1938: Han Fuqu, Koumintang general
January 24th, 2010 Headsman
On this date in 1938, Chinese warlord Han Fuqu (or Fuju, or Fu-chu) was executed by the Koumintang for cravenly surrendering Shandong Province to the Japanese without a fight.
Han cut his teeth during China’s Warlord Era, and though he made a timely adherence to Chiang Kai-shek‘s central government that gave him rule over Shandong, he was never exactly in love with the KMT. He ran his fief like a dictator and got rich.
When Japan and China went to war in 1937, it wasn’t a gung-ho nationalist heart throbbing beneath his decorated breast.
Commanded by this still-alien central government to defend Shandong and its capital Jinan at all costs, the former warlord instead bargained secretly with the Japanese for a way to keep his prerogatives.
Why, after all, should he throw away his own position against an overwhelming foe merely for the better advantage of the distant Chiang Kai-shek?
When Han couldn’t pull off a deal and the Japanese set about simply taking his province by force, Han withdrew without firing a shot — forcing other KMT units in Shandong to likewise fall back. To top it off, Han himself then ditched the army he’d taken a-retreatin’.
Chiang, no dummy, could see an example waiting to be made. A couple weeks after arresting Han, Chiang’s trusted aide Hu Zongnan shot him in the back of the head in what is now Wuhan for flouting superior orders.
On this day..
- 1522: Didrik Slagheck - 2020
- 1887: Georgette and Sylvain Thomas, guillotine couples act - 2019
- 1981: Not Kim Dae-jung, South Korean president and Nobel laureate - 2018
- 1641: Not Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, chosen by lot, saved by hemp - 2017
- 1970: Three in Baghdad - 2016
- 1538: Anna Jansz, Anabaptist - 2015
- 1963: Lazhar Chraiti and nine other Tunisian conspirators - 2014
- 1846: Elizabeth Van Valkenburgh, in her rocking chair - 2013
- 1936: Allen Foster, who fought Joe Louis - 2012
- 1911: Shusui Kotoku and ten other anarchists - 2011
- Daily Double: The High Treason Incident - 2011
- 1989: Ted Bundy, psycho killer - 2009
- 1992: Ricky Ray Rector, "a date which ought to live in infamy for the Democratic Party" - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,China,Death Penalty,Execution,History,Military Crimes,Notable Participants,Occupation and Colonialism,Power,Shot,Soldiers,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1930s, 1938, chiang kai-shek, han fu-chu, han fuju, han fuqu, january 24, jinan, sino-japanese war, wuhan
I am interested in what Sue says.Since she says it is not true ,then doesn’ she give us something positive about Han fuqu.
This is not true! He never surrendered Shandong to Japanese. Chiang wanted to find an excuse for killing and assassinating him. So over the years, Chiang made up false stories and spread them around to make people believe Han was not well educated and did all those untrue things. Your website need to have this corrected. And please find out the true historical events before posting something like this. This is ridiculous!