14 Facts About Demchugdongrub

Demchugdongrub, known as Prince De, courtesy name Xixian, was a Qing dynasty Chinese Mongol prince descended from the Borjigin imperial clan who lived during the 20th century and became the leader of an independence movement in Inner Mongolia.

Demchugdongrub was most notable for being the chairman of the pro-Japanese Mongol Military Government and later of the puppet state of Mengjiang, during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Demchugdongrub was a Chahar born into the Plain White Banner of the Eight Banners in Chahar Province during the Qing dynasty.

Demchugdongrub was the sole son of Namjil Wangchuk, the Duoluo Duling Junwang of the Sonid Right Banner and Chief of the Xilingol League.

Demchugdongrub married a daughter of a Taiji nobleman from his own Sonid Right Banner, and the next year had their first child, Dolgorsuren.

Several years later, Demchugdongrub had four more sons and one daughter with his second wife, Fujin, a daughter of another Taiji nobleman from the Abaga Banner.

Demchugdongrub was appointed as a member of the Chahar Provincial Committee in 1929.

The Japanese proclaimed that Demchugdongrub was on a mission to "inherit the great spirit of Genghis Khan and retake the territories that belong to Mongolia, completing the grand task of reviving the prosperity of the nationality".

Japanese agents carefully sketched and photographed Suiyuan's defenses while Demchugdongrub was rebuilding his armed forces.

In November 1936 Demchugdongrub presented Fu Zuoyi with an ultimatum to surrender.

When Fu responded that Demchugdongrub was merely a puppet of "certain quarters" and requested that he submit to the authority of the Chiang Kai-shek's central government, Prince De's Mongolian and Manchurian armies launched another, more ambitious attack.

Demchugdongrub withdrew to Chahar and again reconstructed his army with Japanese help.

The Mengjiang United Autonomous Government was set up in 1939 with Demchugdongrub first being the vice-chairman, then the chairman.

In December, threatened by the Communist army, Demchugdongrub fled to the People's Republic of Mongolia and was at first welcomed there, but was later arrested by the authorities in the following February and deported to China in September 1950, where he was charged with treason.