Jinan Incident - Hostilities

Hostilities

When the Northern Expedition resumed on 27 April 1928, contrary to his standing orders from Tokyo, the Japanese commander General Fukuda Hikosuke, moved troops from Tianjin into Ji'nan and Qingtao along the Jiaoji Railway. This was known in Japanese as the Second Shandong Expedition (第二山東出兵, Dai-ni Santo Shuppei?). Northern Chinese troops under Zhang Zongchang withdrew from the city on 30 April 1928 and Kuomintang troops, also acting contrary to Chiang Kai-shek’s orders, moved in. Matters remained tense as the Japanese took up positions at the Japanese consulate and various Japanese-controlled businesses and schools, but reasonably quiet and amicable until a minor clash occurred near the home of a Japanese family on 3 May 1928 resulting the deaths of 12 Japanese. The British Acting Consul-General reported that he had seen the bodies of Japanese males who had been castrated. Japanese reports blamed the shooting on troops under General He Yaozu (賀耀祖) reputed to have been responsible for the Nanjing Incident, while the Chinese reports held that Chinese soldiers had been attacked by Japanese. Leaders on both sides agreed on a truce and a cease-fire, and the Japanese consul general in the city pushed for peace. General Fukuda and his fellow generals, however, perhaps motivated by the desire for action, felt that they could not let the "insult" to Japanese honor go unpunished, but did not take action until they had built up stocks of food and ammunition.

Chiang Kai-shek judged it more important for his troops to move on to Peking than to fight in Ji'nan and sent a team of officers to negotiate. On May 7, General Fukuda issued a five point set of demands so onerous that the Chinese would have no choice but to refuse, with a twelve hour deadline. He refused to release the negotiators, including Cai Gongshi (蔡公時) and 16 others in his team. When Cai asked that the demands be officially stated, in order to take them to his superiors and release them to the public, his leg was broken, his teeth smashed, his tongue cut, and he was shot. Having received reinforcements and supplies, the Japanese by 11 May, after fierce fighting, pushed the Chinese troops from the area and inflicted thousands of casualties.

Publicly, Chiang apologized to the Japanese and removed the Chinese commander; in his diary he expressed his new feeling that Japan was China's greatest enemy. But "before one can settle scores," he wrote, "one must be strong."