Zheng Xiaoxu - Qing Loyalist and Collaboration With The Japanese

Qing Loyalist and Collaboration With The Japanese

In 1923, the former Qing emperor Puyi summoned Zheng to Beijing in order to reorganize the imperial household. Zheng became a close adviser of Puyi and helped arrange for his flight to the foreign concession at Tianjin after his expulsion from the Forbidden City. Zheng remained loyal to the throne and secretly met with Japanese officials and groups such as the Black Dragon Society to discuss a restoration of the Qing dynasty in Manchuria. Following the Mukden Incident and the occupation of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1931, Zheng played an important role in the establishment of Manchukuo, becoming its first prime minister the following year. Zheng also composed the lyrics of the National Anthem of Manchukuo. Zheng had hoped that Manchukuo would become a springboard for the restoration of Qing rule in the whole of China, but he soon found out that the real rulers of Manchukuo, the Japanese Kwantung Army, did not share his ambitions. As Prime Minister of Manchukuo, Zheng frequently disagreed with the Japanese Army leadership. In May 1935, he resigned from his office and three years later he died suddenly under unclear circumstances. He was accorded a state funeral in April 1938.