Sun Chuanfang (simplified Chinese: 孙传芳; traditional Chinese: 孫傳芳; pinyin: Sūn Chuánfāng) (1885 - November 13, 1935) aka the "Nanking Warlord" or leader of the "League of Five Provinces" was a Zhili clique warlord and protege of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu (1874-1939).[1]
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Sun Chuanfang was born in Lichen, Shandong. Educated in Beiyang military school in 1904 and sent to Japan for more education, upon his return he joined the Beiyang Army and later joined the Zhili clique, rising quickly through the ranks.[2]. Sun became the military governor of Fujian on 20 March 1923.
In 1924, at the beginning of the First Jiangsu-Zhejiang War, Sun commanded the 4th Army in Fujian. One of his first acts was to support his ally Qi Xieyuan, moving up from the south in a move that was responsible for the defeat of rival warlord Lu Yongxiang and the capture of Shanghai. He was subsequently rewarded with the military governorship of Zhejiang (20 September, 1924 - 19 December 1926). However his Zhili allies in the north were defeated during the Second Zhili–Fengtian War, ending with the Zhili clique losing all of its northern provinces to Zhang Zuolin and Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun. In 1925 the Guominjun launched a joint Anhui-Fengtian expedition under Zhang Zongchang which briefly retook Jiangsu and Shanghai in January. Lacking support from Sun Chuanfang, Qi Xieyuan was forced to resign and fled to Japan, but not before transferring what remained of his demoralised and heavily diminished army to Sun Chuanfang's command. Zhang Zongchang and Sun Chuanfang were now staring at each other over a battle-line delineated only by Shanghai proper. For the remainder of the year the two opposing generals bode their time. Then, in the fall of 1925, the chance came: Sun launched a counterattack that drove Zhang Zongchang and his forces out of the Chinese districts of Shanghai. For the next two years Sun expanded his rule to include all of Jiangsu, Fujian, Anhui, and Jiangxi. He established his headquarters in Nanjing as military governor of Jiangsu on 25 November, 1925.[3].
The Northern Expedition ended his rule. Shanghai was captured in March 1927 and he fled to Japanese-held Dalian. On 13 November 1935 Sun was assassinated in Tianjin by Shi Jianqiao, the daughter the officer Shi Congbin, who ten years earlier had been commanding units in Shandong. In October 1925, during the second war between the Zhili and Fengtian cliques, Shi Congbin had been captured by Sun Chuanfang, who had had him summarily decapitated and his head mounted on a pike. She received sympathy from the Chinese people and was pardoned by the Kuomintang Government.
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