Yoshiko Kawashima
Yoshiko Kawashima, born Aisingoro Xianyu, was a significant yet controversial figure in early 20th-century East Asia. As the daughter of a Manchu prince, she was adopted by a Japanese agent and raised in Japan, leading to her unique positioning within both Chinese and Japanese societies. Kawashima became an agent for Japanese imperialism in the 1930s, notably playing an active role in Japan’s military operations in Manchuria and contributing to the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. Her involvement included a nominal leadership position in the Manchurian military forces, though her behavior ultimately led to her downfall and return to Japan.
After World War II, Kawashima was arrested as a collaborator and traitor by the Chinese government, which viewed her actions as treason against her native land despite her Japanese citizenship. Following a prolonged legal process, she was executed in 1948. For decades, she was perceived as a symbol of betrayal in China, but more recent portrayals have begun to frame her life as tragic, reflecting a complex legacy that resonates in both Japanese and Chinese narratives. Her story highlights the intricate entanglements of identity, nationality, and loyalty during a tumultuous period in East Asian history.
Subject Terms
Yoshiko Kawashima
Manchu princess and intelligence agent for the Japanese
- Born: May 24, 1907
- Birthplace: Beijing, China
- Died: March 25, 1948
- Place of death: Beijing, China
Major offense: Treason
Active: 1931-1945
Locale: Manchuria and Northeast China proper
Sentence: Death by shooting
Early Life
Born as Aisingoro Xianyu, Yoshiko Kawashima (yoh-shee-koh kah-wah-shee-mah) was the daughter of Prince Su (1863-1922), a member of the Manchu family, who ruled China until 1911. Su then became an ally of Japanese forces in North China in exchange for their patronage. In 1913, Su arranged for his daughter’s adoption by the childless Kawashima Naniwa, a Japanese agent in China. Renamed Yoshiko Kawashima, she had a Japanese-style upbringing and education. In November, 1927, she married Kanjurjab, son of the Inner Mongolian general Babojab, who had been allied with Prince Su against the Russians. Kawashima divorced Kanjurjab in 1931 but maintained connections with Inner Mongolian leaders. As a member of the old Manchu ruling family and having Mongol contacts and a Japanese education, Kawashima became an agent aiding Japanese expansionist activities in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Northeast China proper.
Espionage Career
Kawashima was a part of secret operations involved in the Japanese military takeover of Manchuria in September, 1931. She then became a powerful figure in the Manchukuo puppet state, nominally ruled until 1945 by another member of the Manchu Aisingoro family, Puyi (1906-1967). She was also involved in the events leading to Japanese military action in Shanghai in 1932, in a premature attempt by the Japanese to gain full control of that city. The Japanese military subsequently gave Kawashima a nominal command in the Japanese-controlled Manchurian forces, but her overbearing attitude and unpredictability led to her loss of this position in 1936. Kawashima then went to Japan, but official displeasure over Kawashima’s public remarks concerning Japanese Army excesses in China and her open cohabitation in Tokyo with an unsavory war profiteer led to her being pressured to return to China.
Legal Action and Outcome
After Japan’s defeat in World War II in August, 1945, Kawashima was quickly arrested as a traitor to China by acting as a collaborator with and agent of the Japanese military. She was detained in Beijing by intelligence agents belonging to the Kuomintang Nationalist regime. Kawashima defended herself on the grounds that she was a Japanese citizen and so could not commit treason against China. Despite her Japanese citizenship by adoption, the Chinese authorities regarded her as a traitor since she was Chinese by birth. After two years of appeals and delays, she was finally sentenced to death and executed in Beijing Prison No. 1 on March 25, 1948.
Impact
For forty years after her death, Yoshiko Kawashima was regarded as a traitor by most Chinese. She epitomized the duplicity and high-handedness of the Japanese military occupiers of China. In the mid-1980’s, however, Kawashima began to be portrayed as a tragic figure by Japanese and Chinese novelists. This revisionist image was reinforced by a Chinese film about her life that was released in 1990 and titled Chuan dao fang zi. Some believe that the romanticization of a major collaborationist figure such as Kawashima aids in the mitigation of Chinese hostility felt toward Japan regarding its repeated military incursions into China.
Bibliography
Cribb, Robert, and Li Narangoa, eds. Imperial Japan and National Identities in Asia, 1895-1945. New York: Routledge, 2003. Includes chapters on Japanese expansionism in Manchuria, imperial Japanese influences on Mongol nationalism, and Japanese military involvement in North China.
Deacon, Richard. Kempei tai: The Japanese Secret Service, Then and Now. Tokyo: Tuttle, 1990. The only English-language history of Japan’s military intelligence service, including its activities in Manchuria. Extensive bibliography.
Jordan, Donald A. China’s Trial by Fire: The Shanghai War of 1932. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001. An account of Japanese intelligence machinations and military action in Shanghai in 1932.
Kahn, Winston. Doihara Kenji and the “North China Autonomy Movement,” 1935-1936. Tempe: Arizona State University Press, 1973. Details Japanese espionage and intrigues in North China as directed by noted Japanese Army Intelligence officer Kenji Doihara.
Lee, Lilian. The Last Princess of Manchuria. New York: Morrow, 1992. Written as a historical novel, this is the only biography of Kawashima available in English. Translated by Andrea Kelly from the 1990 Chinese original, which was the basis of a popular film about Kawashima.