Ruan Zhenduo (; Hepburn: ''Gen Shintaku''; 1893–1973), was a politician in the early

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

who subsequently served in a number of Cabinet-level positions in the Empire of

Manchukuo 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 Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

Biography

A native of

Tieling Tieling () is one of 14 prefecture-level cities in Liaoning province of the People's Republic of China. Tieling is a city where coal mining is an important industry. Demographics As of the 2020 census, Tieling was home to 2,388,294 people, who ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

Province, Ruan studied medicine at the Manchurian Medical College in 1913. In 1919, he went to Japan to study at the

Kyoto Imperial University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 billion USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to disting ...

and graduated with a doctorate in medicine. After his return to China in 1923, Ruan was appointed chairman of the Fentian State Medical Board, and a professor of medicine at the Northeastern University (Shenyang, China). He was also asked by the

Fengtian Clique The Fengtian clique () was one of several opposing military factions that constituted the early Republic of China during its Warlord Era. It was named after Fengtian Province (now Liaoning), and operated from a territorial base comprising the thr ...

to serve as its chief army medical officer. He also held the posts of chairman of the

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

and

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

State Medical Boards by 1929. In April 1932, under the new State of Manchukuo Ruan was asked to serve as Chief Secretary for Fengtian Province. He assisted Yu Jingyuan in establishing the Manchukuo Youth League and was one of the founding members of the

Concordia Association The Concordia Association ( Japanese Shinjitai: 満州国協和会, Hepburn: ''Manshū-koku Kyōwakai'') was a political party in Manchukuo. Established to promote the ideals of Pan-Asianism and the creation of a multi-ethnic nation-state and ...

. From November 1932, he served on the

General Affairs State Council The was the official executive administrative branch of the government of the Japanese-controlled Empire of Great Manchuria from 1934–1945. Background Manchukuo was proclaimed a monarchy on 1 March 1934, with former Qing dynasty emperor Puyi ...

as Director of the Construction Bureau. In May 1935, Ruan accepted the cabinet-level post of Minister of Education of the Empire of Manchukuo, which he held to July 1937. From December 1940 to September 1942, he served as Minister of Transportation and from September 1942 to April 1944 as Minister of Finance. From April 1944 to August 1945, he served as Foreign Minister. Following the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian strategic offensive operation (russian: Манчжурская стратегическая наступательная операция, Manchzhurskaya Strategicheskaya Nastu ...

, Ruan was captured by Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and initially held in custody in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, but was extradited to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on July 31, 1950, where was incarcerated at the

Fushun Fushun (, formerly romanised as ''Fouchouen'', using French spelling, also as Fuxi ()) is a prefecture level city in Liaoning province, China, about east of Shenyang, with a total area of , of which is the city proper. Situated on the Hun Ri ...

War Criminals Management Centre. He was housed with former Emperor

Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...

, and helped the former emperor write his autobiography: ''The First Half of My Life; From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu'' Yi. He was released by a special pardon in 1962 and found employment at the Changchun Medical Library as a librarian. He died in 1973 at the age of 81.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruan, Zhenduo Government ministers of Manchukuo People from Tieling Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan 1893 births 1973 deaths Recipients of Chinese pardons Chinese prisoners and detainees People extradited from the Soviet Union Kyoto University alumni Diplomats of Manchukuo