Tientsin Incident(1931)

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Colonel Kenji Doihara was dispatched by Col. Itagaki Seishiro to Tientsin to return Pu Yi to Manchuria. The plan was to pretend that Pu Yi had returned to resume his throne in answer to a popular demand of the people of Manchuria, and that Japan had nothing to do with his return, but would do nothing to oppose the popular demand of the people. In order to carry out this plan, it was necessary to land Pu Yi at Yingkou before that port became frozen; therefore, it was imperative that he arrive there before 16 November 1931.

Foreign Minister Kijuro Shidehara had learned of the scheme to return Pu Yi to Manchuria and had instructed his Consul-General at Tientsin to oppose the plan. On the afternoon of 1 November 1931, the Consul-General contacted Doihara and tried to persuade him to abandon the plan, but Doihara was determined and stated that if the Emperor was willing to risk his life by returning to Manchuria, it would be easy to make the whole affair appear to be instigated by the Chinese; he further stated that he would confer with the Emperor; and if the Emperor was willing, he would go through with the scheme; but if the Emperor was not willing, then he would leave with a parting remark that there would be no such opportunity in the future for the Emperor, and dispatch a telegram to the military authorities at Mukden to the effect that he would consider an alternative as the present plan was hopeless of success.

During the evening of 2 November 1931, Doihara visited Pu Yi and informed him conditions were favorable for Pu Yi's enthronement and the opportunity should not be missed. He should make an appearance in Manchuria before 16 November 1931. If he did so, Japan would recognize him as Emperor of an independent State and conclude a secrete defensive and offensive alliance with the new State. If the Chinese Nationalist Armies should attack the new State, Japan's armies would crush them. Pu Yi appeared willing to follow Doihara's advice upon being told that the Japanese Imperial Household favored his restoration to the Throne.

The Consul-General continued his efforts to dissuade Doihara, but without results. Some difficulty was encountered by Doihara in arranging the terms upon which Pu Yi was to return. Also a Chinese newspaper in Shanghai, on 2 November 1931,published an account of the scheme and alleged that Pu Yi had refused Doihara's offer.

To hasten Puyi's decision, Doihara resorted to various schemes. Pu Yi received a bomb concealed in a basket of fruit; he also received threatening letters from the "Headquarters of the Iron Blood Group", as well as from others. Doihara caused a riot to occur in Tientsin on 8 November 1931 with the assistance of certain underworld characters, secret societies and rogues of the city, whom he paid and supplied with arms furnished by Itagaki. Arrested rioters swore later that they had been paid $40 Mex. ($10) each by Japanese agents provocateurs.

The Japanese Consul-General, in a further attempt to carry out Shidehara's orders, warned the Chinese Police of the impending riot and they were able to prevent the riot from being a complete success; but it threw Tientsin into disorder. A Chinese mob of 2,000 clashed with Chinese police near the border between the Chinese City and the Japanese Concession. The Japanese garrison commander repulsed rioters from the vicinity of the Japanese concession with warning bursts of machinegun fire, and fired his field pieces into the Chinese quarter of Tientsin.

The riots continued, and during the riot on the night of 10 November 1931, Doihara secretly removed Pu Yi from his residence to a pier in a motor car guarded by a party equipped with machineguns, entered a small Japanese military launch with a few plain-clothes men and four or five armed Japanese soldiers and headed down the river to Tang-ku. At Tang-ku, the party boarded the ship Awaji Maru bound for Yingkow. Pu Yi arrived at Yingkow on 13 November 1931, and on the same day was taken to Tang-Kang-tzu, where he was held in protective custody in a hotel by the Japanese Army. An attempt was made to cause it to appear that Pu Yi had fled for his life as a result of threats and the riots in Tientsin. These had served to hasten Pu Yi's agreement with the terms offered by Doihara.

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