Jiang Chaozong

Beiyang government and warlords Monarchy and royalism 1861–1943 ○ Died of old age

General who dissolved parliament as acting premier, joined Zhang Xun’s restoration and became mayor of Beijing under Japanese occupation

A native of Anhui, he worked in Taiwan early in his career until corruption charges forced his return to the mainland in 1889; he then entered Yuan Shikai’s service, became one of his confidants and in 1915 sat on the committee for Yuan’s coronation. Commander of the Beijing gendarmerie from 1913, he was named acting premier in June 1917 after Wu Tingfang refused to countersign the dissolution of parliament, and signed the decree himself. On 1 July he joined Zhang Xun’s Qing restoration together with Wang Shizhen and others, and lost his command after it failed. After the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937 he became provisional mayor of Beijing at the Japanese army’s request and joined the collaborationist Provisional Government, later sitting on the North China Political Council under the Wang Jingwei regime. Declared a traitor by the Nationalists, he died in 1943.

Also known as: Chiang Ch'ao-tsung · Chiang Chao-tsung