| Da Zhong Diguo/Great Empire of China | |
|---|---|
|
Population |
500,000,000 (mainly Han Chinese, indigenous minorities and Japanese settlers) |
|
Capital |
Beijing |
|
Head of State |
His Imperial Majesty, the Xuantong Emperor Puyi (First Reign: 1908-1912, Second: 1917, Emperor of Manchukuo: 1934-1949, Third: 1949-1977), His Imperial Majesty, Youzhi, Emperor Puren (from 1977) |
|
Ruling Party |
Zhongguo Guomindang Gemingweiyuanhui (Chinese Nationalist Revolutionary Party) |
|
Head of Government |
Wang Jingwei (1940-1945), Chen Gongbo (1945-1975), Tai Wei-kuo (from 1975) |
History[]
The Japanese conquest of China began in earnest in July 1937. Over the next decade China was occupied and isolated internationally. By 1941 Japan had reached agreement with Great Britain (June 1941) and France (September 1940) over the closure of Chinese supply routes from Burma and Indochina. In June 1941, Japan moved against China's last neighbouring allies, launching an invasion of the Soviet Union, Mongolia and Tuva from Manchukuo.
By October 1949, virtually all of China had been unified under Japanese control. Puyi, the last emperor of the Manchu dynasty, was reinstalled on his throne in Beijing's Forbidden City, and the new Empire of Great China joined as a full fraternal partner in the Japanese-organised Greater East Asiatic Co-Prosperity Sphere.
The new China was substantially smaller than its predecessors. Manchuria was irrevocably lost, ruled as an independent empire of Manchukuo (established February 1932) under Puyi's younger brother, Pujie and his Japanese wife, the Empress Hiro. The lands inhabited by Mongols were similarly unified as the independent state of Mongolia or Mengkukuo (established May 1936) under a new Great Khan, Prince De. In the far west, an independent Islamic state was established under Elihan Tore, known as East Turkistan (established August-November 1944) and used as a springboard for the invasion of Soviet Central Asia.
The Muslim Hui were granted an autonomous state in the north under Ma Hongbin, a defector from the Nationalist Ma Clique. Tibet, which had been drawn into the British orbit alongside Nepal, was invaded by a force of Japanese and Tibetan and Burmese exiles who overthrew the reigning lama and established a Independent Tibetan State.