

During the war, the Imperial Japanese Army committed numerous atrocities in the area controlled by the Reformed Government, such as the so-called "mopping up" operations to terrorize the populace. General Toshizo Nishio, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army's expeditionary forces in mainland China, was subsequently replaced by General Neiji Okamura. On September 9 1945, following Japan's defeat in World War II, the Japanese forces in the area surrendered to General He Yingqing of the National Revolutionary army.

Government, economy, education and everyday life

Government and Political Administration

The administrative structure of the Reformed Government included a Legislative Yuan and an Executive Yuan. Both were under the president and head of state Wang Jingwei. Real political power remained with the Commander of the Japanese Army Central Chinese Front and Japanese political entities formed by the Japanese Counsellors. The Japanese also set up various local "nationalist" parties and movements to support its cause.

After obtaining Japanese approval to establish a nationalist government, Wang Jingwei ordered the Sixth Guomindang Representative Congress to establish the government in Nanjing. The dedication occurred in the Conference Hall, and both the "blue-sky white-sun red-earth" national flag and the "blue-sky white-sun" Nationalist Party flag were unveiled, flanking a large portrait of Sun Yat-Sen.

On the day the new government was formed, just before the session of the "Central Political Conference" began, Wang visited Sun's tomb in Nanjing's Purple Mountain in an attempt to establish the legitimacy of his government as Sun's successor. Wang had been a high-level official of the Nationalist government and, as a confidant to Sun, had transcribed Sun's will, the Zongli's Testament. To discredit the legitimacy of the Chongqing government, Wang adopted Sun's flag in the hope that this would establish him as the rightful successor to Sun and bring the government back to Nanjing.

Wang Chingwei's German connections

Prior to the Japanese invasion, Wang Jingwei was part of the Nationalist establishment. Because of internal strife, an attempt was made by a Nationalist army officer to assassinate Wang and other high ranking members. After the attack was unsuccessfully carried out, Wang had gone to Germany for treatment, and subsequently met with Adolf Hitler, before returning home to continue with his struggle to overthrow the central government.

Other foreign and native political observations of the Nanjing Government and the northern Chinese areas

The Beijing administration (East Yi Anti-Communist Autonomous Administration) was under the commander-in-chief of the Japanese North China Front until the Yellow River area fell within the sphere of influence of the Central Chinese Front. During this same period the area from middle Zhejiang to the Canton region was administered by the South Chinese Front. These small, largely independent fiefdoms had local money, local leaders, and frequent squabbles.

These political phenomena were analyzed by the American journalist Jim Tew who worked on the Japanese Advertiser, a Japanese independent newspaper, which was American-owned. (He was also aware of the realities in Mengjiang and the White Russian anti-communist parties authorized by the Japanese Army in Manchukuo.)

The case of the Nanjing pro-Japanese administration was researched by Chester Holcombe, a young American journalist, who arrived in Shanghai to interview the "head of government". This interview was published in the Shanghai newspaper, The China Weekly Review, under the title The Nanjing Prisoner, to the annoyance of the Japanese Army and the local civil establishment. Holcombe was blacklisted and threatened with death if he were to return.

Wang Jingwei travelled to Tokyo in 1941 for meetings with his Japanese overseers. In Tokyo the "Nanjing Government" Minister and Vice president Chou Fo-hai commented to the Asahi Shimbun that the Japanese establishment was making little progress in the Nanjing area. This quote provoked anger from Kumataro Honda, the Japanese Ambassador and Consul in Nanjing. Chou Fo-hai petitioned for total control of its central provinces for the "National Government". Japanese Army Officer Teiichi Suzuki was charged with providing military "guidance" for Wang Jingwei's new regime at Nanking, also himself representing part of the real power in the country.

A common monopolistic economic policy was applied in the area, to the benefit of Japanese zaibatsu and local representatives, with the permission of the Japanese Army, when supposedly these companies had equal treatment with the "local" Chinese companies by the "Government". The President of the Yuan legislature in Nanjing, Cheng Kung-po, commented on this to the Kaizo Japanese review. The "nation" had an Embassy in Yokohama (as did Manchukuo).

Notable people

Structure of Local Administration Chinese Reformed State

Economy

The local economy was administered primarily for the Japanese Army of the Central Front. Military planners installed an "occupation economy" with wartime money (Japanese Military Yen), a "local" Central Bank and supposedly "native" entities, but administered for Japanese counsellors and the Japanese Army in the area. The natives had greater access to coveted war-time luxuries, and the Japanese Army enjoyed such things as matches, rice, tea, coffee, cigars, foods and alcoholic drinks, all scarce items in Japan proper. Additional entertainment, such as brothels, casinos and bars, were managed by the Japanese and local functionaries for the military. The purpose of this control was allegedly to impede the monetary depreciation of the yen, so as to maintain the strength of the Japanese currency on the continent.

In the Japanese-occupied territories, the prices of basic necessities rose substantially. In 1941, they increased eleven-fold in Shanghai. Similar inflation occurred in Manchukuo, despite heavily-centralized economic control by the Japanese.

Education

Education was similar in all the Japanese occupied territories. The Japanese strategy was to create a workforce, suited for the factories and mines, and for manual labour. The Japanese also attempted to introduce their culture and dress to the Chinese. There were agitations, similar to those in Manchukuo, for more meaningful "native" educational development under Japanese rule. The Japanese also built Shinto temples and similar cultural centres in order to instil their culture and values in the local populace. These activities came to a halt at the end of the war.

Daily life

Daily life was difficult in both the puppet state, and in Japan itself. The local residents used the black market to obtain needed items or to influence the ruling establishment. The Japanese Kempeitai, local police, and locals in the service of the Japanese, censored all information, monitored any opposition, and tortured their enemies. The Japanese also established POW detention centres, concentration camps, and Kamikaze training centres to indoctrinate pilots.

Population

The population was probably close to the 1937-38 figures of the Interior Affairs Ministry, with no account taken of the outer regions or areas occupied by later advances: The populations of the major cities were: Other population estimates are as follows:

National defense

The Japanese Army organized a local puppet army, supposedly to defend the "nation". In reality, it served as a second line and security army for the Chinese war. For this purpose, they organized a local air force, giving them some: For the native army, Japan provided: This was probably why the Imperial Japanese Navy could assume total control of the Shanghai seaport, and river ports in Hankow and Wuchang. The nation also had a regular police force under Japanese control, very likely similar to the situation at Kangde. The local politicians and media consistently provided pro-Japanese propaganda. It included phrases praising the "heroic efforts of the Imperial troops", and argued for a "national defence against communism and Western interests".

Chiang Kai-shek's forces captured numerous members of Wang Chingwei's army during military engagements, among whom were soldiers under the command of Wang Bu-ching, General of the Nanjing pro-Japanese Army. Enemy prisoners of low rank were persuaded to renege and fight alongside anti-Japanese forces, but high-ranking prisoners were executed.

Japanese Methods Of Recruiting Collaborators

During the conflicts in central China, the Japanese utilized several methods to recruit "volunteers" for their collaborationist forces. Local collaborators like Nanjing's pro-Japanese governor, or major local landowners like Tao-liang, were used to recruit local peasants in return for money or food. The Japanese recruited 5,000 "volunteers" in the Anhui area for the local Nanjing Army. Japanese forces and their local collaborators used slogans such as "Drop Your Weapons, and Take the Plow", "Oppose the Communist Bandits" or "Oppose Corrupt Government and Support the Reformed Nanjing Government". Other methods included soliciting the cooperation of local bandits, using money, drugs, weapons, or captured goods as enticements. With this system, they organized anti-guerrilla units, who sometimes collaborated with criminal elements.

The Japanese used various methods for subjugating the local populace in the Central provinces. Initially, fear was used to terrorize the regions, but this approach was changed, following appraisals by Japanese military ideologists. In 1939, the Japanese army attempted some populist policies, including:

Buddhist leaders of the occupied Chinese territories ("Shao-Kung") were also recruited to give public speeches and via the media to persuade the populace of the virtues of a Chinese alliance with Japan, and advocate the breaking-off of all relations with Western powers.

In 1938, a manifesto was launched in Shanghai, reminding the populace of the track record of the Japanese alliance in maintaining "moral supremacy", and accusing Generallissimo Chiang Kai-Shek of treason for maintaining the Western alliance.

Primary industry statistics

Before and during Japanese control of this "nation", the farming possibilities were as follows:

Winter wheat and kaoliang zones

Distribution of crops Distribution of animals Transport types Typical products

Yangtze rice and wheat zones

Distribution Of Land Usage For Farming Distribution Of Animal Husbandry Transportation Distribution In Terms Of Localities Typical products

Land in cultivation

For mining resources, see Empire of Japan (natural resources, Asia mainland and Pacific areas, after 1937)

Industry & commerce

In Shanghai, several factories had been established for the development of silk and cotton, many of them with pre-war Japanese and other foreign capital investment. A notable installation was the "Shanghai Power Plant" at the heart of the city, with a production capacity of about 200 megawatts. This power plant used coal from northern China and other Chinese areas. Since 1843, the port of Shanghai had been China's gateway for commerce, and in 1935, it was handling trade with New York, London, San Francisco, Kobe, Liverpool, Los Angeles, Hong-Kong, Hamburg and Rotterdam. Shanghai also had other industries that were crucial to modern Chinese society at that time.

To complement the efforts of the South Manchurian Railway Company, the Japanese civil establishment and the Imperial Japanese Army, in collaboration with Chinese local businessmen, founded the North China Railway Company, with branches in Hopei, Shangtung and other Northern Chinese areas, in order to link up the north China and central China railways. At about the same time, the pro-Japanese government in Nanjing, together with "native" Japanese establishments and the Japanese Central Chinese Army authorities, organized the Central China Railway Company to link up the railways of Ahnwei, Kiangsu, north Chekiang, and areas which were near to or were held by the Southern Japanese Chinese Army, for economic and strategic reasons. It was probably for these same reasons that the Japanese organized a "local" merchant shipping vessel company and Commerce Authority Entity for managing commercial traffic in the Shanghai international port in those days.

Japanese authorities also reinforced local industrial monopolies in the occupied territories, modelling them on Naiga Wata Kaisha (which specialized in managing affairs of the cotton industry, partly for the Japanese government), or private zaibatsus, such as Mitsubishi and others.

Military battles

The First Shanghai Incident

Encouraged by the success of the Manchurian Incident, the Japanese despatched a tank company to Shanghai to support the Shanghai SNLF, who were then fighting there. The Japanese tanks were however frequently checked by the Chinese forces as Shanghai, with its many creeks and crowded housing, was not particularly suited for tank deployment. During this battle, however, the Japanese tanks outperformed the Renault tanks of the Chinese Army. As the suspension system of the Renault tanks was found to be too fragile, they were retired after the battle.

The Second Shanghai Incident

When the Sino-Japanese war began, the Chinese attacked the Japanese in Shanghai, outnumbering the Shanghai SNLF, 20:1. The Chinese had 50,000 men while the Shanghai SNFL had only 2,500. The Japanese Imperial Army immediately despatched two divisions and other units, including one tank battalion to support the Shanghai SNLF.

They landed north of Shanghai and attacked the Chinese in the suburbs. The Chinese put up a strong resistance, but were driven out of Shanghai after one month of fighting.

Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign

The Doolittle raid took place on April 18, 1942, when sixteen USAAF B-25 Mitchell aircraft, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, took off from the USS Hornet, a US Navy aircraft carrier, in an effort to bomb Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. This attack, however, caused minimal damage. The bombers had originally planned to land at friendly Chinese airfields outside the Japanese occupied territories. However, they were unable to do so -- they had to take off farther from those airfields, resulting in most of the planes running out of fuel and crashing into Japanese-occupied territories.

As a consequence of the Doolittle raid, Japanese forces intensified their operations on the Chinese central front. Realizing that the American aircraft had originally intended to land at friendly airfields, hidden in central Zhejiang, the Japanese Army Dai Honei (General Headquarters) in Tokyo ordered the Imperial Japanese Army expeditionary forces and their local Chinese collaborators in the Chinese Central Area to occupy these airfields rapidly to prevent further American air attacks on the Japanese homeland. These Japanese-led attacks are called the "Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign".

After assessing the general situation, Supreme Chinese Commander-in-Chief General Chiang Kai-shek, in coordination with American forces in China, regrouped at 3° War Zone, and for three months, maintained sustained resistance against the Japanese, and in the process, rescued some USAAF Americans, who were then sent to secure pro-Allied Chinese positions.

The Japanese forces suffered 17,000 losses, and in retaliation, took revenge on all natives who had given refuge to the Americans, or were found to be in possession of American souvenirs. They carried out massive massacres, burning whole towns, and committed other war crimes.

References

See also

External links

 

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