Reformed Government of the Republic of China

Reformed Government of the Republic of China
中華民國維新政府 Zhōnghuá Mínguó Wéixīn Zhèngfǔ
Unrecognized State Puppet regime of the Empire of Japan
←   ← 1938–1940 →
Flag
Anthem The Song to the Auspicious Cloud[1]
Capital		Nanjing
Languages		Chinese
Government		Republic
Acting Chairman		Liang Hongzhi
Historical era		Interwar period
•	Marco Polo Bridge Incident	1937
•	Established	28 March 1938
•	Merged into Reorganized National Government	30 March 1940

The Reformed Government of the Republic of China (Chinese: 中華民國維新政府, Zhōnghuá Mínguó Wéixīn Zhèngfǔ or Japanese: 中華民国政府改革, literally: "Chūkaminkoku seifu kaikaku") was a Chinese provisional government protected by Japan that existed from 1938 to 1940 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.^[2]

History

After the retreat of Kuomintang forces from Nanjing in 1938 from their defeat in the Battle of Nanjing, Japanese Imperial General Headquarters authorized the creation of a collaborationist regime to give the semblance of at least nominal local control over Japanese-occupied central and south China. Northern China was already under a separate administration, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, from December 1937.

The Reformed Government of the Republic of China was established by Liang Hongzhi and others on 28 March 1938, and was assigned control of the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui as well as the two municipalities of Nanjing and Shanghai.^[3] Its activities were carefully prescribed and overseen by “advisors” provided by the Japanese China Expeditionary Army. The failure of the Japanese to give any real authority to the Reformed Government discredited it in the eyes of the local inhabitants, and made its existence of only limited propaganda utility to the Japanese authorities.^[4]

The Reformed Government was, along with the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, merged into Wang Jingwei's Nanjing-based reorganized national government on 30 March 1940.

Notes

1. China 1921-1928 nationalanthems.info
2. Brune, Chronological History of US Foreign Relations, page 521
3. Honda, Katsuichi; The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame, pg 283
4. Black, World War Two: A Military History, page 34

References

• Black, Jeremy (2002). World War Two: A Military History. Routeledge. ISBN 0-415-30535-7.
• Brune, Lester H. (2002). Chronological History of US Foreign Relations. Routeledge. ISBN 0-415-93916-X.
• Wasserman, Bernard (1999). Secret War in Shanghai: An Untold Story of Espionage, Intrigue, and Treason in World War II. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-98537-4.