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and establishment of a Provincial Government on November 10th.which issued a declaration by which it severed its relations with the former North-Eastern Government and with the Central Government at Nanking. It requested the local governments in Liaoning to abide by the decrees it had issued, and announced that henceforth it would exercise the authority of a Provincial Government. On November 10th, a public opening ceremony took place.
Appointment of Supreme Advisory Board.Simultaneously with the transformation of the Self-Government Office into the Liaoning Provincial Government ad interim, a Supreme Advisory Board was inaugurated under the chairmanship of Mr. Yu Chung-han, who had been Vice-Director of the Peace and Order Maintenance Committee. Mr. Yu announced the objects of this Board as: the maintenance of order, the improvement of administration by the suppression of bad taxes, the reduction of taxation, and the improvement of the organisation of production and sale. The Board was, furthermore, to direct and supervise the acting Provincial Government, and to foster the development of local self-government in accordance with the traditions of local communities and with modern needs. It comprised sections dealing with general affairs, investigation, protocol, guidance, supervision, and an Institute for Training in Self-Government. Nearly all the important functionaries were Japanese.
Name of Province changed to Fengtien on November 20th, and General Tsang Shih-yi installed as Governor on December 15th.On November 20th, the name of the Province was changed to that of Fengtien, which had been its name before its union with Nationalist China in 1928, and, on December 15th, Mr. Yuan Chin-kai was replaced by General Tsang Shih-yi, who was released from his confinement and installed as Governor of Fengtien Province.
(2) Kirin ProvinceThe task of establishing a provincial Government in the province of Kirin was far easier. On the 23rd, the Commander of the 2nd Division, Major-General Tamon, had an interview with Lieutenant-General Hsi Hsia, the acting head of the provincial administration in the absence of General Chang Tso-hsiang, and invited him to assume the chairmanship of the Provincial Government. After this interview, General Hsi Hsia summoned the various Government organisations and public associations to a meeting on September 25th, which was also attended by Japanese military officers. No opposition was expressed to the idea of establishing a new provisional government, and a proclamation to that effect was published on September 30th. The Organic Law of the new Provincial Government of Kirin was subsequently announced. The committee system of government was abolished, and Governor Hsi Hsia took full responsibility for the conduct of government. Some days later, the principal officials of the new Government were appointed by him and some Japanese functionaries were added later. The chief of the Bureau of General Affairs was a Japanese. In the districts also, some administrative re-organisation and change of personnel took place. Out of forty-three districts, fifteen were re-organised, which involved the dismissal of the Chinese District Officers. In ten others, the District Officers were retained after declaring their allegiance to General Hsi Hsia. The others still remained under Chinese military leaders loyal to the old regime, or kept aloof from the contending factions.
(3) The Special Administrative District of the Chinese Eastern RailwayThe Chief Administrator of the Special District, Lieutenant-General Chang Ching-hui, was friendly to the Japanese. He had no military force behind him, whereas the old regime could still dispose of considerable forces both in Kirin and Heilungkiang, as well as the railway guards in the Special District itself. On September 27th, he summoned a conference in his office at Harbin to discuss the organisation of the Emergency Committee of the Special District. This Committee was formed with General Chang as Chairman and eight other members, amongst whom were General Wang Juihwa and General Ting Chao, who later, in January 1932, became the leader of the "anti-Kirin" forces, in opposition to General Hsi Hsia. On November 5th, the anti-Kirin Army, under the command of the Generals