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North China Political Council

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North China Political Council
Chinese: 華北政務委員會 Japanese: 華北政務委員会
1940–1945
Flag
Motto: New People's Principles [zh] (Chinese: 新民主義)[1]
StatusAutonomous region of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China
Capital
and largest city
Beijing
Common languagesChinese
GovernmentDictatorship
Chairman[a][2] 
• 1940–1943
Wang Yitang
• 1943
Zhu Shen
• 1943–1945
Wang Kemin
Historical eraSecond Sino-Japanese War
• Tsingtao Conference
January 1940
• Government established
30 March 1940
• Disestablished
18 August 1945
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
File:Flag of China (1912–1928).svg Provisional Government of the Republic of China
Republic of China File:Flag of the Republic of China.svg
Today part ofChina

The North China Political Council or North China Political Affairs Commission (Chinese: 華北政務委員會; pinyin: Huáběi Zhèngwù Wěiyuánhuì; Japanese: 華北政務委員会), sometimes known as the Beijing regime, was an autonomous region under the Wang Jingwei regime that existed during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Formed on 30 March 1940, it succeeded the Provisional Government of the Republic of China when that regime was merged into the newly established Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China led by Wang Jingwei in Nanjing. The council was a puppet administration of Japan, operating under the direct supervision of the Japanese North China Area Army.[3][better source needed]

Background and Formation

Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1937, the Japanese military established regional puppet administrations in occupied territories. The Japanese North China Area Army sponsored the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Beijing on 14 December 1937. This government was dominated by the executive committee chaired by Wang Kemin.[4][5]

In January 1940, a conference was held at Tsingtao to draft a unified collaborationist central government under Wang Jingwei in Nanjing, agreeing that while Nanjing would serve as the capital of the Reorganized National Government, the Beijing regime would retain its autonomy. On 30 March 1940, the Nanjing government was officially established, and the former Provisional Government was restructured into the North China Political Council.[2]

Provincial Administration

The Council exercised administrative oversight over five provincial administrations in occupied northern China. The provinces were governed by regional collaborators.

Hebei was led by Wu Zanzhou and controlled Beijing and Tianjin.[6] Shanxi was led by Su Tiren, who was selected due to his connections to the regional warlord Yan Xishan, and controlled Taiyuan.[7] Shandong was under Tang Yangdu, and administered all but four of the province's 105 counties.[8] Henan was led by Chen Jingzhi and operated out of Kaifeng, controlling the area east of the New Yellow River.[9] Additionally, the Xuzhou Special District Commissioner's Office supervised 18 counties in northern Jiangsu and 10 counties in northern Anhui.[10]

Currency

Established under the Provisional Government in March 1938, the United Reserve Bank issued its own United Reserve Bank notes (lianyin-quan). The Japanese forced the local population to exchange the fabi for these notes to undermine the Nationalist government's monetary control. [11] Even after the Wang Jingwei regime created the Central Reserve Bank in 1941, the United Reserve Bank kept operating and issuing currency in the North until the end of the war.[12]

Military

The military forces of the North China Political Council, though part of the Collaborationist Chinese Army, operated under the command of the Council and its Japanese advisors, not Nanjing.

The Provisional Government's military force, the North China Peace Preservation Army [zh] (Chinese: 华北治安军), was initially established in October 1939. The force completed its initial phase in September 1940, consisting of 8 regiments organized into three group commands and two independent regiments. These units were deployed in Hebei and Shandong provinces to assist the Japanese military in securing local transport routes and strongpoints. Under the new administration, this force was renamed to the North China Pacification Army (华北绥靖军).[13]

The regular forces grew in phases, expanding from the initial 8 regiments to 22 regiments during the Hundred Regiments Offensive in late 1940, 29 regiments in late 1941, and 34 regiments plus 1 training group totaling 37,000 men in 1942.[14] The Japanese China Expeditionary Army sought to maintain a force strength of 100,000 regular troops under the Council (compared to 110,000 under Nanjing and 10,000 under Mengjiang). However, the total collaborationist army strength in the north was only 118,000 men.[15]

Security Forces

In addition to the regular army, the Council maintained extensive local police and security detachments. For example, the Hebei Provincial Government trained and deployed a 20,000-man police force and a 2,500-man security force distributed across rural townships.[6] To secure the countryside, the Japanese North China Area Army set a target of maintaining 300 police or security troops in each county. In early 1940, the police forces of Shanxi, Shandong, Hunan, and Hebei totaled approximately 72,500 men.[16]

Japanese Army Minister Hideki Tojo and Chief of Staff Sugiyama Gen held a meeting in December 1940 and agreed to expand local police for the pacification of North China,[17] reaching 69,000 county-level armed police under the direct supervision of Japanese military police by late 1941.[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Chairman served as the de facto head of state of the government.

References

  1. ↑ "View of Buddhism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Manchuria". Journal of Global Buddhism. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Boorman, Howard L. (1967). Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. III. Columbia University Press. p. 392. In January 1940 a conference was held at Tsingtao to draft the organic laws for the new government at Nanking, which was established on 30 March 1940. ... The provisional government at Peiping became the north China political council, with Wang I-t'ang as its chairman. He was succeeded by Chu Shen on 8 February 1943. When Chu died on 2 July 1943, Wang K'o-min became the council's chairman. He held that post until the regime fell in August 1945.
  3. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "Mention should also be made of local security forces recruited by the Japanese Army in cooperation with the Temporary Government in Peiping; this government was later renamed the North China Political Commission and enjoyed some autonomy under the Nanking government."
  4. ↑ Boorman, Howard L. (1967). Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. III. Columbia University Press. p. 392. In December, he returned to north China to head the so-called provisional government of the republic of China, which was established at Peiping under Japanese sponsorship on 14 December. It was composed of an executive committee, a legislative committee, and a judicial committee. The executive committee, chaired by Wang, dominated the government
  5. ↑ Boorman, Howard L. (1967). Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. III. Columbia University Press. p. 390. From December 1937 to March 1940 he headed the Japanese-sponsored government in north China.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "The Hopei provincial governmet under Wu Tsan-chou controlled Peiping, Tientsin and 129 towns. In March, 1940, the provincial office moved from Tientsin to Paoting. It had trained a 20,000-man police force and a 2,500-man security force."
  7. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "The Shansi provincial government under Su T'i-jen, who received the appointment because of his connection with Yen Hsi-shan, controlled Taiyuan and 92 towns."
  8. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "The Shantung provincial government under T'ang Yang-tu, controlled all but four of its 105 towns."
  9. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "The Honan provincial government under Chen Ching-chi had its office in K'aifeng and was expanding to the western bank of the New Yellow River."
  10. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "In addition, a special district commissioner's office was established in Hsüchow and supervised 18 in north Kiangsu and, from 1940 on, 10 in north Anhwei."
  11. ↑ Boorman, Howard L. (1967). Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. III. Columbia University Press. p. 392. On 10 March, the Peiping regime issued its own currency through the newly organized China United Reserve Bank. The new currency was expected to finance the government's operations, to undermine the value of the National Government's currency, and to secure raw materials for the Japanese at no greater cost than that of printing notes.
  12. ↑ Coble, Parks M. (2023). The Collapse of Nationalist China: How Chiang Kai-shek Lost China's Civil War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–17. It examine the currency war that erupted after the fall of Shanghai and the establishment of Japanese client regimes in Beijing and Nanjing. Each of the latter had separate currencies that were rivals with fabi.
  13. ↑ Ding, Zeqin (2005). "论百团大战后日本对华北的政策 (On Japan's Policy in North China after the Hundred Regiments Offensive)". Journal of Modern Chinese History (近代史研究). 汪伪国民政府在南京建立后，北平的伪中华民国临时政府改为华北政务委员会，伪治安部也改为绥靖总署。伪"治安军"改称"绥靖军"。在"百团大战"期间，1940年10月，日伪仓促新成立绥靖军14个团，连同第一期所建立者，共22个团。
  14. ↑ Ding, Zeqin (2005). "论百团大战后日本对华北的政策 (On Japan's Policy in North China after the Hundred Regiments Offensive)". Journal of Modern Chinese History (近代史研究). 1941年10月，绥靖军又扩建了7 个步兵团。以上伪绥靖军共9个集团（每个集团两个团）和11个独立团。以后又陆续收编投降部队，至1942年总计有伪军11个集团司令部，34个步兵团，1个教导集团， 兵员总数37000人。
  15. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 285: "As for regular armies, the China Expeditionary Forces sought to maintain a 110,000-man force directly under the Nanking government, a 100,000-man force under the North China Political Commission, and 10,000 Mongol troops. Actual size of the native regular force in north China, according to Japanese estimate, was 118,000."
  16. ↑ Kataoka 1974, p. 205: "It was the goal of the North China Area Army to have 300 police or security troops in each. At the rate of 200 men per, a putative total police force in early 1940 in Shansi, Shantung, and Honan Provinces would be roughly 50,000. With the addition of Hopei's, there were 72,500 men."
  17. ↑ Ding, Zeqin (2005). "论百团大战后日本对华北的政策 (On Japan's Policy in North China after the Hundred Regiments Offensive)". Journal of Modern Chinese History (近代史研究). 1940年12月26日，陆军大臣东条英机与参谋总长杉山元举行会谈 ... 当前对华作战纲要的内容是，彻底肃正华北治安、空军进攻作战、对华集中作战谋略，加强封锁以及扶植中国武装的治安警察力量。
  18. ↑ Ding, Zeqin (2005). "论百团大战后日本对华北的政策 (On Japan's Policy in North China after the Hundred Regiments Offensive)". Journal of Modern Chinese History (近代史研究). 到1941年底，华北敌占区各县警察人数达到69000人， 其中半数配备了轻武器。

Sources

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