Sheng Shicai

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Sheng Shicai
盛世才
Governor Sheng Shicai in the National Revolutionary Army general's uniform
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
In office 29 August 1944 – 30 July 1945
President	Chiang Kai-shek
Prime Minister	Chiang Kai-shek (to 1945) Soong Tse-ven (1945)
Duban (Military Governor) of Xinjiang
In office 14 April 1933 – 29 August 1944
Preceded by	Jin Shuren (as Commander-in-Chief)
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Provincial Chairman of Xinjiang
In office 4 April 1940 – 29 August 1944
Preceded by	Li Rong
Succeeded by	Wu Zhongxin
Personal details
Born	(1895-12-03)3 December 1895 Kaiyuan, Manchuria, Qing Empire
Died	13 July 1970(1970-07-13) (aged 74) Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China
Cause of death	Intracerebral hemorrhage
Nationality	Han Chinese
Political party	Kuomintang (1942–70)
Other political affiliations	People's Anti-Imperialist Association (1935–42) Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1938–42)
Spouse	Qiu Yufang[1]
Relations	Guo Songling (father-in-law) Yu Xiusong (brother-in-law)
Children	4
Alma mater	Imperial Japanese Army Academy
Nickname	King of Xinjiang
Military service
Allegiance	Republic of China (to 1933; 1942–49) Xinjiang provincial government (1933–42)
Branch/service	Guominjun (1927–34) Anti-Imperialist Army (1934–42)[2]  Republic of China Army (1942–49)
Years of service	1919–49
Rank	General
Commands	Xinjiang Frontier Army Anti-Imperialist Army NRA 8th War Area[3]
Battles/wars	Northern Expedition Kumul Rebellion First Battle of Ürümqi Second Battle of Ürümqi Soviet invasion of Xinjiang Islamic rebellion of 1937

Sheng Shicai (Chinese: 盛世才; pinyin: Shèng Shìcái; Wade–Giles: Sheng Shih-ts'ai; 3 December 1895 – 13 July 1970) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944. Sheng's rise to power started with a coup d'état in 1933 when he was appointed the duban (Military Governor) of Xinjiang. His rule over Xinjiang is marked by close cooperation with the Soviet Union, allowing the Soviets trade monopoly and exploitation of resources, which effectively made Xinjiang a Soviet puppet state. The Soviet era ended in 1942, when Sheng approached the Nationalist Chinese government, but still retained much power over the province. He was dismissed from this post in 1944 and named Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Growing animosity against him led the government to dismiss him again and appoint him to a military post. At the end of the Chinese Civil War, Sheng fled mainland China to Taiwan with the rest of Kuomintang.

Sheng Shicai was a Manchurian-born Han Chinese, educated in Tokyo, Japan, where he studied political economy and later attended the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. Having become a Marxist in his youth, Sheng participated in the anti-imperialist May Fourth Movement in 1919. He participated in the Northern Expedition, a military campaign of the Kuomintang against the Beiyang government.

In 1929, he was called into service of the Governor of Xinjiang, Jin Shuren, where he served as Chief of Staff of the Frontier Military and Chief Instructor at the Provincial Military College. With the Kumul Rebellion ongoing, Jin was overthrown in a coup on 12 April 1933 and Sheng was appointed duban or Military Governor of Xinjiang. Since then, he led a power struggle against his rivals, of whom Ma Zhongying and Zhang Peiyuan were most notable. The first to be removed were the coup leaders and by them appointed Civil Governor Liu Wenlong by September 1933. Ma and Zhang were defeated militarily by June 1934 with help from the Soviet Union, whom Sheng invited to intervene, subordinating himself to the Soviets in return. He was dubbed the "King of Xinjiang" during his rule.

As ruler of Xinjiang, Sheng implemented his Soviet-inspired policies through his political program of Six Great Policies, adopted in December 1934. His rule was marked by his nationality policy which promoted national and religious equality and identity of various nationalities of Xinjiang. The province saw a process of modernization, but also the subordination of economic interests in Soviet favor. The Soviets had a monopoly over Xinjiang trade and exploited its rare materials and oil. In 1937, in parallel with the Soviet Great Purge, Sheng conducted a purge on his own, executing, torturing to death and imprisoning 100,000 people, the majority of which were Uyghurs.^[4]

With the Soviets distracted by its war with Germany, Sheng approached the Chinese government in July 1942 and expelled the Soviet military and technical personnel. However, he still maintained effective power over Xinjiang. In the meantime, the Soviets managed to hold off the Germans and the Japanese launched an extensive offensive against the Chinese, which led Sheng to try to change sides again by arresting the Kuomintang officials and invoking Soviet intervention for the second time in 1944. The Soviets ignored the request and the Chinese government removed him from the post naming him Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in August 1944.

Sheng held the ministerial post by July 1945 and later worked as an adviser to Hu Zongnan and held a military post. He joined the rest of the Kuomintang in Taiwan after the defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. In Taiwan, Sheng lived in a comfortable retirement and died in Taipei in 1970.