Altanochir (1882–1949)

Altanochir as pictured in a 1941 Japanese "who's who" bibliographical dictionary of China^[1]

Altanochir (1882–1949) was an Inner Mongolian prince, politician, and general under the Republic of China and Mengjiang governments.^[1] He served as deputy head of Yeke-juu League (today Ordos City).^[2] An ethnic Mongol, he was a native of Right-Wing Rear Banner, Ordos (today administered as Hanggin Banner, Ordos City).

Names

His Mongolian name may be spelled two different ways, with a variety of transcriptions of his Mongolian name into Chinese characters:

• Altanochir or Altan Ochir (Chinese: 阿拉坦鄂齊爾; pinyin: Ālātǎnèqíěr), his Mongolian name^[3]
• Altanvachir or Altan Vachir (Chinese: 阿勒唐瓦齊爾 or 阿勒唐瓦其爾; pinyin: Ālētángwǎqíěr), an earlier transcription of his Mongolian name^[4]

For short, he was sometimes referred to as Prince A or A Wang (from Chinese 阿王).^[2]

Career

Yuan Shikai appointed him to his position as the deputy head of Yeke-juu League in 1919.^[4] He was also a soldier in the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army; in 1928 he became deputy commander (副司令) for the Baotou region.^[1] In March 1934, he was appointed a member of the Nanjing government's newly established Mongolian Local Autonomous Political Committee.^[5] He sided with Prince Pandegunchab of Dörbed Banner, Ulanqab League in opposing the Mongol autonomy movement.^[2] He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 1937.^[6]

However, he would join the pro-Japanese Mongol United Autonomous Government after its establishment in 1937. He took up the position of deputy head of Yeke-juu league under that government as well in February 1938. After the formation of the Mengjiang United Autonomous Government in October 1939, he became a member of the Mongol Revival Committee (興蒙委員會) and general commander of the Ordos Army (鄂爾多斯挺進軍). In 1947 after the war had ended, he returned to his position as deputy head of Yeke-juu league. In early 1949 he was named a member of the Mongol Autonomous Preparatory Committee (蒙古自治籌備委員會) at Dingyuanying (定遠營; today Bayan Hot, Alxa League); he died there on 16 April 1949.^[6]

References

1. Asahi Shimbun 1941
2. Hyer & Jagchid 1983, p. 169
3. In Mongolian Cyrillic spelling, Алтан-Очир
4. Guan & Wu 1999, p. 107
5. Bolig 2004
6. Xu 2007, p. 782

Bibliography

• 宝力格 — Bolig (July 2004), "内蒙古历史上的德穆楚克栋鲁普 — Demchugdongrub in Inner Mongolian History", 黑龙江省蒙古学研究会通讯 — Communications of the Heilongjiang Association for Mongolian Studies (20), retrieved 2011-08-04
• Guan, Guangyao; Wu, Jianhui (1999), Historical treasures of China: a collection of rare manuscripts from the archives of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Archives Department, ISBN 978-962-683-049-9
• Hyer, Paul; Jagchid, Sechin (1983), A Mongolian living Buddha: biography of the Kanjurwa Khutughtu, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-87395-713-7
• 徐友春 — Xu Youchun, ed. (2007), 民国人物大辞典 — Biographical Dictionary of the Republic of China, 河北人民出版社 — Hebei People's Publishing House, ISBN 978-7-202-03014-1
• 最新支那要人伝 — Newest Biographies of Important Figures in China, 朝日新聞社 — Asahi Shimbun Company, 1941, OCLC 23310651

External links

• Profile on generals.dk