Zang Shiyi ( Hepburn: ''Zō Shikiki''; October 1884 – November 13, 1956) was a Chinese general and Governor of

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 northernmo ...

Province at the time of the invasion of Manchuria in 1932.

Biography

Zang was born in

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the provi ...

county of

Province in 1884. He traveled to Japan on a scholarship to the

Tokyo Shimbu Gakko The was a military preparatory school located in Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1896 by the Imperial Japanese Army for the purpose of providing basic military training to students from China, many of its students later played important roles in th ...

and subsequently graduated from 9th class of the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

, with a specialty in the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

, in 1909. On his return to China he joined the pro-republican forces in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

during the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of ...

. After the founding of the

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 northeas ...

in 1914 he became an instructor at the

Baoding Military Academy Baoding Military Academy or Paoting Military Academy () was a military academy based in Baoding, during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China, in the first two decades of the 20th century. For a time, it was the most important milita ...

, where he soon caught the attention of Adm. Sheng Hung Leih, who appointed him to his staff. He rose to

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

for the

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 Ta ...

forces in Kirin Province. He participated in the

Zhili–Anhui War The Zhili–Anhui War was a 1920 conflict in the Republic of China between the Zhili and Anhui cliques for control of the Beiyang government. Prelude Tensions between the two factions developed during the Constitutional Protection War of 1917. ...

in 1920 and the First Zhili–Fengtian War of 1923. Together with

Yan Yuting Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed inde ...

, he subsequently became Chief of Staff of the business administration section of the Kuomintang

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

headquarters in

. After the death of

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

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 ...

Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin (; March 19, 1875 June 4, 1928), courtesy name Yuting (雨亭), nicknamed Zhang Laogang (張老疙瘩), was an influential Chinese bandit, soldier, and warlord during the Warlord Era in China. The warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to ...

, Zang supported the Chinese Reunification Movement and was appointed governor of

Province in 1930. After the

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, ...

Zang initially refused to cooperate with the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

and was imprisoned. However, he later decided to defect and was re-appointed governor of Liaoning Province (renamed Fengtien Province) on 16 December 1931. He was part of the Northeast Supreme Administrative Council or " Self-Government Guiding Board that made plans for a new "independent"

State of 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 in ...

to be established in February 1932. In 1932 Zang was re-appointed governor of Fengtian Province of Manchukuo, a position he retained after the administrative reorganization of the

provinces of Manchukuo The administrative divisions of Manchukuo consisted of a number of provinces plus the special municipalities of Xinjing (新京特別市) and Harbin (哈爾浜特別市), and the Beiman Special Region (北満特別区). The number of provinces ...

from four to ten provinces in October 1934. In March 1935 he was 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 ...

's first choice to replace Zheng Xiaoxu as Prime Minister of Manchukuo (although

Zhang Jinghui Zhang Jinghui (Chang Ching-hui; ; Hepburn: ''Chō Keikei''); (1871 – 1 November 1959) was a Chinese general, warlord and politician during the Warlord era. He is noted for his role in the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo in which he serve ...

was appointed instead at the insistence of the Japanese

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

leadership). From 21 May 1935 Zang served in the largely ceremonial role as Speaker of the Manchukuo Senate—a post which he held until the collapse of Manchukuo in August 1945. He later served as Vice Minister for Home Affairs. In 1940 Zang was appointed ambassador to the

Reorganized National Government of China The Wang Jingwei regime or the Wang Ching-wei regime is the common name of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China ( zh , t = 中華民國國民政府 , p = Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guómín Zhèngfǔ ), the government of the pup ...

headed by

Wang Jingwei Wang Jingwei (4 May 1883 – 10 November 1944), born as Wang Zhaoming and widely known by his pen name Jingwei, was a Chinese politician. He was initially a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan in oppositi ...

, and on 30 November 1940 he signed the Japan-Manchukuo-China joint declaration for Manchukuo, in which the Wang Jingwei regime recognised the country. It was part of the Basic Treaty by which Japan recognised the Reorganised National Government.Signing of Japan-Manchukuo-China Joint Declaration
/ref> 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 ...

, he declared an emergency session of the Manchukuo legislature to promulgate the abdication of Emperor Puyi on 17 August 1945, effective 18 August, and attempted to open negotiations with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. However, the Manchukuo capital of

Hsinking 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 ...

fell to the

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

on 20 August 1945, and Zang was captured ten days later. He was 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 ...

, 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 List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in 1950, where he died of illness in captivity at the War Criminals Management Centre in

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 Rive ...

, Liaoning, on 13 November 1956.

References

* *

External links

IMTFE Judgement: Japanese Aggression Against ChinaPhoto at World War II Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zang, Shiyi 1884 births 1956 deaths People of the 1911 Revolution Politicians from Shenyang People of Manchukuo Government ministers of Manchukuo Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan Kuomintang collaborators with Imperial Japan People extradited from the Soviet Union People extradited to China Chinese people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Chinese detention