Han Fuju or Han Fu-chü (; 1890 – 24 January 1938) was a

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

general in the early 20th century. He rose up the ranks of the

Guominjun The Guominjun (), a.k.a. Nationalist Army, KMC, also called the Northwest Army (西北軍) or People's Army, refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. History The Guominjun was ...

clique in the Warlord era but then went over to the

, and held the position of military governor of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

from 1930 to 1938. Han had one wife, two concubines, and four sons.

Biography

Early life

Han Fuju was born in Dongshantai Village (), Ba County, Hebei Province. He had had little aptitude for schooling. Nonetheless, while quite young, he had worked as a clerk in his hsien ("county") until his gambling debts forced him to run away and enlist in the army of General Feng Yu-hsiang. Han rose quickly, from clerk to chief clerk, to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

, to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and after an uprising, to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. During the warlord upheavals in the 1920s, he emerged as commander of General Feng's 1st Army Group.

Governor and warlord

In 1928, he was appointed chairman (governor) of

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

province by Feng, and in 1929, he was confirmed in office and concurrently named commanding

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

of the 11th Division. When the Christian general revolted later in the year, Han declared his allegiance to the central government of

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

. In the

Central Plains War The Central Plains War () was a series of military campaigns in 1929 and 1930 that constituted a Chinese civil war between the Nationalist Kuomintang government in Nanjing led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and several regional military commande ...

in 1930, Han fought against the rebel troops of

Yen Hsi-shan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960, ) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. He effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in ...

and his former commander Feng Yu-hsiang in Shandong and was rewarded with appointment as governor of the province. Han Fuju 1930

He took over Zhang Zongchang's role as the

warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

in Shandong Province. In autumn 1932, unified the province after defeating the rival warlord Liu Zhennian, who controlled the eastern part of the province (in particular the sea port of

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

) and was known as the "King of Eastern Shandong ". As governor, Han was a stern disciplinarian with the civil servants and the military. He had virtually wiped out banditry and traffic in narcotics in campaigns of suppression. By commercial operations, principally in cotton, tobacco, and real estate, he grew rich and gave generously to schools, hospitals, and civic improvements. In the mid-1930s, he was the target of Japanese attempts to get him to incorporate his province of Shandong into one of the North China puppet states that they were attempting to construct. After the onset of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, he commanded the 3rd Army Group and in 1937 was made Deputy Commander in Chief of the 5th War Area defending the lower Yellow River valley.

Downfall

Han was suspected of having conducted secret negotiations with the Japanese to spare his province and his position of power. When the Japanese crossed the Yellow River, he abandoned his base in

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

. Han abandoned his army on January 6 and fled to

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...

, where he was arrested on 11th and brought to Wuchang and was later executed by

for disobeying orders from superior commanders and for retreating on his own accord. Chiang did so to set an example for those not following his orders. According to one account, Han was executed in the sanctuary of the Changchun Temple (), a

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

temple at the outskirts of

Wuchang Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the ri ...

(now, almost in the center of modern

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

) by a single pistol bullet that was fired into the back of his head by Chiang's chief of staff, General

Hu Zongnan Hu Zongnan (; 16 May 1896 – 14 February 1962), courtesy name Shoushan (壽山), was a Chinese general in the National Revolutionary Army and then the Republic of China Army. Together with Chen Cheng and Tang Enbo, Hu, a native of Z ...

.Stephen MacKinnon, "The Tragedy of Wuhan, 1938", Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4, Special Issue: War in Modern China (October 1996), pp. 931-943 There are only second-hand accounts of the execution.Diana Lary
"Treachery, Disgrace and Death: Han Fuju and China's Resistance to Japan", War in History, 2006
/ref>

Career

*1928-1930: Chairman of the Government of Henan Province *1930-1938: Governor of Shandong *1937: General Officer Commanding 3rd Route Army *1937-1938: Commander-in-Chief 3rd Army Group *1938: Deputy Commander-in-Chief 5th War Area *1938 Arrested and executed at a military conference in Hankou for failing to defend Shandong

Personal life

Besides for his execution as a traitor, Han Fuju is remembered for his bad jokes and poetry.Diana Lary
"China's Republic", Cambridge University Press, 2007
/ref> According to Historian Diana Lary, one of his best known poems was about the Daming Lake in Jinan, though the same poem has also been attributed to Zhang Zongchang by newspapers such as the Beijing Evening News and

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Han Fuju Republic of China warlords from Hebei Executed military personnel People executed by the Republic of China by firearm Executed Republic of China people 1890 births 1938 deaths Politicians from Langfang Governors of Shandong 20th-century executions by China Executed Chinese people Executed people from Hebei People from Bazhou, Hebei