Podcasts about Dalian

After investing in a Dalian meat company, a consortium of investors discovered their money had vanished, only to face obstacles from local authorities. (00:00:58) The Cross-Border Investor's Nightmare Scenario (00:01:54) The $15.4 Million Bet on a Pork Empire (00:02:22) When the Lights Went Out: Filings Halt and Capital Vanishes (00:03:15) Bankruptcy Restructuring — Or a Shell Game? (00:04:04) A Zombie Company: Factory Alive, Equity Dead   Note: The conversation segment of this episode was generated using AI and has been edited for accuracy. It is based on this Caixin story: In Depth: How a $15 Million Chinese Pork Deal Turned Into a Cautionary Tale for Foreign Investors Subscribe now to unlock all coverage from Caixin Global and The Wall Street Journal for just $200 a year, enjoying a 66% discount. Group discounts are available — contact us for a customized plan.    

China's rapid development and strong protection of intellectual property have been praised by Daren Tang, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, as a significant achievement not only for the country but also for the world.世界知识产权组织总干事邓鸿森（Daren Tang）称赞中国知识产权领域的快速发展与有力保护，认为这不仅是中国的重大成就，也为世界作出重要贡献。"The Chinese IP ecosystem cannot just be said to be one of huge quantity, but increasingly of high quality as well," Tang said at the opening ceremony of the 14th China International Patent Fair in Dalian, Liaoning province, on Monday.邓鸿森周一在辽宁省大连市举行的第十四届中国国际专利技术与产品交易会上致辞时表示：“中国的知识产权生态系统不仅规模庞大，质量也在不断提升。”Tang highlighted China's innovative progress, noting that the country entered the top 10 in WIPO's Global Innovation Index in 2025, making it the highest-ranked among upper-middle-income economies. He said 24 of China's innovation clusters are among the world's top 100, with the Hong Kong-Guangzhou-Shenzhen cluster ranked first.邓鸿森强调了中国在创新领域的进步，指出中国在2025年世界知识产权组织《全球创新指数》中跻身前10位，成为排名最高的中高收入经济体。他表示，中国有24个创新集群进入全球百强，其中“香港-广州-深圳”创新集群位列全球第一。He also commended China's strong momentum in its green transition, citing rapid growth in the electric vehicle industry, which has surged by 36 percent, the battery industry (53 percent) and the solar industry (18 percent). These advancements, he said, are helping drive green technology and artificial intelligence-enabled industries, which now make up nearly one-fifth of China's economy.他还赞扬中国在绿色转型方面势头强劲，并以相关产业的快速增长为例：电动汽车产业增长36%、电池产业增长53%、太阳能产业增长18%。他表示，这些进展正推动绿色技术和人工智能赋能产业发展，目前这类产业已占中国经济的近五分之一。In response to challenges brought by emerging digital technologies, especially AI, Tang called for adjustments to better support the integration of digital and industrial innovation. He stressed that intellectual property should be made more accessible, benefiting not only large enterprises but also startups and small and medium-sized companies.针对新兴数字技术（尤其是人工智能）带来的挑战，邓鸿森呼吁作出调整，以更好地支持数字创新与产业创新的融合。他强调，应提高知识产权的可及性，让其不仅惠及大型企业，也能助力初创企业和中小企业发展。"IP must accompany the aspirations of researchers and scientists so that laboratory results can have a real impact on society and the economy," he said.他表示：“知识产权必须与科研人员的愿景相伴而行，唯有如此，实验室里的成果才能对社会和经济产生切实影响。”Tang also called for a more comprehensive approach to intellectual property management—integrating patents, trademarks and designs into cohesive business strategies—and suggested policymakers align IP policies across industrial, digital and creative sectors to encourage innovation synergies.邓鸿森还呼吁采用更全面的知识产权管理方法，将专利、商标和外观设计整合为统一的商业战略。他建议政策制定者协调产业、数字和创意领域的知识产权政策，以激发创新协同效应。The 14th China International Patent Fair, which concludes on Wednesday, aims to promote patent transformation and utilization to empower innovative development. The event, considered China's premier national exhibition in the IP field, has become an important platform for exchanging innovations and fostering trade cooperation across industries both domestically and internationally.第十四届中国国际专利技术与产品交易会将于周三闭幕，展会旨在推动专利转化运用，为创新发展注入动力。作为中国知识产权领域的顶级国家级展会，该交易会已成为国内外各行业交流创新成果、促进贸易合作的重要平台。During the opening ceremony, Antonio Campinos, president of the European Patent Office, delivered a speech via video link. He said that in 2024, the office received 200,000 patent applications, with more than 10 percent coming from China, making the country the fourth-largest source of applications.开幕式上，欧洲专利局局长安东尼奥·坎皮诺斯（Antonio Campinos）通过视频连线致辞。他表示，2024年欧洲专利局共收到20万件专利申请，其中逾10%来自中国，中国成为该局第四大专利申请来源国。Campinos said the office has launched services to help innovators gain easier and faster access to the European market and expressed his eagerness to continue working with China to build a high-quality intellectual property system.坎皮诺斯表示，欧洲专利局已推出相关服务，帮助创新者更便捷、更快速地进入欧洲市场。他还表达了与中国继续合作、共建高质量知识产权体系的期待。Shen Changyu, head of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, likened the use of patents to a "bridge" that transforms innovative achievements into productive forces. He emphasized its importance for driving innovation-led development.中国国家知识产权局局长申长雨将专利运用比作一座“桥梁”，能将创新成果转化为现实生产力。他强调，这对于推动创新驱动发展具有重要意义。Shen encouraged more intellectual property exchanges during the event, describing it as a platform to promote high-level opening-up and support high-quality growth.申长雨鼓励各方在此次展会上开展更多知识产权交流，并表示该展会是推动高水平对外开放、支持高质量发展的重要平台。World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)n.世界知识产权组织 /wɜːld ˌɪntəˈlektʃuəl ˈprɒpəti ˌɔːɡənaɪˈzeɪʃn/China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA)n.中国国家知识产权局/ˈtʃaɪnə ˈnæʃnəl ˌɪntəˈlektʃuəl ˈprɒpəti ədˌmɪnɪˈstreɪʃn/

In dieser Folge blicke ich ein wenig auf meine bisherigen China-Aufenthalte 2025 zurück und mache in diesem Zuge klar, wo genau die Unterschiede liegen. Es ist essenziell, aus meiner Sicht, diese zu verstehen, denn nur so wird das Gesamtkonstrukt „China“ klar – und damit auch das gebündelte Potenzial dieses Landes.
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Today, we're in Dalian, which is a city located on the east coast of China and not so far away from my own home base for the past 20 years here in Shanghai. We're excited to be here and chatting with Kelley Ridings, founder and chief innovation officer of EduNetPro Consulting. With over 30 years of experience in the education field, Kelley is a veteran international educator and global citizen hailing from New Mexico, USA, and now a permanent resident of the People's Republic of China. Kelley has worked with students and professionals from preschool through college levels in a career that has taken him to South Korea, Mexico, the United States, and most recently here in Shanghai. Visit the C4C website to gain full access to the transcript, show notes, and guest links. Coaching 4 Companies

In this episode, MacKenzie sits down with Dr. Dalian Caraballo, a board-certified family medicine physician and Alpha parent, to explore the surprising parallels between healthcare and education. Together, they unpack why one-size-fits-all models fail in both fields and how personalized approaches can transform outcomes for kids.

China Compass Sponsors: Pray for China Interceding for all the Cities of China PrayforChina.us Unbeaten The Story of My Arrest, Interrogation, and Deportation from China Unbeaten.vip The Memoirs of William Milne 200th Anniversary Edition! https://milne.my/ Borden of Yale: The Millionaire Missionary No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regrets www.BordenofYale.com The Autobiography of John G. Paton Prayer, Perseverance, and the Transformation of Tanna www.JohnGPaton.com After a brief look at our China Compass sponsors and this week’s Pray for China cities, we revisit a few exciting stories from LAST summer which didn’t get the traction I had hoped. First, we head to Jilin (Lucky Forest) and my arrest on the North Korean border in 2003 (13:25). Then we trek to Tibet where I talk about the geography and language, and my four ILLEGAL visits to the region, the last of which got a gun pulled on me (29:01). Last, we hop on the train for an epic journey across far west China’s Xinjiang Province (followed by layovers in Urumqi, Dalian, Hiroshima, Tokyo, and Okinawa on my return “flight” home to central China (45:25). Welcome to China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. Follow me (@chinaadventures) on Twitter/X where I post new/unique Chinese city prayer profiles every single day. Also, you can email me any questions or comments (bfwesten at gmail dot com) and find everything else, including my books, at PrayGiveGo.us! Pray for China places of the week (Follow @chinaadventures to see which city daily) https://chinacall.substack.com/p/pray-for-china-aug-24-31-2025 Follow or subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t forget: Follow @chinaadventures on X, and find everything else @ PrayGiveGo.us. Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Talk to you again soon!

China Compass Sponsors: Pray for China Interceding for all the Cities of China PrayforChina.us Unbeaten The Story of My Arrest, Interrogation, and Deportation from China Unbeaten.vip The Memoirs of William Milne 200th Anniversary Edition! https://milne.my/ Borden of Yale: The Millionaire Missionary No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regrets www.BordenofYale.com The Autobiography of John G. Paton Prayer, Perseverance, and the Transformation of Tanna www.JohnGPaton.com After a brief look at our China Compass sponsors and this week’s Pray for China cities, we revisit a few exciting stories from LAST summer which didn’t get the traction I had hoped. First, we head to Jilin (Lucky Forest) and my arrest on the North Korean border in 2003 (13:25). Then we trek to Tibet where I talk about the geography and language, and my four ILLEGAL visits to the region, the last of which got a gun pulled on me (29:01). Last, we hop on the train for an epic journey across far west China’s Xinjiang Province (followed by layovers in Urumqi, Dalian, Hiroshima, Tokyo, and Okinawa on my return “flight” home to central China (45:25). Welcome to China Compass on the Fight Laugh Feast Network! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. Follow me (@chinaadventures) on Twitter/X where I post new/unique Chinese city prayer profiles every single day. Also, you can email me any questions or comments (bfwesten at gmail dot com) and find everything else, including my books, at PrayGiveGo.us! Pray for China places of the week (Follow @chinaadventures to see which city daily) https://chinacall.substack.com/p/pray-for-china-aug-24-31-2025 Follow or subscribe to China Compass and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t forget: Follow @chinaadventures on X, and find everything else @ PrayGiveGo.us. Luke 10, verse 2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Talk to you again soon!

SPONSORS: 1) MOOD: Discover your perfect mood and get 20% off your first order at https://mood.com and use code JULAN at check out! 2) Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code JULIAN at shopmando.com ! #mandopod WATCH PART 1 W/ HYUN-SEUNG LEE: https://open.spotify.com/episode/69c87hJDVHTeFjW0zdl1Cg?si=L-P78bpUTRmlCCzHZTj46Q PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey (***TIMESTAMPS in Description Below) ~ Hyun-Seung Lee is a former DPRK businessman and chair of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League branch in Dalian, China. A series of purges by Kim Jong Un forced him and his entire family to defect in late 2014, making their way first to South Korea then to the United States. Lee now works as a director for One Korea Network and a fellow of North Korean studies at the Global Peace Foundation, and he has interned with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. HYUN-SEUNG'S LINKS: YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/Pyonghattan FB: https://www.facebook.com/MrNorthKorea X: https://x.com/LeeHyunSeung85 IG: https://www.instagram.com/mr.northkorea/ WEBSITE: https://give.globalpeace.org/campaign/695826/donate FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY INSTAGRAM (Podcast): https://www.instagram.com/juliandoreypodcast/ INSTAGRAM (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://twitter.com/julianddorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 00:00:00 – China & Military Service, Workers Party, Boot Camp, Pride in Serving 00:11:42 – Unit Dispatch, Propaganda, Protecting Leader, Supreme Family Pins 00:23:30 – Camaraderie, Special Forces, Farming, Morse Code, Parade Marching, Mother Singer 00:34:51 – Sister, Banned Words, Pop Star Executions, China-NK Weapons, Troops to Russia 00:46:07 – Weapons & Amm0 to Russia, Discharge, State TV, Propaganda Dept., Leader Focus 00:56:49 – Propaganda with Limited Electricity, The 3rd Channel, 1984 Parallels, Foreign Media, Smuggled USBs, Free Healthcare, Failed Communism 01:07:15 – Bribes for Treatment, Hospital Neglect, COVID D3aths, Post-Service, Studying in China 01:17:12 – Life in China, Father's Realization, First Hamburger, China's Progress, Prison Camps 01:27:57 – Killings & Imprisonment, 3-Gen Punishment, Kim Jong Il D3ath, Defection, “No Future” 01:37:35 – Father's Transition, Defection Help, Escaping NK & China, 24-Hour Notice 01:46:22 – ‘Missing' Status, Family Leverage, Moving to US 02:00:09 – Leaving South Korea, Arriving US, Living in DC, Leaders Assembly, Fear for Life 02:10:34 – Texas Visit, Guns, Hope for NK, Trump Strategy, Iran Strike Threat, Regime Change 02:23:15 – NK Sympathizers in California, Sanctions Blame, Spirituality in Freedom 02:30:07 – Hyun's Work CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 328 - Hyun-Seung Lee Music by Artlist.io Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SPONSORS: 1) Huel: Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code JULIAN at https://huel.com/JULIAN (Minimum $75 purchase) PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/JulianDorey (***TIMESTAMPS in Description Below) ~ Hyun-seung Lee is a former DPRK businessman and chair of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League branch in Dalian, China. A series of purges by Kim Jong Un forced him and his entire family to defect in late 2014, making their way first to South Korea then to the United States. Lee now works as a director for One Korea Network and a fellow of North Korean studies at the Global Peace Foundation, and he has interned with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. HYUN-SEUNG'S LINKS:HYUN-SEUNG'S LINKS: YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/Pyonghattan FB: https://www.facebook.com/MrNorthKorea X: https://x.com/LeeHyunSeung85 IG: https://www.instagram.com/mr.northkorea/ WEBSITE: https://give.globalpeace.org/campaign/695826/donate FOLLOW JULIAN DOREY INSTAGRAM (Podcast): https://www.instagram.com/juliandoreypodcast/ INSTAGRAM (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/julianddorey/ X: https://twitter.com/julianddorey JULIAN YT CHANNELS - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Clips YT: https://www.youtube.com/@juliandoreyclips - SUBSCRIBE to Julian Dorey Daily YT: https://www.youtube.com/@JulianDoreyDaily - SUBSCRIBE to Best of JDP: https://www.youtube.com/@bestofJDP ****TIMESTAMPS**** 00:00 – Indoctrination, Anti-West, Kim Jong Un, Juche, Childhood Brainwashing 08:23 – No Ownership, Rare Foods, Japan Trade Ban, US Defectors, Forced Labor 20:53 – Community Control, Caste System, Military, Regime Worship, Family Life 30:51 – Bible Ban, Dual Lives, Political Identity, Child Labor, Moral Indoctrination 40:04 – Limited Electricity, Food Inequality, Family Reunion, Pyongyang Christianity 51:07 – Religion Ban, Poverty, Illegal Income, Bribery, Soviet Support, Exports 01:02:16 – Labor Exports, Spies, Hidden Dissent, Artist School 01:14:14 – Self-Criticism, No Privacy, Peer Surveillance 01:23:41 – MP3 Ban, Rural Punishment, American Music 01:34:31 – Rodman Visit, Record-Keeping, Cheap Sports, South Park 01:43:02 – Golf Ban, Border Traps, Prison Babies, Embassy Torture 01:55:29 – China Support, Internet Censorship, Event Control 02:05:32 – Coup Impossible, Outside Info, Subversion, Capitalism Exposure 02:15:12 – Anti-Capitalist TV, Kim Propaganda, Lies About Un 02:24:27 – Power Struggle, Economic Study, Human Rights Atrocities 02:37:20 – Starvation, Bugged Homes, U.S. Currency 02:45:45 – Songun, Military-First Policy 02:52:45 - Next phase of story CREDITS: - Host, Editor & Producer: Julian Dorey - COO, Producer & Editor: Alessi Allaman - https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLKzv5fKxGmVQg3cMJJzyQ - In-Studio Producer: Joey Deef - https://www.instagram.com/joeydeef/ Julian Dorey Podcast Episode 317 - Hyunseung Lee Music by Artlist.io Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

中国国旗【北京時事】中国遼寧省大連市で邦人２人が殺害されたことが３日、分かった。 Two Japanese nationals have been killed in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, sources familiar with Japan-China relations said Tuesday.

Rachel Catanach is Senior Partner and General Manager of FleishmanHillard's New York operations, responsible for people development, cultivating existing client relationships, and securing new business.  She has held this position since November 2021.  She also spearheads the firm's Global Executive Advisory initiative. A New Zealand native, Rachel started her communications career as a business journalist and at in-house public relations positions before stints at Sweeney Vesty Limited in New Zealand, and then Waggener Edstrom, as General Manager of their Hong Kong operations.   In July 2007, she joined FleishmanHillard Hong Kong as General Manager and in 2016 was promoted to President of FleishmanHillard's Greater China operations, responsible for growing the firm's presence and reputation in this highly dynamic market. Rachel is a strong advocate for the PR industry and a regular commentator on industry issues and trends.   She has presented at Summer Davos in Dalian, moderated on the main stage at the Cannes Festival of Creativity, and was a key writer and contributor to The Page Society's most recent thought leadership report, Beyond Communication: CCO Leadership in Navigating New Complexity.  She has received many awards and in 2024 was recognized by PR Week as a Woman of Distinction.

“Our Teacher” is a collection of essays written by students of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). This series is comprised of their personal experiences with the practice and their interactions with Dafa's founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, when the practice was first taught to the public. The writings were originally published on the Minghui […]

“Our Teacher” is a collection of essays written by students of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). This series is comprised of their personal experiences with the practice and their interactions with Dafa's founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, when the practice was first taught to the public. The writings were originally published on the Minghui […]

Last time we spoke about Operation Jinzhou and the defense of Harbin. In the tumultuous landscape of early 1930s China, Chiang Kai-shek hesitated to engage in combat, fearing internal factions and the looming threat of the CCP. Zhang Xueliang, commanding a substantial force, felt pressure from both the Japanese and his own government. As tensions escalated, the Kwantung Army launched a brutal campaign against Jinzhou, leading to its fall. Amidst chaos, resistance leaders like Ma Zhanshan and Ding Chao emerged, rallying against Japanese aggression, determined to protect their homeland despite limited support. In November, the Jilin Provincial Anti-Japanese Government formed under Cheng Yun, rallying over 3,000 troops led by Feng Zhanhai against Japanese forces. After several battles, including the retaking of Shulan, they faced fierce resistance but ultimately had to retreat. As the Japanese advanced, the Jilin Self-Defense Army was established, but after intense fighting, Harbin fell to the Japanese on February 6. Despite earlier victories, the Chinese resistance crumbled, leading to the establishment of Manchukuo and the end of organized resistance in Manchuria.   #145 What was Manchukuo? Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.   To start off this episode I want to turn back to our old friend Ishiwara Kanji. Ishiwara's ambition to dominate Manchuria was primarily a means to an end: to secure resources and a strategic position against America. After gaining control of Manchuria, Ishiwara shifted his focus toward another objective: fostering racial cooperation among Asian peoples. His vision for Manchukuo, or rather his interpretation of it, served as a launching pad for his idea of an East-Asian league, rooted firmly in his Final War theory. During his time in Manchuria in 1932, this Pan-Asian concept of Manchukuo distinguished him from many of his colleagues in the Kwantung Army and marked him as unconventional within the Imperial Japanese Army .   As many of you may know, Manchukuo was a fraudulent puppet state designed to legitimize Japan's takeover of Manchuria. The Japanese high command aimed to disguise their invasion of this part of China as an indigenous independence movement. To achieve this, they installed Puyi, the last Qing emperor, as the figurehead of Manchukuo while promoting ideals of racial harmony. This facade was necessary, as controlling a population that harbored resentment towards them required some effort to win their favor. Fortunately for the Japanese, there were factions in Manchuria that actually desired independence. This region was the heartland of Nurhaci's Manchu people—yes that guy we spoke about all the way back in the beginning of this podcast. The Japanese had considerable leverage, framing their actions as a noble revival of the Qing dynasty or a restoration of power to the Manchu. Additionally, there was a significant Mongolian presence, and Inner Mongolia would soon play a role in these events. Manchuria was reluctantly drawn into the nationalist movement, and it shared Japan's apprehension towards the USSR, having faced its own struggles against it for a long time. Moreover, a large population of Japanese settlers in Manchuria welcomed the takeover, as the Zhang Xueliang regime had not been particularly accommodating to them, implementing various discriminatory measures. Zhang Xueliang's alliance with the Nationalists effectively sealed the fate of the Japanese settlers, who anticipated expulsion.   As military operations progressed, Ishiwara and Itagaki convened with other prominent Kwantung officers to strategize control over Manchuria. They met with Officer Katakura, Chief of Staff Miyake, and Dohihara Kenji from the Mukden special service, reviewing a prior plan by Colonel Dohihara for a multi-ethnic autonomous nation in Manchuria. This entity was to be led by Puyi, possessing complete autonomy in internal matters, while defense and foreign relations would be managed by Japan. Ishiwara drafted the plans by September 22nd, which were sent to Tokyo on October 2nd. Although Tokyo's high command disapproved of the objectives, they collaborated with the Kwantung Army for five months to establish a new state based on two main principles: the purported indigenous movement for Manchurian independence and the administrative framework for Kwantung Army control.   The Kwantung Army proceeded to utilize Manchuria's traditional structure of local self-governing bodies. Throughout 1931, they bribed, persuaded, and threatened local leaders to foster a movement for autonomy against the Kuomintang hardliners. One of their first initiatives was the establishment of the "Jichi Shidobu Self-Government Guidance Board," responsible for coordinating regional independence movements in collaboration with the Kwantung Army to, as Miyake put it, "guide Manchuria to self-government." The board was headed by Yu Ch'ung-han, a Mukden elder statesman educated in Japan and a former advisor to Zhang Zuolin. It comprised 20 Japanese and 10 Manchurian members. Such organizations attracted Japanese civilians in Manchuria, who supported the so-called multiracial political structure, as they could exploit it for their own interests. The Kwantung Army heavily promoted slogans like “racial harmony, racial equality, and the righteous way.” Their control over Manchuria was solidified by placing Japanese advisors in all governmental bodies with ultimate veto power, ensuring that everything was effectively under Japanese control. While it seemed that Ishiwara's vision was unfolding as planned, by 1933, he became a fierce critic of the very system he had helped establish.   It's quite ironic that the man who played a key role in initiating the conquest of Manchuria would be unable to exert his influence in shaping Manchukuo. While Ishiwara Kanji served as the operations officer officially responsible for planning and executing military operations to capture Manchuria, the political arrangements for the new state fell outside his control. Nevertheless, Ishiwara was very vocal about his views on the development of Manchukuo, strongly advocating for racial harmony. He persistently urged his colleagues that the economic growth of Manchukuo should embody the spirit of racial cooperation. Ishiwara believed that the economic interests of Manchukuo would naturally align with those of the Kwantung Army, as both aimed for the unity of Asia against the West. He was gravely mistaken. Ishiwara was driven by his theory of a final war, and everything he did was aimed at preparing for it; thus, his fixation on racial harmony was part of this broader strategy.   In March 1932, the self-government guidance board was dissolved, transferring its functions and regional organizations to newly established bureaus within the Manchukuo government. In April, an organization called the Kyowakai (Concordia Association) was formed, led by Yamaguchi Juji and Ozawa Kaisaku, with the goal of promoting racial harmony. This initiative received support from members of the Kwantung Army, including Ishiwara, Itagaki, and Katakura. The Kwantung Army invested heavily in the organization, which quickly gained traction—at least among the Japanese. General Honjo expressed concerns about the organization's potential political influence in Manchukuo; he preferred it to remain an educational entity rather than evolve into an official political party. By "educational role," he meant it should serve as a propaganda tool for the Kwantung Army, allowing them to exert influence over Manchukuo without significant commitment.   But to Ishiwara the Concordia Association was the logical means to unify the new nation, guiding its political destiny, to be blunt Ishiwara really saw it should have much more authority than his colleagues believed it should. Ishiwara complained in August of 1932, that Manchuria was a conglomerate of conflicting power centers such as the Kwantung army, the new Manchukuo government, the Kwantung government, the Mantetsu, consular office and so on. Under so many hats he believed Manchukuo would never become a truly unified modern state, and of course he was one of the few people that actually wanted it to be so. He began arguing the Kwantung army should turn over its political authority as soon as possible so “Japanese of high resolve should hasten to the great work of the Manchurian Concordia Association, for I am sure that we Japanese will be its leaders. In this way Manchukuo will not depend on political control from Japan, but will be an independent state, based on Japanese Manchurian cooperation. Guided by Japanese, it will be a mode of Sino-Japanese friendship, an indicator of the present trends of world civilization” Needless to say the Concordia Association made little headway with the Chinese and it began to annoy Japanese leaders. The association gradually was bent into a spiritless propaganda and intelligence arm of the IJA, staffed largely by elite Japanese working in the Manchukuo government.  Ishiwara started utilizing the Concordia Association to advocate for various causes, including the return of leased territories like the Railway zone, the abolition of extraterritoriality, and equal pay for different races working in Manchukuo—efforts aimed at fostering racial harmony. However, this advocacy clashed significantly with the Japanese military's interests, damaging Ishiwara's reputation. As a result, the staff of the Kwantung Army began to shift dramatically, leaving Ishiwara increasingly isolated, except for Itagaki and a few loyal supporters. The higher-ups had grown weary of the disruptive Concordia Association and gradually took control, ensuring that discussions about concessions were halted. In August 1932, Ishiwara received a new assignment, and he appeared eager to leave Manchuria. Now that finishes off our story of Ishiwara, he will return later on in future episodes. Again if you want a full sort of biography on him, check out my youtube channel or Echoes of War podcast where I have a 4 part series on him.    Now I want to get more into the specifics of what exactly was this new state known as Manchukuo? During the mayhem that was the invasion of Manchuria, by October 6th of 1931, the Japanese cabinet had finally relented and decided to no longer interfere with the establishment of a new regime in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. The remaining disagreement between the Japanese government, Tokyo General HQ and the Kwantung army was not whether or not to establish a new regime, but whether or not to promote the establishment of a new regime. Japan obviously did not want to break the Washington system established by the treaty of Versailles. Yet they of course wanted to expand Japanese interest in Manchuria. So it was to be a delicate game of chess balancing their interests in coordination with the western powers. This was specifically why Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijiro had opposed direct participation of Japanese soldiers in the establishment of a new regime, because clearly it would open Japan to condemnation from the west.    Over the course of the invasion, Japan managed to occupy the 3 northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang by establishing pro-japanese regimes within each under Zhang Shiyi, Xi Qia and Ma Zhanshan respectively. On September 20, 1931, Jianchuan proposed the establishment of a Japanese-backed regime led by Puyi during a meeting with Honjo Shigeru, the commander of the Kwantung Army. Obviously Jianchuan was in league and under the influence of our old friend Doihara. Two days later, on September 22, the Kwantung Army General Staff developed the "Solution to the Manchuria-Mongolia Issue," based on Doihara's suggestion to create a Five-Nation Republic in Manchuria and Mongolia, with Japan as the "leader." The plan outlined the establishment of a new regime under Puyi, supported by Japan, to govern the 3 northeastern provinces and Mongolia. The new regime would entrust Japan with national defense and diplomacy, as well as the management of key transportation and communication infrastructure. It also proposed appointing Xi Qia, Zhang Haipeng, Tang Yulin, Yu Zhishan, and Zhang Jinghui to oversee garrisons in locations such as Jilin, Taonan, Rehe, Dongbiandao, and Harbin. To execute this plan, the Japanese Kwantung Army, led by Chief of Staff Itagaki, utilized local intelligence agencies and some mainland ronin to initiate a so-called strategic operation. To facilitate the plan's implementation, the Kwantung Army informed the commander of the Japanese Army in Tianjin that afternoon, requesting immediate "protection" for Emperor Xuantong.   After the Kwantung Army took control of Jinzhou, it believed the moment was right to establish the hastily assembled puppet regime. To secure the full backing of the Japanese government and the military leadership, the Kwantung Army decided to send Itagaki back to Tokyo for negotiations. At that time, Itagaki had a fairly detailed plan to present. The proposed "Manchuria-Mongolia Central Government" aimed to create a centralized power structure that would be distinct from mainland China, effectively becoming a truly "independent" nation. They intended to appoint local collaborators as officials at all levels and were prepared to fabricate "public opinion" to obscure global perceptions of Japan's scheme to establish this regime. This of course was highly influenced by the announcement from the League of Nations that they would be investigating the entire incident in what would become known as the Lytton Commission.  Thus they believed it was essential to set up the regime before the League of Nations investigation team arrived in Manchuria. They understood that if these actions were "carried out directly by Japan," they would violate both the Nine-Power Treaty and the League of Nations. However, they reasoned that if the Chinese initiated the separation themselves, it would not contradict the principles of those treaties.   The Kwantung Army established puppet organizations using collaborators, starting with the "Liaoning Provincial Local Maintenance Association," which was formed on September 25, 1931. The association's chairman, Yuan Jinkai, represented the civil governance faction of the Fengtian clique. After the First Zhili-Fengtian War, he was appointed governor of Fengtian Province by the Zhili government, which led to his unpopularity with Zhang Zuolin. At the time of the incident, he was already retired. The association's vice chairman, Kan Chaoxi, had previously served as the governor of Rehe and commander of the Third Division. He fell out of favor with Zhang Zuolin due to his involvement with Guo Songling and subsequently retired. A common characteristic of the puppet organizations created by the Kwantung Army is that they always included Japanese advisors, regardless of their level. The "Liaoning Provincial Local Maintenance Association" was no exception, hiring Kanai Shoji, head of the health section of the local department of the Manchurian Railway and chairman of the Manchurian Youth League, as its top advisor. In the Japanese-occupied Fengtian, this highest advisor effectively became the leader of the maintenance association. While the association was ostensibly responsible for maintaining local order, it actually functioned as a tool for Japan to establish a puppet regime. Recruiting discontented officials and creating puppet institutions was just a minor part of the Kwantung Army's strategy to set up a puppet regime. The crucial factor in this endeavor was gaining the support of influential local warlords. To achieve this, the Japanese Kwantung Army, along with various intelligence agencies, employed a mix of soft and hard tactics, including coercion and incentives. As a result, they successfully pressured figures such as Yu Zhishan, Zhang Haipeng, Zhang Jinghui, Xi Qia, Zang Shiyi, and Ma Zhanshan to defect to the Japanese forces.   Following the Mukden Incident, former Qing nobles who had hoped to restore the Qing Dynasty believed the moment had arrived. Xi Qia, a member of the former Qing royal family and the Chief of Staff of the Jilin Provincial Army at the time, took advantage of the Jilin governor's absence due to his mother's funeral to open the gates of Jilin and surrender to Japan. This made Xi Qia the first Chinese official to collaborate with the Japanese invaders since their invasion of China. He sent a secret letter to the abdicated Qing emperor Puyi, urging him to return to "the birthplace of the ancestors, restore the Qing Dynasty, and rescue the people from their suffering," with the backing of "friendly nations". Xi Qia and the former Manchu nobles, who had elevated him to acting governor of Jilin Province, proposed to the Japanese to invite Puyi to the Northeast to establish a monarchy. The Japanese Kwantung Army had already identified Puyi as a suitable puppet leader. After the 15 year war had concluded, under interrogation, Shirono Hiroshi confessed that the reason why the Japanese chose Puyi was: First, Puyi had “no connection with the Kuomintang in mainland China”; Secondly, "some old classes in the Northeast and Mongolia still have traditional yearnings for the Qing Dynasty"; Third, “the peasants in general… seemed to welcome the kingly political system implemented by the Aisin-Gioro family.”   On November 8th, 1931, Doihara orchestrated the "Tianjin Incident" and covertly removed Puyi from his home in the Japanese Concession in Tianjin. They traveled through Dagukou, Yingkou, and Lushun before arriving in Fushun. By February 5th, 1932, the Japanese army had taken control of Harbin, stabilizing the situation in North Manchuria. Afterwards the Kwantung Army Headquarters organized a series of "National Construction Staff Meetings" to plan for a "National Construction Conference" involving collaborators. On February 16th, leaders from the Northeast provinces, including Zhang Jinghui, Xi Qia, Ma Zhanshan, Zang Shiyi, Xie Jieshi, Yu Chonghan, Zhao Xinbo, and Yuan Jinkai, gathered for the "Northeast Political Affairs Conference" at the Yamato Hotel in Shenyang. The meeting was led by Honjo Shigeru, the commander of the Kwantung Army. They decided to invite Puyi to rule the puppet state of "Manchukuo" and assigned government positions to the attendees. Notably, Itagaki Seishirō was appointed as the head of the Fengtian Special Agency and the chief advisor to the Military and Political Department of Manchukuo.    On February 18th, the "Northeast Administrative Committee" issued a "Declaration of Independence," stating: "From now on, we declare that the regions of Manchuria and Mongolia will be separated from the Chinese central government. Based on the free choice and appeal of the residents of Manchuria and Mongolia, these regions will achieve complete independence and establish a fully independent government." On February 23rd, Itagaki met with Puyi in Fushun to inform him that he would be the "ruler" of Manchukuo. Although Puyi had hoped to reclaim the throne, he was disappointed with the "ruler" designation but felt compelled to accept it. On the 29th, the "All-Manchuria National Construction Promotion Movement Conference" passed a resolution urging Puyi to take on the role of ruler. In February, the Japanese army began its offensive against Rehe. Meanwhile, the League of Nations declared that it would not recognize Manchukuo.   On March 1st, Japan orchestrated the establishment of "Manchukuo," appointing Puyi as its "ruler" under the reign title "Datong." China firmly rejected the notion of Manchukuo's "independence" and lodged a strong protest against Japan on the same day. On March 8th, Puyi officially declared his inauguration as the "ruler of Manchukuo" in Xinjing. Concurrently, officials were appointed to various "offices," "ministerial positions," and "ministries," leading to the formal establishment of Manchukuo. The following day, Puyi conducted an inauguration ceremony, and on March 10th, a secret agreement was signed with Japan. Japanese Ambassador to Manchuria, Nobuyoshi Mutō, and "Prime Minister" Zheng Xiaoxu signed the Japan-Manchuria Agreement in Changchun, with the Japanese government issuing a statement recognizing "Manchukuo."   In October of 1932, the League of Nations Assembly released the Lytton Commission Report.  Alarmed by the Mukden incident, the League of Nations had dispatched a group of investigators, led by British statesman Lord Lytton, to uncover the truth of what was going on. The commission traveled to Manchuria, gathering testimonies and examining evidence. Their task was daunting: Japan insisted its actions were defensive, protecting its economic interests and citizens. Meanwhile, China accused Japan of orchestrating the railway incident as an excuse for invasion. Months later, the Lytton Report emerged, painting a balanced yet damning picture.    On February 24, the commission concluded that the "Mukden Incident" was staged by Japanese troops. It condemned Japan's actions as a violation of Chinese sovereignty, rejecting their claims of self-defense. Moreover, the report did not recognize the puppet state of Manchukuo, established by Japan in Manchuria. Instead, it called for Manchuria's return to Chinese control under an arrangement respecting regional autonomy. Though praised for its fairness, the report lacked teeth. Later on the League urged Japan to withdraw, but Japan walked out of the League instead, solidifying its grip on Manchuria.    Manchukuo's territory would span the former provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, excluding the Kwantung Leased Territory. It would also gradually incorporate eastern parts of Inner Mongolia, Chengde City and Rehe Province. The 1932 "Japan-Manchuria Protocol" established that the sovereignty of the Kwantung Leased Territory belonged to "Manchukuo." This entity acknowledged the Qing Dynasty's agreement to lease the Guandong Territory, which includes Lushun and Dalian, to Japan. As a result, the Guandong Territory remained under direct Japanese control and was not included in the "administrative division of Manchukuo." By 1934 Manchukuo was divided into 14 provinces, 2 special cities and 1 special district: Andong Province , " Fengtian Province ", Jinzhou Province , Jilin Province , Rehe Province , Jiandao Province , Heihe Province , Sanjiang Province , Longjiang Province , Binjiang Province, Xing'an East Province , Xing'an West Province , Xing'an South Province , Xing'an North Province , Xinjing Special City , Harbin Special City , and North Manchuria Special District. By 1939 this would increase to 19 provinces and 1 special city.   Politically, Puyi served as the nominal head of state for "Manchukuo." He took on the role of ruler on March 8, 1932, adopting the reign title "Datong." On March 1, 1934, Puyi conducted a "coronation ceremony" in Xinghua Village, located south of "Xinjing," and renamed "Manchukuo" to the "Great Manchurian Empire." In this capacity, Puyi was designated as the "emperor," with the reign title "Kangde." "Manchukuo's administrative structure was led by the 'State Council,' headed by the 'Premier.' This pseudo 'State Council' included the 'Ministry of Foreign Affairs,' 'Ministry of Civil Affairs,' 'Ministry of Finance,' 'Ministry of Justice,' 'Ministry of Industry,' 'Ministry of Transportation,' 'Ministry of Culture and Education,' and 'Ministry of Military Affairs.' The 'Ministry of Finance' was later renamed the 'Ministry of Economy,' while the 'Ministry of Military Affairs' retained its name. The 'Ministry of Industry' was split into the 'Ministry of Agriculture' and the 'Ministry of Labor,' and additional departments like the 'Ministry of Health and Welfare' were established. Each ministry was led by a 'minister,' but real power rested with the Japanese vice ministers. The head of the 'General Affairs Department of the State Council,' who was also Japanese, effectively served as the 'Premier.' This role was first held by Komai Tokuzo, followed by Hoshino Naoki and Takebe Rokuzo. Every Tuesday, the Japanese vice ministers convened to discuss and make decisions on 'national' policies and various specific matters in a meeting known as the 'Fire Tuesday Meeting.'"   The legislative assembly of "Manchukuo" was known as the "Legislative Yuan," with Zhao Xinbo serving as its first "President." However, true legislative authority rested with the Kwantung Army. Manchukuo operated without a formal constitution, instead relying on a series of special laws. The advisory group was referred to as the "Senate," led by a "Speaker," with Zang Shiyi being the inaugural holder of that position. The highest judicial authority in puppet Manchukuo was the "Supreme Court," with Lin Qi as the first "Supreme Justice" and Li Pan serving as the "Supreme Prosecutor General." The judicial agency was the "Imperial Household Agency," headed by Xi Qia.   Following the September 18th Incident, Zhang Xueliang maintained a policy of "non-resistance." Most of the former Northeastern Army was "ordered" to retreat south of Shanhaiguan without engaging in combat. Those who could not withdraw were split into two factions: one group, motivated by national integrity and a shared animosity toward the enemy, rose to fight against Japan and became a significant part of the renowned Northeast Volunteer Army. The other faction consisted of traitors who surrendered, acknowledged the enemy as their leader, and acted as the enforcers and thugs for the Japanese invaders. These collaborators and the forces they commanded formed the backbone of the puppet Manchukuo army. Simultaneously, they recruited defectors and traitors, as well as bandits and social miscreants, thereby bolstering the ranks of the puppet Manchukuo military. They were under the influence of the highest advisors from the puppet Manchukuo Military and Political Department, which was made up of Japanese military officials. Directly controlled by the Kwantung Army, they served as vassals and accomplices of Japanese imperialism.   "The State Council of Manchukuo" served as the governing body of the puppet state. It functioned as the highest political authority in the region. Structurally, it operated under the direct control of the head of state, Puyi. However, in practice, the State Council was heavily influenced by the Japanese Kwantung Army, with many key positions occupied by Japanese officials. The breakdown of power is as follows: "Head of State": "Emperor" ( before the transition to the imperial system , the ruler) "Emperor's direct agencies": Imperial Household Agency - Shangshufu - Senate - Military Attaché Office - Military Advisory Council - Sacrifice Office "Yuan": State Council - Courts - Legislative Yuan - Control Yuan "National Army": Royal Guards - River Defense Fleet - Flying Squadron - Xing'an Army - Jiandao Special Forces "Police": Maritime Police Force - Security Bureau Other "agencies": General Affairs Department (not official) External Group: Concord Society   To fulfill its goal of annexing Northeast China, Japan initiated a "national policy immigration" campaign under the guise of development, intending to relocate 1 million households and 5 million Japanese citizens from Japan to Northeast China over two decades. Additionally, around 2 million Koreans were moved to the region as political immigrants. In April 1936, the Japanese Kwantung Army convened an "immigration" meeting in Changchun, where they developed the "Manchuria Agricultural Immigration Million Households Migration Plan." By September 1944, there were 1,662,234 Japanese immigrants (including early settlers) residing in various areas of Northeast China. Following 1945, most Japanese immigrants were repatriated, notably during the large-scale repatriation in Huludao, although the issue of Japanese orphans also arose.   After the September 18th Incident, in response to the invasion by Japanese fascists, people from all nationalities and professions in China resisted fiercely. The Japanese fascists employed military forces, police, and special repressive agencies to brutally suppress the anti-Japanese movement, inflicting significant suffering on the Chinese populace. In addition to collaborating with the Kwantung Army for extensive military encirclement and suppression, the Kwantung Military Police Force oversaw other repressive agencies during peacetime and became the primary force behind the implementation of white terror.   As for its economy, Manchuria is rich in natural resources. By 1936 its coal reserves were about 3 billion tons, iron reserves roughly 4 billion and had other minerals including Gold, Magnesite, Bauxite, Oil shale, Diamonds. Its forestry and fishery industry was quit rich as well. During the Zhang Zuolin era, Manchuria's industrial base was already well-developed, and Japan required a robust military industry to support its aggressive war efforts. Steel production was primarily located in Anshan and Benxi, while the chemical industry was centered in Liaoyang. The coal industry was concentrated in Fushun, Benxi, and Fuxin. Oil shale and synthetic fuel production were mainly found in Fushun and Jilin. Magnesite mining took place in Haicheng and Dashiqiao, and hydropower generation was focused in Jilin and along the Yalu River. Fengtian (now Shenyang) served as the hub for machinery, arms, and aircraft industries, whereas light industries, including textiles and food production, were concentrated in cities like Dalian, Dandong, Harbin, and Qiqihar.   The industrial sector of the puppet state was largely controlled by the South Manchuria Railway Company. Following the establishment of the puppet state, investments from various Japanese conglomerates rapidly flowed into Northeast China. After 1937, the puppet state implemented an economic control policy for the industrial sector, adhering to the principle of "one industry, one company," which led to the creation of monopoly companies for each industry. Under this framework, the South Manchuria Railway transferred its industrial operations and reorganized them into a massive conglomerate called the "Manchuria Heavy Industry Development Corporation ," which monopolized all steel, coal, chemical, and electric power industries in the region. Additionally, over 40 specialized companies were established, including the "Manchuria Electric (Telephone and Telegraph) Company," "Manchuria Machinery Manufacturing Company," "Manchuria Mining Company," "Manchuria Airlines," "Manchuria Artificial Oil Company," "Manchuria Textile Company," "Manchuria Wool Textile Company," "Manchuria Chemical Industry Company," "Manchuria Forestry Company," "Manchuria Gold Mining Company," "Manchuria Livestock Company," "Manchuria Fisheries Company," "Manchuria Tobacco Company," "Manchuria Agricultural Commune," and "Manchuria Development Commune." These companies were jointly established by Japanese investors and the "Manchukuo" government, with profits shared according to their respective investments. In case of losses, the Manchukuo government guaranteed 10% of the profits for Japanese investments.   To transform Manchuria into a base for its aggressive expansion against China and the Pacific War, Japan imposed strict control and extensive exploitation of the region's economy and resources. The primary focus of this control and exploitation was on mineral resources such as coal, iron, and oil, as well as essential industries. Under the intense plundering and strict oversight of Japanese imperialism, Northeast China's economy rapidly became colonial, leading to severe hardships for its people. Due to Japan's stringent economic control policies and large-scale colonial exploitation, the local industry and mining sectors suffered, national industries declined, and the rural economy collapsed, resulting in a swift transformation of Northeast China into a colony. To maximize the extraction of colonial resources, the Japanese invaders minimized the consumption levels of the local population. Since 1935, they implemented comprehensive distribution controls on vital strategic materials and everyday necessities. This distribution control policy plunged the people of Northeast China into extreme poverty and suffering.   The 1936 resource survey report from the State Council of the puppet Manchukuo indicated that the region had an arable land area of 40 million hectares (equivalent to 4 billion mu), with 25 million hectares classified as cultivated land. Additionally, the forested area covered 170 million hectares. The annual production figures included 2.5 million tons of soybeans, 2 million tons of wheat, 700,000 tons of rice, 1 million tons of millet, 8 million tons of sorghum, 5 million tons of corn, 600,000 tons of other grains and beans (excluding soybeans), 300,000 tons of cotton, and 160,000 tons of tobacco. The livestock population consisted of 4 million horses, 3 million cattle, 30 million sheep, and 40 million pigs. The total annual grain output in the puppet Manchukuo was approximately 20 million tons. Of this, around 7.5 million tons were consumable grains for local farmers throughout the year, while 4 million tons were designated as seed grains. Furthermore, the region was responsible for supplying rations to Japanese and Korean immigrants. In compliance with the demands of the Kwantung Army, the puppet Manchukuo was obligated to deliver over 1 million tons of grain to Japan annually. The grain collection process commenced in mid-August and concluded at the end of November, imposing a significant burden on farmers. Japanese colonists were exempt from agricultural taxes and received monthly rations.   The puppet state of Manchukuo had a “military force” known as the “Manchukuo Army.” It was divided into three components: "rear security" and "law and order maintenance," all under the control of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Initially, its military capabilities were limited, with the Kwantung Army handling most combat operations. However, as the main forces of the Kwantung Army shifted south and manpower became scarce, the anti-Japanese armed groups in Northeast China were suppressed and weakened. Consequently, the puppet Manchukuo began to assume more military responsibilities on its own, with many of its soldiers being Korean Japanese recruited from the Korean Peninsula. The entire Northeast was segmented into eleven military control zones, each led by an individual known as a commander. The military authority of the puppet state of Manchukuo was under the control of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Any troop movements, training exercises, equipment modifications, or personnel changes required approval from the Kwantung Army Headquarters. The puppet Manchukuo Army had nine ranks: general, colonel, and lieutenant. Upon graduating from the military academy, individuals were promoted to second lieutenant. After two years, they advanced to first lieutenant, and then to captain after another three years. Following that, a captain would be promoted to major after three years, then to lieutenant colonel after another three years. After four years, a lieutenant colonel would become a colonel, who would then be promoted to major general after four years. After three additional years, a major general could rise to the rank of lieutenant general, and finally, after four years, a lieutenant general could achieve the rank of general. The highest military rank was general, which was a lifetime appointment. Above the rank of general was an honorary title modeled after the Japanese marshal. Individuals such as Zhang Jinghui, Zhang Haipeng, Yu Zhishan, and Ji Xing were conferred the title of general. Thus was born a puppet state that would contribute to the 15 year war in Asia.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Yes perhaps this episode was a bit on the boring side of things, but its important to take a critical look at what exactly Manchukuo was. The new puppet state would be used for various means during the 15 year war and would ultimately be the crown jewel in a long list of conquered territories by the Japanese Empire.

Last time we spoke about Gokokujo and Collaborators. In September 1931, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters aimed to contain the Mukden Incident but faced resistance from the Kwantung Command. Led by General Honjo, Japanese forces quickly overwhelmed Chinese troops, seizing key cities in Manchuria. Despite Tokyo's disapproval, military leaders acted independently, invoking the Emperor's authority. Amidst the chaos, local Chinese leaders cooperated with the invaders, leading to a swift Japanese victory. As the military expanded its power, the civilian government struggled to regain control, illustrating the complexities of Japan's political landscape. In 1931, the Kwantung Army's officers, led by Ishiwara and Itegaki, aimed for a military occupation of Manchuria, initially allowing local officials autonomy. However, Tokyo's rejection of annexation forced them to claim Manchurian independence. Amidst confusion and infighting, Komai Tokuzo emerged as a key figure, manipulating local elites to establish control. The Japanese employed violence and persuasion, swiftly occupying cities while puppet leaders maintained a facade of governance. As resistance brewed, Zhang Xueliang and others sought to reclaim their homeland from Japanese dominance.   #140 The Jiangqiao Campaign: The Resistance of Ma Zhanshan Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. For quite some time we have spoken about countless variables involved with the conquest of Manchuria. More or less we broke down three sorts of players in this invasion: those Chinese who chose to collaborate with the Japanese, those who tried to act neutral and sit upon the fence and then there were those who resisted. The resistance against the Japanese was not unified, often it was pockets of groups trying to hold out as long as possible. The resistance took on various forms for various reasons. One of the resistance stories I always found more interesting than the rest was the story of Ma Zhanshan. Ma Zhanshan was born in 1885 in Gongzhuling of Jilin province to a poor shepherding family. Ma was of Manchu heritage as stated by his grandson Ma Zhiwei who became a member of the Chinese Peoples' political consultative conference. At a very young age, Ma joined a bandit group in Heihushan. This bandit group gradually was incorporated into some troops of Huaide county yamen. During the Russo-Japanese War, Ma was one of the many local soldiers who served under the Japanese. At the age of 20, as a result of his exceptional marksmanship and equestrianism, Ma was promoted to Guard Monitor of the 4th security Guard Battalion under Wu Junsheng. Wu Junsheng commanded the Tianhou Road Patrol and defense battalion for Mukden in 1908. In 1913 Ma was appointed as Major and Company commander over the 3rd company, 3rd regiment, 2nd Brigade of the Central Cavalry Army of Republic China. By 1920 he was promoted to Colonel and followed his superior Wu Junsheng who became a warlord. He gradually found himself serving Zhang Zuolin's Northeastern Army, serving as a brigade commander of the 5th cavalry brigade, 17th cavalry division. By 1927 he was transferred to Heilongjiang where he became a garrison commander at Heihe, along the Soviet border. After Zhang Zuolins death in 1928 Ma was nominated as Heilongjiang's Provincial Bandit Suppression Commander and the provincial cavalry commander in chief. During the Mukden Incident of September 18th, 1931, General Xie Ke, the deputy commander in chief of Qiqihar took a series of strategic measures to block the Japanese and their Chinese collaborationist troops from invading their territory. Xie Ke dispatched two battalions of infantry and an artillery regiment to defend Qiqihar under Park Bingshan; a regiment led by Zhu Fengyang from Xiaohaozi station to Tailai to guard in the direction of Taonan; the first cavalry brigade of Wu Shongli from Baiquan to Qiqihar; a guard regiment under Xu Baozhen, with a battalion of artillery, a company of engineers and a company of baggage, roughly 2000 people to take up a position north of Jiangqiao where they began building fortifications, laid minefields south of the critical Nenjiang bridge there and mounted 100 Czech made light machine guns to the front lines.  Now when the Mukden Incident broke out, the Governor of Heilongjiang province, Wan Fulin was in Beiping leaving no one of real authority in the province to take charge of its defenses against the Japanese. Meanwhile Liaoning and Jilin were basically trampled upon without much incident. From Beiping Zhang Xueliang telegraphed the Nanjing government to ask for instructions as what he should do, but in the meantime he appointed Ma Zhanshan as acting Governor and Military commander in chief of Heilongjiang Province on October 10th, 1931. Now a full General, Ma Zhanshan arrived at the capital Qiqihar on the 19th and began personally inspecting the troops and defensive positions. By this point Chiang Kai-Shek had made it known the stance of Nanjing was one of passiveness, to wait for negotiations to unfold to settle the matter. Zhang Xueliang loyally followed said commands, but multiple parties within Manchuria sought to either surrender, openly collaborate or resist the Japanese. Under the circumstances, Ma Zhanshan told his troops “I am appointed as Chairman of the Province, and I have the responsibility to defend the Province and I will never be a surrendering general". Thus Ma Zhanshan chose to disobey the Kuomintang's orders not to resist the Japanese. Meanwhile also during the month of October, General Zhang Haipeng of the 2nd Provincial Defense Brigade at Taonan had just been approached by the Japanese seeking collaboration. Zhang Haipeng had been a Honghuzi irregular cavalry commander during the first sino-japanese war. He later became a mercenary during the Russo-Japanese War and went on to study at the Northeast Military academy. After the Xinhai revolution he was assigned command of an infantry regiment, but was one of the morons who supported Zhang Xun's attempt to restore the Qing Dynasty in 1917. After that debacle he went to work for Zhang Zuolin and in 1923 was appointed a commissioner of the Chinese Eastern Railway. When the Japanese asked him to collaborate, Zhang Haipeng immediately seized command of the local forces including the Xing'an Reclamation Army to declare the district independent from China. He did this in return for a shipment of military supplies from the IJA. Upon taking charge on October 23, Zhang Haipeng dispatched 3 regiments from Baichengzi to attack Jiangqiao led by General Xu Jinglong. Xu Jinglong's advance guard with an engineering company was attacked by forces led by General Dou Lianfang defending the north bank around the Nenjiang Bridge. During the battle, Ma Zhanshan had his forces use dynamite to damage the Nenjiang railroad bridge. The Japanese began to repeatedly demand Ma Zhanshan allow them to repair the bridge, but he continuously refused and had his forces defend the area near Daxing preventing Zhang Haipengs men from proceeding north. By October the 15th, the Japanese provided some fighter-bomber support, but Zhang Haipengs forces suffered heavy casualties and were counterattacked until they retreated. At this time Ma Zhanshan was traveling from Heihe to Qiqihar. By the 20th Ma officially took office as the acting chairman of Heilongjiang and went to the front lines to encourage the men. He issued a reward for the head of Zhang Haipeng and announced the establishment of the Heilongjiang Army Provincial HQ. Xi Ke became his chief of staff and deputy commander. On October 22nd, Ma Zhanshan issued a declaration in response to the Japanese massing forces along the border of Heilongjiang. "In this difficult time for the country, two of the three provinces have been lost. Those who have a little conscience will all sleep on straw and taste gall, and swear to survive. Although our Heilongjiang is still a clean piece of land... From now on, anyone who invades our province will fight to the death." Ma Zhanshan then went to work, grabbing reports from his generals such as Xie Ke about the state of their defenses. He immediately began adjusting the deployment of forces: He appointed Pu Bingshan as the commander of the provincial capital garrison to enhance the defense of the area. Wang Nanping was designated as the commander of the Heihe garrison, taking over from Ma Zhanshan. Additionally, he organized three infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, and one artillery battalion from the Northeast Reclamation Army into the 1st Infantry Brigade, positioning them south of Daxing. The cavalry unit was deployed to the west of Fulaerji to secure the Jingxing direction. By October 29, 1931, the establishment of three defensive positions, extending approximately 40 kilometers in depth and 10 kilometers in width from Jiangqiao to Yushutun and Ang'angxi, was largely completed, with the railway serving as the central axis. Liu Wankui, the former head of the Ning'an Public Security Bureau, led over 1,000 troops to be reorganized west of Ning'an on the 15th, forming the 5th Independent Regiment of the Self-Defense Army. Following the defeat of Zhang Haipeng's rebels, the Kwantung Army was prepared to deploy troops directly. They viewed the destruction of the Nenjiang Bridge by the Chinese army as a prime justification for action. Consequently, they decided to establish the Nenjiang Detachment, consisting of one infantry battalion, one artillery battalion, and an engineering squadron from the 16th Regiment of the 2nd Division, supported by the 8th Independent Flying Squadron. Their plan was to use military force to secure the bridge repair, incite trouble, and launch an attack. However, the Japanese Army Ministry and General Staff Headquarters were still wary of the Soviet Union at that time and did not endorse the Kwantung Army's offensive. Kanaya Nobumitsu sent a telegram to the Kwantung Army stating, "You may proceed to repair the river bridge. However, you are not permitted to deploy troops to North Manchuria, far from the Nenjiang River, without my approval, regardless of the circumstances." However, when Hirota Koki, the Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union, learned from Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Kajiekan on October 29 that the Soviet Union would not support either side in the conflict and would maintain a "strict non-interference policy," the stance of the Japanese Army Ministry shifted, leading them to back the Kwantung Army. On November 2, 1931, Honjo Shigeru instructed Hayashi Yoshihide, the head of the Qiqihar Japanese secret service, to deliver an ultimatum to Ma Zhanshan. The ultimatum demanded that Ma Zhanshan's troops withdraw to a location at least 10 kilometers from the Nenjiang Iron Bridge by noon on the 3rd, and refrain from entering the area until the Japanese army had completed repairs on the bridge. If these conditions were not met, the Japanese army would resort to force.  On November 4th Ma Zhanshan sent subordinates to accompany Major Hayashi Yoshihide “so that the Japanese might begin work, and so that I could order my army to start to retreat”. Ma Zhanshan gave assurances the Japanese repairing operation would not be interfered with, meanwhile teelgraming his subordinates “paint all Manchuria red with the blood of Japanese troops”. A force of 800 Japanese led by Major General Shogo Hasebe with repair crews came to the area to find Daxing a warzone. Shogo found Ma Zhanshans subordinate on the ground, Xu Baozhen and demanded the fighting cease so they could repair the bridge. Xu Baozhen said he never received any orders to cease fighting. The Japanese claim the nearby 2500 Chinese forces of Ma Zhanshan began opening fire upon them using rifles and machine guns. The Japanese retaliated likewise and Japanese aircraft began strafing the Chinese forcing them to retreat towards Qiqihar. The Chinese suffered 120 casualties, the Japanese 15. That day the Japanese Nenjiang Detachment's advance squadron moved northward from Jiangqiao Station, supported by aircraft. After crossing the Nenjiang Bridge, they launched an assault on the Chinese army positions south of Daxing Station. At that time, Xu Baozhen's and Zhang Jingdu's troops from Ma Zhanshan's Guard Regiment, totaling 2,700 soldiers, rose to confront the enemy and successfully repelled them. In the afternoon, the Japanese forces, now numbering around 4,000 and led by Colonel Hamamoto, attacked Jiangqiao with the support of aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery. They initially penetrated the left flank of Jiangqiao before launching a fierce assault on the main Daxing Line position in front of the town. Despite the Chinese defenders' resistance, the Japanese managed to breach their positions, leading to intense hand-to-hand combat. Despite this the Japanese forces were forced to retreat to the riverbank, where they were ambushed by Chinese troops concealed in the reeds. As reinforcements for the Japanese arrived, they were quickly flanked by the defending cavalry, forcing them to retreat once more. By 20:00, the Japanese forces had completely pulled out, leaving behind over 400 casualties. That night, following a sustained artillery bombardment, the Japanese attempted a surprise boat attack. As their boats neared the northern bank, the Chinese troops hidden in the reeds opened fire, resulting in many Japanese soldiers falling into the water, either killed or wounded, while the remainder retreated. On that day, the Chinese army suffered over 300 casualties, while the Japanese and their puppet forces incurred more than 1,000 losses. Despite concentrating their forces and launching continuous attacks with air and artillery support, the Japanese were ultimately repelled by the defenders. Lieutenant Shinichiro Ojin, a Japanese pilot flying low and dropping bombs, was also injured during the conflict. The Japanese sent word to Ma Zhanshan, demanding he make true on his promise, but Ma Zhanshan responded that of his 15,000 troops he could only nominally control a third. Ma Zhanshan then sent a telegram to the League of Nations reading this “I am helpless. I have exhausted all attempts to preserve peace. I have strictly instructed my commanders to act only on the defensive, and that they must not attack. But Major Hayashi has seen this behavior by the Japanese military, and not only has not stopped it but, on the contrary, wants our army to withdraw from Heilongjiang province, so that they can carve up the whole lot... Since the 4th, the Japanese army has started to attack our army . . . They are coordinating land and air attacks, carrying out utterly horrible bombings!”  On the morning of the 5th, the Japanese army focused all its efforts on launching another assault. At 6 am., the Japanese forces bombarded the defenders' positions with numerous cannons. By 7 am, over 8,000 Japanese and puppet troops crossed the river via the central route, while additional puppet forces advanced from the left and right, shielded by artillery and aircraft. As the boats reached the midpoint of the river, the Chinese army mounted a vigorous counterattack. Despite suffering significant casualties, the Japanese and puppet troops persisted in their attempt to cross. By 10 am, the Japanese army had taken the frontline positions on the riverbank, forcing the defenders to retreat to the flanks. The Japanese then launched an assault on the second line of defense at Daxing, where they faced staunch resistance from the defenders. At noon, Ma Zhanshan arrived at the front lines to direct Wu Delin's and Xu Baozhen's regiments in a counteroffensive, urgently sending the Sabli Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade to encircle the Japanese forces from both sides. The brutal fighting continued from 3pm until dusk. The Japanese acknowledged, "The Chinese army executed an encirclement counterattack using infantry and cavalry. The Japanese army suffered heavy losses and was compelled to retreat" . The Japanese forces were forced to shift from an offensive to a defensive stance, with many of their support units annihilated by our cavalry. In this engagement, the Chinese army incurred over 200 casualties, while the Japanese army lost 167 soldiers and sustained more than 600 injuries. That night, a battalion from the 29th Regiment of the Japanese Army arrived as reinforcements. Upon their arrival, they immediately launched an attack but were quickly surrounded by Ma Zhanshan's forces. In response, Honjo Shigeru urgently dispatched an infantry battalion and three artillery squadrons from the 16th Regiment to assist. On the morning of the 6th, Japanese reinforcements arrived and launched a vigorous assault, supported by aircraft that conducted strafing and bombing runs in an attempt to rescue the encircled Japanese forces. On that day, Ma Zhanshan personally visited the front lines to oversee the battle. Both sides incurred significant casualties. Despite the fierce resistance from Ma Zhanshan's troops, the Japanese offensive struggled to gain ground. In response, Honjo Shigeru ordered Tamon Jiro of the 2nd Division to lead the 29th Regiment, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, the Temporary Field Heavy Artillery Battalion, the Engineer Squadron, and a battalion from the 39th Mixed Brigade in the Shenyang area to rush to the vicinity of Kaijiang Bridge. Their objective was to reinforce their forces, attack the defenders, and capture the key position at Daxing. The Chinese army fought desperately, with the sounds of hand-to-hand combat echoing loudly as they repeatedly recaptured lost positions. That day, the Chinese forces suffered over 1,850 casualties, while inflicting more than 2,000 deaths on Japanese and puppet troops and shooting down one aircraft. The Japanese Hamamoto Detachment was nearly annihilated, and the Gaobo Cavalry Team sustained almost total losses. After three days and two nights of continuous fighting without reinforcements, the soldiers were extremely fatigued, and the Daxing position had been heavily damaged. General Ma Zhanshan then ordered the main forces to withdraw to the secondary position at Sanjianfang, located 18 kilometers from Daxing Station, to reorganize defenses alongside the 1st Cavalry Brigade and the 1st Infantry Brigade. On the morning of the 7th, a significant force of Japanese and puppet troops, supported by ten aircraft, launched an attack on the Nantangchi area of Sanjianfang. In response, a combined regiment from Zhang Dianjiu's Brigade and Su Bingwen's Brigade quickly mobilized to counterattack, successfully repelling the enemy by the afternoon. The Chinese forces incurred over 300 casualties, while the Japanese suffered more than 600 casualties, along with over 1,000 from the puppet troops. Notably, and take this one with a heavy grain of I am using a PRC source grain of salt quote “despite ongoing enemy air assaults and the lack of anti-aircraft artillery, the courageous soldiers displayed remarkable ingenuity by lying on the ground in groups of 20 and firing their rifles upward, ultimately managing to shoot down an enemy aircraft”. Upon inspection, the wreckage revealed 26 bullet holes in both wings, marking the first enemy plane downed in China's war against Japan. As a result, Japanese aircraft became hesitant to fly at low altitudes in subsequent battles. Observing the heavy losses inflicted on his forces, Honjo Shigeru ordered Duomen Jiro to halt their advance and return to their original positions. To conceal the reality of their defeat, the Japanese army circulated rumors claiming that the Soviet Union supplied ammunition to the defenders in Heilongjiang. They also propagated various falsehoods to downplay the number of Japanese casualties, worried that anti-war sentiments in Japan would gain momentum. In response, Ma Zhanshan sent a telegram to counter the Japanese army's claims. The Japanese army experienced significant losses during the initial phase of the battle. To resolve the stalemate quickly, they deployed additional troops and made every effort to prepare for a renewed attack. Simultaneously, they issued an ultimatum to Ma Zhanshan, pressuring him to resign, relinquish power, and withdraw Chinese forces from Qiqihar, but Ma Zhanshan firmly refused. The Kwantung Army recommended that the Japanese Army Central Department expedite the deployment of an extra division. In response, Honjo Shigeru ordered the "2nd Division to gather in Daxing with full force." By the 11th, the Japanese army had assembled the Hase Brigade Headquarters, the 16th Infantry Regiment, the 4th Regiment , the 1st Battalion of the 29th Regiment, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Squadron of the 28th Regiment, along with the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment and the 2nd Engineer Squadron on the north bank of the Nenjiang River. On the south bank, they had the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Field Artillery Regiment and a Temporary Field Heavy Artillery Battalion, totaling over 30,000 troops. In response to the Japanese army's troop deployment, Ma Zhanshan convened a military meeting on the evening of the 7th to discuss strategies for countering the enemy and to reorganize troop placements, establishing three lines of defense. The first line of defense was located in Tangchi, Wunotou, and Xinlitun, with front-line positions at Houyiriba, Qianguandi, and Houguandi, defended by two regiments from Wu Songlin's 1st Cavalry Brigade. After the 14th, Lu Zhiyuan's 2nd Cavalry Brigade was fully deployed to engage in combat in Tangchi and surrounding areas. The second line of defense was situated in Yinglaofen, Sanjianfang, Daxingtun, Xiaoxingtun, and Huotuoqi, serving as the primary position for the black army's frontal defense. This line was manned by four regiments from Yuan Chonggu's 1st Brigade, Wu Delin's 2nd Infantry Brigade, Li Qingshan's 3rd Infantry Brigade, Wang Kezhen's 1st Cavalry Brigade, as well as Park Bingshan's artillery regiment and various engineering and support units. Following the 14th, Sun Hongyu's 1st Infantry Brigade and 2,000 personnel from the Suihua Security Battalion joined the frontal defense efforts. The third line of defense was established in Zhujiakan, Fulaerji, Ang'angxi, and Yushutun, defended by two regiments from Zhang Dianjiu's 1st Infantry Brigade, the entire 2nd Cavalry Brigade, and the Guard Regiment, totaling over 13,000 troops. Sanjianfang is a station located on the railway line from Taonan to Ang'angxi, situated 70 li north of Qiqihar and 60 li south of Nenjiang Bridge. It served as a crucial defensive site for the Chinese army in protecting the capital of Heilongjiang Province. For the Japanese army to take control of Heilongjiang Province, capturing Sanjianfang was essential for a direct route to Qiqihar. Consequently, the struggle for Sanjianfang became a central point in the second phase of the Battle of Jiangqiao. On the morning of the 12th, a vanguard of 500 Japanese infantry and cavalry launched an assault on Ma Zhanshan's frontier positions at Qianguandi, Houguandi, and Zhanghuayuan. The defending forces under Wu Songlin mounted a counterattack. By 1:00 pm, the Japanese army had taken control of the positions, forcing over 600 defenders to retreat to the front lines. At 5:00 am on the 13th more than 500 Japanese soldiers, supported by two aircraft, attacked Xinlitun, but they faced a strong counteroffensive from the defenders. By 10:00 am, the defenders had successfully repelled the attack. At noon that day, the damaged Nenjiang Bridge was repaired, creating advantageous conditions for a large-scale Japanese offensive. At this time, Kwantung Army commander Honjo Shigeru issued a third reinforcement order: "Deploy the remaining troops of the 2nd Division, along with three infantry battalions from the 39th Mixed Brigade and the rescue squad, to the vicinity of Daxing." He also instructed Lieutenant General Duomen, the commander of the 2nd Division, to lead the Nenjiang Detachment. In response, the Japanese headquarters hastily dispatched three air squadrons to Heilongjiang Province and redirected the 4th Mixed Brigade, initially set to land in Dalian, to Busan, Korea, for a swift deployment to Heilongjiang. In the afternoon, over 3,000 Japanese infantry and cavalry, supported by artillery, launched a vigorous attack on Tangchi, Unotou, and Xinlitun. The defenders fought back fiercely until midnight, when the Japanese finally occupied Unotou. On the morning of the 14th, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Tangchi position, supported by two aircraft and heavy artillery, but they were repelled by the forces of Ma Zhanshan. Around 10 a.m., over 2,000 Japanese troops, led by Hase, split into two units—infantry and cavalry—and employed a strategy of large encirclement to assault Tangchi from both the left and right flanks. The cavalry engaged in combat but eventually retreated. The intense fighting continued until the morning of the 15th, when the Japanese army targeted Shuanma. By this time, Ma Zhanshan had already dispatched two cavalry regiments to quietly encircle the enemy's flanks. At his command, the front guard regiment charged into the Japanese positions first, while the cavalry regiments surged from both sides, forcing the Japanese to retreat hastily. Ma Zhanshan's forces captured two artillery pieces and 70 horses, killed 300 Japanese soldiers, and took 200 prisoners, while the puppet army suffered over 2,000 casualties and fled with their weapons. To bolster their defensive capabilities, the defenders organized the 2,000 members of the Suihua Security Battalion into an independent regiment and integrated them into the frontline. On the 15th, following orders from Japanese Army Minister Minami Jiro, Honjo Shigeru presented three demands to Ma Zhanshan: that Ma's troops withdraw from south of the Chinese Eastern Railway, that the area be administered by the Taomao Bureau, and that Ma refrain from interference. However, Ma Zhanshan rejected these demands. At 7:30 a.m. on the 15th, Lieutenant General Tamon, the commander of the Japanese 2nd Division, led the main contingent of his division to the Daxing front. By 11:00 am on the 16th, with the backing of 10 aircraft, heavy artillery, and tanks, 4,000 Japanese infantry and cavalry launched a vigorous assault on positions including Xinlitun and Sanjiazi. The defenders fought valiantly and managed to repel the Japanese forces by 3:00 pm, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. At 10:10 a.m. on the 17th, Honjo Shigeru received orders from the Chief of Army General Staff to "advance north of Qiqihar and attempt to destabilize the enemy with bold maneuvers, and have the 2nd Division  capture Qiqihar in one decisive strike." He also instructed the 39th Mixed Brigade to "mobilize all remaining troops in Daxing, except for one infantry company and an engineering company, placing them under the command of the 2nd Division leader." At 1:00 p.m., Division Commander Duomen ordered the Japanese troops stationed at the Houyiriba train to launch a full-scale assault on the Black Army, particularly targeting Sanjianfang. By 10:00 pm on the 17th the Japanese forces, having received supplies and reinforcements, split into three groups and mounted a fierce attack on the Mabu position. Under Amano's command, the right-wing troops advanced from Wunotou to assault the left-wing positions in the Xinlitun area. Despite the Wu Songlin Brigade being exhausted from several days of fighting, they fiercely resisted the numerically superior enemy, repelling more than ten Japanese attacks. However, by early morning, most of the defenders' trenches had been destroyed, and their positions were compromised in numerous locations, forcing a retreat to the second line in the Daxingtun area. At 10:40 pm on the 17th, the left-wing Japanese forces, commanded by Hase, attacked the right-wing positions in the Tangchi area, where the Cheng Zhiyuan Brigade fought tenaciously. By 2:00 am the following day, the Japanese intensified their assault, deploying 8 tanks and over 30 artillery pieces. Unable to sustain their defense, the defenders retreated to the main position at Sanjianfang. At 3 am on the 18th, the Japanese army mobilized various units and moved to the designated staging area as planned. By 6:30, aircraft and artillery began a one-hour bombardment of the front-line positions at Sanjianfang, to which the defenders responded with their own artillery fire. The booming of the cannons echoed across the entire Shuobei wilderness. At that time, Japanese heavy artillery had a range of 30 kilometers, while the Ma army's heavy artillery could only reach 15 kilometers, resulting in significant losses. Around 8 o'clock, the Japanese forces launched a full-scale attack, supported by tanks. Despite the fierce fighting from the defenders, the Japanese advance was initially repelled. At 9:20, Duomen ordered reinforcements from the reserves and initiated another aggressive assault. By 10 o'clock, although the defenders on the right flank fought valiantly, they were unable to hold their ground and retreated to Mao Mao Creek. At 10:30, the left flank position at Xiaoxingtun fell, forcing the troops to fight their way back to Hongqiyingzi and Yushutun. At this point, Hase directed the infantry and cavalry to assault the main position at Sanjianfang with support from aircraft and tanks. The defending troops, including the Yuan Chonggu Brigade and Zhang Dianjiu Brigade, put up a fierce resistance. By 14:00, the Japanese 39th Mixed Brigade, followed by a regiment from Sanjiazi to the west of Sanjianfang, joined the fight. Together with the Hase Brigade launching a direct assault, they executed a coordinated pincer movement. After 15:00, the Japanese forces added 12 aircraft, 12 tanks, and over 30 artillery pieces, bombarding the trenches with intense fire. Due to insufficient reinforcements, the Japanese army captured Qiqihar on the 19th. Ma Zhanshan's army was on the brink of starvation after Japanese planes bombed their food storage facilities. The Chinese defenders, battling fiercely despite their empty stomachs, were undeterred by their enemy's overwhelming numbers. They engaged in hand-to-hand combat, fighting to the death, their battle cries echoing through the ground. Fighting in the Sanjianfang area continued throughout the night. Although the Chinese troops shared a common hatred and displayed "extraordinary bravery," many had gone several days without sleep due to relentless fighting, and their food supplies had been cut off, leaving them without reinforcements. The ammunition available at that time was part of a long-term stockpile from the Heilongjiang defenders, with much of it rendered unusable due to mold. Meanwhile, the invading forces were continuously bolstered by fresh supplies and reinforcements, creating a dire imbalance between the strong enemy and the weakened defenders. Furthermore, the position had been heavily damaged and was "truly unable to sustain" the fight. On the afternoon of the 18th, Ma Zhanshan was forced to make the difficult decision to order a withdrawal. By the 19th, over 5,000 Japanese troops had taken control of Qiqihar, marking the end of the Battle of Jiangqiao. The civilian population had pushed Ma Zhanshan to pull out, a long held Chinese tradition that did not mean losing face, but rather living to fight another day. On November the 18th, Ma Zhanshans forces evacuated Qiqihar and by the 19th he led them east to defend Baiquan and Hailun. His army suffered tremendous casualties, possibly up to 3000, with the Japanese claiming 300 casualties for themselves. Ma Zhanshans forces then retired to the Nonni river valley and eventually over the Soviet Border. The Japanese began an occupation of Qiqihar, thus securing the control of all three Manchurian provincial capitals. They quickly established a collaborist government under General Zhang Jinghui and secured control over the central section of the Chinese eastern railway. However the eastern section of the railway was still under the control of General Ting Chao operating in Harbin. Ting Chao would follow Ma Zhanshans example, inspiring local Chinese to aid and enlist in the resistance efforts.  Ma Zhanshan drew international attention through a series of telegrams he sent describing his campaign of resistance against the Japanese in Heilongjiang. His stand along the Nonni river near Qiqihar lionized him amongst the Chinese nationalists who sought to use his public image to shame Chiang Kai-shek into action against the Japanese.  During the Battle of Jiangqiao, Ma Zhanshan fought independently without any assistance from the Northeast Army based in Jinzhou. Although Zhang Xueliang instructed Ma to hold his position, the troops in Jinzhou were "not ready for combat." Following the battle, Zhang Xueliang faced significant public backlash. The Shanghai National Salvation Federation stated that "Ma's forces in Heilongjiang Province fought valiantly against the Japanese and demonstrated loyalty on the battlefield, while Zhang Xueliang failed to provide support." The Citizens' Federation sent a telegram to the National Government, accusing Zhang of "neglecting his responsibilities while allowing the Japanese invaders to attack the Northeast, leading to national humiliation and territorial loss." Additionally, the National Student Anti-Japanese National Salvation Federation sent a telegram urging the government to "severely punish Zhang Xueliang and deploy troops immediately." Chiang Kai-shek sent multiple telegrams to praise Ma Zhanshan for his brave resistance and instructed Zhang Xueliang to quickly provide reinforcements. For instance, on November 12th,, Chiang Kai-shek sent a message to Ma Zhanshan stating: "Japan has once again invaded Heilongjiang Province under the pretext of repairing the Jiangqiao Bridge. Our defensive actions were justified. Fortunately, due to your careful leadership and the bravery of the soldiers, we managed to defeat the relentless enemy and protect our territory. I was furious upon receiving the telegram. You and your comrades have brought honor to the party and the nation, fighting for our survival. The entire Chinese populace is inspired. The people's spirit remains unbroken, justice prevails, and the future is hopeful. We pledge to unite in our efforts. I shed tears in the wind and snow, unable to express all my thoughts. Chiang Kai-shek." Additionally, on the 19th, Chiang Kai-shek wrote to Ma Zhanshan: "I have read your telegram and am filled with sorrow and anger that words cannot capture. Our army has fought valiantly for days, bringing glory to our nation. Our reputation has spread widely, earning admiration both domestically and internationally, which is truly commendable. I have urged Deputy Commander Zhang to send troops to assist you. I miss you dearly as I write this message. Chiang Kai-shek." All major domestic newspapers covered the Jiangqiao Anti-Japanese War prominently, and various sectors of society conveyed their condolences to the frontline soldiers in numerous ways. Life Weekly, backed by Zou Taofen, remarked, "This spirit of defending the nation and refusing to surrender even in death is crucial for the future of the Chinese people. It demonstrates to the world that our soldiers are not entirely dishonorable and have restored significant pride for the nation." The Shanghai Fuchang Tobacco Company even created "General Ma Zhanshan Cigarettes," promoting the slogan, "May everyone emulate General Ma." On November 17th,, the Binjiang Times published an editorial stating, "The Chinese soldiers in Heilongjiang fought valiantly against the brutality of the Japanese army. The blood shed along the Nenjiang River is the legacy of our brave men. The Chinese army in Heilongjiang represents the true warriors defending the nation. After the September 18th Incident, we began to doubt how many Chinese soldiers could confront the enemy, and we were deeply disappointed. Fifty days after losing Liaoning and Jilin provinces, we realized that Ma Zhanshan in Heilongjiang truly deserves the title of Chinese soldier." People across the country spontaneously formed groups for condolences and support, donating money and supplies to aid Heilongjiang's resistance efforts. Many young students set aside their studies to join the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Thus ended the Jiangqiao Campaign. General Ma Zhanshan proved himself quite a formidable rebel leader in the face of pretty overwhelming odds. His name was propagandized heavily by the Chinese press to boost morale and try to awaken the Chinese that a fight for their very existence was at hand, but China simply did not have the means yet to face such an enemy. 

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Ubicada en el frío noreste del país, la provincia de Liaoning preserva el recuerdo de la última dinastía feudal china. El imperio Qing, que sucedió al Ming y duró hasta la instauración de la república en 1912, tuvo su origen aquí, en las estribaciones de Manchuria, histórica región que termina en las aguas del mar Amarillo. Nuestro recorrido parte de Shenyang, capital de Liaoning, donde la comunicadora Ángela Qi (Zihan Qi) guía nuestros pasos a partir de la bulliciosa plaza Zhongshan y la peatonal calle Taiyuan. Dos residentes –Amanda García y su marido, Sun Xiao Hang– nos invitan a descubrir el gigantesco parque Bei Ling, donde se ubica el mausoleo Zhaoling, donde reposan los restos de los primeros emperadores Qing. Antes de abandonar Shenyang nos acercamos a las orillas del majestuoso río Hun, a la colina Qipanshan y al paraje de Guaipo, cuya principal atracción es la desconcertante Pendiente Extraña, donde la ley de la gravedad parece funcionar al revés. La ruta continúa hacia el sureste para conocer, en la margen derecha del río que hace frontera entre China y Corea del Norte, la ciudad de Dandong. El responsable de comunicación de la Oficina Nacional de Turismo de China, Valentín Cao (Yuan Cao), recomienda visitar el Puente de la Amistad Sinocoreana; el paralelo puente antiguo, semiderruido en la guerra; el parque de la montaña Jingjiang; y la muralla Hushan, uno de los extremos de la Gran Muralla China. Nuestro periplo concluye al borde del mar en Dalian, ciudad que conserva algunas huellas rusas y japonesas en un desarrollo urbano cuyos máximos exponentes son las plazas de Zhongshan y Xinghai. La directora de proyectos del Centro Cultural de China, Shihua He, nos ayuda a describir esta gran localidad y la cercana población vacacional de Jinshi Tan. Además, el viajero Daniel Vinuesa, autor del blog ViajesParaTorpes.com, propone una ruta por el costado más natural y playero de Dalian.Escuchar audio

Last time we spoke about the Chiang-Gui War. China was reunified, but not was all well in Camelot. Chiang Kai-Shek initially popular, faced opposition from various factions, including Northern warlords and rival generals. The KMT decided to relocate the capital from Beijing to Nanking, which sparked resistance from those attached to Beijing's rich history. The KMT then struggled with demobilizing the massive National Revolutionary Army, which had over 2 million troops. Chiang Kai-Shek aimed to reduce this number significantly but faced challenges, including discontent among warlords like Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan. Tensions escalated into the Chiang-Gui War, where Chiang defeated the Guangxi Clique led by Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi. This victory, however, did not end the turmoil as Feng and Yan formed an anti-Chiang coalition with Wang Jingwei. The struggle led to a dramatic showdown, culminating in the Taiyuan Conference where Yan Xishan was promoted to commander-in-chief, setting the stage for further conflict.   #123 The Central Plains War  Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. We last left off with basically every other big dog in China getting ready to gang up on Chiang Kai-Shek. Yan Xishan was now the commander in chief of an anti-chiang coalition with his deputy commanders being Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren and Zhang Xueliang….however Zhang Xueliang was nowhere to be found. During what has been referred to as the “telegram war” period, the Young Marshal had actually spent the entire time in Mukden frantically telegraming all the significant North Chinese warlords and generals to not join the anti-chiang movement.  To take a small sidestep. In the last episode I explained why Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi and their Guangxi clique turned against Chiang Kai-Shek, but what motivations did someone like Feng Yuxiang and his Guominjun have to do so? A severe famine hit the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi, where Feng Yuxiang held power. This famine, which occurred in the 18th year of the Republic of China, is also referred to as the "Famine of the 18th Year of the Republic of China." Within Shaanxi, a year without any harvest is called a famine year, two consecutive years of poor harvest are also labeled famine years, and three consecutive years are considered a severe famine. During the 18th year of the Republic of China, the region faced an extreme famine with virtually no harvest for six consecutive seasons over three years. Some considered it a once-in-a-century event, while others claimed it was a disaster seen once in 300 years. According to modern historical records and newspaper reports, Shaanxi experienced drought in 1928, which caused poor summer wheat yields, while autumn and winter crops could not be planted due to a lack of rain. By 1929, the drought worsened. No rain fell from spring through autumn, drying up wells and rivers like the Jing, Wei, Han, and Bao. Most trees withered, and crops failed—summer harvests only amounted to 20%, and autumn yields were nonexistent. The famine was so severe that grass roots and tree bark became scarce, with the roads littered with corpses and countless people fleeing the area. According to a report by the Shaanxi Disaster Relief Committee on September 5 of that year, 91 of the province's 92 counties were affected by the drought. Except for a few counties along the Wei River that had some green crops, the rest were barren. Among the 91 counties, 24 were extremely severely affected, 27 severely affected, 15 moderately affected, and 25 slightly affected. The most severely hit areas included Chang'an, Wugong, Fengxiang, Fufeng, Qianxian, Qishan, Meixian, Xingping, Xianyang, Lintong, Weinan, Zhouzhi, and others. Out of a total population of over 9.4 million, 2.5 million people died of starvation, approximately 400,000 fled, and over 200,000 women were sold to other regions such as Henan, Shanxi, Beiping, Tianjin, and Shandong. Back in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek established the KMT's new government in Nanking. By June, Chiang and Feng Yuxiang succeeded in uniting the two Kuomintang warlord factions during the Xuzhou Conference. In February 1928, Chiang and Feng solidified their alliance by becoming sworn brothers. Before the launch of the "Second Northern Expedition," Chiang Kai-shek had control over the central KMT government and occupied affluent areas like Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Feng Yuxiang, on the other hand, controlled the impoverished and remote northwest, where transportation was difficult. He saw the Northern Expedition as an opportunity to expand his own influence, particularly eyeing Beijing and Tianjin for their wealth and strategic transportation routes. After the expedition, Chiang Kai-shek, concerned about Feng's growing power, exploited tensions between Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang. He ceded control of Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin to Yan Xishan, appointing him commander of the Beijing-Tianjin garrison and allowing his 3rd Army to enter Beijing. Feng's 2nd Army, however, was restricted to Nanyuan and denied entry into the city, which greatly displeased Feng. In response, he ordered his troops to retreat to Shandong and Henan, and feigned illness in Xinxiang, Henan, refusing to travel to Beijing. In the political realm Feng Yuxiang advocated for "civilian politics" and stood against dictatorship. Within the Kuomintang, he opposed Chiang Kai-shek's views, calling for the establishment of a clean government, promoting joint industrial development, providing aid to disaster victims, and fighting corruption. He also opposed salary increases for central government officials, argued for distributing leadership roles based on the strength of different factions, and rejected Chiang Kai-shek's dominance over party matters and the Nanjing government. These positions sharply conflicted with Chiang Kai-shek's ideas. After the success of the "Northern Expedition," Chiang Kai-shek proposed a reorganization of the army. This initiative sparked intense conflict between Chiang and Feng Yuxiang. On July 6, 1928, Chiang invited Feng, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren, and Bai Chongxi to a symposium in Beiping. However, Feng and other faction leaders strongly opposed Chiang's plan to reduce the army, leading to an unsatisfactory end to the meeting. On August 8, 1928, Chiang presided over the Fifth Plenary Session of the Kuomintang's Second Central Committee in Nanjing, where he sought to force the various factions to comply with his military reduction plan. Supported by the Guangdong-born members of the Central Committee, the proposal was passed, and the army reduction plan became part of the Kuomintang's official resolution. Feeling threatened by this plan, Feng traveled along the Longhai Railway, inspecting the Northwest Army, and held a commemorative military parade marking the second anniversary of the Northwest Army's Wuyuan Oath-taking Ceremony. In October 1928, after the reorganization of the Nanjing National Government, Chiang appointed Feng as Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Military Affairs, asking him to report to Nanjing immediately. Feng, however, refused, citing various excuses. Under increasing public pressure, Feng and other faction leaders were eventually forced to attend the demobilization meeting in Nanjing. On December 26, 1928, Chiang chaired a preparatory meeting for the demobilization conference, using factional politics to manipulate and divide his rivals. Feng proposed a "three haves and three demobilizations" plan, which was initially opposed by Yan Xishan and Li Zongren. Secretly, Chiang won over Yan, encouraging him to submit a proposal that would counter Feng's influence. When the National Demobilization Meeting convened on January 1, 1929, most attendees supported Yan's proposal over Feng's. The "Outline of the Procedure for the Demobilization Committee of the National Army" was passed, favoring Chiang's position. Eventually, Feng, Yan, and Li shifted from opposing each other to uniting against the demobilization process. In March 1929, as we saw in last episode, the Chiang-Gui War broke out. In order to concentrate military forces and eliminate the Guangxi clique, Chiang Kai-shek sent Shao Lizi and others to Huashan to win over Feng Yuxiang. They offered Feng the chance to continue cooperating with Chiang and send troops to help Chiang defeat Guangxi in exchange for the premiership of the Executive Yuan and the territory of Hubei and Hunan provinces. Feng agreed to Chiang's request on the surface. He then frequently deployed troops on the border between Henan and Hubei, hoping to seize the opportunity to send troops to occupy Wuhan when Chiang and Guangxi were both defeated. However, Chiang soon defeated the Guangxi clique, which increased Chiang Kai-shek's resentment and made the contradiction between Chiang and Feng irreconcilable. Now that pretty much covers Feng Yuxiang's motivations, but what about Yan Xishan? In January 1930, after Yan Xishan returned to Taiyuan from Zhengzhou, central Henan began to experience increasing turmoil. On February 10, Yan sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, urging a spirit of courtesy for the country's sake that they "share the burden" to resolve party conflicts. Chiang responded on February 12 with a telegram stating, "Revolution to save the country is an obligation, not a right. The country is in dire straits, and it is not the time for us to be arrogant." By February 21, Li Zongren, Huang Shaohong, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Fakui, and Hu Zongduo all stated supported Yan Xishan to be the commander-in-chief of the anti-chiang national army, navy, and air force. In many ways the issue was simply thrust onto him. Meanwhile Yan Xishan's army went to Peiping, current day Beijing, disarming the KMT forces there and setting up a HQ. With perhaps a stronger backing, Chiang Kai-Shek would have gone to war against the anti-chiang cabal much earlier, but was reluctant to do so now. The terrain was the difficulty, he would have to fight his way into Shandong, where the local sympathy rested on Feng Yuxiang. So for now he battled them through the use of diplomacy. Within the chaos, the CCP also managed to cut their own piece of the pie by capturing Changsha in late July. They would only hold the city for a few days however, before burning it down and fleeing. Early into the conflict Chiang Kai-Shek's attention was drawn to Manchuria. The Young Marshal had not made a move in either direction and he was sitting upon an army 200,000 plus strong. Where did his sympathies truly lie, everyone was waiting to see. Chiang Kai-Shek believed chances were slim the Young Marshal would rebel against him, he was not very much like his tiger of a father. Zhang Xueliang was a thinker, an idealistic and most importantly he had been an opium addict for a long time. Such a life conditioned the young man to be a lot more passive. Zhang Xueliang seemed to be looking to pledge himself to a real leader who could deliver salvation to China. But who was the better choice for him? Chiang Kai-Shek or Wang Jingwei? Chiang Kai-Shek did not wait for an official answer to this question he hastily announced that Zhang Xueliang was his new deputy commander in chief. Feng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan followed this up by offering Zhang Xueliang a place in the Peiping state council, yet Zhang Xueliang remained quiet until the middle of September. It was a real nail bitter for both sides, Zhang Xueliang had a large, decently trained and pretty well armed army, he would tip the tides for either side. The waiting game had Yan Xishan thinking strongly about pulling out of the coalition. In the meantime the war truly began to heat up in May when Chiang Kai-Shek swore a public oath to attack Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang. On May 11th, both sides began engaged another along a north and south front. The main battlefield in the north was centered around Henan with a secondary front in Shandong fought mainly along the Pinghan, Longhai and Jinpu railways. In the southern theater the fighting was fought mainly in the Yuezhou, Changsha and Xiangjiang river areas. To be more specific the anti-Chiang Kai-shek army organized a total of 8 war front areas: the Guangxi clique army was the 1st front, led by Li Zongren, going north from Hunan and heading towards Wuhan; the Northwest Army was the 2nd front, led by Feng Yuxiang, with Lu Zhonglin being responsible for the Longhai and Pinghan lines in Henan; the Shanxi Army was the 3rd front, led by Yan Xishan, with Xu Yongchang responsible for the Jinpu and Jiaoji lines and the eastern section of the Longhai line in Shandong; Shi Yousan's troops were the 4th front; the Northeast Army, which was designated by Zhang Xueliang, was the 5th front though whether he took up the post or not was yet to be seen; Liu Wenhui's troops were the 6th front; He Jian's troops were the 7th front, and Fan Zhongxiu's troops were the 8th front. The Northwest Army and the Shanxi Army, as the main forces, had been fully mobilized and marched to the Longhai, Pinghan, and Jinpu lines. Yan also appointed Shi Yousan as the chairman of Shandong Province, leading his troops to attack Shandong from Henan, and appointed Sun Dianying as the chairman of Anhui Province, attacking the Bozhou area of ​​Anhui. Altogether the Anti-Chiang forces were about 260,000 men strong The fighting kicked off in mid May. The strategy of the anti-Chiang army was for the first front army, the Guangxi army led by Li Zongren to march into Hunan and advance towards Wuhan; the second front army, the Northwestern Army of Feng Yuxiang, was responsible for the Longhai and Pinghan routes in Henan Province, and would attack Xuzhou and Wuhan respectively; the third front army, the Shanxi Army of Yan Xishan was responsible for the operations along the Jinpu and Jiaoji routes in Shandong Province. It would join Feng Yuxiang to attack Xuzhou, then advance southward along the Jinpu Line and attack Nanking; Shi Yousan was in charge of the Fourth Front Army, which would use its main forces to attack Jining and Yanzhou, and would use part of its forces to join the Third Front Army in the attack on Jinan; Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army was designated as the Fifth Front Army, and efforts were made to jointly fight against Chiang Kai-shek, but again his status was still unknown; Liu Wenhui of Sichuan was appointed as the Sixth Front Army, and He Jian of Hunan was appointed as the Seventh Front Army. In order to encourage generals of non-directly affiliated units, Shi Yousan was appointed as the chairman of Shandong Province, Wan Xuancai as the chairman of Henan Province, and Sun Dianying as the chairman of Anhui Province. After this, Fan Zhongxiu was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Front Army. Chiang Kai-Shek deployed the NRA 2nd Corps led by Liu Zhi along the Longhai railway line; the 3rd Crops of H Chengjun was deployed on the Pinhan line; the 1st Corps of Han Fuju was deployed along the Jinpu line and Chiang Kai-Shek set up his HQ in Xuzhou to personally command forces. On May 11th, Chiang Kai-Shek issued his general attack orders, with the 2nd corps attacking Guide from Xuzhou. The two sides began clashing, with the KMT gaining the upper hand rather quickly as they held an advantage in air power. A NRA division led by Chen Jicheng occupied Mamuji due east of Guide. Then Liu Maoen defected to Chiang Kai-Shek handing his forces over at Ningling while also luring Colonel Wan Xuancai into a trap. This left Guide to be easily captured by Chiang's forces as the only other enemy division was that of Sun Dianying who withdrew to Bozhou. Although Chiang Kai-Shek had won technically the first major battle, his situation was not at all enviable.  After losing Guide, Yan Xishan urgently reinforced the Longhai Railway line area with divisions led by Yang Yaofang, Sun Laingcheng and Ji Hongchang. This saw Chiang Kai-Sheks forces suffer extremely heavy losses over the course of 10 days of fighting. Chiang Kai-Sheks forces were reeling from the fierce fighting and forced to retreat into the southwestern portion of Shandong. Along the Pinghan railway, Chiang Kai-Shek ordered He Chengjun's 3rd Corps to depart the Yancheng area and attack northwards. The 3rd Corps quickly found themselves fighting the northwest Army in the Linying and Xuchang areas. The 3rd Corps were trying to contain and isolate the northwest army who were currently receiving reinforcements along the Longhai line.  On May 25th, He Jians forces began occupying Linying and by Juny 7th Xuchang. At this time the Guangxi army invaded Hunan and by the 28th of May had taken Yongzhou, Qiyang, Hangzhou and Baoqing. On June 8th they took Changsha and Yueyang, with their vanguard entering Hubei. Feng Yuxiang took advantage of the situation to launch a full scale attack along the Pingham line. After two days of fighting, Chiang Kai-Sheks men were retreating south to Luohe. However, Feng Yuxiang made an error. His subordinates urged him to link up with the Guangxi army and attack Wuhan. Instead he ordered his forces to advance into eastern Henan where he might annihilate a large portion of Chiang Kai-Sheks army. Meanwhile Chiang Kai-Shek had suffered major defeats across the Longhai and Pingham lines and lost the key city of Changsha, his men were demoralized. By mid June Feng Yuxiang adjusted his battle plan and launched another offensive along the Longhai line as Chiang Kai-Shek came to Liuhe to supervise the battle. Chiang Kai-Shek tossed some of his elite divisions equipped with heavy artillery to attack Feng Yuxiang from Qixian to Taikang, hoping to seize Kaifeng and Chenliu. Yet he fell directly into a pocket-sized encirclement and his forces were battered. Over on the Jinpu line front, Yan Xishan had organized 6 divisions and 3 artillery regiments to perform an offensive against Jinan. They advanced south along the Jinpu line and formed two pincers against the city. Han Fuju knew he would lose considerable forces in a defense of the city and ended up simply pulling out to conserve his strength, handing Jinan over.  July brought significant change to the war. Over in Hunan, Chiang Kai-Shek organized 3 armies to counterattack Changsha; a naval fleet under Chen Skaokuan would assist them and he ordered the 8th route army under Jiang Hauangnai and Cai Tingkai to retake Hengyang. The Guangxi army could not focus on two fronts, so they abandoned Yueyang and Changsha to meet the enemy at Hengyang. The two sides fought bitterly in southern Hunan, but by July 4th the Guangxi army was forced to retreat to the province of Guangxi. Afterwards Chiang Kai-Shek's forces took Bozhou within the Longhai/Jinpu triangle area, effectively trapping forces led by Sun Dianying. On July 8th Chiang Kai-Shek diverted a bunch of divisions from the Longhai line to the Jinpu Line. By the end of the month Chiang Kai-Shek unleashed a general offensive along the Jinpu line. Feng Yuxiang retaliated by launching an offensive over the Longhai line trying to seize Xuzhou. Feng Yuxiang hoped by doing so he could unite the Jinpu and Longhai lines for a combined assault of Xuzhou. Chiang Kai-Sheks Longhai forces were quickly pushed back to an area south of Guide, but mother nature tossed a curveball. Colossal amounts of rain caused river floodings, forcing Feng Yuxiangs men to advance through mud greatly diminishing his supply lines. It was enough to give Chiang Kai-Shek time to stabilize the front as his offensive on the Jinpu line successfully recaptured Jinan by August 15th.  On August 21st Chiang Kai-Shek convened a meeting in Jinan where it was decided they would divert forces from the Jinpu line to the Longhai and Pinghan lines. They would focus the most on the Pinghan line while forces on the Longhai line would try to cut off the retreat of Feng Yuxiang's army. Chiang Kai-Shek even offered 200,00 yuan for the first unit to take Gongxian and 1 million yuan for the occupation of Luoyang and Zhengzhou. On September 6th, Chiang Kai-Shek unleashed another general offensive. Feng Yuxiang believed he had the numbers to win, so he deployed his forces pretty evenly over the Pinghan, Longhai and Zhengzhou fronts. He did urge Yan Xishan to try and help him out if his fronts could afford to spare units. Yet Yan Xishan sought to preserve his strength, and moved his Longhai forces to pull back north of the Yellow River. This action made linking up with Feng Yuxiang pretty much impossible. By the 17th Chiang Kai-Shek captured Longmen very close to Luoyang, effectively cutting off Feng Yuxiang's line of retreat heading west. Thus Feng Yuxiang had no choice but to retreat into northern Henan. Taking another sidestep, you may have noticed one of the largest players remains unmentioned, what about the Young Marshal? Back in March, Zhang Xueliang issued a telegram expressing his neutrality. This of course prompted Chiang Kai-Shek to personally call him, whence negotiations began. On June 10th, Li Shi and Zhang Xueliang discussed the conditions for him to send troops to help the NRA out. The first condition was 2 million yuan to cover the cost of deployment. On June 21st the KMT officially appointed Zhang Xueliang as deputy commander. The next day Zhang Xueliang telegramed everyone suggesting that both sides agree to a cease-fire and establish a buffer zone. In August Li Shi came to meet with Zhang Xueliang again, where the Young Marshal then demanded 5 million yuan for military use and a loan of 10 million yuan to stabilize the northeast economy. Chiang Kai-Shek agreed to the terms on the spot. Then Zhang Xueliang said if Chiang Kai-Shek could capture Jinan, he would send troops. As mentioned this occurred on August 15th. Thus Zhang Xueliang began speaking with his generals. Meanwhile on the other side, the Anti-Chiang leadership began establishing a competing government in Peiping in July whereupon they appointed many Fengtian clique members to be the heads of certain departments. Yet on September 2nd, Zhang Xueliang told Fu Zuoyi, a anti-Chiang representative that he did not support their Peiping government. Then Zhang Xueliang recalled all the Fengtian members they had appointed as officials.  Then on September 18th, Zhang Xueliang issued a telegram urging "all parties to stop fighting immediately to relieve the people's suffering and wait for Nanking to take action." At the same time, he dispatched Yu Xuzhong and Wang Shuchang with the 1st and 2nd armies of the Northeast Frontier Defense army to enter the pass. On October 9th, he officially took up office as the deputy commander for the NRA. Yan Xishan soon received word from forces in Tangshan that Zhang Xuliang was advancing, so he called for a meeting to figure out countermeasures. Zhang Xueliang then sent word to Yan Xishan that he should withdraw from occupied areas. Yan Xishan did indeed comply as Zhang Xueliang quickly occupied Ping and Tianjin without firing a shot. To maintain cordial relations with Yan Xishan, Zhang Xueliang had his army only advance into Hubei and Chahar, but left Shanxi alone. This prompted Yan Xishans forces to cross the Yellow River and retreat back into Shanxi using two routes.  Meanwhile a wave of defections to Chiang Kai-Shek began in late September, severely crippling the Pinghan line for Feng Yuxiang. Along the Longhai line, Chiang Kai-Shek's forces took Kaifeng on October 3rd and were advancing towards Zhangzhou. The KMT government then began announcing amnesty for all Generals if they would stand down. The next days many of Feng Yuxiang's subordinates called upon him to issue a ceasefire. Feng Yuxiang was basically screwed, Chiang and Zhang were surrounding him slowly as his own Generals defected or abandoned the cause. On the 5th Feng Yuxiangs deputy commander withdrew to Xinxiang, due north of the Yellow River. The next day Zhengzhou fell to the NRA 11th division of Chen Cheng. On the 5th Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang and Wang Jingwei jointly telegrammed Zhang Xueliang expressing their desire for a ceasefire and to open up negotiations.  By the 15th Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang stepped down together as commanders in chief. Yan Xishan handed command to Xu Yongchang and Feng Yuxiang to Lu Zhonglin. Both men then stated they would go temporarily abroad, though neither truly did. In truth Yan Xishan fled to Dalian under the protection of the Japanese and Feng Yuxiang hid in Yudaohe in Shanxi. That same day Lu Zhonglin telegramed to the Northwest army "withdraw defense immediately upon order inform all injured units to stop fighting and rest the people." On November 4th, Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang telegramed the dissolution of the anti-chiang movement, ending the war. The Central Plains War lasted roughly seven months, with both sides mobilizing more than 1.1 million troops, spending 500 million yuan, and suffering 300,000 casualties. At least half of them were young and middle-aged men from Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other provinces. It was the largest civil war in China after the Northern Expedition to unify China. The war spread to Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and other provinces. Most of the national troops originally prepared to suppress the Communists were mobilized, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to breathe and develop. Warlords imposed additional donations and taxes on the common people and issued paper money indiscriminately. As usual the ones to suffer the most were of course the common people. Within the Central Plains, 27 counties including Luoyang in Henan Province were severely affected, with agricultural losses amounting to 160.2% of the annual output value; farmers in more than a dozen counties including lost an average of 0.22 heads of livestock and 0.07 carts per household. Within Henan Province, it was said “over 120,000 people died in the war, over 19,500 were injured, over 1,185,000 fled, and over 1,297,700 were forced into exile by the army, of which over 30,000 died in combat, not including soldiers. The total property losses, including the destruction and burning of houses, amounted to over 651,469,000 yuan. It is estimated that it will take 10 years to recover all the losses.” Source in Zhengzhou stated “Since the beginning of the war, planes have been arriving every day, dropping bombs. … Every time a bomb is dropped, five or six people are killed and several buildings are destroyed. This situation is not limited to Zhengzhou. It is the same everywhere in the battlefield cities, the counties and villages near the Longhai and Pinghan railways, even in broad daylight.”  Industry declined and agriculture went bankrupt. The war caused great damage to industrial and agricultural production, seriously hindering the development of the social economy. “The national finances and social economy were both exhausted.” For railway transportation alone saw  “capital losses amounted to 22,165,504 yuan; withdrawals from garrison troops amounted to 4,206,155 yuan; military transport losses amounted to 29,958,042 yuan; and operating losses amounted to 17,018,271 yuan. The total was more than 73 million yuan.Among agricultural products, tobacco leaves were harvested in the three provinces of Henan, Shandong and Anhui, and the war was at its most intense. The losses were between 20 and 30 million yuan. The losses were twice as much as the war expenses.”  Chiang Kai-Shek had won the war, utterly breaking his opponents. Feng Yuxiangs northwest disintegrated into four factions. Yan Xishans Shanxi army took heavy losses that they would not recover from. Zhang Xueliang profited the most, his northeast army gained further territory in North China. He would gradually incorporate a large part of the forces in Shanxi and Suiyuan and would emerge the second largest military faction in China. However, when Zhang Xueliang depleted the northeast of her military forces, this left the borders weak. Zhang Xueliang soon became focused on governing North China, taking his eyes off his powerbase of Manchuria, which Japanese eyes looked upon enviously.  Overall the Central plains war weakened the NRA, the KMT, depleted China of her overall strength and lessened efforts against the CCP. Within the background of the warlord-NRA conflict, the CCP would benefit greatly. The CCP had spread to 11 provinces, including Jiangxi, Hubei, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Their Red Army formed a total of 14 armies with a total of about 100,000 people. But with the Central Plains War ended, now Chiang Kai-Shek could redirect his efforts against the Red Menace.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Chiang Kai-Shek had certainly faced a formidable enemy in the former of his past comrades in arms, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, Li Zongren and many others. At the last minute the Young Marshal saved the day, allowing the Generalissimo to retain control over the new Republic, yet in the background lurked enemies everywhere still.

Last time we spoke about the Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings. On August 1st, during the Nanchang Uprising, the CCP's 2nd Front Army inflicted heavy casualties and seized substantial weaponry. Reorganized under He Long and Ye Ting, the army, then 20,000 strong, celebrated in Nanchang, attracting new recruits. However, faced with an imminent counterattack, they retreated south in what became known as the "little long march." Despite initial successes, like capturing Huichang County, internal strife and harsh conditions reduced their numbers significantly. By the end of August, they reached Guangdong, but relentless opposition from Nationalist forces led to severe losses. The remaining forces retreated east, encountering brutal battles and a final, devastating defeat. Scattered, the remnants sought refuge and eventually regrouped, with leaders like Zhou Enlai and He Long navigating exile and adversity. The uprising marked the CCP's first armed resistance against the KMT, a prelude to continued revolutionary efforts, notably the Autumn Harvest Uprising, amid widespread, strategic shifts in CCP policy and leadership, including Mao Zedong's influential role.   #120 The Guangzhou, Gansu and Red Spear Uprisings Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Last we left off the Nanchang and Autumn Harvest uprisings saw mixed to….lets be honest kind of lackluster results. Both certainly saw their hardships for the passionate people involved. Countless gave their lives for a cause they truly believed in. This was China's warlord era, so many differing groups made grand promises for bright futures, such as warlords, the KMT and of course the CCP. The CCP having undergone the White Terror, now sought to unleash their own independent revolution, now released by the shackles of the KMT.  On the 7th the CCP Central Committee held an emergency meeting, where Chen Duxiu was criticized for his appeasement of the KMT right wing. It was also during this meeting, the CCP formalized how they would go about implementing a land revolution and armed uprisings. The CCP then received strong suggestions from Joseph Stalin, that they should unleash a major uprising to seize control over a province, hinting at performing such a deed in Guangzhou in the hopes of taking Guangdong. In accordance the head of the CCP Qu Qiubai decided they needed to persuade soldiers to their cause to perform such a thing. Many within the CCP leadership did not support such plans, deeming the chance of winning control over a province to be highly unlikely, but their Soviet advisors were strongly pushing for it.   On the 20th Zhang Tailei, the secretary of the Guangdong CCP provincial committee, discussed plans for a provincial wide uprising. They would mobilize the workers and peasants to hold riots in key locations within Guangdong, particularly Guangzhou. The ultimate plan was to seize Guangdong by establishing uprising committees in Beijiang, Xijiang and Guangzhou. In early October the Nanchang uprising suffered tremendous losses at Chao'an and Shantou. This setback changed the minds of those seeking to seize all of Guangdong and instead they directed their efforts to mobilizing workers in Guangzhou to carry out political and economic struggles. On November 17th within Guangdong and Guangxi, petty warlords began a little war. This was between the KMT aligned warlords Zhang Fakui and Li Jishen. The CCP Central Committee believed this little war was a major opportunity and jumped to exploit it.  Zhang Fakui was vulnerable in particular. He was colluding with Wang Jingwei at the time, his primary job was to eliminate the pervading influence of the CCP in the Guangzhou area. Zhang Fakui's troops continuously rounded up suspected communists and kept a close eye on the Soviet consulate at all times. Zhang Fakui's troops were more or less brutalizing the common people, not a tasteful job by any means and one that demoralized them. It was because of this the CCP knew they might be able to win over some of his troops to their side. The CCP played upon the low standard of living and economic instability of warlord era China, hoping to appeal to the masses for a Soviet communist style system rather than what the KMT proposed. Here is a taste of some of the slogans they wrote on placards and proclaimed in major city centers: Raise the Soldiers' Pay to 20 Silver Dollars! Food for the Workers! Land to the Tillers! Knock Down the KMT and the Warlords! Kill All the Country Bullies and the Evil Landlords! Confiscate the Capitalists' Homes and Give Them to the Rebel Masses! All Authority to the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers! They passed the “resolution of the Guangdong work plan”, this would require the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee to expand some riots using workers and peasants within the cities and villages; incite soldiers to mutiny and resist the war and hopefully direct all said into a general riot to seize power. They would first begin by mobilizing farmers to refuse to pay winter rent and riot if they could. On November 26th, Zhang Tailei went to Guangzhou from Hong Kong covertly and convened a secret meeting with CPP members there. During these meetings it was decided they would take advantage of Zhang Fakui troops, who were currently very demoralized from fighting battles they honestly wanted nothing to do with. Within Guangzhou was the 4th army teaching corps and part of the guards corps amongst smaller CCP militia groups. Zhang Tailei would act as chairman, Huang Ping and Zhou Wenyong would all lead the uprising. After the meeting Zhang Tailei and the others went to the Teaching Corps and Guards Corps to mobilize them, as well as begin training some worker Red Guards who formed into 7 regiments and 2 death squads with Zhou Wengyong as their commander in chief. The Fourth army teaching corps was reorganized from a KMT political school with Ye Jianying as their leader. In early December, Comintern agent Heinz Neumann arrived in Guangdong, to add the uprising. Its said he had a large influence on the committee and took a leading role in what happened. Ye Jianying formed a communist infiltrated cadet regiment roughly 1200 men strong, that would form the core of their army. Added to this was an ad-hoc Red Guard of about 2000 armed workers. On December 6th the Guangdong Provincial Committee chaired by Zhang Tailei approved a declaration and letter to the people as well as made arrangements for the establishment of a Soviet government in Guangzhou. They had decided to enact the uprising on December 12th. In the meantime the headquarters and staff for the uprising were established, Ye Ting would be commander in chief and Ye Jianying would be his deputy. On the eve of the uprising, Wang Jingwei and Zhang Fakui both became aware of the impending uprising so they immediately began disbanding the teaching units, imposed martial law in Guangzhou and transferred their main forces back to Guangzhou. The CCP found out the jig was up so they unleashed the uprising ahead of schedule on the morning of the 11th.  At 3:30am under the leadership of Zhang Tailei, Ye Ting, Huang Ping, Zhou Wenyong, Ye Jianying and Yang Yin, the entire teaching regiment, part of the guard regiment and the armed worker Red Guards totaling about 5000 people, 2000 of which were the Red Guards, launched a surprise attack upon key points in Guangzhou from several directions. Some Soviets, Koreans and Vietnamese in Guangzhou also were said to participate in the uprising. I read that last one from a single source and I kinda doubt it. In fact evidence suggests the CCP leadership was extremely mixed on this uprising. Commanders Ye Ting, Ye Jiangying and Xu Xiangqian strongly suggested against going through with it, arguing they were too badly armed to have any success, only 2000 of them even had rifles. The CCP began by first seducing troops of Zhang Fakui. The first units to enter the city were the infamous dare-to-die units. As the name suggests, these men were like a suicidal vanguard stormed police stations, seizing their weapons and cars. They also took control over city buses and trucks to spread the incoming Red army units throughout the city as fast as possible. Along the eastern route, under the direct command of Ye Ting the main force quickly defeated an infantry regiment stationed in Shahe, capturing 600 prisoners, numerous small firearms and eliminated an artillery regiment stationed at Yantang. On the middle route, part of the teaching regiment and Red Guards captured the KMT Guangdong Provincial government building sitting on the commanding heights of Guangyin Mountain, known today as Yuexiu Mountain. On the southern route, the 3rd battalion of the Guards regiment and Red Guards attacked the headquarters of the 4th army and their arsenal, but encountered stiff resistance and were unable to capture them. Meanwhile peasants in Fangcun, Xicun and suburbs of Guangzhou launched uprisings with some gaining urban worker cooperation. Within 4 hours of battle the uprising was providing results, excluding the headquarters of the 4th army. The armory, rear office of the 12th division of the 4th army, the police forces and urban area north of the Pearl River was secured. They took control over government buildings, the central bank which at that time had a very large silver reserve and numerous barracks. To suppress any resistance they began grabbing KMT troops who refused to comply and executed them in the streets. They also marked and burnt down the residences of KMT officials. They had eliminated numerous enemies and captured 20 artillery pieces and 1000 small arms. That same day members the new Soviet government of Guangzhou was formed with Su Zhaozheng becoming its chairman. Upon its establishment the Guangzhou Soviet declared a “letter to the people” with decrees.  Meanwhile during the outbreak of hostilities, Chen Gongbo, the chairman of the KMT Guangdong provincial government, Zhang Fakui, Huang Qixiang the commander of the 4th Army and other KMT officials hastily fled to the headquarters of Li Fulin's 5th army stationed over at the Haizhong temple on the south bank of the pearl river. There they ordered the 12th division, the 78th rgiment of the 26th division, the 25th division in Dongjiang and the 1st and 2nd regiment of the 1st training division in Shunde to march upon Gaungzhou. This saw roughly 15,000 NRA troops converging upon the city. On the 12th more than 3 of Zhang Fakui's divisions and part of Li Fulin's 5th army assembled along the south bank of the pearl river with the support of British, American, French and Japanese warships and marines. They prepared a counterattack from the east, west and south. The communists fought desperately against much superior forces in terms of numbers, training and equipment. They suffered heavy losses, including the death of Zhang Tailei. Zhang Fakui's troops arrived one after another gradually surrounding the city. At a critical moment the CCP leadership called for a retreat from the city to preserve the forces they had left. The surviving 1000 Reds fled Guangzhou in the early hours of the 13th whereupon they were reorganized into the 4th Red division. They fled to Huaxian, then Haifeng and Lufegen counties where they joined others performing uprisings in the Dongjiang and Youjiang areas. A few survivors went to Shaoguan, joining survivors of the Nanchang uprising led by Zhu De and Chen Yi. After the KMT secured Guangzhou they carried out a bloody suppression of anyone suspecting of being a communist or sympathetic to the cause. The CCP estimated that perhaps more than 5700 people were killed. The Soviet consulate in Guangzhou was also attacked around 8pm on the 13th. All of its personnel were arrested and according to the testimony of Soviet Consul Pokhvalinsky, diplomats Ukolov and Ivanov “Each of them had a sign tied to their body that read: ‘Russian Communist, anyone can punish him at will.' … Along the way, people threw things at them, hit them, stabbed them with knives, and spit on them.” They both would later be shot, alongside the deputy consul named Hasis. Ye Ting, was scapegoated, purged and blamed for the failure of the Guangzhou uprising, despite the fact he was one of the commanders arguing it should have been called off in the first place. Enraged by how he was treated, Ye Ting fled China and went into exile in Europe. Although the Nanchang, Autumn Harvest and Guangzhou uprisings had all failed to achieve their primary objectives, they did kindle a fire within China. Rather then become demoralized and whither away, the communists pushed even more uprisings and would grow each year. This began what the CCP refers to as the “ten year civil war”, a period that will end in 1936. Now we are going to take a little break from the Chinese Civil War until we hit the early 1930's, but there have been quite a lot of events overshadowed by the Northern Expedition. I of course can't get into everything that was going on in China during the late 1920's, but I thought it be a good idea to at least tackle some of the big ones. If you remember all the way back when I was listing the different warlord cliques, one of them was the Ma clique. Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun had been shoved into the northwest after the Anti-Fengtian war and one province his men began to oversee was Gansu. At the time famine, natural disasters and the forced seizure of farming land for opium cultivation drove the people of Gansu to rebellion. Two Hui Muslim Generals, Ma Zhongying and Ma Tingxiang exploited the situation to perform a revolt against the Guominjun in 1928.  Prior to this, there had been a lot of ethnic/religious fighting within the province of Gansu. An American botanist named James Rock wrote accounts of how he saw fighting between the Hui Muslims ld by the warlord Ma Qi and Tibetan Buddhists at the Labrang Monastery. Back in 1917, Tibetans in Xunhua had rebelled against Ma Anliang because of over taxation. Ma Anliang did not report this to the Beiyang government and was reprimanded for it, seeing Ma Qi sent by the Beiyang government to investigate and suppress the rebellion. Ma Qi commanded the Ninghai Army in Qinghai and used his forces to seize the Labrang Monastery in 1917. This was the first time non-Tibetans had taken the monastery. Because of this ethnic/religious riots broke out between Muslims and Tibetans seeing Ma Qi defeat the Tibetans. Afterwards he heavily taxed the town of Labrang for over 8 years and repeatedly quelled uprisings. In 1921 he crushed Tibetan Monks trying to retake the monastery. In 1925 a full blown Tibetan rebellion broke out, seeing thousands attacking Hui Muslims. Ma Qi responded by deploying 3000 troops who quickly retook Labrang and machine gunned thousands of Tibetans trying to flee. Ma Qi would besiege Labrang numerous times seeing Hui Muslims, Mongols and Tibetans all fighting for control over Labrang, but by 1927 Ma Qi gave it all up. Ma Qi became the governor of Qinghai and moved on. However, that was not the last Labrang would see of General Ma Qi. The Hui forces looted and ravaged the monastery again and in revenge Tibetans skinned alive many Hui soldiers. One of the most common practices was to slice open the stomach of a living soldier and then put hot rocks inside the stomach. Many Hui women were sold to the ethnic Han and Kazakhs. Children were adopted by the Tibetans. Now come 1927, Feng Yuxiang became the governor of Gansu. To control the region, Feng Yuxiang incorporated and promoted Hui Muslim Generals within his Guominjun. Feng Yuxiang placed Liu Yufen with 15,000 troops to act as governor while he jumped into the northern expedition. There was a particularly nasty earthquake that year, followed by drought and famine. Liu Yufen responded to the situation by overtaxing the populace. During the later half of the northern expedition, Zhang Zuolin fomented any rebellious fires he could amongst his enemies and he could see within Gansu there was an opportunity to exploit. He began sending shipments of weapons to the son of Ma Anliang, Ma Tingxiang who unleashed a revolt against Liu Yufen in Liangzhou. The revolt soon spread and this saw Ma Tingxiang unleash a siege against Hezhou in the spring of 1928. To support the siege, Ma Zhongying recruited Hui, Dongxiang and Salar Muslims, forming an army nearly 10,000 strong. By November, the Hezhou besiegers numbered 25,000 and were beginning to starve. So the men were directed towards the Tao River Valley in the south where they began slaughtering Tibetan monks. They burned the place of the Tibetan Tusi Chief King Yang Jiqing after defeating his 3000 man strong army and sacked the Tibetan city of Chone. The Tibetan areas south of Gansu were laid to waste. At Taozhou Tibetan militias tried to fight off the force of Ma Tingxiang but were defeated. However they did inflict severe casualties upon Ma Tingxiang's forces. This only emboldened more atrocities, seeing muslim forces burn printing presses and temples of the Tibetan Buddhists in Chone. The muslims then looted the Gompa (for those who don't know a Gompa is a sacred Buddhist spiritual compound, sort of like a buddhist university) and massacred the Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Labrang monastery.  The Austrian-American botanist Joseph Rock witnessed much of the carnage and even found himself stuck in a battle in 1929. He described seeing Muslim armies leaving behind Tibetan skeletons over wide areas and decorated the Labrang Monastery with severed Tibetan heads. During the 1929 battle of Xiahe near Labrang, severed Tibetan heads were apparently used as ornaments by Hui Muslim troops within their camps. Rock stated “how the heads of young girls and children were staked around the encampment. Ten to fifteen heads were fastened to the saddle of every Muslim cavalryman. The heads were "strung about the walls of the Moslem garrison like a garland of flowers" The blood flowed until 1929 whence Liu Yufen with support of Feng Yuxiang finally drove off their forces. Its estimated up to 2 million died in the war across Gansu. Ma Tingxiang tried to defect to Chiang Kai-Shek, but would find himself captured later by Feng Yuxiang who executed him. Another notable rebellion occurred in the good old province of Shandong, because where else right?  You may remember me talking about a small group known as the Red Spear Society. They were a movement made up of peasants, who formed self-defense militias during China's Warlord Era. There were numerous branches, but the largest one was in Shandong, particularly within Laiyang county. They of course were so numerous in Shandong because of our old friend the Dogmeat General Zhang Zongchang. Zhang Zongchang notoriously abused the populace of Shandong with gross mismanagement, over taxation and pure brutality. Lets also be honest, Shandong just keeps rearing its head through this podcast series, its basically the melting pot for uprisings. In the fall of 1928, banditry rose exponentially across the Shandong Peninsula, leading more and more villages to join the Red Spear Society trying to defend themselves. Meanwhile with Zhang Zongchang defeated and tossed into exile in Dalian, his subordinate, Liu Zhennian became the new ruler of the province. Liu Zhennian had defected to the KMT at the very last moment, betraying his master so he could steal his fiefdom. Liu Zhennians rule was just as bad if not worse than the Dogmeat General. He overtaxed the population, though a little less than Zhang Zongchang mind you. He used his personal army to brutalize the population, many of his troops simply became bandits looting and pillaging the countryside. All of this further antagonized the Red Spear Society.  In 1928 the Red Spear Society organized a militant tax resistance, causing Liu Zhennians officials to fear even going near a village, particularly at Laiyang and Zhaoyuan where large concentrations of Red Spears were. Now the Red Spears were not the only problem that would hit Shandong in the late 1920's. Our good friend, Zhang Zongchang, exiled in Dalian could not take it anymore and wanted to seize back his power base from his former subordinate. He formed a plot to perform an uprising in Shandong with the help of Chu Yupu and Huang Fengqi. Zhang Zongchang first enlisted the help of one of his former White Russian Commanders, Generals Grigory Semyonov and Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev. Zhang Zongchangs plan to recapture Shandong rested upon the tens of thousands of his former soldiers still within the province. Many of them had not joined the NRA and instead tossed their lot in as bandits. Within quite a precarious economic situation without a real leader, many of them were willing to come back to Zhang Zongchang. These men were certainly not in the best shape. They were demoralized, lacked weapons and training, but they did have one thing going for them. Their war was to be against Liu Zhennians forces and not the crack NRA. Liu Zhennians forces were technically part of the NRA, but in reality they were just a bunch of under trained Fengtian troops who had no real allegiance to the new Nationalist government. They had zero support from the population of Shandong, whom they terrorized. Zhang Zongchang would also have the financial backing of Japan for his little venture.  When Zhang Zongchang came over to Shandong, this caused Liu Zhennians garrison units at Longkou and Huangxian to mutiny in late January of 1929. The local commanders, Liu Kaitai, Xu Tienpin, Li Xutung and Kao Pengqi all began working to overthrow Liu Zhennian. They renounced their allegiance to the KMT and began a revolt. Roughly 3000 men strong consisting of Zhang ZOngchangs former Shandong troops and some Ex-Zhili forces they began to loot and pillage Longkou, Huangxian and Dengzhou. The foreign communities in these parts fled to two Japanese warships at harbor. The Imperial Japanese Navy then sent a squadron to protect their citizens in the area. This was soon followed up by 20,000 troops of Liu Zhennian. However instead of facing Liu Zhennian's men, the mutineers fled into areas defended by the Red Spears. The mutineers and Red Spears formed an alliance, and they prepared an offensive against Longkou. In February the rebels gained the upper hand and pushed Liu Zhennian into the Zhifu area in northeastern Shandong. On February 19th, Zhang Zongchang, Chu Yupu and Huang Fengqi landed at Longkou with a small detachment. The mutineers promptly joined their old master and as he set up a new HQ at Dengzhou. From there they marched upon Zhifu. 15 miles short of Zhifu Zhang Zongchang's now 5000 man strong army ran into Liu Zhennians near Fushan. Zhang Zongchang was hopelessly outnumbered, but luckily Huang Fengqi had spent most of February recruiting their old comrades and managed to assemble 26,000 troops. Meanwhile, Liu Zhennian now had fewer troops than Zhang Zongchang and his KMT backers did not support him very much. What he did receive from the KMT was 200,000 rounds of ammunition, and roughly 50,000 yuan for military funds. Furthermore he was impaired by the presence of the IJN who were secretly supporting Zhang Zongchang by not allowing NRA reinforcements into the area. After a series of skirmishes, Zhang Zongchang arrived at Zhifu with a force nearly 25,000 strong, while Liu Zhennian only had 7000 men left to defend the town. On february 21st the two sides clashed and surprisingly it was Zhang Zongchang who lost. Despite their numbers, they simply were not armed well enough to fight an army who enjoyed fortifications. Another issue they faced was the fact, Zhang Zongchang was not even present during the battle. Zhang Zongchang suffered 500 casualties, roughly 200 deaths and 300 captured, perhaps worse he lost nearly 3000 rifles and 15 machine guns. He pulled back his army to Dengzhou, undaunted by the defeat. Zhang Zongchang's troops then began pillaging the local population. Zhang Zongchang began negotiations with Liu Zhennian trying to convince him to surrender. Certainly Liu Zhennian was not in a good state, by February 25th roughly 15,000 of his troops near the area of Weihaiwei had defected to Zhang Zongchang. By the end of the month Zhang Zongchang effectively controlled eastern Shandong. It was around early March when Zhang Zongchang announced a new warlord coalition, consisting of himself, Chu Yupu, Qi Xieyuan, Wu Peifu, Bai Chongxi, Yan Xishan and countless Fengtian commanders who would soon launch a campaign to defeat the KMT. You are probably thinking to yourself, some of those names don't make any sense, why would they join old Dogmeat? They didn't, he simply made the entire thing up, because he had something cooking in Beijing. Zhang Zongchang sought to foment an anti-KMT movement in north China. On March 2nd, 20 armed men wearing civilian clothing suddenly disarmed the Shanxi Army guards at the Yonghe Temple. These men then fired into the air signaling a regiment loyal to Zhang Zongchang to perform a mutiny. The mutineers quickly manned the temple walls, barricaded themselves in and seized control over nearby fortifications. From their vantage points they began shooting at the local populace causing panic and disorder. Then at lightning speed the KMT forces in Beijing surrounded the Yonghe Temple and forced the mutineers to surrender. Only 2 mutineers were killed, 35 were wounded, but a lot of civilians had been hurt. Despite being a bit comical if you think about it, the Beijing Revolt as it became known received a lot of press. The Nanjing government then took some steps to prevent any more Shandong NRA troops from joining the rebels. Meanwhile back over in eastern Shandong, Zhang Zongchangs troops had literally razed 6 large towns and 50 villages to the ground, apparently in retaliation because someone tried to assassinate Zhang Zongchang. It would not take much for those back under the Dogmeat Generals rule to want to kill him. He was back to his old brutal ways, going even above and beyond. It is said captured women were being sold as slaves at Huangxian for 10-20 mexican dollars. One of Zhang Zongchangs commanders, General Li Xudong had his forces plunder Laizhou before returning to the frontlines around Zhifu. Liu Zhennians forces were likewise looting, albeit on a smaller scale. Liu Zhennian was also ignoring orders from Chiang Kai-Shek to control his men and act in accordance with NRA protocols, IE: no raping, looting and such. The civilian population of Zhifu were so brutalized many simply fled for Dalian. There emerged a growing international concern for the foreign community in eastern Shandong. Several foreign warships began to anchor there. Meanwhile the Red Spear Society was occupying parts of Shandongs hinterland, expanding their influence as countless villages and towns joined them for protection. The Red Spear Society were not the only ones forming localize self defense forces. Being Shandong, the act of doing so had been as ancient as time it self, a lot of irregular armed groups rose up such as the one 2000 man strong army led by Wang Zucheng known as the “southern army” and another force calling themselves the White Spear Society. This group was explicitly raised to defend local villages from Zhang Zongchangs men, but quickly found themselves under attack from local armed groups as well. The White Spears, like the Red Spears, formed a powerbase in Shandongs hinterland.  By early March, Zhang Zongchang and Liu Zhennian agreed to a 5 day ceasefire. Zhang Zongchang followed this up by trying to bribe Liu Zhennian to defect back to him. He offered him 100,000 yuan but in Liu Zhennians words "I thought my loyalty was worth at least 500,000 yuan". Zhang Zongchang was unwilling to pay that much, so Liu Zhennian remained on the side of the KMT. Thus both parties gathered more troops to do battle, once the 5 days were over Zhang Zongchang attacked Zhifu. While under siege, Liu Zhennian received 7000 reinforcements from a local warlord named Sun Dianying. Unfortunately soon after, one of Liu Zhennians regimental commanders, Colonel Liang defected to Zhang Zongchang, opening the gates of the city. Liu Zhennians forces managed to retreat in good order eastwards as Zhang Zongchang began brutalizing the local population. A 6 day long spree of rape, murder and looting devestated Zhifu. By March 28th the Japanese and KMT government signed an agreement resulting in the departure of Japanese forces from Shandong. Meanwhile Liu Zhennian's army had fled to Muping where they found themselves yet again under siege. Liu Zhennian sortied to attack his assailants, inflicting 2000 casualties. As the siege progressed, Liu Zhennian offered to surrender on April 4th, but Zhang Zongchang refused, thinking he had the win in the bag. Unfortunately for Zhang Zongchang, his men gradually sought to plunder the undefended countryside rather than maintain the siege, greatly reducing his strength. During a final attempt to take Muping on April 22nd, Zhang Zongchang's army was routed. Liu Zhennian launched a counter offensive forcing most of Zhang Zongchangs men into the countryside. Countless simply became bandits again, Zhang Zongchangs big attempt to retake the province had crumbled.  Zhang Zongchang yet again fled to Dalian, leaving Chu Yupu with just under 5000 men. Chu Yupu fled to Fushan where he took its 20,000 inhabitants hostage. For 13 days Chu Yupu was besieged by NRA forces. During those 13 days, Chu Yupu's men raped, murdered and looted. Apparently they tied up over 400 women and children to be used as human shields during the siege as well. Chu Yufu eventually surrendered, whereupon numerous women and girls committed suicide having become raped and pregnant. Over 1500 NRA and 2000 rebels were reportedly killed during the siege of Fushan. The city that had been plundered heavily for 13 days, was then plundered by the besiegers. Chu Yupu had secured a deal with the KMT to be allowed to go into exile in Korea with 400,000$ worth of silver. Now again back to those Red Spears. By the summer of 1929 they had ballooned into what was effectively a proto-state around Dengzhou. They had established a magistrate, taken over all the local administration and introduced land and head taxes to fund themselves…which is ironic. Within their territory they refused to pay governmental taxes. They introduced a forced conscription of at least one member of each family. The taxes collected funded buying arms and ammunition and any NRA or KMT officials who came near were shot on sight. It got to the point if anyone was caught speaking without the local dialect they were turned away. By august they were roughly 60,000 strong and were too large for Liu Zhennian not to deal with any longer. On September 23rd Liu Zhennien unleashed an encirclement campaign between Dengzhou and Huangxian, performing a scorched earth policy. His troops destroyed 18 villages and largely burned down another 60 killing everyone they encountered, whether man, woman or child. By November the Red Spears in the area ceased to exist. It was just another sunny day in Shandong province.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Guangzhou uprisings was another testament to the lengths the CCP would go to try and carve out a new communist China. The Gansu and Red Spear uprisings were just a few amongst countless tales of the absolute mayhem and chaos that was China's warlord era, when the real victims were always the same, the common people of China.  

In this episode, we revisit Telford to uncover the tragic case of Dalian Atkinson, a former football star whose life ended in a devastating confrontation with the police. Join us as we explore the events leading up to that fateful night in August 2016, the intense investigation that followed, and the legal battles that brought long-awaited scrutiny and justice. We'll examine the impact of Dalian's medical condition, the actions of the officers involved, and the broader implications for policing and accountability. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quer melhorar a performance da sua carteira e minimizar os riscos? Preencha o formulário para participar da pré consultoria com o meu time de especialistas e conhecer a estratégia de maior sucesso da Levante: https://app.pipefy.com/public/form/JylJv372 18/09 – “Super Quarta” decisão de juros nos EUA e Brasil – IBOV cai e mercado americano de lado Olá, seja bem-vindo ao Fechamento de Mercado da Levante comigo Ricardo Afonso! Mercado teve como grande destaque a decisão de política monetária nos EUA subindo sua taxa de juros em 0,50 pontos percentuais para o intervalo de 4,75% - 5,00% Por que a Bolsa performou assim? 1º. A bolsa fechou em queda pressionada por bancos, Petro e Vale que caíram durante a seção acompanhando no caso da Vale o minério que caiu de preço na volta do Feriado chines e Petro na contra mão do petróleo que operou próximo do zero durante boa parte do dia. 2º. Entre as ações mais negociadas no dia a Petro caiu cerca de 2% Vale em queda de quase 1% e Itub caindo meio por cento. 3º. Entre as 10 mais negociadas apenas 3 subiram (RENT +0,90%, HAPV +0,65% e Weg +0,11%) 4º. O preço do petróleo caiu quase 1% negociando o Brent na faixa dos 73 dólares e o WTI na casa dos 69 dólares. 5º. O minério de ferro teve uma queda na seção asiática de 1,84% e caiu 4,12% em Dalian. 6º. O mercado americano apesar da grande expectativa gerada pela corte na taxa de juros fechou próximo do zero a zero. 7º. O contrato do dólar futuro opera em queda de 0,50% aos 5.460 as 17:00hrs seguindo uma sequencia de queda talvez precificando uma subida na taxa de juros local (SELIC) 8º. O juros americano fechou em alta de 1,10% e nosso DI (Juros futuro) fechou em queda de 0,04%. MAIORES ALTAS BRKM5 +6.93% R$ 20,20 AZZA3 +3.25% R$ 48,67 USIM5 +2.63% R$ 6,25 EZTC3 +2.22% R$ 15,20 CVCB3 +1.91% R$ 2,13 MAIORES BAIXAS CMIN3 -5.80% R$ 6,50 MRFG3 -4.01% R$ 14,11 JBSS3 -3.52% R$ 32,93 AZUL4 -3.36% R$ 6,04 BRFS3 -2.76% R$ 24,32 Conheça a Levante Investimentos: Conheça nossas *Séries de Investimentos*: https://lvnt.app/4q3u3b Acompanhe nosso Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levante.investimentos/ Fique ligado nas principais notícas do mercado no nosso canal no Telegram: https://lvnt.app/zuntm0

“Our Teacher” is a collection of essays written by students of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). This series is comprised of their personal experiences with the practice and their interactions with its founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, when the practice was first taught to the public. The writings were originally published on the Minghui […]

“Our Teacher” is a collection of essays written by students of Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong). This series is comprised of their personal experiences with the practice and their interactions with its founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, when the practice was first taught to the public. The writings were originally published on the Minghui […]

In this episode, podcast co-hosts Dr. Dwight Stoll and Dr. James Grinias discuss highlights and observations from the recently completed HPLC2024 that was held in Denver, Colorado in July. The “HPLC Meeting”, as the conference is affectionately known by regular attendees, is widely regarded as the premier venue to discuss the latest advances in liquid chromatography research and applications, and is well attended by influencers in the community from both academic and industrial research laboratories. This year's meeting was no exception, with fantastic talks and posters presented by scientists from around the world. In the conversation, we discuss some of the major themes and trends we observed at the meeting, including the proliferation of research around therapeutic oligonucleotides, and the increasing emphasis on the “green-ness” of analytical science in general, and liquid phase separations in particular. We also highlight the recipients of several awards presented at the meeting, and the value of attending the meeting, especially for students and other young scientists. Upcoming instances of the HPLC Meeting will be held in Dalian, China (2024), Bruges, Belgium (2025), and Indianapolis in the U.S. (2026).

This week, my narration of a longish essay about my recently-concluded four-week trip to Dalian and, more importantly, Beijing — my first time back in the city I called home for so long since the COVID pandemic. If you prefer to read rather than listen, you can find the essay — free for everyone this week — on the Substack. I hope you enjoy this!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last time we spoke about the Zhejiang-Fengtian War, part of the Anti-Fengtian War. Sun Chuanfang had rising through the ranks and quickly seized himself a powerbase in southeast China. Zhang Zuolin and his Fengtian commanders meanwhile became quite arrogant and began bullying and seizing as much territory as they could. This led the Fengtian forces to begin encroaching in Sun Chuanfang newfound territory of Zhejiang. Assuming Sun Chuanfang like the rest would not resist them, they were certainly surprised when he did. Sun Chuanfang formed a coalition with the warlords that controlled Jiangasu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui and his own Zhejiang to fight off the Fengtian menace. Sun Chuanfang went straight onto the offensive, surprising the Fengtian who were in a passive phase and ultimately defeating them, pushing them further north to Shandong. Sun Chuandfang's victory in the Zhejiang-Fengtian War marked the peak of his career, but peaks tend to fall.   #109 The Anti-Fengtian War Part 2: The Guominjun-Fengtian War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. In the previous episode we spoke about the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. It was part of a larger war known loosely as the anti-fengtian war or third Zhili-fengtian war. To be blunt, if you look up the anti-fengtian war, they barely take notice of the Zhejiang-Fengtian War. Most of the focus is directed north, particularly with the conflict between the Guominjun and Fengtian. Certainly the Guominjun took the spotlight during this war as Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zuolin were clearly fighting for dominance over Beijing. However Zhang Zuolin was simply too powerful and began to bully his way across China. Through Duan Qirui and the Beiyang government, Zhang Zuolin secured vital positions for his subordinates. The 5th Fengtian army commander Kan Chaoxi was ordered to take two Fengtian Mixed Brigades and occupy Rehe province as its governor. Li Jinglin the commander of the Fengtian 2nd army and a Hubei native, became the military inspector of Hubei. Zhang Zongchang was given the title of commander in chief of suppressing banditry in Jiangsu, Shandong and Anhui which further led him to become the governor of Shandong. Yang Yuting was made governor over Jiangsu and Jiang Dengxuan over Anhui.. By 1925 the Fengtian military was 370,000 men strong across land, sea and air. By January of 1925, Fengtian forces began occupying Shanghai, threatening Sun Chuanfang who unleashed the Zhejiang-Fengtian War in retaliation As for Feng Yuxiang, he was unable to exert any real control in Beijing. He had received the title of inspector general over the northwest, effectively a military governorship. This saw him gain direct control over Rehe, Chahar and Suiyuan. In early 1925 he moved his headquarters to Kalgan. Through his subordinates and allies he also exerted control in Hunan, Shanxi and Gansu. Because of his recent acquisition of Soviet aid, his armies were growing in size, though declining in quality. He had gradually distanced himself from Zhang Zuolin. In January of 1925 Feng Yuxiang was being excluded by Duan Qirui and Zhang Zuolin. At this point Feng Yuxiang met Li Dazhao as Soviet military advisors were coming to help train his forces. In the late spring and summer Feng Yuxiang dispatch young officers to study in the Soviet Union. After a very strict examination period, presided over by Feng Yuxiang, 24 out of 300 students were enlisted into the Soviet Officer training corps. Another 24 were sent to Japan. When the May 13th incident broke out, Feng Yuxiang alongside some subordinates sent a telegram to Duan Qirui asking the Beiyang government to "take the external situation seriously and not to worry about it, and expressed his willingness to go to the front for the country". Feng Yuxiang then began supporting student demonstrations and on June 13th had his troops all wear black armbands to mourn the Shanghai martyrs. Feng Yuxiang pushed his men to donate to the Shanghai strike workers and personally donated 10,000 yuan. Feng Yuxiang watched costly the events unfold in the southeast. Upon discovering Sun Chuanfang was gaining the upper hand, Feng Yuxiang finally made his move. He began secretly extending his hand to just about anyone who would join with him to fight the Fengtian forces. Obviously Sun Chuanfang was immediately receptive. Feng Yuxiang then reached out within the Fengtian clique to see if any disgruntled commanders would defect. He flirted with Li Jinglin, the current governor over Hubei province. It seemed Li Jinglin was completely on board for the time being as another Fengtian commander welcomed the invitation. Guo Songling, holding the courtesy name Maochen, was born on December 25th of 1883 in Yuqiaozhai village of Dongling district in Liaoning province. In 1903 Guo Songling began studying under Mr. Dong Hanru in Changwangzhai. However he was soon forced to pull out of school because of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. In Autumn of 1905, General Zhao Erxun established the Fengtian Army Primary School at Dabeiguan in Fengtian. Guo Songling immediately joined up. The next year he met Fang Shengtao, a member of the Tongmenghui where he became exposed to revolutionary ideology. In 1907 Guo Songling graduated with honors and soon served as a sentry to the Shengjiang General's office. He was soon taken under the wing of commander Zhu Qinglan.  In 1909 Guo Songling was transferred to Chengdu, Sichuan alongside Zhu Qinglan. The next year Guo Songling joined the nationalist army of the Tongmenghui, joining the Tongmenghui as well. In 1911 the Sichuan Railway protection movement broke out and Guo Songling joined the uprising. By this point he was promoted to commander of the 2nd battalion of the 68th regiment, responsible for the defense of northern Chengdu. He persuaded the masses to lift the siege without bloodshed. The governor of Sichuan, Zhao Erfeng dismissed Guo Songlong, suspecting him to be colluding with bandits, but later restored him to his original post at the request of Zhu Qinglan. After the Wuchang uprising, various regions of Sichuan declared independence one after another. In Chengdu a new government formed with Zhu Qinglan as deputy governor. However sichuan generals soon instigated local troops to launch a mutiny, forcing Zhu Qinglan and many Hakka Generals to flee Sichuan. Guo Songling then decided to return to Fengtian province.  Back in Fengtian he joined another uprising movement led by Zhang Rong, but he was quickly arrested by the Qing government and beheaded. At this point one Han Shuxiu risked her life trying to stop the carriage carrying Zhang Rong to his execution. She was caught, but before they seized her, she told the police she was the fiance of Guo Songling, and this led them to let her go. She married Guo Songling shortly after. In 1912 Guo Songling entered the Beijing Officers institute and the next year he entered the army university. After graduating he served as a Beijing military academy instructor. In 1917 after Sun Yat-Sen established his military government in Guangzhou, Guo Songling joined up as the chief of staff to the Guangdong-Jiangxi-Hunan Border defense and became the battalion commander of the Guangdong provincial army. After Sun Yat-Sen saw some major defeats, Guo Songling departed Guangzhou, yet again returning to Fengtian where he took up a position as a tactical instructor for the military academy of Manchuria. It was here he met Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang soon recommended him to his dad who made him chief of staff and head of the 2nd regiment. By 1921 he was the head of the 8th Brigade.  During the first Zhili-Fengtian war of 1922, the eastern route force led by Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling shattered Wu Peifu's plan to break through Shanhaiguan. During the second Zhili-Fengtian war of 1924, Zhang Xueliang and Guo Songling were serving as commander and deputy commander of the 3rd army. Alongside Jiang Dengxuan and Han Linchun commanding the 1st army, they soundly defeated the Zhili forces winning the war. Zhang Zuolin then appointed his son as commander of the BEijing-Yulin garrison with Guo Songling as his deputy commander. As Zhang Zuolin dispatched Fengtian commanders into China proper to occupy southern provinces. Guo Songling believed Zhang Zuolin and many of his commanders were becoming war mongers, and proposed a different strategy, emphasizing pulling back forces into China's interior to try and win over rural populations. Other commanders worked to politically exclude Guo Songling from Zhang Zuolin's ear, such as Yang Yuting, thus Guo Songling's proposal was rejected.  In 1925 Guo Songling took his wife to Japan to study military affairs. While in Japan Guo Songling learnt Zhang Zuolin was dispatched his troops south drawing Sun Chuanfang into a war. He also learned the extent of Zhang Zuolin's dealings with the Japanese and became disgusted with how he was seemingly selling out China. Now Guo Songling's wife Han Shuxiu was a graduate of Yenching University and a classmate of Feng Yuxiang's wife, Li Dequan. They had a good relationship and were close contacts. Han Shuxiu learned about Feng Yuxiang's dealings with the Soviets and told Guo Songling who became quite excited. Guo Songling had acquired quite a few grievances under Zhang Zuolin and wanted to overthrow him. Therefore he began to secretly negotiate with Feng Yuxiang. In November Guo Songling was recalled to China for the war effort. Instead of aiding the war effort, On November 22nd, Guo Songling raised an army in Luanzhou and sent a telegram stating he was rebelling against Zhang Zuolin. He called his force the “Northeast National Army”. Jiang Dengxuan rushed over to Luanzhou station to try and reason with Guo Songling, but was arrested upon entering the city. Guo Songling tried to persuade Jiang Dengxuan to join him to oppose Zhang Zuolin, but Jiang simply scolded him. Guo Songling then had him shot on November 26th. Guo Songling raised 70,000 troops who quickly captured Shanhaiguan. In the face of the onslaught, Zhang Zuolin only had 40,000 troops in the vicinity, as he had dispatched the vast majority of his forces into China proper to expand the Fengtian empire. Pretty ironic, the guy who told him to pull back his forces into the interior was now attacking his interior. Guo Songling's forces brushed aside the Fengtian armies, seizing Suizhong, Xingcheng and Jinzhou. The Fengtian forces were taken completely off guard and were quickly pushed towards the east bank of the Liaohe River. Guo Songling's main target was Mukden, which he soon erected a siege against. Guo Songling since November 22nd began repeatedly sending telegrams to Zhang Zuolin demanding he step down and allow his son Zhang Xueliang to take over. If Zhang Zuolin would simply do so, he promised to stop his rebellion. Zhang Zuolin panicked and began frantically placing a bounty over Guo Songling's head, up to 800,000 yuan. With no one to turn to, Zhang Zuolin ran with his tail between his legs to the Japanese asking if their Kwantung Army could stop Guo Songling. Zhang Zuolin knew very well the kind of man Guo Songling was. He knew the mans personality and vigor was a huge threat politically, allegedly Zhang Zuolin began the process of forming his resignation and peace talks. Zhang Zuolin was seen packing 29 cars with furniture and his valuables heading over to Dalian to flee, most likely for Japan. It is also said he had a ton of firewood and gasoline positioned around his mansion, so it could be burned down if Guo Songling got to it. Countless Fengtian civilian and military officials also began fleeing with their families, it was pure chaos. The Japanese were certainly not pleased with the situation. The Kwantung Army certainly did not want Guo Songling to gain power, it most certainly spelt doom over their dominance over Manchuria. Guo Songling was in league with Feng Yuxiang and to the Japanese this meant in one way or another, he was a communist sympathizer. The Japanese view of Guo Songling was “Guo's intention was to expel Zhang himself, clearly implement the Three Principles of the Kuomintang , involve the three northeastern provinces in war, attract Soviet forces into Manchuria, and induce a situation that Japan's national defense and Manchuria-Mongolia policy could not forgive." The president of the Manchuria railway company, Yasuhiro Banichiro believed “if Guo's rebellion was successful, the three northeastern provinces would be ravaged by the communist movement, and there might be a "free zone" without the Manchurian Railway and Kwantung Leased Territory." Consul General Yoshida Shigeru in Tianjin reported that if Guo Songling took over Manchuria, it was sure the Kuomintang would move in and the threat of communism with them. Thus the Japanese believed that Zhang Zuolin needed to stay in power. The Japanese began mediating a peace deal, highlighting how they wished both sides would recognize their empire's rights in Manchuria and Mongolia. They also added, if these demands were not respected they would go to war with either of them. Guo Songling slammed the table to this and shouted "How can this be! This is China's internal affairs! I don't understand what Japan's special rights are!" Then Zhang Zuolin made a secret agreement with the Japanese, caving into all their demands if the Kwantung army would send troops.  On december 8th, the Kwantung Army issued a warning to Guo Songling to stay 20 miles away from the south manchurian railway concession or they would get involved. The Kwantung army was taken measures to halt Guo Songling's advance and give Zhang Zuolin time to get his forces over. On the 9th the Japanese 10th divisional HQ moved from Liaoyang to Fengtian. The 63rd regiment,  1st artillery battalion and 1st Cavalry battalion of Gongzhuling alongside garrison units all converged upon Fengtian trying to intercept Guo Songling. On the 12th Guo Songling's vanguard arrived near Baiqibao. His right wing prepared an assault against Yingkou. On the 14th as they tried to enter Yingkou they were suddenly blocked by Japanese forces and issued another warning to back off. Guo Songling's men were thus banned from the urban area, forced to take the fighting along the Liaohe river. This was a huge obstacle between them at Fengtian, they would have to go 30 km's around the south manchuria railway to get to it. On the 15th the Japanese decided to withdraw part of the IJA 24th division from Korea and part of the 12th Division from Kurume to form a Manchuria expeditionary army that would be deployed in Fengtian to stop Guo Songling. On the 17th the main bulk of Guo Songling's army entered Baiqibao. On the 20th Guo Songling captured Xinmin and his vanguard was now arriving to the west bank of the Juliu river, due southwest of Mukden. Guo Songlings men could see the lights of Fengtian cities as they awaited the rest of the army to ford the river. The next day the main force arrived in Xinmen setting up a new HQ. The Fengtian defenses were led by Zhang Xueliang who deployed along the east bank of the Juliu river from Damintun to Gongzhutun. Wu Junsheng's 6th army, consisting mostly of cavalry were rushing south from Heilongjiang to take up a position on the Fengtian left wing while Zhang Zuoiangs 5th army was coming over from Jilin for the right wing. Zhang Xueliang personally led the 3rd army within the middle. Guo Songling set up his men along the west bank of the Juliu river, arranging them from north to south in the order of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th armies. On the 22nd Guo Songling gave the order for a general attack to take place the next day. The net day his army launched their attack against Zhang Xueliang's middle position, finding he was utilizing heavy Japanese weaponry. Zhang Zuoxiang attack with his right wing, quickly occupying Beigaotaizi, before hooking around to cut off Guo Songlings line of retreat. Then Wu Junsheng's left wing seized Liuhegou and assaulted Baiqibao where he burned Guo Songlings ammunition dumps, weaponry and provisions. Now Guo Songling's supply line was compromised and his rear was threatened. At this point Zhang Xueliang went out of his way to dispatch air forces to drop letters trying to get his friend to stop the rebellion. Without any response from Guo Songling, Zhang Xueliang took his force and began surrounding his army. That night Guo Songling held a meeting where his generals Zou Zuohua and Gao Jiyi advocated for a ceasefire and to go to the peace talks. Other generals such as Liu Wei and Fan Pujiang advocated to keep on fighting. In the end Guo Songling elected to keep the war going and decided to engage in a decisive battle on the 24th.  On the 24th, Guo Songling personally led the battle, launching three fierce attacks against the Fengtian forces. However Zuo Zuohua, his chief of staff defected, withdrawing an artillery brigade as he did so, greatly hampering the war effort. Guo Songling's army was defeated, he gave permission for his subordinates, even his personal guards to try and escape if they could during the night. Guo Songling and his wife Han Shuxiu were both captured by Wang Yongqing, the brigade commander of Wu Junshengs army. They were to be taken to Mukden for trial. On December 25th Wang Yongqing was escorting them when he received orders issued by Yang Yuting, Guo Songling's political rival. The orders were simply to shoot them on the spot. Now depending who you hear this story from, many claim it was actually Zhang Zuolin who sent the order. Historians believe Yang Yuting was worried Zhang Xueliang would rescue Guo Songling so he advised Zhang Zuolin it was best to simply kill him so the ordeal would not be repeated. At 10am Guo Songling and his wife were shot near Laodafang in Liaozhong county. Their bodies were transported to Mukden, which I should be calling Shenyang, I apologize the names change back and forth. Their bodies were left exposed in the Xiaoheyan stadium for three days. Thus ended the month long rebellion of Guo Songling. Now while all of that was breaking out in Manchuria, Feng Yuxiang had unleashed his war as well. In early december Feng Yuxiang led the Guominjun forces east launching a massive attack into Rehe province. Now if you recall, Feng Yuxiang had brokered a deal with Li Jinglin, and these parts of Rehe were his territory. Thus Li Jinglin saw this as a betrayal. He sent a telegram denouncing Feng Yuiang "He fooled his subordinates and used the heresy of communism to destroy the great defense and morality.I carry the sword for the country, not for party disputes or for profit, but only for this humanitarianism, in order to destroy the public enemy of the world and save our morality from the decline of five thousand years.It doesn't matter whether we are enemies or not, but only whether we are red or not.” Li Jinglin fought tenaciously against the Guominjun, however by December 23rd, Feng Yuxiang had seized Tianjin. Meanwhile alongside Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu had also joined the Zhili fight against the Fengtian forces, thus he was loosely allied to Feng Yuxiang. When Guo Songling's rebellion crumbled, it seemed clear to all, Feng Yuxiang was about to face the full brunt of Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian armies, who had withdrawn into the interior to meet his threat. While Feng Yuxiang dominated the Beijing area, it was only a matter of time before the Fengtian swarmed him. Wu Peifu had been quietly building up his powerbase in Hunan. While he appeared to be a good ally to the anti-Fengtian cause, he was anything but. The only person, Wu Peifu hated more than Zhang Zuolin, was of course Feng Yuxiang, the man who stabbed him in the back and ruined his Zhili dominated China dream. If Wu Peifu were to join Zhang Zuolin they would effectively surround and isolate Feng Yuxiangs pocket in the north. Wu Peifu knew if he wanted to rejoin the big boys club, he would have to kowtow to Zhang Zuolin and take up a subordinate position. If lets say Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin dominated Beijing again, they would be able to squeeze any funding away from Feng Yuxiang, shoving him back into the northwest, whence they could gradually beat him up. Thus Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin settled their differences and formed an alliance against the treacherous Feng Yuxiang. Its kind of funny but Feng Yuxiang had betrayed both men at some point so it was sort of the binding glue to their new found relationship. The Zhili and Fengtian cliques had united once again, this time calling themselves the Anti-Red coalition. Their objective was quite simple, they would surround and strangle Feng Yuxiang's army. On January 20th Feng Yuxiang had launched a battle against their new coalition at Shanhaiguan, Shandong and Henan simultaneously. Zhang Xueliang led his army to occupy Luanzhou before advancing towards Tianjin. Zhang Zongchang, whose army had withdrawn into Shandong after Sun Chuanfang had defeated them now attacked from the south. Zhang Zuolin dispatched a special envoy to officially form a alliance with Wu Peifu, asking him to attack Feng Yuxiang from his position and if possible see if Yan Xishan could be lured into the scuffle as well. Wu Peifu took his rather meager forces and marched north from Hubei into Hunan. His relatively weak army was assisted by the Red Spear Society. These were a rural self-defense movement that sprang up in Hebei, Henan and Shandong in the 1920s. They were local small land owners and tenant farmers trying to defend their lands or villages from roaming bandits, warlords, tax collectors and later on in history communists and Japanese. In many ways they were the spiritual successor to the Big Swords Society. This particular group of them had been abused by the Guominjun commander Yueh Weichun who presided over Hunan.  Back in the north, an incident broke out at the Taku forts. Feng Yuxiang having taken control of Tianjin and the Taku forts, seized some minor warships and began mining the seas. This was in violation of the Boxer Protocol and the IJN retaliated by bombarding his ships and even fired upon Feng Yuxiang's forces along the coast. Feng Yuxiang had his artillery fire back upon the IJN warships. In the face of the escalating situation, other foreign powers notified China they must stop what Feng Yuxiang was doing as it threatened to breach the Boxer Protocol. An ultimatum was given, prompting Duan Qirui to persuade Feng Yuxiangs forces to stop mining the waters. Then on March 18th, 1926, KMT and CCP members such as Xu Qian, Li Dazhao, Zhao Shiyan and others initiated a "National Congress against the Eight-Power Ultimatum" in front of Tiananmen, with Xu Qian served as the chairman of the presidium of the Congress. Mass demonstrations broke out in Tiananmen Square. They opposed the foreign ultimatum and called for an end to the unequal treaties, for foreign warships to depart their waters and for Feng Yuxiang to fight their imperial aggression. Li Dazhao took to the stage shouting "Don't be afraid, they dare not do anything to us!" Li Dazhao then led many to rush towards the state council. Duan Qirui panicked and ordered Beijing guards to fire upon them. A reporter at the scene stated stated that the marchers "the demonstrators attacked the State Council, poured oil, threw bombs, and attacked the military and police with pistols and sticks. The military and police were killed and injured in their legitimate defense." 47 demonstrators were killed, 150 more were wounded. Duan Qirui then ordered the arrest of the ring leaders, such as Li Dazho and Xu Qian who all fled. Back in the war for the north the Guominjun commander Lu Zhunglin now faced an offensive from Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang from Shandong and the main Fengtian forces coming from Manchuria. Li Jinglin began his advance in February of 1926, fighting Lu Zhunglin for several weeks. Feng Yuxiang realized they would lose the war at this rate and ordered the forces to pull out of Hubei and Henan into the Beijing area. Lu Zhunglin was forced to evacuate 100,000 man army by March 21st. Feng Yuxiang's took positions in the Beijing area where they would fight off the enemy for over a month, the enemy now including Wu Peifu who had advanced north from Hunan. Feng Yuxiang meanwhile arrested Duan Qirui and released Cao Kun on April 9th, trying to sow dissent between Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin. His idea was to declare he was once again willing to serve under Cao Kun, and sent word to Wu Peifu that they should join forces to destroy the Fengtian clique. Wu Peifu simply ignored this request. Lu Zhunglin leading the forces from the front knew he could not hope to hold back the onslaught any longer so on April 15th he evacuated the army to the Nankou Pass, roughly 30 miles northwest of Beijing. In the meantime the coalition led by armies under Zhang Zongchang, Zhang Xueliang, Li Jinglin and Wu Peifu occupied Beijing. They installed Yan Huiqing as a temporary figurehead as Duan Qirui was exiled to Tianjin under orders from Zhang Zuolin. The forces also sacked Beijing, so badly it would not recover until 1928. Now at the Nankou Pass, 90,000 Guominjun troops resisted the onslaught of over 450,000 of the enemy until August 16th. The Guominjun looking for another escape route dispatched a force led by Shi Yousan and Han Fuju into Shanxi. They were attacked near Datong by Yan Xishan's army. Despite being sympathetic to the Guominjun, as Yan Xishan was loosely associated with the KMT, his policy of neutrality had to be enforced, it was after all one of the ways he managed to survive this long. Feng Yuxiang's forces were quickly dislodged from Shanxi. Meanwhile Chahar fell to Zhang Xueliang's men as they advanced from Beijing and Suiyuan fell to Yan Xishan as his men advanced from Shanxi. The Guominjun put up a spartan-like resistance, but the Fengtian brought Japanese heavy artillery to the Nankou Pass where they blew away possibly 10,000 Guominjun. The Guominjun were forced to retreat into Gansu by August 15th.  Gansu at this time was being held by a bunch of lesser warlords whose domains were affected by religious divisions. Feng Yuxiang now took this time to go on a trip to the Soviet Union, announcing his resignation. Yet it was not actually a resignation, once in the USSR he began regaining control over his Guominjun army, winning back the favor of two of his best generals who had defected, Han Fuchu and Xu Yusan. Both these men had tossed their lot in with Yan Xishan temporarily. Feng Yuxiangs next goal was to recover his position in Shaanxi, where his forces had been under siege since April of 1926 by Liu Chenhua the previous warlord of Shaanxi. Liu Chenhua had been bolstered by Red Spear units from Hunan. Now Feng Yuxiang had basically united all the northern warlords in their hatred for him, so he pretty much had no one else to look to, except for of course, the Kuomintang.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Feng Yuxiang unleashed his Guominjun after securing many sneaky deals with those like Guo Songling, Sun Chuanfang, Li Jinglin and even Wu Peifu sort of. His plans all came to naught as he gradually lost the anti-fengtian war and now Wu Peifu and Zhang Zuolin were back in Beijing together, talk about Deja Vu.      

Preencha o formulário e conheça o programa mais completo de consultoria e aconselhamento da Levante https://lvnt.app/jtnp7n 23/07 – Ibovespa realiza com Petro, Vale e siderúrgicas – Vale -1,34%, PETR4 -1,29% CSNA3 -5,05% Olá, seja bem-vindo ao Fechamento de Mercado da Levante comigo Ricardo Afonso, hoje é terça-feira, dia 23/7, e o programa é dedicado a Gabriela Eller e que deus te abençoe também A bolsa fechou em queda de 0,99% aos 126.589 puxado principalmente pelas comodities que caíram e junto com o mercado americano que perdeu o gás durante o dia fechando em queda. Por que a Bolsa performou assim? 1º. Em dia de poucos indicadores importantes e um noticiário mais esvaziado, a bolsa seguiu o mal humor das principais comodities e reflexo também de um cenário fiscal incerto. 2º. Entre as ações mais negociadas no dia a Sabesp liderou o volume subindo 1,89%, Petro em queda de 1,99%, Vale caindo 1,34% e Petro caindo 1,29% seguido de Embraer que recuperou a queda da véspera fechando em alta de 8,47%. 3º. Entre as 10 mais negociadas 7 caíram e 3 subiram, isso justifica o fechamento quase no zero a zero do Ibov. 4º. O preço do petróleo negociou boa parte do dia com queda na faixa de 1% e encerra com queda de 1,15% 5º. O preço do minério de ferro caiu durante a madrugada 2,44% no mercado futuro e em Dalian cerca de 3% e durante o dia não teve oscilação forte de preços. 6º. S&P fechou em queda de 0,16% após subir na parte da manhã, Nasdaq em queda de 0,06% e DJI em queda de 0,14%. 7º. O contrato do dólar futuro sobe para 5.593 com alta de 0,31% as 17:30. 8º. Nos EUA, os juros do título de 10-anos fechou praticamente inalterado com 0,05% de queda aos 4.253% e no Brasil a curva de juros subiu em bloco, o juros para 2026 subiu 0,83% para 11,50 e para 2035 subiu 1,34% para 12.13. MAIORES ALTAS EMBR3 +8.47% R$ 41,87 PCAR3 +3.20% R$ 2,90 SBSP3 +1.89% R$ 88,64 RENT3 +1.00% R$ 43,38 BPAC11+0.16% R$ 32,20 MAIORES BAIXAS CSNA3 -5.05% R$ 12,04 GOAU4 -5.03% R$ 10,57 CMIN3 -4.99% R$ 4,95 GGBR4 -4.50% R$ 18,04 IRBR3 -4.07% R$ 29,67 Agora, uma mensagem do nosso patrocinador, o Sala VIP da Levante Conheça a Levante Investimentos: Conheça nossas Séries de Investimentos: https://lvnt.app/4q3u3b Acompanhe nosso Instagram: / levante.investimentos Fique ligado nas principais notícas do mercado no nosso canal no Telegram: https://lvnt.app/zuntm0

Preencha o formulário e conheça o programa mais completo de consultoria e aconselhamento da Levante https://lvnt.app/jtnp7n 17/07 – Ibovespa sobe mas não convence – Vale -0,93 Usiminas +5,04 Bradesco +1,19% Olá, seja bem-vindo ao Fechamento de Mercado da Levante comigo Ricardo Afonso, hoje é 4º. feira, dia 17/7, e o programa é dedicado “Stop Loss” afinal de contas é uma das ferramentas mais importantes do mercado financeiro usado pela menor parte dos “investidores” A bolsa fechou em alta de 0,26% na contramão dos mercados americanos que fecharam em queda, o que não convence nessas ultimas seções é o volume fraco. Por que a Bolsa performou assim? 1º. Mais uma vez o Ibovespa descolou do mercado americano fechando em leve alta enquanto o S&P caiu 1,39% e Nasdaq caindo quase 3%. Na seção de hoje bancos, Ambev e Petro tiveram uma participação positiva enquanto Vale que teve o maior volume do dia fechou em queda muito por conta do minério de ferro que caiu na seção asiática da madrugada. 2º. Entre as 15 ações mais negociadas 10 subiram lideradas em volume negociado por: PETR 0,52%, ITUB +1,09%, SBSP +2,02%, ABEV 1,03 3º. Nove ações caíram entre as 5 mais negociadas: VALE -0,93%, MGLU3 -1,25%, EQTL -0,92% 4º. O preço do petróleo subiu 1,52% recuperando preço do dia anterior. 5º. O preço do minério de ferro subiu caiu no mercado futuro durante a madrugada e Dalian fechou em queda de 2,66% e durante o dia não teve oscilação significativa de preço. 6º. S&P fechou em queda de 1,39% e Nasdaq caiu 2,77% enquanto o DJ fechou em leve alta de 0,59% e de um dia para o outro os drives podem mudar rapidamente, ontem algumas palavras do candidato a presidência americana Trump comentou sobre politica monetária dizendo que não existe pressa para redução na taxa de juros e que na gestão dele o foco será o combate a inflação alta. E outro drive que puxou forte para baixo as ações de tecnologia é mais uma rodada de restrições entre troca de tecnologias entre EUA e China, e volta a guerra comercial para o radar dos investidores. 7º. O contrato do dólar futuro em alta de 1% aos 5.439 (17:30hrs) acompanhando os juros que também fecharam em alta. 8º. Nos EUA, os juros do título de 10-anos caiu 0,05% não mudando de patamar. E os juros de 2026 no Brasil fecharam o dia em alta de 0,86% aos 11,18 e a taxa de 2025 com alta de 0,51% aos 11,87. MAIORES ALTAS USIM5 +5.04% R$ 8,55 UGPA3 +2.97% R$ 23,21 CMIG4 +2.67% R$ 11,16 RAIZ4 +2.58% R$ 3,18 VBBR3 +2.10% R$ 23,31 MAIORES BAIXAS CVCB3 -5.77% R$ 1,96 ASAI3 -2.79% R$ 10,80 HAPV3 -2.40% R$ 4,06 DXCO3 -2.26% R$ 6,93 CRFB3 -2.19% R$ 10,74 Agora, uma mensagem do nosso patrocinador, o Sala VIP da Levante Conheça a Levante Investimentos: Conheça nossas Séries de Investimentos: https://lvnt.app/4q3u3b

Amid signs of potential economic optimism, a complex array of risks threatens to derail progress. From tackling climate emergencies, to rising geopolitical tensions and the accelerating infodemic, how can global collaboration and innovation protect and propel economic growth? This is the full audio from a session at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC24) on June 26, 2024. Watch it here: Speakers: Peng Sen, President, China Society of Economic Reform (CSER) Michael Wang, Anchor, Global Business and BizTalk, China Global Television Network (CGTN) Busi Mabuza, Chairperson, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Andre Hoffmann, Chairman, Massellaz Mohamad Al-Ississ, Minister of Finance, Ministry of Finance of Jordan Links: Annual Meeting of the New Champions - Next Frontiers for Growth, 25–27 June, 2024, Dalian, China: Centre for the New Economy and Society: Podcasts: Check out all our podcasts on : - - : - : - : Join the :

DEEPX, a pioneering AI semiconductor technology company led by CEO Lokwon Kim, has made history as the first AI semiconductor company in the world to be invited to the World Economic Forum. This esteemed gathering of global economic leaders took place at the Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, China, from June 25-27. The 15th edition of this prestigious event centered on the theme "The Next Frontier for Growth." EACO Corporation (OTCMKTS:EACO) reported the results for its quarter ended May 31, 2024 with record net sales. Management anticipates continued growth in both headcount and Sales Focus Teams in fiscal year 2024. The company believes it continues to gain market share through its local presence business model. For more information, please visit StockDayMedia.com

Deglobalization, reglobalization, decoupling, de-risking, reshoring friend-shoring, export bans, tariffs and sanctions - is global trade going into reverse, or simply into a new phase? As the World Economic Forum hosts the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in China, we ask an expert about the state of global trade and where it might be heading. Guest: Simon Evenett, founder of the . Links: Annual Meeting of the New Champions - Next Frontiers for Growth, 25–27 June, 2024, Dalian, China: Geopolitical Rivalry and Business: 10 Recommendations for Policy Design: Forum's Global Future Council on the Future of Trade and Investment: Centre for Regions, Trade & Geopolitics: Related podcasts: Check out all our podcasts on : - - : - : - : Join the :

Nvidia's record-breaking rally comes to an end with the stock price plunging 7 per cent. The fall erases $550bn from the A.I. semiconductor's market cap since last week's peak. At the so-called ‘summer Davos' WEF meeting in Dalian, Chinese premier Li Qiang says he believes China can hit its growth targets this year, playing down trade conflicts with the EU. In aviation news, Airbus cuts its guidance and slows production of its best-selling A320 Neo craft as supply chain issues continue to hinder the plane maker. And fast fashion firm Shein is reportedly filing to go public on the LSE rather than on Wall Street, which would be the City's biggest listing in more than a decade.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has addressed the Summer Davos meeting, calling on countries around the world to be more broad-minded towards the development issue. The meeting is underway in the coastal city of Dalian in northeast China.

The annual Summer Davos meetings are now underway in Dalian, China, with over a thousand guests exploring new drivers for global economic growth(01:06). China's Chang'e-6 lunar mission has returned to earth with the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the moon(10:37). Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has struck a deal with the U.S. justice department and will be able to return home to Australia(17:14).

Participants are arriving in Dalian a day ahead of the 2024 Summer Davos meeting.

Sheryl Glick host of Healing From Within Interviews Eliza Mada Dalian author of “In Search Of The Miraculous-Healing Into Consciousness.” Ms Dalian's book is the recipient of seven awards including the prestigious Nautilus award. Mada's book which was endorsed by Dr. Deepak Chopra as a “simple and elegant map of the path of enlightenment” offers a detailed description of The Universal Laws of Energy and an understanding of the philosophies of George Gurdijeff and P.D Ouspensky two important twentieth-century mystics and Osho's book” In Search Of The Miraculous” which furthered her quest for her own self actualization and fueled her sense of wonderment in discovering her internal source of being and essence. In the process of seeking truth she had an awakening into consciousness, and the recognition of the witness from within, her soul. Her search for answers to age old questions of Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Why do I do what I do? What will happen to me when I die? are what we all at one time or another ask ourselves, usually when experiencing great pain rejection or sorrow. https://www.carmenharra.com/ Learn more about Sheryl here: http://www.sherylglick.com/

Jess Xiaoyi Han is an artist born Dalian, China) has lived between New York and China for most of her life and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from School of Visual Arts (SVA) with a concentration in illustration. Working with alkyd paint, Jess utilizes an expressional color palette to create soft, organic shapes, reflecting on her inner fantasy world. Her work examines and reflects the artist's interior emotional dialogue. She has exhibited her work extensively in China, with exhibitions at Sens Gallery, Hong Kong; The Himalaya Center, Shanghai; Rusha & co, Los Angeles, Fernberger Gallery, Los Angeles; ART021 art fair, Shanghai; Sotheby's institute, NY . Most recently, Han has had her debut solo exhibition in New York City at Ross + Kramer, entitled Implosion. Han will have her third solo show with Ross & Kramer Gallery in October of 2024.

As Dalian Atkinson's family strive to honour his memory, Mat Kendrick and Dalian's big brother Paul reminisce about the Villa legend's lasting legacy. For more info visit: https://www.shropshirecommunityfoundation.org.uk/give/dalian-atkinson-legacy-fund

Siqi Chen is co-founder and CEO of Runway, the finance platform you don't hate. He was also the president, chief product officer and CEO of Sandbox VR, the VP of Growth at Postmates and he sold his first company to Zynga in 2010. He is an angel investor who has invested in companies like Touch of Modern, Amplitude, Italic, and Clubhouse. He is a husband and the father of two daughters. In today's conversation we discussed:* His life moving back-and-forth to China as a kid* The realities and myth of work-life balance* Sharing the load with your spouse* How his parenting and leadership has evolved over time* How to exercise with your kids and incorporate them into your day* Teaching kids how to use technology as a tool for leverage* A fascinating story of how his daughter uses ChatGPTListen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube.—Where to find Siqi ChenLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siqic/Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/bladerRunway: https://runway.com/Where to find Adam Fishman- FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/—In this episode, we cover[1:34] Welcome[2:27] Work/life balance[6:49] His childhood[10:52] All about his kids[11:30] How did you meet your wife?[13:37] Decision to start a family[15:33] Load balancing parenting[18:50] Earliest memory of being a dad[21:04] Most surprising thing about becoming a dad[23:13] Giving younger self advice[25:52] Advice to ignore[27:45] Favorite book to read to his kids[29:10] Frameworks[32:35] Any parenting evolutions?[35:11] Kids' dynamic[35:42] Where do you and your partner not align?[37:47] Kid's relationship with tech[40:45] Most interesting way kids used ChatGPT[43:11] What did you give up to be a dad?[45:30] How do you recharge your batteries?[46:10] What is a mistake you made as a dad?[49:16] Rapid fire round[53:31] Thank you—Show references:The Matrix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/Transformers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu/Talktastic: https://talktastic.com/Amazing Panda Adventure: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112342/Stanford: https://www.stanford.edu/Bye Bye Baby: https://buybuybaby.com/Dalian, China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DalianPeter Thiell, Thiel Scholarship: https://thielfellowship.org/Unity: https://unity.com/Gundam: https://en.gundam.info/Postmates: https://postmates.com/Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com/ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/"Blub Blub Fish" Book: https://www.amazon.com/Pout-Pout-Fish-Deborah-Diesen/dp/0374360979Work-life Balance is Overrated: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/siqic_work-life-balance-is-overrated-implicitly-activity-7161735570757550081-8Yd4Second Time Founders Podcast reference: www.youtube.com/watch?v=257w17EkYn4&t=1s—For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com.For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron athttp://www.armaziproductions.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit startupdadpod.substack.com

Siqi Chen is co-founder and CEO of Runway, the finance platform you don't hate. He was also the president, chief product officer and CEO of Sandbox VR, the VP of Growth at Postmates and he sold his first company to Zynga in 2010. He is an angel investor who has invested in companies like Touch of Modern, Amplitude, Italic, and Clubhouse. He is a husband and the father of two daughters. In today's conversation we discussed: His life moving back-and-forth to China as a kid The realities and myth of work-life balance Sharing the load with your spouse How his parenting and leadership has evolved over time How to exercise with your kids and incorporate them into your day Teaching kids how to use technology as a tool for leverage A fascinating story of how his daughter uses ChatGPT  — Where to find Siqi Chen Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siqic/ Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/blader Runway: https://runway.com/   Where to find Adam Fishman - FishmanAF Newsletter: https://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/ — In this episode, we cover [1:34] Welcome [2:27] Work/life balance [6:49] His childhood [10:52] All about his kids [11:30] How did you meet your wife? [13:37] Decision to start a family [15:33] Load balancing parenting [18:50] Earliest memory of being a dad [21:04] Most surprising thing about becoming a dad [23:13] Giving younger self advice [25:52] Advice to ignore [27:45] Favorite book to read to his kids [29:10] Frameworks [32:35] Any parenting evolutions? [35:11] Kids' dynamic [35:42] Where do you and your partner not align? [37:47] Kid's relationship with tech [40:45] Most interesting way kids used ChatGPT [43:11] What did you give up to be a dad? [45:30] How do you recharge your batteries? [46:10] What is a mistake you made as a dad? [49:16] Rapid fire round [53:31] Thank you — Show references: The Matrix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/ Transformers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/ Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu/ Talktastic: https://talktastic.com/ Amazing Panda Adventure: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112342/ Stanford: https://www.stanford.edu/ Bye Bye Baby: https://buybuybaby.com/ Dalian, China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalian Peter Thiell, Thiel Scholarship: https://thielfellowship.org/ Unity: https://unity.com/ Gundam: https://en.gundam.info/ Postmates: https://postmates.com/ Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com/ ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/ "Blub Blub Fish" Book: https://www.amazon.com/Pout-Pout-Fish-Deborah-Diesen/dp/0374360979 Work-life Balance is Overrated: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/siqic_work-life-balance-is-overrated-implicitly-activity-7161735570757550081-8Yd4 Second Time Founders Podcast reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=257w17EkYn4&t=1s — For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com. For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com  Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at http://www.armaziproductions.com/

Thomas Mobley, a seasoned educator at Miami University and a seasoned HR consultant with over three decades of experience, joins this episode of HR Like a Boss! During his podcast interview, he delves into the concept of thinking beyond your own perspective, the significance of understanding your business, and the pivotal role of HR in tackling challenges that revolve around people. ABOUT THOMAS MOBLEY Thomas Mobley, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, is a dedicated educator and HR consultant with a career spanning over three decades. His journey into teaching began nearly 40 years ago with an opportunity to work on a labor-management training program alongside one of his Miami University undergraduate professors and an FMCS Federal Mediator. This experience ignited his passion for teaching. As a professor, Thomas brings a wealth of knowledge and a dedication to student development that empowers the next generation of HR professionals. He obtained his BS in Business from Miami University and is MALER Degree from the University of Cincinnati. In education, Thomas has been an Assistant Professor and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati, and an Instructor at Miami University. Additionally, he has taught graduate courses for Dalian University of Technology's International Graduate program in Dalian, China. His HR Succeeds model for student success combines mentors, active involvement in various networking opportunities, and encouragement/support for HR Certification. He excels at translating theory into practical examples, and utilizes case studies as a cornerstone of his teaching strategy, empowering students to actively apply their learning. Beyond his educational roles, Thomas operates his HR consulting practice and has been involved in various HR positions at different organizations, contributing his knowledge and expertise to students and professionals alike. He has also co-authored HR and Organizational Behavior textbooks as well as an HR Scrimmage Workbook, a valuable resource for HR students and professionals preparing for certification exams. His HR Certification Preparation Courses boast an 85% success rate for HR Professionals who go on to take their HR Certification exam. ABOUT HR LIKE A BOSS HR Like a Boss centers around the concept that with the right passion to be and think different, HR and business professionals can do amazingly awesome HR. People who do HR like a boss understand business concepts, what makes people tick, and how to approach HR as more than a compliance or cost center. This podcast builds the foundation for John Bernatovicz's book, "HR Like a Boss." If you're ready to take your HR career to the next level, this is the podcast for you. Share any comments with bridgette@willory.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/willory/message

No Morning Call de hoje, Henrique Esteter fala sobre as a abertura de uma semana movimentada para os mercados e a política.O petróleo recua, enquanto o minério retorna às operações em Dalian em alta.*Dentre os principais destaques: *(i) IPCA no Brasil, ata do FOMC nos EUA e juros na Europa;(ii) Petrobras: Lula cancela reunião de última hora;(iii) Carrefour Brasil renegocia linhas com a França e adiciona quase R$ 500 mi ao bottom line.

☕ No Morning Call de hoje, Henrique Esteter comenta uma abertura tensa para quem tem mineradoras na carteira.O petróleo recua, mas o minério de ferro desmorona em Dalian e Cingapura.Por outro lado, o Bitcoin renova suas máximas históricas.*Dentre os principais destaques: *(i) Petrobras: a onda de corte de recomendações para as ações após decepção com dividendos;(ii) Na Vale, Bartolomeo ganha mais sete meses de sobrevida antes de deixar cargo de CEO;(iii) Tarcísio define quanto o governo de SP vai vender no leilão de privatização da Sabesp.

☕ No Morning Call de hoje, Henrique Esteter comenta outra abertura positiva dos mercados, em dia de payroll.O petróleo sobe, enquanto o minério de ferro apanha em Dalian.*Dentre os principais destaques: *(i) Meta mais que triplica lucro, anuncia pagamento de dividendos e ação salta 14%;(ii) Amazon supera estimativas de vendas com força da nuvem;(iii) Apple tem lucro e receita acima do esperado por Wall Street; vendas na China decepcionam;(iv) Ferrari: ação sobe quase 10% após balanço e com chegada de Lewis Hamilton.

American researcher, scholar, writer and poet Cat Bohannon speaks to Georgina Godwin about her debut book, ‘Eve', a whistle-stop tour of mammalian development that begins in the Jurassic Era and recasts the traditional story of evolutionary biology by placing women at its centre. She completed her PhD in 2022 at Columbia University, where she studied the evolution of narrative and cognition and once worked as an unofficial poet in residence for Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of plastination, in Dalian, China.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last time we spoke about landings against Arawe, the continuation of the Bougainville campaign and some new action in the CBI theater. Despite a rubber boat disaster, the operation against Arawe went off successfully seeing another allied landing taking the Japanese by surprise. Now the Japanese would be forced yet again to launch a counter attack hoping to dislodge the allied forces from a new beachhead. Over on Bougainville the Marines performed some assaults against hills such as Hellzapoppin ridge to expand the perimeter enough so the Army boys would have an easier time of taking over. Over in the CBI theater, the onion man Wingate was given the task of expanding his chindits and the Americans wanted their very own chindit force. Stilwell decided the time was ripe to unleash a minor offensive in Burma and soon saw what looked like a weakened Japanese perimeter was in fact very strong. This episode is Drive on Sio Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Last time we saw General Cunningham's men successfully landing at Arawe where they hoped to build a new PT boat base. Troop A was supposed to land an hour before the main landing to cut the coastal road near Umtingalu village and Troop B would land at Pilelo island to cover the main passage to the harbor. Troop A was a disaster. Their 15 rubber boats were met with 25 mm dual purpose guns that sank 12 boats, killed 12 men and wounded another 70. Troop B was more successful landing on Pilelo and capturing the radio station before engaging in a fire fight. For the main landing at House FIreman Beach, there was little resistance. Sporadic machine gun fire was silenced by rockets as the men landed. The Japanese tossed some air strikes to hit further landings and convoys, but allied CAP managed to limit the damage.  A few days after the landing, the Komori Detachment reached the village of Didmop along the Pulie River where they paused to reorganize and rally the incoming survivors fleeing the landing area. The difficult terrain and river crossings prevented Komori and his men from assembling into offensive positions until December 25th. Meanwhile back on the 18th, the 1st battalion, 141st regiment began an advance from the Itni region aboard 7 barges. Unfortunately for them, two LCVP's bearing 19 men on patrol had been sent by Cunningham to Cape Peiho. The two forces ran into another and after an exchange of gunfire the US soldiers abandoned their LCVP's and retreated back along the Arawe coast. Another patrol traveling by LCVP was also fired upon by Japanese barges near Umtingalu that same day, but was able to return to Cape Merkus. On Christmas night, 100 men of the Komori detachment assaulted the main line of defense across the neck of the peninsula. The inexperienced American cavalrymen of the 112th managed to repel, albeit with some difficulty. The attack prompted General Cunningham to believe Komori was in charge of the lead element of a much larger force, most likely enroute from Gasmata. He therefore requested reinforcements and General Krueger responded by dispatching a company of the 158th infantry by PT Boats. Meanwhile the lack of results from the attack prompted Komori to defer further attacks until the arrival of Major Tobuse's battalion. On the 27th, allied intelligence indicated the Japanese had retaken Meselia and Umtingalu, prompting Cunningham to withdraw all outposts and patrols within the main line of defense. The 2nd battalion, 158th regiment were sent to reinforce the beachhead while Komori and Tobuse finally made contact with another. The first order of business to contain the growing American perimeter. Both commanders believed the Americans sought to repair the unserviceable Lupin Aerodrome. 700 yards from the US line the Japanese established a series of alternate positions taking advantage of the terrain and concealment making it difficult to spot. Cunningham would remark "This is not an organized position in the accepted sense of the word, it consists apparently of shallow trenches and deep fox holes… The ground is covered with a thick green mat about 12 to 18 inches in depth which makes observation absolutely impossible… Officers and men… report that they have not seen a single Japanese and that they are unable to locate machine guns firing on them from a distance of 10 to 20 yards.” From these positions the Japanese harassed the Americans using mortar and automatic weapons fire. Whenever the Americans tried to pinpoint where the fire was coming from the Japanese would simply switch positions to another. Within these parameters only limited skirmishing was carried out for the next few days.  On January 4th, Komori reported repulsing a strong American and two days later received his first citation from Emperor Hirohito for his heroic achievement. Meanwhile a much frustrated Cunningham began sending reports to Krueger he could not spot the enemy and was convinced continued attacks would simply result in further casualties. By January the 9th he reported 75 dead, 57 wounded and 14 missing. He requested Kreuger send him some tanks and on the 9th he received the 1st marine division's 1st tank battalion from Finschhafen. The 1st Tank Battalion had been left behind at Finschhafen because of transportation shortage and limited range for tank operations in the inhospitable terrain of the Cape Gloucester region. Eventually Rupertus would also release the rest of the tank company then in reserve at Cape Gloucester to help out. The Marine tanks and Army infantry quickly worked out the details of how they would go about combined operations. The morning of January 16th kicked off with a squadron of B-24's followed by another of B-25s bombing the Japanese positions. This was followed up by artillery and mortars and then two 5 tank platoons began their assault against a 500 yard front. Behind the tanks were infantry of the 158th and despite the swampy terrain and thick vegetation, the tank-infantry stormed forward. The Japanese resisted ferociously, grounding two tanks that had to be destroyed lest the Japanese seize them later. The Americans destroyed the enemy's positions, crushing numerous automatic weapons and a 75mm mountain gun. But the Americans had no orders to hold any positions, so they destroyed and pulled back to their perimeter for the night. The following morning the Americans resumed the attacks with flamethrowers eliminating small pockets of resistance still remaining. Komori still obsessed with defending Lupin aerodrome to the last man ordered a withdrawal, but not before radioing to the brigade HQ "fight till the glorious end to defend the airfield" which earned him a second Imperial citation on February 7. During these actions the Americans suffered 20 dead, 40 wounded and two tanks. For Komori's men they had 116 dead and 117 wounded. For the next 3 weeks the fighting would deteriorate into a matter of patrol skirmishes, with Komori triumphantly reported back to HQ how the airfield was still in Japanese hands. The reality however was the Japanese were heavily outnumbered and lost control of the air and sea. How many men Komori commanded remains difficult to figure out as no documents were captured after the operation. It appears unlikely there were more than 1000 under his command. Early in the operation the Japanese were supplied by airdrop, often during daylight in view of the Americans. Yet as the Americans tightened their grip over the sea and air more, Komori became increasingly dependent on the trickle of supplies coming over the tortuous trail from Iboki. Carrying and distributing these supplies imposed still more of a drain on his manpower, and he withdrew his headquarters to Didmop to give more attention to this phase, leaving direct defense of the airfield to Major Tobuse. Yet that is all for Arawe for today, because we need to travel back over to New Guinea. Wareo had fallen and now the Australians were advancing upon Fortification Point as General Katagiri's 20th division were retreating towards the northern coast. The 20th division would arrive at Zagaheme and Orarako on the 22nd and 25th respectively. With these movements occurring the Australians now felt the time was ripe to launch an offensive against Sio. On December 20th, General Wootten ordered the 20th brigade to advance through the 4th brigade's positions and begin a rapid pursuit towards Sio. The next day, Brigadier Windeyer had his men advance towards Wandokai while Wootten was reorganizing his forces to allow the coastal advance to continue. Meanwhile the 24th brigade took over the Gusika-Wario-Sattelberg area; the 4th brigade took over the Fortification Point-Masaweng River area; the 26th brigade advance down the coast and would be ferried to the mouth of the Masaweng to support Windeyer's advance. The Australians enjoyed the advantage of aerial support in the form of Bostons, Mitchells, Marauders, Airacobras and Thunderbolts who continuously hammered the Japanese with bombs and strafing runs. Alongside this allied PT boats harassed the Japanese barge fleet, between the 9th and 13th they would sink 23 barges along the coast, mostly south of Sio. Despite the air and sea support the overland advances were particularly rough on the men. From fortification point to Kapugara gorge the coastal track ran along a flat kunai ledge some hundred yards wide, between the sea on each side with sharp coral terraces. They had little cover along the line of the advance. There were also few natives inhabiting the area. The men of the 20th brigade were not in great condition when they began the pursuit. They were stricken with malaria and Colonel Simpson anticipated the enemy might hit their left flank so he dispatched two companies to travel parallel with the main coastal advance and those guys had some even rougher terrain to travel. There was little water to be had along the coast and the long kunai fields increased the heat exponentially. The men occupied Hubika on the 22nd without opposition. The allied engineers would find the gorge beyond Hubika would prevent any progress by the tanks, so the troops would have to proceed without their support. By nightfall the 2/13th battalion would advance another 3000 yards facing no opposition. They got around 1500 yards past Wandokai when suddenly mortar and artillery fire rained down upon them. This was Captain Yoshikawa's 1st battalion, 80th regiment who unleashed a bombardment for 2 hours upon the advancing Australians. Though it appeared like there was a major fight on their hands, it was only rearguard actions. Yoshikawa and his men were retreating towards Ago that night.  Christmas would see Windeyer receive the gift of further artillery reinforcements for his advance. The 62nd battery and 2/12th field regiment came over and on Boxing day Colonel Miyake would decide to abandon Ago and continue the retreat towards Kanomi. On the night of the 26th a company from a boat battalion of the 592nd EBSR, alongside an Australian radar detachment landed on Long Island. This was Operation Sanatogen, the mission was to set up a radar station and observation post on Long Island to help with the landing at Saidor and thwart Japanese barge movements. The Japanese had never placed a garrison on Long Island, but it was used as a staging point for barges moving between Rabaul and Wewak.  At 9am on the 27th, 18 Mitchells and 12 Bostons bombed and strafed the Walingai and Kanomi areas before Windeyers resumed his advance. The 2/13th advanced through Ago and occupied Walingai unopposed by the end of the day. The next day saw Australian patrols running into Japanese positions around Kanomi. At 11:15am a patrol of the 2/13th was fording a creek when they were fired upon. The patrol saw at least 14 Japanese retreating north around Blucher Point as they fired vicker guns and mortars upon them. During the afternoon the allied began a heavy artillery bombardment. The speed at which the Australians were advancing was providing results as the Japanese were forced to further withdraw towards Kalasa. Yet the Australians were stretching their logistical lines forcing Wootten to halt the forward units for 2 days. The two day delay allowed General Katagiri to get his men past Kalasa and reach Sio without any hindrance. On new years eve the 2/15th resumed their advance finding slight resistance around Nanda. At 5:30pm the 2/15th were fired upon by a few bands of Japanese and responded with artillery fire forcing them away. To avoid unnecessary casualties the Australians halted at the last creek before Nanda and resumed the march on new years day. The 2/15th then passed through Kwamkwam and captured Sialum Island during the afternoon of the 2nd. Sialum lies around half way between Fortification Point and Sio and it afforded the Australians a decent area to build a large supply dump on its sheltered. Yet the advance to Sio was not the only one going on, on New Guinea.   Since the battle of John's Koll and Trevor's Ridge, General Nakai's detachment were forced to withdraw farther back into the hills. The Nakai detachment were now clinging to Shaggy Ridge the Kankirei Saddle and the area between the Faria River, Madang and Bogadjim. At Kankirei, Nakai dispatched Captain Ohata Masahiko's 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion, 26th Field Artillery Regiment. General Nakai told Ohata that ‘the enemy is extremely sensitive to the use of artillery fire arms so that the artillerymen are expected to cooperate closely with the infantry men until the very end”.Ohata recalled “I realized what was expected from our commander, and he also said please take good care of your life. It took more than twenty years to train one artillery officer, but a gun is only material. We can replace the gun, but not an artilleryman.' There is a very reasonable explanation for Nakai's order. The IJA artillery field manual indicated their field guns were more valuable than artillerymen. In article 10 it said ‘The gun is the life of the Artillery. Therefore, the Artilleryman must live and die with the gun, and share the honor and shame together with the guns. One must continue to fight until the end'. Nakai at this time prohibited suicide and it seems was trying to save the lives of his artillerymen, lest they die for the sake of their guns. The main Japanese position was at Shaggy Ridge, a 4 mile long spur dotted by several rocky outcrops where the Japanese troops established numerous strong points. From the Pimple, a large rocky peak rising around half way along the crest of Shaggy ridge, the Japanese found it extremely sturdy to defend. The feature often saw a mist envelope it adding to its defensive capabilities.  As the Japanese clung to their heights, the Australians were busy developing their new main base at Dumpu. Airstrips, roads, bridge, culverts and numerous buildings were being worked on and with the recent acquisition of the Ramu valley they were also building a forward air base at Gusap. The only major offensive against Shaggy Ridge came in late October.  In accordance with Vasey's advice, Brigadier Dougherty prepared to attack the southernmost peak of Shaggy Ridge on the 20th. For three days from the 17th Dougherty's patrols crept as near as they could, and early on the 20th, Captain Whyte the F.O.O. of the 54th Battery, directed the fire of his guns on to the Japanese position.  At midday forward units reported that they were within five yards of a four-strand barbed-wire fence; the Japanese position on a kunai covered Pinnacle was about 30 yards away. Between the enemy position and his men, there was a steep gully about 100 feet deep with precipitous slopes on both flanks . The Japanese hand cut fire lanes through the kunai and were dug in and heavily bunkered from the cliff face. Through the clever use of artillery fire, the Australians tricked the Japanese into retiring temporarily to gain shelter. The artillerymen varied the rate of fire so it was never the same, while platoons stormed specific ridges, gaining ground without casualties.To defend his western flank, General Vasey dispatched  the 2/7th to Kesawai 1 and the 2/6th to Kesawai 2. Yet the role of the 7th division for the time being was really limited to patrol activities. On 23rd October a section of the 2/2nd Commando Squadron led by Lieutenant Doig crossed the Ramu and moved up the Urigina Track next day, seeking a way east to the Mataloi-Orgoruna area. Lt Doig entered this new territory on the 25th and by 9 a.m. trees across the track near Orgoruna suggested that the Japanese might be in possession. Between 25th and 31st October Captain Haydon's company of the 2/25th Battalion tried to reach the Japanese track between Paipa and Kankirei. After moving up the Evapia River and then through rugged unmapped country for 4 days the patrol leader was forced to return as he realized that it would be impossible for him to reach his objective without further rations. On the 29th the 2/7th Commando Squadron, an engineer, Captain Gossip of the 2/6th Field Company, and two others left to patrol a road from the Ramu Valley across the Finisterre Ranges towards the Japanese road. This patrol returned on 1st November reporting that there was no possibility of making a road from the Kesawai area towards the Japanese roadhead.  Lieutenant Maxwell of the 2/6th Commando Squadron, performed a three-day reconnaissance towards Yokopi , walked right into an enemy defensive position on the first day out, saw five Japanese looking at him from about 20 yards away, and retired before they could fire at him.  Sergeant Berrell of the Papuan Battalion led his section, three men from the 21st Brigade, and 50 native carriers on a 13 days' patrol into the ranges to patrol enemy movement in the Kankirei area. He returned on 11th November without having found a worthwhile observation post near Kankirei. On the 20th October MacAdie sent a patrol from the 2/2nd Squadron to Josephstaal to find out whether the Japanese were there, and whether a strip could be constructed. Accompanied by Sergeant-Major England of Angau, Lieutenant Green's small patrol of five troopers, 32 native carriers and five police boys left for Sepu where it remained until setting out on the main journey on 3rd November. The route chosen by Green and England did not follow the known native tracks as the Australians wished to avoid any contact with Japanese patrols. The journey would take nine days. Over at Atemble, where the Japanese were known to be in some strength, was bypassed and, although there were tracks of Japanese horsemen at Sambanga and reports from natives that the Japanese did occasionally patrol the area between Atemble and Josephstaal and Madang, there were no encounters. On 13th November Green arrived at Josephstaal, which was not occupied and which had only been visited occasionally by small enemy patrols in recent months. The patrol returned to base on 26th November.    On December 2nd a patrol of 42 men from the 2/33rd Battalion led by Lieutenant Scotts set out, urged on by Eather's hope that it would be able to blaze a track into the heart of the Japanese defenses at Kankirei from the west and get a prisoner. Moving up the Mene River Valley and across the 5500 Feature, Scott established a base on a steep ridge. The next day he moved down a spur to some native huts where the dense jungle was replaced by kunai and then crossed into another spur, where they established an observation post. Meanwhile a patrol from the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion was attempting to observe the Kankirei Saddle area from the east. On the 7th Lieutenant White led out eight Pioneers, two Angau warrant-officers and 20 natives from Bob's Post following the Japanese Mule Track north to Toms' Post. Next day the patrol moved on along a well-surveyed track, and, about 1,500 yards beyond Toms' Post, saw a strong enemy position ahead on a high feature astride the track. On the 9th and the morning of the 10th White tried to work round to the north of the enemy position to carry out his original task, but dwindling rations, heavy rain, and rugged country forced his return to the track. Accompanied by two men White then advanced along the track but after 20 minutes he came under heavy fire. The three men ran back down the hill which they had been climbing but White was hit by machine-gun fire and fell. All of these patrol actions helped prevent the Japanese from penetrating south and figured out generally where the Japanese were in numbers. On November 9th Vasey relieved the 21st brigade at the front with the 25th brigade. Along with this the 2/6th commando squadron and a Papuan company were sent to reinforce the front while the 2/7th command squadron was withdrawn. And with that, after nearly 10 months since Lt Rooke and his platoon of the 2/7th battalion had arrived on the airstrip at Bena, the Bena Force ceased to exist. They had 12 deaths, 16 wounded and 5 men missing but claimed to have killed over 230 Japanese. They helped build the Garoka airfield; over 78 miles of motor transport road between Bena and Garoka, Sigoiya, Asaloka and Kainantu and produced maps of completely unknown areas In his final report MacAdie wrote: “The force fulfilled its task. Every enemy patrol which crossed the Ramu River was driven back with casualties, and very determined enemy attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties. In addition the enemy lost many men in ambushes on tracks north of the Ramu River... There is no doubt that the enemy regarded this force as a menace to his flank, and little doubt that the size of the force was grossly overestimated.” Now the 2/2nd Commando Squadron would assume the responsibility for the defense of the Bena-Garoka area. November would see the start of an intense hide and seek artillery duel. The Australian artillery was attempting to neutralize the Japanese 75mm guns. Captain Ohata's had placed two gun emplacements on the outskirts of Shaggy ridge in a position that protected the ridgeline in the front. The first emplacement were not entirely concealed and thus quickly became a target. Fortunately the guns survived as the Australian fire hit their shields mostly. Captain Ohata thought he could conceal their muzzle flashes by firing lower. The second gun emplacement was completely covered by shelter yet Ohata would remark ‘However the footsteps of the soldiers who were coming in from the behind the position were spotted by the search airplane. We were indeed astonished by their way of finding the gun position.' By the end of November General Nakai was preparing to hit Kesawai and counterattack towards Dumpu. In early December patrols from the 2/16th were probing Shaggy Ridge. Vasey intended to perform a diversion to attract the Japanese attention away from other pending operations in New Guinea and New Britain. An idea was floated around to have Brigadier Dougherty raid Kankirei, but that's it for New Guinea as major events were unfolding for the CBI theater. Over in Tokyo, on November 5th and 6th the Greater East Asia Conference was being held. Attendees included Hideki Tojo for Japan, Zhang Jinghui for Manchukuo, Wang Jingwei for the Republic of China based in Nanjing, Ba Maw for Burma, Subhas Chandra Bose for Free India, Jose P Laurel for the Philippines and Wan Waithayakon for Thailand. Notable exclusions would be that of Korea and Taiwan, whom the Japanese had annexed and did not want to give any political autonomy to. There was also Vietnam and Cambodia who were not invited so as to not offend the Vichy French government who was still claiming French Indochina to be under their rule. There was also Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, but Japan figured they would be simply annexing these regions as their natural resources were now the lifeblood of the empire. Of the attendee's, Suhas Chandra Bose was only present as an observer as India was still a British colony and the representative of Thailand under strict orders from Plaek Phibunsongkhram was to emphasize on every possible occasion that Thailand was not under Japanese domination, but in fact an allied nation. You might be asking why did Plaek Phibunsongkhram not attend such a grand event himself, well he actually feared if he were to leave Bangkok he would be ousted.  Hideki Tojo made a grand speech, greeting each of the participants and praising the spiritual essence of Asia in opposition to the materialistic civilization of the west. To give you a taste of this meeting here are some of the dialogue amongst participants. Tōjō Hideki stated in his speech: "It is an incontrovertible fact that the nations of Greater East Asia are bound in every respect by ties of an inseparable relationship". Ba Maw of Burma stated: "My Asian blood has always called out to other Asians… This is not the time to think with other minds, this is the time to think with our blood, and this thinking has brought me from Burma to Japan." Jose Laurel of the Philippines in his speech claimed that "the time has come for the Filipinos to disregard Anglo-Saxon civilization and its enervating influence… and to recapture their charm and original virtues as an Oriental people." Subhas Chandra Bose of India declared: "If our Allies were to go down, there will be no hope for India to be free for at least 100 years".   Overall the meeting was characterized by praise of solidarity and condemnation of western imperialism, but in terms of how Asia was going to come together and economic development and such, there really was no meat to any of it. Tojo simply kept reiterating how great Pan-Asianism was against the evils of the white devils. Yet for all the talk of asian unity, the Japanese governments actions were anything but that. The Japanese viewed themselves as racially superior to that of the other asian nations. They saw themselves as the Great Yamato Race and that they were destined to rule over the other asian peoples, similar to a father and son relationship. To actually go off the script so to say, I happen to have covered this topic extremely thoroughly in a 4 part series I did on my patreon about General Ishiwara Kanji. You see, Hideki Tojo's main military/political rival was Ishiwara Kanji, and all of the greater east asian stuff was literally stolen from Ishiwara.   Ishiwara, for those unfamiliar, is someone I believe had an unprecedented impact on global history. Ishiwara pretty much single handedly began WW2 I would argue. He was a very bizarre figure who came to the realization after WW1 that the entire world would be engulfed in what he called “the final war”. To prepare Japan against this apocalypse he believed Japan had to seize Manchuria for her resources, to empower the empire so it could face the United States. He also believed it was absolutely necessary to ally with China and that everything needed to be done to create a harmony between the two peoples. Ironically after Ishiwara caused the invasion of Manchuria, it all in his view got out of hand and he was tossed aside by people like Tojo. He spent the entire war openly criticizing Tojo and the policies of Japan while trying to create this Pan-Asian league, and Tojo simply copied what he was doing, gave it a different name and made sure to eliminate the elements about allying with China and stopping the war with her. Ishiwara is a fascinating figure and to be honest I was so happy with the 4 part series I told on my patreon I might be releasing it on my Youtube channel and on my personal podcast server soon.   Now back to the conference, in the words of Indian Historian Panjaj Mishara  “the Japanese had revealed how deep the roots of anti-Westernism went and how quickly Asians could seize power from their European tormentors”. Tokyo hoped that a major demonstration of Pan-Asianism would lead China to broker peace with Japan and thus join them in a war against the west. A major theme of the conference was that Chiang Kai-Shek was not a proper asian and that no Asian would ally themselves to the white devils. As you can imagine the speeches made by Tojo emphasized how evil Britain and the United states were, yet at the same time praised Nazi Germany. Here are parts of Tojo's speech.   “The need of upholding international justice and of guaranteeing world peace is habitually stressed by America and Britain. They mean thereby no more and no less than the preservation of a world order of their own, based upon division and conflict in Europe and upon the perpetuation of their colonial exploitation of Asia. They sought to realize their inordinate ambition in Asia through political aggression and economic exploitation; they brought on conflict among the various peoples; they tried to destroy their racial integrity under the fair name of education and culture. Thus, they have to this day threatened constantly the existence of the nations and people of Asia, disturbed their stability, and suppressed their natural and proper development. It is because of their notion to regard East Asia as a colony that they harp upon the principles of the open door and equal opportunity simply as a convenient means of pursuing their sinister designs of aggression. While constantly keeping their own territories closed to us, the peoples of Asia, thus denying us the equality of opportunities and impeding our trade, they sought solely their own prosperity. The Anglo-American ambition of world hegemony is indeed a scourge of mankind and the root of the world's evils.”   “As regards the situation in Europe, we are very glad that our ally, Germany, has still further solidified her national unity and, with conviction in modern times. As regards the situation in Europe, we are very glad that our ally, Germany, has still further solidified her national unity and, with conviction in sure victory, is advancing to crush the United States and Britain and to construct a new Europe. The War of Greater East Asia is truly a war to destroy evil and to make justice manifest. Ours is a righteous cause. Justice knows no enemy and we are fully convinced greater of our ultimate victory.”   Meanwhile the allies held the Sextant Conference in Cairo between November 22-26th. This conference established China's status as one of the four world powers, kind of a cheeky jab at Japan and a means to sway Chiang Kai-Shek from surrendering. At the conference plans were made for an offensive in Burma codenamed Operation Champion with sub operations Tarzan and Buccaneer. Lord Mountbatten presented  three plans of action. First Operation Tarzan called for 4 Indian divisions of the British 14th army group's 15th army  to concentrate their forces in Chittagong and cross the Maungdaw-Buthidaung line in mid-January. The next year they would capture the Burmese coast in order to defend Chittagong and occupy Sittwe on the Burmese coast. Then three divisions of the 4th Army, would assemble at Imphal and move east with the objective of destroying Japanese lines of communication and advancing to Arak and various parts of Sidon in northern Burma. In March, the Chindits long-range infiltration force would be parachuted into Burma, behind the Japanese lines while the Chinese Expeditionary Force (CEF) in India would cross the Ho Kang Valley and advance eastward into Myitkyina. The Chindit special forces would then support the Chinese forces and occupy Bhamo in April, while the Yunnan Army would begin operations on March 15 and advance to Lashio in April to join the British forces at Lashio and Bhamo. In the Bay of Bengal, a massive amphibious offensive would also be launched, with 3,000 British and American long-range infiltration troops participating.   Operation Musket would see the capture of Cape Sumatra and Operation Buccaneer was to be an amphibious operation to seize the Andaman Islands in order to cut off the Japanese supply lines. Chiang kai-shek expressed support for Tarzan, but once again insisted for it to be coupled with a massive naval operation in the Bay of Bengal. Though the British were reluctant to do this, US pressure eventually convinced them to land on the Andamans. The Chiefs of Staff then agreed to drive Japan out of Burma and reopen land links with China, with Stilwell conducting the ground attack in the north and Mountbatten commanding the amphibious landings in the south.    The American delegation told Chiang kai-shek that for the following six months, only 8900 tons of supplies could be flown to China via the Hump route each month, even though Chiang continuously pushed for 10000 tons. In the end, President Roosevelt promised to increase the airlift supply to China to 12000 tons, and also promised that B-29 Superfortress bombers would bomb Japan from Chinese bases. By the way if you are interested in the beginnings of the bombing campaigns against the Japanese home islands, please check out the podcast I did with Dave from the cold war channel over on my youtube channel. It is actually B-29's operating in India and China that kicked it all off, and its not often talked about.    Many of the resolutions and promises, would not be really implemented. Politically, many arrangements were also made for the postwar international situation. Roosevelt and Churchill supported the territorial claims of the Republic of China, such as returning Taiwan and Manchuria to the Republic of China and deciding to allow Korea to become independent "in due course". The Cairo Declaration, however, made no specific mention of the future of the Ryukyu Islands. China of course wanted them, but the US believed that the Ryukyu Islands could be left to Japan after the war if they were completely demilitarized. It was also agreed between China and the US that Lushun would be used as a public military port for the Americans after the war, and that Dalian would become a free port. Roosevelt also consulted Chiang kai-shek on the possibility of the abolition of the Japanese imperial system along with the emperor, Hirohito, but Chiang kai-shek mentioned that the cause of the war was the Japanese warlords, and that the issue could be left to the Japanese people to decide for themselves after the war. The Americans did not want France to return to Indochina and offered Chiang kai-shek control of French Indochina; but he publicly declined, as Chiang kai-shek strongly advocated the independence of Korea and wanted to assist in the independence of Vietnam. Roosevelt firmly supported Chiang kai-sheks efforts to end imperialism in East Asia. To end the conference off, on December 1, the Allies issued the Cairo Declaration, demanding Japan's unconditional surrender and the return of all occupied lands.    I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. And so the drive to Sio was raging on, the Japanese were not being given a moment to breathe as they continued their withdrawal further north. Back over in Japan, Tojo was trying to win over China, but the allies were making sure to keep Chiang Kai-shek firmly in the fold in a 4d game of global chess.

Originally released May 31, 2021. When Adobe announced it would be discontinuing Flash in 2017, developers started replacing it with newer, more robust software. But one railroad system in Dalian, China didn't get the memo. When it was finally globally disabled in January of 2021, the entire railroad was disabled. In this episode, I get nostalgic about the good ole' days of flash animation, then tell the story about how it affected the railroad. Then we chat with Erik Tait, from Ships of the Northern Fleet and Penn & Teller Fool Us for the Quick Quiz! Review this podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-internet-says-it-s-true/id1530853589 Bonus episodes and content available at http://Patreon.com/MichaelKent For special discounts and links to our sponsors, visit http://theinternetsaysitstrue.com/deals  

Last time we spoke about the situation after the disastrous losses at Pyongyang and the Yalu River as well as the battle for Port Arthur. Coming off their tremendous success at Pyongyang and the battle of Yalu, the Japanese performed an offensive fording the Yalu and easily defeating the Qing forces at Jiuliancheng. After this the Japanese began to advance into the Liaodong Peninsula. One by one, each town saw Qing forces fleeing while giving little battle. Eventually the Japanese seized Jinzhou and Dalian. With bases of operations in hand they then could attack the formidable fortress of Port Arthur. As the Japanese advanced into the Port Arthur region, they came across mutilated corpses of their comrades driving a fiery need for vengeance into their hearts. The Japanese would take Port Arthur with absolute ease as the Qing yet again fled the scene, but this time the victory was met with a disastrous massacre.   #53 The First Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1895 Part 5: The Battle of Weihaiwei   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The massacre at Port Arthur was disastrous for Japan's public image. Thomas Cowan of the London Times went to Hiroshima on his way home after witnessing the massacre and met with Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu to tell him what he saw personally. Upon hearing the story, Mutsu told him “that an investigation would be made and that he showed no disposition to interfere with the correspondents duty and the reports were telegraphed on December 1st”. On December 16th the Japanese foreign ministry issued a formal statement to the foreign press on the matter  "The Japanese Government desires no concealment of the events at Port Arthur. On the contrary, it is investigating rigidly for the purpose of fixing the exact responsibility and is taking measures essential to the reputation of the empire. Japanese troops transported with rage at the mutilation of their comrades by the enemy, broke through all restraints and exasperated by the wholesale attempts [by Chinese soldiers] at escape disguised at citizens, they inflicted vengeance without discrimination. While the Japanese government "deplores" the excessive violence, it protested "exaggerations" in the press reports and insisted that "the victims, almost without exception, were soldiers wearing the stolen clothes of citizens." Three days later the London Times reported “that most foreign reporters agree that the excesses were committed, but say that they were excusable, and that they have had their parallels in the best European armies. The Japanese military promised they would also launch an inquiry into the matter, but no one ended up being punished. Luckily for Japan the west would later on become obsessed over the peace terms and their attention was less focused on the Port Arthur Massacre.  Meanwhile the Qing government was trying to deny there even was a defeat at Port Arthur, let alone a massacre. The Shanghai China Gazette had this to say "The most strenuous efforts have been made by the Chinese officials to conceal the fact that the great stronghold has passed out of their hands, and is now a de facto Japanese naval yard. Telegraphic notices have been sent...all over the empire by the officials saying that a wicked report has been set on foot by the enemy that they have captured Port Arthur, but it was utterly untrue, the place being garrisoned by 30,000 brave Chinese soldiers who would never give it up to the Japanese. Official telegrams to this effect were published to-day in all the native papers, and thousands of Chinese will thereby be kept in blissful ignorance of the terrible position in which China stands to-day. Ostrich-like, most of the Chinese prefer not to believe the unpleasant truth and rather listen to the barefaced mendacity of their wretched rulers. But the stupidity of the latter gentry, who have brought the country to its present desperate plight, is only emphasized by this false manoeuvre." A month later the same China Gazette asserted this "By many it is not yet known or admitted that Port Arthur has been taken and is held by the Japanese - even of the 'well-informed' officials. The same is said to be true in Peking." Of course the Qing court had good reason to try and conceal the defeat at Port Arthur. The mandate of heaven was under attack, the Japanese were pouring into the Manchu homelands of Manchuria. Internal rebellions could spring up at any moment, everything seemed to be hanging from a thread. After the defeats at Pyongyang and Yalu, Emperor Guangxu demanded to take personal control over the prosecution of war in Korea. He even wanted to leave the throne under Empress Dowager Cixi so he could concentrate on the frontlines, but his advisers pretty much put their foot down on that one. The Manchu leadership needed to maintain their control over national security….and luckily for them and unluckily for Li Hongzhang they had a scapegoat for the disasters.  In October of 1894, just before losing at Port Arthur, Prince Gong had been reinstated. A decade earlier he had been demoted because of the disastrous losses during the Sino-French War, but in reality Cixi just considered him a rival. He was appointed high commissioner of the Peking Field forces, co-president with Prince Qing of the Admiralty, the Zongli Yamen and of War Operations. Yes the age old tradition of tossing a ton of titles on a single person. The Qing government even created for him a small general headquarters. Prince Gong was the 6th song of the Daoguang Emperor, uncle in law of Cixi and alongside Li Hongzhang, one of China's top experts on foreign affairs. The foreign community respected him ever since the second opium war. Prince Qing had been the head of the Zongli Yamen since 1887. Thus two Manchu princes, Gong and Qing were in control of the capital's defense. Gong and Li Hongzhang were sharing responsibilities for the war, but Gong was specifically only responsible for the defense of the capital while Li Hongzhang retained responsibility for prosecuting the war against Japan.  After the fall of Port Arthur, Li Hongzhang went to the Qing court seeking punishment and within 24 hours he was deprived of all his titles, honours and office, ompf. And when all was said and done…he remained at his post. As the New York Times headlines stated at the time "Viceroy Li Hung Chang Has Lost the Rest of His Wardrobe." The foreign press had learnt much about China's practice of degrading and punishing officials, while simultaneously not actually implementing any policy change. Li Hongzhang would retain his post throughout the war, regardless of the titles and honours, he really was a scapegoat. And its not like he was not aware of this, upon receiving his punishments he began to toss mud at the Qing officials, blaming them for resisting railroad construction plans as now they were direly needed to deploy troops. He would also go on the record to complain naval funds had not been so forthcoming. Basically it was a big old Li Hongzhang “I told you so moment”. Colonel Maurice of the British Royal Artillery was very blunt when stating “Li Hongzhang is being treated as a scapegoat. He is the only man in China who has advocated European methods, and he is now being punished on account of the failure of the old Conservatives who refused to follow his advice." Back to the frontlines, upon taking Port Arthur, the Japanese did not rest long to continue their sweep towards Beijing. But the next important target was the naval base at Weihaiwei. There was also suggestions amongst the Japanese military leadership to perform a winter campaign in Manchuria as a diversion. The thought process being, to hit the Manchu homeland to divert many of their land forces away from the shores of Bohai and Shandong. The Qing had divided their forces in Manchuria into three armies forming a line between the coastline at Gaiping all the way to Liaoyang. The northmost army was stationed at Liaoyang. They were to defend the road to Mukden from the east via the Motian Pass and the south via Haicheng. If you pull up a map, you will notice the Motian Pass forms this bottleneck between Fenhuangcheng and Liaoyang. The second army took up a position at the port city of Niuzhuang and walled city of Haicheng. Lastly the third army commanded by General Song Qing was positioned at Gaiping. Now back at the end of October, Marshal Yamagata was pursuing Qing forces and his 5th division seized Fenghuangcheng unopposed. Their next objective was Haicheng, taking this would enable the 1st IJA in eastern Manchuria and 2nd IJA advancing up the Liaodong Peninsula to link up communications. It would also cut off the Qing in 3 directions, leaving them only a westward retreat. After Fenghuangcheng fell, General Song ordered 10,000 of his forces to advance to the Motian Pass threatening the rear lines of the Japanese marching upon Haicheng. This prompted General Nozu Michitsura to move his 10th brigade to Motian pass to prevent the Qing from concentrating there. He was successful at repelling the Qing forces gathering there and by late november the Qing were routing. From there the Japanese were forced to pull back to Fenghuangcheng to resupply, but in that time period the Qing began to reconcentrate at the Motian Pass. Then the Qing launched an offensive at Fenghuangcheng, but were served two terrible defeats on December 9th and 14th. While this was going on the 5th brigade under General Katsura Taro was pursuing a Qing Army led by General Ma, around 6000 men strong who looked like they were going to attack Port Arthur. Katsura pursued Ma's forces to Haicheng where he not only defeated them, he also seized the city by December 13th.  The seizure of Haicheng had ruined General Song's plans, now the Qing line of defense was cut in two by a Japanese army. General Song was forced to re-establish a new defensive line. On the 18th of december he ordered 10,000 of his forces to storm the town of Niuzhuang, but they were intercepted along the way by the IJA 5th brigade. They were forced to withdraw, suffering 500 casualties vs 440 for the Japanese. The next day, the Japanese attacked the retreating Qing forces around Ganwangzhai a town just southwest of Haicheng. The Qing put up a stiff resistance, but were forced to give ground. This prevented General Song's army from reaching the road to Liaoyang to connect with the other Qing armies to the north. The Qing would try four times to retake Haicheng during January and February to no avail. Then on January 10th, the 2nd IJA launched a three-pronged attack upon the walled city of Gaiping. The cities 5000 strong garrison fought for their lives, they had prepared for the attack by causing the water in the nearby streamers next to the city to freeze on an incline, making it difficult for the Japanese to cross. While this tactic would have been high effective centuries ago, with modern artillery it was undercut gravely. The Qing would have 1200 casualties defending Gaiping while inflicting 307 upon the Japanese. 10,000 Qing reinforcements were arriving at the scene from Yingkou whereupon they found the retreating garrison and this tossed everything into a panic. But to the relief of General Song, the Japanese temporarily halted their advance, due to overstretching their logistical lines. Now the Japanese had an enormous supply route going all the way from Jiuliancheng to Haicheng and Gaiping.  General Song Qing would not give up and launched a major counteroffensive to retake Gaiping and Haicheng. 20,000 Qing forces stormed into the region and were beaten back mostly by the 5th Brigade. General Song's men received 300 casualties for their efforts while inflicting only 41 upon the Japanese. Undeterred, General Song tossed two more offensives between January 17th to the 21st of February. The offensives greatly strained his men and just when their logistical supply lines were beginning to suffer, General Nozu prepared his counter offensive. On the 16th of February as 15,000 Qing soldiers attacked Haicheng in 3 columns led by Generals Zhang Xun, I K'o T'ang and Xu, they would also be aided by bandit forces the next day. On the 21st the Qing bombarded Haicheng with artillery, while they received reinforcements in the form of 10,000 men under Governor Wu Dacheng from Shanhaiguan. Meanwhile the Japanese were also reinforced by elements of the 1st division. On the 21st, the 1st division led by General Yamaji assaulted a large hill named Taping-shan being defended by forces led by General Ma Yukun. By the 24th General Yamaji seized the hill forcing the Qing to take up new positions in nearby villages, and soon Yamaji unleashed artillery from the hilltop upon them. The Qing had to withdraw from the area after receiving 800 casualties. The fighting was extremely rough for the hill, not to mention the winter conditions costing the Japanese 250 casualties from combat and another 1500 cases of frostbite.  On the 28th, General Nozu Michitsure unleashed his counterattack aimed at Niuzhuang and Liaoyang. He began with a large artillery bombardment, then sent his forces in a wide front offensive. The Qing defenders were driven into a rout, many retreating north towards Jinzhou, offering only rear guard actions as they did. Lt General Katsura Taro pursued some of the retreating Qing all the way to the walls of Liaoyang, reaching it by March 3rd while the main bulk, the 3rd and 5th divisions under General Nozu advanced upon Niuzhuang and Liaoyang eventually by the 4th of March. During the rout the Qing had taken another 400 casualties, while inflicting 124 upon the Japanese. General Song then tosses 2500 men led by General Xu at Haicheng yet again only to be repelled by the IJA 1st division.  On March 3rd, the 3rd and 5th IJA divisions began their assault of Niuzhuang by first softening the city up with an artillery barrage for 2 hours. The artillery barrage did more than soften up the city, all the Qing defenders abandon their wall positions and move into the interior. The Japanese 5th division enters the city with zero resistance to find 2000 of the 5000 Huai army troops defending Niuzhuang are fleeing. Those who stay fight fiercely against the 6000 men of the 5th IJA division, but in the end they are forced to abandon Niuzhuang after 1900 deaths. 633 Qing defenders are taken prisoner. The Japanese were forced to destroy nearly all the buildings in the city using artillery to smoke out Qing defenders and this goes on well into the night. By 11pm, the Qing have all departed the city. While the battle over Niuzhuang was occurring, the 1st and 3rd divisions began an attack against Yingkou. General Song under threat of encirclement was forced to withdraw from Yingkou over to Tianzhuangtai. By March 7th, the battle for Yingkou becomes nothing more than sporadic resistance, but the port city falls with relative ease. At port in Yingkou the Japanese seized the gunboat Mei Yuan and two transports that were icebound. General Song rallied around 11,000 men at Tianzhuangtai to continue launching counter offensives, but General Nozu kept up the pace to hinder the Qing from recuperating. The 5th Brigade was left to garrison Niuzhuang and Yingkou as the rest of the Japanese advanced upon Tianzhuangtai. The Qing were taken off balance by this and tried to put up a defense, but were utterly defeated resulting in 2000 casualties and lost their entire artillery force which was captured by the Japanese. The Japanese loses were reported to be unbelievably low at 16 deaths and 144 wounded. As a result of this last defeat, General Song's army ceased to exist as a real force. Full scale combat in Manchuria pretty much ended with the seizure of Tianzhuangtai, though minor skirmishes would occur in hill areas with pockets of Qing resistance. The victory over Yingkou gave the Japanese complete control over the southeastern portion of Manchuria, and when April came around, Yingkou's harbor would be ice free allowing for further supply lines via the sea. The Japanese had thus acquired a base of operations to perform offensives within Zhili and thus the road to Beijing was open. The offensive against Beijing would see the 1st and 3rd divisions of the 1st IJA marching towards Shanhaiguan, while the 5th division would garrison parts of Manchuria and the 2nd and 6th divisions would be held in reserve around Dalian. At this point Emperor Guangxu began shuffling officials. Li Hongzhang was relieved of his command in the field, and this was handed over to a 6 man strong committee of defense headed by Prince Chun. Alongside this, Li Hongzhangs viceroyship over Zhili, something he had held for quarter of a century, was handed over to Liu Kunyi. Liu Kunyi tried to pretend he was too ill to take the appointment and would remain in Beijing through January of 1895, continuously trying to weasel out of the new post. Rumors began to emerge that Liu Kunyi was an opium addict, which was not unheard of, Generals like Ye Zhichao and Wei Rugui were known opium addicts. Despite his attempts to thwart it, Liu Kunyi now commanded the Xiang Army, composed of large numbers of Hunanese and Hubei forces. By December 28th, Liu Kunyi was made commander in chief of the imperial armies within and without the Great Wall, including the territories of Zhili, Shandong and Manchuria. The defense committee had organized 50,000 men for the defense of Zhili, stationing them around Shanhaiguan, with another 55,000 around Beijing. This meant Liu Kunyi had a whopping 105,000 men under his commander with 80,000 of the provincial forces within the theater of operations. General Song Qing meanwhile still held command over 35,000 men in Manchuria alongside another General who was commanded 10,000 at Liaoyang.  As all of the shuffling was going on for the Qing, the Japanese did not simply lay idle. Their primary objective remained Weihaiwei and in January of 1895 as their forces were marching through Manchuria slowly towards Beijing, they split up the 2nd IJA. In the third week of January the entire 2nd division and most of the 6th were handed over to Marshal Oyama who redeployed them across the Yellow Sea to Shandong Province in preparation for an assault upon Weihaiwei. Now when the Japanese attacked Port Arthur, they did so intended to take her naval facilities intact so they could use them, but for Weihaiwei the goal would be much different. The Japanese intended to destroy the Beiyang fleet within her port, so that the seaways would no longer be under any threat, thus allowing Japan to move troops at will, though by this point they had basically already achieved this.  The advance upon Weihaiwei began with a diversionary bombardment of the outlying town of Dengzhou on January 18th. Dengzhou was roughly 100 miles west of Weihaiwei and its defense consisted of four 210mm guns and six 150mm guns. The purpose of the diversionary attack was to turn the Qing attention westward, while the Japanese landed forces 30 miles east of Weihaiwei at the easternmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula known as Rongcheng. Japanese forces departed Dalian on January 19th and 22nd, landing between the 20-23rd. Dengzhou was bombarded by the cruisers Naniwa, Akitsushima and Yoshino as the 2nd IJA forces led by General Oyama Iwao landed at Rongcheng. His 2nd IJA consisted of the 6th division under General Kuroki Tamemoto and the 2nd division under Lt General Sakuma Samata. The 2nd IJA divided into two columns marching west towards Weihaiwei, one over a coastal rode, the other around 4 miles further inland. The Japanese ushered in the Chinese New Year by timing the invasion of Weihaiwei on January 29th. It was the most important holiday to the Chinese and perhaps the Japanese chose it specifically to not only surprise the Chinese but also hammer in a message “that the old days were finished: Wake up and Modernize or suffer dire consequences” Once in the vicinity of Weihaiwei the Japanese performed a three-pronged attack upon the landward fortifications south and east of the town. Weihaiwei had three categories of defenses; those on two harbor islands, those on the mainland overlooking the northwestern entrance to the harbor and those on the mainland overlooking the southeastern entrance to the harbor. These fortifications were equipped with the best artillery available: a total of 161 guns, between 7-24cms worth, mostly of Krupp and Armstrong design; the northern forts had 43 guns; Liugongdao island had 61 guns; Ridao island had 8 guns; the southern forts had 49 guns and the harbor itself held 15 Beiyang warships, 13 torpedo boats and 248 sea mines and booms. Nearly 11,000 Qing defended the city, with another 4000 or so on their way from Tianjin, but they would not make it in time. The troops were led by Admiral Ding Ruchang and Commander of the Dingyuan Liu Buchan. The two Beiyang commanders had little faith in the Qing soldiers under their disposal, and only really trusted the sailors of the Beiyang fleet. The IJN combined fleet had dispatched a naval patrol outside Weihaiwei's harbor threatening any ships that tried to escape with torpedo attacks, leaving the entire Beiyang fleet bottled up. The weather conditions hit as low as -6, with severe blizzards, thus terrible for the incoming Japanese, but a typical summer for Canadians, haha. The most outlying forts were hit first by Japanese artillery. This resulted in a 9 hour long fight until the Qing defenders abandoned the forts, leaving them all nearly intact. During the storming of the outlying forts, Major General Odera Yasuzumi leading the 11th infantry regiment, was hit by shrapnel from a shell fired from the Jiyuan. Odera would die from his wounds and became the only Japanese general to die in combat during the war and the highest ranking Japanese death of the war. He would be posthumously promoted to 3rd Court Rank and his son was ennobled with the title of “Danshaku / Baron”. With the outlying forts seized, the Japanese began turning them upon Weihaiwei itself battering it before the men stormed Weihaiwei on February 2nd.  To probably no surprise of any of you listeners by now, the Japanese entered the city to find the garrison had fled the night before. It turned out when the siege began, the Chinese hospital staff were the first to flee, leaving some foreigners to try and take over medical services. Admiral Ding Ruchang only succeeded in having a few of the forts surrounding the harbor destroyed before the Japanese simply grabbed them. Now the very guns that were meant to protect the Beiyang fleet trapped within the harbor were unleashed upon them. To make matters worse on the night of February the 3rd the Japanese tried to remove the booms blocking the entrance to the harbor but were unable to. The following night they tried again and this time were successful allowing two squadrons of torpedo boats to enter the harbor. Two IJN torpedo boats began opened fire to cause a distraction as others snuck in to try and torpedo the Dingyuan. The Dingyuan received crippling damage as 3 other Qing warships were sunk. The following night a squadron of IJN torpedo boats made repeated attacks upon the largest Qing warships at anchor, disabling two and a transport. By February the 7th the IJA and IJN were launching combined bombardment attacks upon the Beiyang Fleet. In response the Qing torpedo boats not already disabled tried to make a break for it, unsuccessfully running into a IJN blockade. Out of 13 ships, 6 were destroyed and 7 were captured intact by the Japanese. As defeat was certain, Admiral Ito Sukeyuki tried to make an appeal to Admiral Ding Ruchang, who happened to be his personal friend. He wrote a letter urging his old friend to come back with him to Japan. He advised ding to prevent any further loss of life by capitulating and to accept political asylum in Japan until the war's end and that he assured him, he would return to his native land and could secure China's future by setting new policies. "It is not the fault of one man that has brought China into the position she now occupies. The blame rests with the errors of the Government that has long administered her affairs. She selects her servants by competitive examination, and literary attainments are the test" In the modern age China owes her preservation and her integrity to-day wholly to the fact that she then [thirty years ago] broke away from the old and attached herself to the new." Now Ding despite being the Admiral of the Beiyang Fleet, in a typical Qing fashion was greatly out of his element. He had formerly been a cavalry officers, he actually held little naval training at all, he was not even very popular amongst the sailors. He was a man of Anhui province, but most naval officers hailed from Fujian. As was typical, the Qing dynasty favored loyalties rather than military experience, thus led Ding to where he was. He resisted capitulation until the very end and had actually tried to die in action multiple times by standing on deck when bombardments were occurring. According to a foreign advisor "Ding declared at first that capitulation was impossible; but later he said he could arrange it by committing suicide, and so save the lives of many." Depending on the sources you read, he chose to kill himself, or his sailors actually proded him with knives to do so. Admiral Ding Ruchang killed himself via opium overdose, followed by Admiral Liu Buchan and Captain Yang Yonglin who shot himself as the Japanese boarded the Dingyuan. Ding had no choice but to kill himself as Emperor Guangxu had already degraded him the prior summer for not preventing the IJN from entering Bohai. After the fall of Port Arthur the emperor degraded him again and tried to bring him to the Board of Punishment where he would have been beheaded, had it not been for Li Hongzhang intervening on his behalf. Before killing himself Ding wrote back to Ito "I am thankful for the admiral's friendship, but I cannot forsake my duties to the state. The only thing now remaining for me to do is to die." Liu Buchan before doing the same had ordered the scuttling of as many of the Beiyang warships as possible with explosives. Command of the Beiyang fleet fell onto the Scottish born Vice Admiral John McClure who wrote a letter of surrender in Admiral Ding's name on the morning of February 12th. Per the terms of the letter; the remaining ships, forts and stores were surrendered to the Japanese at the request all the Qing troops, civilians and foreign advisors would be allowed to depart unmolested.  Dings suicide wiped away the stain of defeat and made him a tragic war hero to both China and Japan. The Japanese admired his final act since it fit within their bushido code. Admiral Ding alongside the other commanders who committed suicide were honored by the Japanese. They accorded them full military honors and granted their men extraordinary leniency. An American professor who taught English in Japan shortly after the war wrote of the event, explaining its significance to western audiences. "What would have been the feelings of the North for Robert E. Lee if, at Appomattox [when the South capitulated to the North at the end of the American Civil War], rather than share the fate of the gallant men he had surrendered, he had committed suicide from a sense of devoted patriotism? Instead of admiring him for the unsullied hero and knightly character that he was, North and South alike would have despised him. And yet nine out often of my Japanese schoolboys wrote of the suicide of Admiral Ting [Ding] as the noblest thing of which they had ever heard." The letter of capitulation would be the first one handed over to the Japanese without the use of the term Woren. Later on when the war was officially over, the Qing soldiers and officers signed promises not to take further part in the war and were set free by the Japanese. The officers were provided safe passage aboard the gunboat Kangji, which carried the bodies of Ding Ruchang and the other dead captains. The IJN went out of their way to fly flags at half mast and the flagship fired a long salute as the boat bearing Ding's body left port. The fall of Port Arthur had been Empress Dowager's birthday present from Japan. Li Hongzhangs had come on Februray 12th, with the fall of Weihaiwei and 3 days short of his 72nd birthday. Back in Beijing, upon hearing the news of Weihaiwei's fall, Emperor Guangxu in a fit of rage authorized the governor of Shandong province to behead all fugitives without requiring to report back to the capital. The New York Times said of the event "Emulating Alice's Wonderland Queen, China's Emperor Says of Wei-Hai-Wei Defenders, 'Off with Their Heads.'" Some of the Qing leadership began advising the court they should hire foreign mercenaries or even engage Chinese fishermen to attack the Japanese home islands. For men like these, the modern era had still not dawned. In reality, China should have offered peace negotiations after losing Port Arthur, but for many members of the Qing elite this was unthinkable. As allegedly murmured by some “Dwarves could not possibly bring China to her knees”.  On the eve of the offensive against Weihaiwei, Governor Wu Dacheng who now held the titles of assistant imperial commissioner of defense; president of the board of war; vice president of the court of congress; governor of Hunan and officer of the premier button made an official proclamation to the Japanese. It was he, who offered surrender. In his own words "I of a charitable state of mind, and so could not bear to see Japanese troops going to destruction before my fresh battalions in this severe cold." Meanwhile the Japanese publicly reported their objectives of war not yet attained and that the diet was prepared to grant whatever amounts were necessary for military expenses required to finish them. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Japanese had defeated countless Qing armies in Manchuria and now had neutralized China's last great naval port of Weihaiwei. Would the Qing court bend the knee to the Japanese, or continue the fight?  

Last time we spoke about the battle of the Yalu River. It was an absolutely catastrophic week for the Qing dynasty. Within just two days they suffered a major land defeat and now a defeat at sea that practically annihilated the Beiyang fleet. Corruption and incompetence ran rampant as the Beiyang fleet crews found themselves undertrained, understaffed, lacking ammunition and what ammunition they did have, some of it was filled with concrete and porcelain. The Qing dynasty's corruption problems were shown on full display as the IJN combined fleet outperformed them, despite having smaller warships and less of them. Quick firing guns defeated the big guns at Yalu and now the Japanese held control over the seas. The Beiyang fleet now flee's to Weihaiwei to try and repair their ships for another chance at a decisive naval battle, but will it ever come to be?   #52 The First Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1895 Part 4: The Battle for Port Arthur   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. After the battle of the Yalu River, the Japanese had a enormous boost to their propaganda campaign. Despite this the Qing backed press continued their charade of blemishing the losses, take this article from the North China Herald "In spite of the reiterated denials of the Japanese authorities that any of their vessels were badly injured in the recent naval fight, information which we have been able to gather from quarters entitled to all credence, corroborates in a very circumstantial manner the statement that the Japanese lost four vessels in the actual fight, and more probably later on, as the Chinese heavy guns treated them very severely. The Chinese engaged fought with wonderful bravery; there were no skulkers." Despite their claims, by September the 20th the jig was up for the Qing government as foreign military advisers who had participated or witnessed the battle at Yalu arrived to Tianjin. They began spilling the story to the western press, and unlike the Japanese press, the Qing could not simply write them off as mere propaganda. The foreign press corroborated the Japanese reports that 5 Qing warships were had been sunk and “to a man regard the statement that the Japanese lost no ships as a barefaced lie”. Even the foreign eye witnesses could not believe not a single Japanese ship was sunk. The reports caused severe issues for Beijing. This alongside other issues prompted Emperor Guangxu to take an unprecedented move, he summoned Inspector General Constantin von Hanneken, a Prussian officer who was working as a military adviser to the Beiyang fleet for an imperial audience. Von Hanneken was also one of the engineers who helped build the defenses at Port Arthur known to the Chinese as Lushunkou and at Weihaiwei. He of course was present at the battle of the Yalu and the EMperor demanded to learn what actually transpired from him. It certainly says a lot about your Empire, when you would trust a foreigner over your officials.   It is also at this point Japan altered its position on foreign reporters. As mentioned near the beginning of this series, the Japanese opted to have a blackout on news about the war. On August 2nd of 1894 an Imperial Ordinance had been published requiring all newspapers and other publicans to submit any information concerning diplomatic or military affairs to the Japanese government authorities prior to publication. Well after the victories at Pyongyang and Yalu, the Japanese government decided to undermine the Qing war propaganda efforts by allowing foreign correspondence to accompany the IJA. Foreigners would not be given the same accommodation for the Qing ground forces. As explained by a reporter for the Peking and Tientsin times “no one could guarantee the safety of a foreigner accompanying the Chinese troops. Two interpreters accompanying the Second Japanese Army were captured and killed by Chinese forces”. Another major event occurred after the disaster at Yalu, Empress Dowager Cixi abandoned her plans for her extravagant 60th birthday celebration, which really adds to the myth about the embezzlement of naval funds. On September 25th, EMperor Guangxu issued this edict “"H.I.M. the Empress-Dowager, in view of the continuation of the war with Japan, cannot bear to be celebrating her birthday anniversary with great rejoicing while her subjects and soldiers are all suffering from the hardships of war, hence she has commanded that the triumphal progress from Eho [the Summer Palace or Yiheyuan, to the Forbidden City and the celebrations at the former place be given up, and only the ordinary celebrations settled upon in the Palace be observed on the auspicious day. We did our best to try to pray her Majesty to reconsider the above decision, but the grace and virtue of her Majesty has resisted our prayers." It was estimated by the French press that Empress Dowager had spent nearly 80 million francs in preparation for the celebration that was canceled. This is about the time you hear rumors of Empress Dowagers infamous embezzling scandal. It was said by many that she had siphoned naval funds in the figure of 100 million taels which was the reason why the Qing Navy received no significant funding after 1889. As I mentioned in the previous episode, its not so black and white, but indeed the summer palace did see serious renovations. Some of those renovations costs upto 14 million taels and it seems like at least 11 million did come from funds originally dedicated to the navy. There is also a huge amount of irony, as one of these renovations was to refurbish a marble pavilion in the shape of a boat for one of the palace gardens. Too good to be true some would say. The first two key battles of the war were focused on expelling the Chinese from the Korean Peninsula. After the victory at Yalu, the war theater now shifted to Manchuria. The IJA wanted to clear a way from the Korean border to the Liaodong Peninsula in preparation for an attack upon one of her grandest and most important fortresses and naval bases, Port Arthur. The Fortress of Port Arthur took over 16 years to build and its naval station was considered superior to that of Hong Kong. If Port Arthur were to fall, the Qing would be unable to repair their best damaged ships and would succumb to a naval war of attrition. Guarding the southern shores of the Bohai was China's second most important naval base, that at Weihaiwei. Weihaiwei and Port Arthur worked together to check any sea approaches to Beijing. If both fell, the rest of the war would literally descend into mop up operations. Japan's war plan was to execute a pincer attack against Beijing. Their forces would advance in 3 columns. 1) Part of the 1st IJA would move south through Manchuria towards the Liaodong Peninsula; 2) the 2nd IJA would land on the Liaodong Peninsula and advance upon Port Arthur; 3) another part of the 1st IJA would advance from the Korean border towards Mukden, hoping to seize it and use it as a down payment later on to decapitate the Qing dynasty. Once Port arthur was taken, the 1st IJA would continue their land campaign in Manchuria to clear a path to Beijing while the 2nd IJA would amphibious attack Weihaiwei. If successful this would obliterate the Qing southern naval forces and leave Beijing at their mercy. As a coup de grace, the Japanese were also organizing a 3rd IJA at Hiroshima in anticipation for amphibious landings at Dagu to march upon Beijing. However the Japanese were under no illusions of this all coming to be, they figured great powers would intervene at some point to limit their war aims. The Qing counterstrategy was quite minimal; it rested upon the assumption the Japanese would never be capable of crossing the Yalu River. After their defeat at Pyongyang the Qing ground forces made their next stand 125 miles to the north along the Yalu River. The river constituted the boundary between Korea and China. It was deep and wife, making it a formidable obstacle for the advancing Japanese army. Two fortified outposts faced another fromm opposite sides of the river, one at Jiliancheng on the Manchurian side and the other at Uiji on the Korean side. These became the headquarters for the opposing armies. General Song Qing fortified the northern bank of the Yalu for 7 miles going as far south as Andong and 10 miles north to Hushan. General Song Qing was 74 years old, famous for helping suppress the Taiping 30 years prior. He was one of Li Hongzhang's subordinates during the campaign against the Taiping and Nian rebellion. Since 1880 he had served as an assistant to Li Hongzhang, overseeing the defenses of Manchuria. By 1882 he alongside his troops took up a station at Port Arthur, and apparently there he had done very little to modernize the Manchurian army. After the battle of Pyongyang, Li Hongzhang put him in charge of directing the war and gave him authority to reorganize the army. Meanwhile the 1st IJA led by Field Marshal Count Yamagata Aritomo departed from Pyongyang on October 23rd. The 56 year old Yamagata was the father of the modern Japanese army, a leading Meiji era statesman. He had overseen the introduction of national conscription in 1873, the reorganization of the army along first French, then Prussian lines in 1878 and the adoption of an independent General staff system. During the 1880s he also oversaw the organization of the national police force and system of local government. He was prime minister from 1889-1891, during his time he introduced the imperial rescript on education. So needless to say he was a colossal figure. His plan was based on Napoleons successful tactic of making a feint to the front while delivering a blow to the flank, this time directed at Hushan. He planned to use a small force to attack the Qing left flank, in the hopes of turning its flank and feinting the movements of the main bulk of his army. The main bulk would concentrate on the center of the Qing lines. But to do all of this, he had to cross the Yalu.  The Japanese had learned bitter lessons about fording large rivers at Pyongyang, they could have massively lost the battle because they never prepared the tools to ford such things. This time the IJA carefully prepared themselves. Yamagata occupied Uiju by October 23rd with around 10,000 troops of the 3rd and 5th divisions of the 1st IJA. On the other side of the Yalu, General Song Qing had 16 km's of fortifications in the form of hundreds of redoubts and trenches manned by nearly 23,000 troops.  On the night of October 24th, the Japanese crept up to the Yalu river near Uiji and secretly erected a pontoon bridge to get the main body of their forces across. Miraculously this went undetected. The IJA 3rd division led by General Katsuro Taro performed a night attack against Hushan. Incredibly, upon attacking Hushan, the Japanese found the Qing garrison had deserted their fortifications the night before! Simultaneously the IJA 5th division led by General Nozu Michitsura sent his men over the pontoon bridge and attacked Jiuliancheng, also finding positions deserted. In fact only a Qing rear guard even bothered to make a token resistance! In less than 3 hours of combat the fortifications at Hushan and Juliancheng were already in Japanese hands? According to a military analyst named Du Boulay, "The Chinese garrison [at Jiuliancheng] which might have inflicted great damage on the hostile army from behind battlements of solid masonry, silently decamped during the night, keeping up a desultory fire in the meantime, in order to encourage the belief that they intended to retain possession of the stronghold." When the Japanese came to Dandong the situation was the very same. The Qing had abandoned enormous quantities of weapons, rice and other war materials. The battle to stop the Japanese from entering Manchuria resulted in about 34 deaths and 111 wounded or the Qing and practically nothing for the Japanese.  It had turned out the field commanders, Generals Yikteang'a, Ye Zhicheng and Nie Shicheng had all retreated to Fenghuangcheng. Yiketang'a was a Manchu general in control of banner forces from Heilongjiang province and not under direct command of Li Hongzhang. The 1st IJA split into two groups to pursue the fleeing Qing forces. One group was commanded by Lt General Taro who advanced northwards towards Fenghuangcheng chasing after General Nie Shichengs men. At Fenghuangcheng, Yiketang and Nie chose to torch the city and fled the scene by October 30th. By November 15th, the Japanese seized Xiuyan just due west of Fenghuangcheng. By taking both these cities the land approaches to Port Arthur were now severed.  Meanwhile the other Japanese group led by Lt General Oku Yasukata were advancing north towards Mukden. Severe winter conditions began to hit the region as General SOng Qing moved his forces to Liaoyang to block the Japanese advance upon Mukden. Because of the descending winter, both sides went into winter quarters. The Qing sources at this point stopped claiming victories, and instead began presenting events as brave encounters against overwhelmingly superior numbers. Take this from the North China Herald on November 2nd "When the Japanese army of forty odd thousand attacked Chiuliench'eng [Jiuliancheng] on the 24th of October there were only a little over 5,000 Chinese troops to oppose the enemy. But it took the latter two whole days to take the city. When the city was abandoned all the modern Krupp and Hotchkiss guns, over twenty in number, were carried along with the army, the ones left to the enemy being some thirty odd old muzzle-loading pieces, a hundred years old, which had been placed there many years ago as a defence against possible native or Corean marauders." Because of the absence of decent telegraph lines or good roads, communications were extremely slow to come out of the Manchurian campaign. Initial coverage tended to be based more so on rumor than fact, kind of like social media today. It would often take more than a month for a comprehensive account to become known.  General Song Qing's forces had retreated in the general direction of Liaoyang to protect Mukden. It was after all the ancestral home of the Manchu, thus it held tremendous symbolic importance for their dynasty. The city could not afford to lose if the Manchu hoped to still control China. But for the Japanese, Mukden was like their trump card to play later, their primary target of course was Port Arthur. The Manchu leadership were following the traditional strategy focusing on the land war and dynastic continuity while overlooking the need to deny the Japanese access to the coast to continue landing their forces. They assumed China's vast territory and population would prove too much for the Japanese Army, that time was on their side and a war of attrition would deliver victory. This was a possibility of course, a strong government could abandon their capital and continue to fight, but the Manchu's fought under the belief they would lose the dynasty if they left the capital too long. If they were absent too long, perhaps the Han would strike a deal with the Japanese. Thus it was imperative to the Manchu they must thwart Japanese landings in China proper; the key to this of course was to deny Japan access to the key ports in Bohai. To do this they had to hold Port Arthur which held the only repair facilities capable of maintaining their best warships. Their land forces needed to concentrate at Port Arthur, not disperse in Manchuria.  The next order of business for the Japanese was to seize Jinzhou and then Dalian which were on either neck of the Liaodong Peninsula. Once they were taken the Japanese could launch a land offensive against Port Arthur whose primary defenses anticipated an attack by sea. The 2nd IJA of Major General Nogi Maresuke and Lt General Baron Yamaji Motoharu began arriving at  Pi-tse-Wo, present day Pikou along the Liaodong Peninsula on October 24th. Their first objective was Jinzhou, the most important fortified town in southern Fengtian province. It was a major transportation intersection, located at the fork in the road from China proper to the Liaodong Peninsula and Korea. One route followed the western coast of the Peninsula going to Niuzhang and further to parts of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan. The other route went northward to the Yalu River. Jinzhou held a garrison of 1500 soldiers equipped with four 240mm, two 210mm and two 150mm artillery pieces. On November the 6th, General Nogi's men stormed Jinzhou, taking it with very little resistance. Jinzhou was actually quite a tough position to defend because it was surrounded by hills, making it easy for an enemy to position their artillery to batter the fortifications. The next day General Nogi's men advanced upon Dalian. Dalian was garrisoned by 3500 soldiers equipped with 5 forts and batteries consisting of eight 240mm, four 210mm, 6 150mm and two 120mm artillery pieces. It was a formidable fortress and it was taken without a single shot fired. Yes Dalian defenders had all fled to Port Arthur the night prior. Taking Jinzhou and Dalian was literally a cake walk. Dalian was a port town and its dock facilities greatly aided the Japanese supply lines. The Qing defenders of Dalian had left so fast they had even abandoned plans that showed the minefield locations for Port Arthur's defenses. While all of this was going on, the Beiyang fleet and limped back to Port Arthur by early November only to receive orders from Li Hongzhang over in Tianjin, to withdraw to Weihaiwei. It seemed Li Hongzhang did not want to risk another tussle with the IJN combined fleet. Thus Port Arthur would not be reinforced by the Beiyang warships big guns, and to add insult to injury, as the Beiyang fleet was pulling  into Weihaiwei, the battleship Zhenyuan struck some rocks at the entrance to her harbor and had to be beached. The only dockyards capable of repairing either of the two giant German built battleships were at Port Arthur, thus one of China's best warships was out of commission. The commander of the Zhenyuan, Commodore Lin Taizeng, who was the grandson of the famous Lin Zexu who had legendary destroyed the crates of Opium that led to the opium wars was so ashamed of what had happened he committed suicide via opium overdose. That is quite the case of bad luck.  After the battle of Yalu, both Li Hongzhang and Admiral Ding Ruchang's top priority was the preservation of the Beiyang Fleet. Ding was given instructions throughout the rest of the war to defend the Bohai coast from Weihaiwei to the Yalu, basically this meant protecting Beijing where the Manchu leadership were. This strategy wasted the Beiyang fleet on convoy duty instead of interrupting the IJN transportation of troops and materials to the theater of war. But from the Manchu point of view, the top priority was the protection of the dynasty and their most dangerous enemy was not necessarily the Japanese, but rather the Han population of China. Before the battle would commence over Port Arthur, Colonel J.F Maurice of the British Royal artillery informed the London and China express this “a comparatively small Chinese naval force could make it very difficult for the Japanese to transport large quantities of troops to the Asian mainland. Yet Admiral Ding did nothing to impede their troop build up to assault Port Arthur”. The Japanese Weekly Mail were complete dumbfounded at this time and produced this in an article “"When we begin to think what the loss of Port Arthur would signify for the Chinese Fleet, and what the abandonment of the place to its fate would imply under the circumstances, we can not but marvel at China's apparent inaction. Port Arthur is the only dock in north China. Did it come into Japanese possession, the Chinese war-ships would have no place to go for repairs and consequently dare not risk an engagement. Moreover, Port Arthur alone is not invested. The Japanese are holding the entrance to Pechili [Bohai] Gulf...Yet despite its easy accessibility for purposes of relief, and despite the crippling consequences involved in its capture, the Chinese seem resolved to leave it to its fate." It was unbelievable from the Japanese point of view. The very lifeline of the Japanese military relied upon her sealanes and transport. It was so direly needed, even merchant ships were helping the Japanese military to perform the task and they did so completely undaunted. As explained by the North China Herald “ordinary unarmed merchantmen, have been regularly plying to and fro without any escort, and they could have been waylaid and sent to the bottom time after time had China but risen to the occasion. The movement of the Chinese fleet have throughout the war been. . . utterly and incomprehensibly imbecile. . . The Chinese fleet has not attempted to meet the Japanese fleet in the open sea, or weighed a single anchor to hinder and debar the unprotected transports of Japan passing to and fro with their freight of eager invaders”. After the war, Hilary A Herbert the United States secretary of the navy provided an analysis on China's performance against the Japanese. "China had in this war a chance, and only one chance to win, and that lay in her fleet. To seize this chance required aggressive and daring use of that navy. Instead, China had entered upon a losing game of transporting troops to Korea, the battle ground Japan had chosen, in competition with an enemy, whose lines by sea were shorter and whose transports were as three to one. The result of this game was shortly seen in the numbers that met each other at the battle of Ping Yang [P'ydngyang]. Japan, having beaten China in transporting troops to Korea, was then allowed to choose her own time and place for a sea fight in the battle off the Yalu. The first of the untoward results of the unfortunate policy of scattering her war ships upon which China had embarked, was that she was worsted off Asan [at Feng Island], where three of Japan's ships attacked two of the Chinese vessels." The Chinese were doomed. To defeat Japan, China needed to be aggressive and daring. But the whole incentive system in the Qing dynasty penalized anyone who left its traditional war path, which was losing them said war. To break with the norm, to defy traditions and such, even if met with success in battle meant the creation of enemies within the Qing court. No one was willing to take daring action, not even the champion of China at this time, Li Hongzhang.  With Dalian in hand, the Japanese had gained yet another perfect location to have their massive convoys deliver troops and materials. Dalian in many ways was the perfect base of operations to launch an attack upon Port Arthur. Reports began to circulate that within the fortress of Port Arthur, the soldiers had lost all discipline. The foreign military advisor Captain Calder reported this to Li Hongzhang “at Port Arthur with the growing unruliness of the so-called defenders, that the fabric was tottering. The Generals did little else but quarrel amongst themselves and act in opposition. Soldiers were wandering about in mobs, taking pot-shots at electric light lamps and destroying everything in the most wanton way. In some of the smaller forts the soldiers were finding amusement in discharging the smaller guns at everything and anything a small fishing boat for instance”. Before the Japanese made it to Port Arthur, the Chinese defenders of the city began looting it. The North China Herald stated on December 21st "commander of the submarine mines and torpedo corps, in his fright, cut the connecting electric wires and carrying away the firing apparatus immediately fled, his example being well imitated by those under him, so that of the 600 odd torpedoes laid in the harbour not a single one was fired against the enemy. "news of the fall of Port Arthur has been expected every day...Foreigners from Newchwang [Niuzhuang] and Port Arthur give a most deplorable account of the state of things among the common people. All who can are fleeing with such of their possessions as they can take away."" Skirmishes between the Japanese and Chinese began on November 20th on the outskirts around Port Arthur. The next day the main attack began. The Japanese lacked the proper grade and range of ammunition for their larger siege guns, thus the Qing held an enormous advantage in artillery. But the Japanese were able to storm the forts. As reported by the Japan Weekly Mail on December 8th "Chinese gunnery was hopelessly ineffective...What fighting followed was mere carnage...The Chinese officers abandoning their men to their fate, got on board two small steamers that remained in the harbour and put out to sea." It proved unnecessary for the Japanese to besiege the fortress, because the Chinese had given up quickly. The Japanese had begun their assault at midnight on the 21st under some heavy fire initially, but they had stormed all the important landward defenses by noon the following day. Defense by land required coordination among the forts on the semicircle hills surrounding the fortress. But the Chinese were not coordinating, thus the Japanese picked the smaller forts off one by one, turning their fort guns upon the others. Eventually the Japanese took forts closer to Port Arthur and began using their guns on the dockyards and arsenal. The shore fortifications held out a bit longer, but the final one was neutralized by 5pm. During the night of the 22nd, the Chinese defenders began deserting their remaining positions. Most of the Qing officers fled using two small boats in the port, literally ditching their men to their fate. The Qing had abandoned 57 large caliber and 163 small caliber artillery pieces. Within the fortifications and the dockyards were enormous stores of coal that the Japanese would readily take for their warships.  The taking of Port Arthur was a colossal victory for Japan. There were outrageous estimates from the Japanese that they had inflicted over 4000 casualties upon the Qing at Port Arthur and only received 300 in return. Regardless of the real figures, it was the turning point of the war from the perspective of the western world. But while it was a grand victory it would represent a defeat for the Japanese. Ever since the sinking of the Kowshing, the Japanese had striven to acquire a reputation for absolute impeccable behavior on the battlefield. Since then they had demonstrated their military prowess, their high degree of civilization and their humane treatment of civilians and POW's. From a public relations viewpoint, they were brilliant. Even the anti-Japanese North China Herald reluctantly had to agree "Official corruption has certainly sapped China's strength and brought about defeat and loss, and Japan's humane treatment has certainly been the chief cause of her victories." Japan had signed the Geneva Convention and Minister of War Marshal Oyama Iwao had alerted the IJA of their responsibilities as such “Japanese soldiers must never forget that however cruel and vindictive the foe may allow himself, he must nevertheless be treated in accordance with the acknowledged rules of civilization; his disabled must be succored and his captured kindly and considerately protected.Our Army fights for the right and in accordance with the principles of civilization. Our enemies are the military forces of the country with which we are at war, not the individuals of the country. Against the force of our foe we must fight with all resolution, but as soon as any of his soldiers surrender, are taken prisoners, or receive wounds, they cease to be enemies, and it becomes our duty to treat them with all kindness." But at Port Arthur the Japanese would fail tremendously. Because of how the Japanese had treated civilians so well, alongside Oyama's publicized promises, countless civilians stayed within Port Arthur when the Japanese took it. When the Japanese patrols first entered the Port Arthur region on November 18th, they came upon mutilated Japanese bodies. Thomas Cowan of the London Times and James Creelman of the New York World were traveling with the Japanese patrol forces and witnessed this. Cowan had this to say "The sight was most revolting and was sufficient to excite revengeful feelings in the hearts of the best disciplined men." Creelman described what they saw when entering Port Arthur “the Japanese troops found the heads of their slain comrades hanging by cords, with the noses and ears gone" and "a rude arch in the main street decorated with bloody Japanese heads." Throughout the war, the IJA would discover severed heads and other mutilated body parts of their fallen comrades, but until Port Arthur they had not taken their revenge it seemed. One particularly bad incident occurred on November 18th when the IJA found a large group of wounded soldiers they had left behind in an area, were severely mutilated with their hands and feet cut off. As one eye witness, James Allan wrote after the war "Strongly as the massacre by the Japanese troops in Port Arthur is to be condemned, there is not the slightest doubt in the world that the Chinese brought it on themselves by their own vindictive savagery towards their enemies...[O]ne of the first things I saw on the morning of the 19th was a pair of [Japanese] corpses suspended by the feet from the branches of a huge camphor tree...They had been disemboweled; the eyes were gouged out, the throat cut, the right hand severed. They were perfectly naked, and groups of children were pelting them with mud and stones." When the Japanese began moving into the region on November 18th, the Qing government had issued bounties on POW's. Up to 50 taels were given for Japanese heads or other body parts.  When the Japanese came to the fortress of Port Arthur there were several mutilated body parts of their comrades displayed at the entrance to the city. Several soldiers including Lt Kijiro Nanbu vowed revenge. The IJA entered the city at around 2pm and they began killing everyone who remained in the city.  Here is a diary entry from Makio Okabe of the 1st division “As we entered the town of Port Arthur, we saw the head of a Japanese soldier displayed on a wooden stake. This filled us with rage and a desire to crush any Chinese soldier. Anyone we saw in the town, we killed. The streets were filled with corpses, so many they blocked our way. We killed people in their homes; by and large, there wasn't a single house without from three to six dead. Blood was flowing and the smell was awful. We sent out search parties. We shot some, hacked at others. The Chinese troops just dropped their arms and fled. Firing and slashing, it was unbounded joy. At this time, our artillery troops were at the rear, giving three cheers [banzai] for the emperor.” James Allen tells us "Nobody was spared, man, woman, or child, that 1 could see. The Chinese appeared to offer no resistance. Many of them prostrated themselves on the ground before the butchers with abject submission, and were shot or stabbed in that posture. The dead were mostly the townspeople; their valiant defenders seemed to have been able to make themselves scarce.the diabolical orgy of murder and mutilation, rape, lust, and rapine."" Thomas Cowan had this to say during the first day of the cities capture "I was greatly surprised next day to find them still killing the Chinese. They practically routed out the whole of the town: every house was entered and searched; the Chinese were driven out and killed; some were even killed in the houses." The Japanese press tried to place the blame of the massacres upon coolies working for the IJA, but as Cowan explained “The murders were all done by soldiers in uniform; not the work of coolies, so far as I could see." The Japanese press also tried to argue the case that it was difficult to distinguish civilians from combatants, and indeed many Qing soldiers wore civilian clothing, but this did not account for the killing of women and children. Again Cowan tells us  "the hillsides around Port Arthur were strewn with their uniforms. I saw scores of Chinese hunted out of cover, shot down and hacked to pieces, and never a man made any attempt to fight...I watched intently for the slightest sign of cause, confident that there must be some, but I saw none whatever. The Japanese perhaps also are barbarous at heart, like the Chinese. To prove it, for the fact remains that a dozen white men saw these Japanese commit these savageries for four clear days after the day of the fight." Western press reports like Cowan were corroborated by diaries from Japanese soldiers.  Creelman ran into a Japanese legal advisor named Agria Nagao of the 2nd IJA who told him this "On the night of the second day [of the massacre] the legal adviser of the army told me that Field Marshal Oyama regarded the continued slaughter as quite justifiable. 'Prisoners are a burden.We took a few hundred prisoners at Pingyang [Pyongyang], and we found it very expensive and troublesome to feed and guard them. We are taking practically no prisoners here."'" The massacre lasted several days, and one of the reports many Western audiences would remember was this chilling one from Cowan “Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent by the soldiery in murder and pillage from dawn to dark, in mutilation, in every conceivable kind of nameless atrocity, until the town became a ghastly Inferno to be remembered with a fearsome shudder until one's dying day. I saw corpses of women and children, three or four in the streets, more in the water ... Bodies of men strewed the streets in hundreds, perhaps thousands, for we could not count – some with not a limb unsevered, some with heads hacked, cross-cut, and split lengthwise, some ripped open, not by chance but with careful precision, down and across, disembowelled and dismembered, with occasionally a dagger or bayonet thrust in the private parts. I saw groups of prisoners tied together in a bunch with their hands behind their backs, riddled with bullets for five minutes and then hewn to pieces. I saw a junk stranded on the beach, filled with fugitives of either sex and of all ages, struck by volley after volley until – I can say no more.”  The scale of the killing has long been debated. Figures range dramatically. Scout reports sent by Li Hongzhang placed civilian deaths at 2700 within the city, but this did not account for the countless people slaughtered in the surrounding area. After WW2 the CCP built a cemetery proclaiming the death toll to be 20,000, this figure includes the soldiers as well, but the number has been orthodoxy ever since. Creelman asserted 60,000 were slain, which would have represented the entire population around Port Arthur. It was a atrocious beyond imagination. As Creelman explains in the greater context of national status "The Japanese troops entered Port Arthur on Nov. 21 and massacred practically the entire population in cold blood. The defenseless and unarmed inhabitants were butchered in their houses and their bodies were unspeakably mutilated. There was an unrestrained reign of murder which continued for three days. The whole town was plundered with appalling atrocities. It was the first stain upon Japanese civilization. The Japanese in this instance relapsed into barbarism." Japan's meticulous crafted public image as the only civilized nation in the Far East was shattered. It would even threaten to upset the ratification of an American-Japanese treaty providing japan juridical equality. Japan had undone so much they had worked for in just a few days of senseless slaughter. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The victory and capture of Port Arthur was a major turning point of the war, but it represented not just victory but also a defeat in many ways for Japan. Her public image had been shattered by senseless slaughter, would it undue everything?