The was the official executive administrative branch of the government of the Japanese-controlled

Empire of Great Manchuria Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese i ...

from 1934–1945.

Background

Manchukuo was proclaimed a monarchy on 1 March 1934, with former Qing dynasty emperor Puyi assuming the Manchukuo throne under the reign name of Emperor Kang-de. An imperial rescript issued the same day, promulgated the

organic law An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law for a sovereign state. By country France Under Article ...

of the new state, establishing a , a and the General Affairs State Council to "advise and assist the emperor in the discharge of his duties". The Privy Council was an appointive body consisting of Puyi's closest friends and confidants, and the Legislative Council was largely an honorary body without authority. The State Council was therefore the center of political power in Manchukuo.

Workings

The General Affairs State Council consisted of ten ministries forming a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. The cabinet ministers were all native Manchukuoans, of either ethnic

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

or Han Chinese descent, and in all cases, the vice-ministers in each ministry were Imperial Japanese Army officers, appointed by the Kwantung Army leadership. The Japanese vice-ministers functions in roles similar to British resident officers in British overseas protectorates in that they had final approval over any actions of the "native" ministers. The State Council itself was presided over by a Secretary-General, the first of whom was Takuzo Komai, an ethnic Japanese. The Council's initial composition was at the time of Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu included the following portfolios: Manchukuo politician

* Prime Minister * Home Affairs * Foreign Affairs * Defense * Finance * Industry and Agriculture * Transportation and Communications * Justice * Education * Mongolian Affairs

The State Council building

The State Council Building was an imposing five-story structure with two four-story wings built in downtown Hsinking in

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

with a portal frame construction with a pseudo-oriental roof with towers. The building was designed so that its main entrance faces west. The building is still in use today by the Jilin provincial government in the People's Republic of China. Each of the main cabinet-level ministries also had its own imposing building. Many of these structures are still in use in various capacities in modern China.

References

* * * * {{Authority control Politics of Manchukuo