Demchugdongrub

Demchugdongrub (8 February 1902 – 23 May 1966), also known as Prince De (德王), courtesy name Xixian (希賢), was a Qing dynasty Chinese Mongol prince descended from the Borjigin imperial clan who lived during the 20th century and became the leader of an independence movement in Inner Mongolia.

After Namjil Wangchuk died in 1908, the six-year-old Demchugdongrub, with the approval of the Qing, inherited one of his father's titles – the Duoluo Duling Junwang.

In his youth Demchugdongrub studied the Mongolian, Chinese, and Manchu languages.

After the fall of the Qing, Yuan Shikai promoted Demchugdongrub to the title of Jasagh Heshuo Duling Jinong (扎萨克和硕杜棱亲王 Zhāsàkè Héshuò Dùléng Qīnwáng) in 1912.

Demchugdongrub married a daughter of a Taiji (Qing aristocratic title) nobleman from his own Sönid Right Banner, and the next year had their first child, Dolgorsuren (都古爾蘇隆 Dōugǔ'ěrsūlóng).

Several years later, Demchugdongrub had four more sons and one daughter with his second wife, Fujin (福晉 Fújìn), a daughter of another Taiji nobleman from the Abaga Banner.

Demchugdongrub was appointed as a member of the Chahar Provincial Committee in 1929.

The most important provisions of the Chin-Doihara Agreement forced all units of the Chinese 29th Army to be withdrawn from the eastern districts of Chahar province and north of Changpei, including the 132nd Division in Changpei.

In 1931, he succeeded to the post of the Chief of the Xilingol League after Yang Cang (楊桑 Yáng Sāng) and Sodnom Rabdan (索特那木拉布坦 Suǒtènàmù Lābùtǎn).

During September 1933, the Mongolian princes of Chahar Province and Suiyuan traveled to the temple at Bailingmiao north of Guihua and gathered in a council chamber with Demchugdongrub, who for months had been trying to found a pan-Mongolian self-rule movement.

In mid-October, despite their traditional suspicions of one another, they and Demchugdongrub agreed to draw up confederation documents for the Inner Mongolian banners.

They sent word to Nanjing that they intended to rule Inner Mongolia themselves.

They indicated that if they were obstructed by the Chinese government, then they would not hesitate to seek assistance from Japan.

In response, Nanjing sent Huang Shaohong as an envoy, who in the end authorized the creation of the Mongol Local Autonomy Political Affairs Committee.

In 1935, Demchugdongrub, now the leader of the Mongols of Inner Mongolia, made serious efforts to set up an autonomous Mongolian Government in Chahar and Suiyuan.

The Japanese General Jirō Minami, commander of the Kwantung Army, and Colonel Seishirō Itagaki gave support to the new Inner Mongolian Autonomous Government, which they felt would weaken China and be subject to the influence of Japan.

In April 1935 Minami sent Major Ryūkichi Tanaka and another officer to interview Demchugdongrub with the goal of formalizing Japanese support, but Demchugdongrub did not agree to terms set by the Japanese at that time.

After establishing a ceremonial Mengjiang-Manchukuo alliance in May 1935, Puyi honoured Demchugdongrub with the title of Martial Virtue Prince of the First Rank (武德親王 Wǔdé Qīnwáng).

In June 1935 the North Chahar Incident and the resulting Chin–Doihara Agreement substantially affected events in Chahar Province.

When General Minami met with Prince Demchugdongrub in August 1935, the Prince promised close cooperation with Japan, and Minami promised financial assistance to the Prince.

On 24 December 1935, General Minami sent two battalions of irregular Manchurian cavalry under Li Shouxin, a squadron of Japanese planes, and a few tanks to assist the Prince in taking over the northern part of Chahar province.

The six districts of northern Chahar were defended by only a few thousand lightly armed Chinese Peace Preservation Corps.

With Li's assistance the Prince's forces were soon able to overrun the area.

The Japanese Kwantung Army, in February 1936, decided to establish the Mongol Military Government (蒙古軍政府 Ménggǔ Jūnzhèngfǔ).

with Demchugdongrub as the commander and Toyonori Yamauchi (山内豊紀) as the advisor.

The Japanese proclaimed that Demchugdongrub was on a mission to "inherit the great spirit of Genghis Khan and retake the territories that belong to Mongolia, completing the grand task of reviving the prosperity of the nationality".

In March 1936, Manchukuo troops occupying Chahar Province invaded northeastern Suiyuan, which was controlled by the Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan.

These Japanese-aligned troops seized Bailingmiao in northern Suiyuan, where the pro-Japanese Inner Mongolian Autonomous Political Council maintained its headquarters.

Three months later Demchugdongrub, as the head of the Political Council, declared that he was the ruler of an independent Mongolia, and organized an army with the aid of Japanese equipment and training.

On 21–26 April 1936 Demchugdongrub and Li Shouxin met with the Japanese Special Service Chief Captain Takayoshi Tanaka at West Wuchumuhsin.

He was most notable for being the chairman of the pro-Japanese Mongol Military Government (1938–39) and later of the puppet state of Mengjiang (1939–45), during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In the modern day, some see Demchugdongrub as a Mongol nationalist promoting Pan-Mongolism, while others view him as a traitor and a pawn of the Japanese during World War II.

Demchugdongrub was a Chahar born into the Plain White Banner of the Eight Banners in Chahar Province during the Qing dynasty.

He was the sole son of Namjil Wangchuk, the Duoluo Duling Junwang (多罗杜棱郡王 Duōluō Dùléng Jùnwáng) of the Sönid Right Banner and Chief of the Xilingol League.

His name consists of the Tibetan words "Chakrasamvara" and "Siddhartha" respectively.

The withdrawal of the 132nd Division effectively ceded control of nearly all of Chahar province in Mengjiang.

Peace and order in Chahar was to be entrusted to the Peace Preservation Corps, an organization that was little more than a police force with light arms only.

Also, no Chinese were to be permitted to migrate to or settle in the northern part of Chahar Province, which was largely populated by nomadic Mongols.

No activities of the Kuomintang were to be permitted in Chahar Province.

All anti-Japanese institutions and official acts in Chahar Province were banned.