Unwanted Assassins: The Murder of Cheng Xigeng and the Anti-Japanese Traitors Assassination Corps in Tianjin, 1937–1945

On April 9, 1939, Cheng Xigeng, a collaborator of the newly established puppet Provisional Government of the Republic of China, was assassinated at the Grand Theatre in the British Concession of Tianjin. When the Chinese suspects in his murder were caught and questions arose over the legitimacy of their trial, the case sparked an international crisis that involved Britain, Japan, and the Nationalist government in Chongqing. This article investigates the neglected Anti-Japanese Traitors Assassination Corps (AJTAC), who were the real murderers of Cheng. While the coexistence and rivalry of different layers of imperialism in China provided opportunities for the Chinese to “use barbarians against barbarians,” Japan countered by “using Chinese against Chinese.” Composed of scions of the elite, the AJTAC, initially driven by a sense of righteousness, became embroiled in diplomatic disputes and an intelligence war between the Chongqing government and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. Ultimately, it was the intelligence rivalries rooted in the clique culture of the Nationalist Party that led to the downfall of the AJTAC. By tracing the development of the corps and its involvement in Cheng’s case, the article seeks to reveal the multi-layered struggles between foreign and domestic powers in wartime Tianjin.