East Hebei Autonomous Council (Rays of the Rising Sun)

The East Hebei Autonomous Council, also called the East Ji Autonomous Council, and the East Hopei Anti-Communist Council, was a short lived 1930s Japanese puppet state in northern China.

History
After the creation of Manchukuo and subsequent military action by the Imperial Japanese Army which brought Northeastern China east of the Great Wall under Japanese control, the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China signed the Tanggu Truce which established a demilitarized zone south of the Great Wall, extending from to. Under the terms of the Truce and the subsequent He-Umezu Agreement of 1935, this demilitarized zone was also purged on the political and military influence of the Kuomingtang government of China.

On 15 November 1935, the local Chinese administrator of the 22 counties in Hopei province, Yin Ju-keng, proclaimed the territories under his control to be autonomous. Ten days later, on 25 November, he proclaimed them to be independent of the Republic of China and to have their capital at T'ungchow. The new government immediately signed economic and military treaties with Japan. The Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps that had been created by the Tanggu Truce was disbanded and reorganized as the East Hopei Army with Japanese military support. The Japanese goal was to establish a buffer zone between Manchukuo and China, but the pro-Japanese collaborationist regime was seen as an affront by the Chinese government and a violation of the Tanggu Truce.

The East Hebei government survived the Tungchow Mutiny in late July 1937 before being absorbed into the collaborationist Provisional Government of China in December 1937.