World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseRuan Zhenduo was born in Tieling County, Liaodong Province, Qing Dynasty China in 1893. Upon graduating from the Fengtian Province Technical School, he studied at the Southern Manchurian Medical School until 1913. In 1919, he traveled to Japan to study at the Kyoto Imperial University, from which institution he would receive a doctorate in medicine. Returning to northeastern China in 1923, he was appointed the chairman of the Fentian Province Medical Board and a professor of medicine at the Northeastern University in the city of Mukden. Shortly after, he became the chief army medical officer of the local warlord forces in Fengtian. In 1929, he became the director of the Jidun Raiway Hospital in Changchun, Jilin Province, China. He assisted Yu Jingyuan in establishing the Manchukuo Youth League and was one of the founding members of the Concordia Association, a political party that advocated Pan-Asianism. In Nov 1932, he was made the Director of the Constitution Bureau. Between May 1935 and Jul 1937, he was the Minister of Education. Between Jul 1937 and Dec 1940, he was the Manchukuo ambassador to Japan. Between Dec 1940 and Sep 1942, he was the Minister of Transportation. Between Sep 1942 to Apr 1944, he was the Minister of Finance. From Apr 1944 until the end of the war, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was captured by Soviet forces and was imprisoned in the Siberia region of Russia until 31 Jul 1950, when he was turned over to the Chinese Communists. He was then imprisoned at the Fushun War Criminals Management Center in Liaoning Province, China alongside of other political prisoners, including former Emperor of China Puyi. At Fushun, he took dictation from Puyi for the writing of Puyi's autobiography, The First Half of My Life, From Emperor to Citizen. He was pardoned in 1962 and subsequently worked for the Jilin School of Public Health and the library of Changchun Hospital. He passed away in Changchun in 1973.

ww2dbaseRuan was known as Gen Shintaku in Japanese records, which was the Japanese pronunciation of his Chinese name.

Photographs

Ruan Zhenduo Timeline