Ting Chao

Who was Ting Chao?

Ting Chao or Ding Chao was a Chinese General, known for his defense of Harbin during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and 1932.

Following the Invasion of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army and the capture of Liaoning and Jilin provinces. Hostilities did not commence in the Harbin area until the end of January 1932 when General Ting Chao resolved to defend the northern metropolis, a key hub of rail and riverine communication, against the approach first of General Xi Qia's "New Kirin" Army and then Japanese troops. He appealed to the city's Chinese residents to join his Jilin Self-Defence Army made of railway garrison troops and other regulars in battle against the Japanese.

Later after Ting Chao's beaten forces retired from Harbin to the northeast down the Sungari River, they joined the Lower Sungari garrison of Gen. Li Du as the nucleus of armed opposition in the north. After his retreat from Harbin he was made Chairman of the Government of Jilin Province and opposed the new puppet government of Manchukuo in their anti bandit operations of the pacification campaign.