Sheng Shih-ts'ai (1895-), military adventurer from Manchuria who seized power in Sinkiang in 1933 and ruled that province for nine years with Soviet aid. In 1943 he switched allegiance to the Chinese Nationalists, who, however, dislodged him from his seat of power in 1944. The Kaiyuan district of Liaoning in southern Manchuria was the birthplace of Sheng Shih-ts'ai. His father, who owned a small amount of land, belonged to the local gentry. After completing his early education in the Chinese classics at local schools, Sheng Shihts'ai went to Mukden. He attended the provincial college of agriculture and forestry until 1912, when he went to Shanghai to become a student of political economy at the Chung-kuo kung-hsueh [China college] at Woosung. When he completed his course work in 1915, some of his teachers advised him to go to Japan for further study. With financial assistance from relatives and friends, Sheng sailed for Japan in 1917 to study political economy at Waseda University in Tokyo. He returned to China in 1919 to participate in the May Fourth Movement as a representative of the Liaoning students. The political disarray in which he found China caused him to abandon the study of political economy and to pursue a military career.

After spending a brief period at the Shaokuan military training school in Kwangtung, Sheng Shih-ts'ai returned to his native Manchuria, where he received further training at the Northeast Military Academy. He entered active military service under Kuo Sung-ling and soon rose to become a staff officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1924 Kuo sponsored his admission to the Shikan Gakko [military academy] in Japan for advanced military studies. When Kuo Sung-ling joined with Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.) in an attempt to overthrow Chang Tso-lin (q.v.) in November 1925, Sheng returned to Manchuria to participate in the revolt as a battalion commander. With the defeat and execution of Kuo Sung-ling in December, Sheng went back to Japan to continue his training, but he was suspended from the Shikan Gakko at the request of Chang Tso-lin. Feng Yü-hsiang then secured his reinstatement, and Chiang Kai-shek provided him with sufficient funds to complete his military studies in Japan.

Upon graduation from the Shikan Gakko in 1927, Sheng Shih-ts'ai returned to China to join the National Revolutionary Army on the Northern Expedition. He received the rank of colonel and a post on the general staff under Ho Ying-ch'in (q.v.). He later became a staff officer in Chiang Kai-shek's field headquarters, and he held that post until the Northern Expedition came to an end. In the summer of 1928 he was made chief of the war operations section of the general staff at Nanking, but he resigned in 1929 after coming into conflict with his superiors. He then joined the Survival- First Study Society, which concerned itself with national unity and the strengthening of border defenses.

In 1929 Lu Hsiao-tzu, the secretary general of the Sinkiang provincial government, arrived in Nanking on an official mission. He was under instructions from Chin Shu-jen (q.v.), who had seized power in Sinkiang in 1928, to find an able military man to help effect the consolidation of Sinkiang's military establishment. P'eng Chao-hsien, a leading member of the Survival-First Study Society, recommended and introduced Sheng Shih-ts'ai to Lu, who, in turn, recommended Sheng's employment to Chin Shu-jen. Sheng then traveled by way of Siberia to Sinkiang, arriving in Urumchi in late 1929 or early 1930.

Sheng Shih-ts'ai's first assignment in Sinkiang was as director of the general staff, with the rank of brigadier general, in the office of the border defense commander (Chin Shu-jen). He undertook an officer-training program, but it had to be abandoned when the Hami rebellion of 1931 forced Chin Shu-jen's troops into the field. At the request of the Turki natives of Hami, Ma Chung-ying (q.v.) and his cavalry force advanced into Sinkiang from Kansu in June 1931. Although Ma was forced to withdraw in defeat to western Kansu that autumn, the Hami situation remained unsettled. Sheng Shih-ts'ai went to the Hami area as commander of one of two bodies of provincial reinforcements, but he failed to find the rebel troops. In July 1932 he led a larger force into the mountains around Hami, but this attempt to find and destroy the Muslim dissidents also failed.

In August 1932 Ma Shih-ming entered the fray, and T'ung-kans and Sarts joined forces to capture Shanshan and Turfan. Sheng moved his men from Hami to Turfan and captured Turfan in a bloody two-day battle. This victory, however, failed to stem the tide of revolution in southern Sinkiang. Ma Shih-ming assumed the position of commander in chief of the rebel forces at Karashar, and Khoja Niaz and Yolbars (q.v.) strove to bind the Sarts and the T'ung-kans together in defiance of Chinese role. In the winter of 1932 the rebels advanced on Urumchi, defeated the force that Chin Shu-jen sent to intercept them, and pressed on to the provincial capital. They attacked Urumchi at the end of February 1933, but were beaten off. At this juncture, several thousand Manchurian troops from the commands of Su Ping-wen and Li Tu arrived in the Urumchi area to help lift the rebel siege. Ma Shih-ming then took the nearby town of Santaopa, thereby cutting off Urumchi's grain supply. Sheng Shih-ts'ai advanced from Turfan and succeeded in recovering Santaopa with the aid of the Northeasterners. Sheng then moved his men to Urumchi, where he became a major general, commander of the 1st Division, and Chin Shu-jen's chief of staff.

As the Muslim disorders spread throughout Sinkiang and Urumchi came under intermittent siege, fear, ineffectiveness, and official corruption became rife in the capital. In these circumstances, the return of Sheng Shih-ts'ai to the Urumchi area had considerable significance. The core of Sheng's military force was a White Russian group led by a General Antonov, and the White Russians of Sinkiang had become increasingly dissatisfied with Chin Shu-jen. The Northeastern troops also preferred Sheng to Chin, for Sheng, like the Northeasterners, was a Manchurian. Chin Shu-jen finally was forced to flee Urumchi on 12 April 1933, whereupon Liu Wen-lung, the provincial education commissioner, was made provisional governor. On 14 April, Sheng Shih-ts'ai became provisional border defense commissioner, in which post he held control in Urumchi. Sheng's authority soon came under challenge by the Turki peoples of the province and by Ma Chung-ying. In mid-May Ma moved against Urumchi once again. Sheng Shih-ts'ai took the field with a force of some 5,000 men, and he protested Ma's actions to the National Government at Nanking. After being beaten in an encounter with Ma near Kucheng, Sheng recaptured Turfan and bested Khoja Niaz and his men at Karashar. The Hi commander Chang P'ei-yuan indicated that he would join the rebels, and Sheng then decided to negotiate a compromise settlement. At this juncture, the National Government appointed Huang Mu-sung (q.v.) pacification commissioner of Sinkiang. He arrived at Urumchi on 10 June 1933 and issued an order forbidding military action. Sheng and Ma ignored this directive, and Sheng soon drove Ma eastward to Kucheng.

After returning to Urumchi, Sheng Shihts'ai accused Huang Mu-sung of plotting to overthrow him and placed Huang under house arrest. Sheng soon obtained what he considered to be sufficient proof of evil-doing, and he executed three National Government officials — T'ao Ming-yueh, Li Hsiao-t'ien, and Ch'en Chung—for allegedly plotting with Huang. P'eng Chao-hsien was dispatched from Nanking to Sinkiang to investigate the situation for the Military Affairs Commission, and Huang Mu-sung was ordered by the Executive Yuan to return to Nanking immediately to report on the matter. After Huang wired Nanking recommending that Sheng Shih-ts'ai and Liu Wen-lung be confirmed in their posts, Sheng permitted Huang to leave Sinkiang. On 1 August, ten days after Huang reached Nanking, the National Government confirmed Sheng's and Liu's authority. They were formally installed in office by Lo Wen-kan (q.v.) on 7 September. Another part of Lo's mission to Sinkiang was to mediate between Sheng Shihts'ai and Ma Chung-ying. After effecting a compromise distribution of authority among Sheng Shih-ts'ai, Liu Wen-lung, Ma Chungying, and Chang P'ei-yuan, Lo Wen-kan returned to Nanking by way of the Soviet Union. Soon after Lo's departure, Sheng announced the discovery of a new plot against his authority. He forced Liu Wen-lung from office and caused him to be replaced by Chu Jui-hsi. (When Chu died early in 1934, he was replaced by another figurehead, Li Yung.) In December 1933 Sheng ordered the execution of some 20 officers in the Northeastern forces, saying that they had conspired against him. At the end of 1933 Ma Chung-ying launched another drive on Urumchi, and Chang P'eiyuan advanced from Hi with 3,000 troops to assist him. Sheng Shih-ts'ai, who had been negotiating with Moscow for the delivery of arms promised to Chin Shu-jen, now appealed for Soviet aid on the grounds that a Ma Chung-ying victory would harm Soviet interests in Sinkiang. Soviet military units attacked Ma's forces on 24 January and forced them to retreat southward; Chang P'ei-yuan's army was ambushed and almost completely destroyed near Manas, whereupon Chang committed suicide. These two actions brought northern Sinkiang under Sheng's control, but he still had to contend with the so-called East Turkestan Republic which had been proclaimed at Kashgar, with Khoja Niaz at its head and Sabit Mullah as premier. These two men soon fell into disagreement; the retreating Ma Chung-ying attacked and destroyed the weakened political organization at Kashgar; and Khoja Niaz decided to support Sheng Shih-ts'ai. In July 1934 Ma Chung-ying unexpectedly transferred command of his troops to Ma Hu-shan and disappeared into the Soviet Union, leaving southern Sinkiang to Sheng Shih-ts'ai by default.

Sheng Shih-ts'ai proclaimed "Eight Great Declarations" as the political bases of his rule and formulated "Six Great Principles," two of which were anti-imperialism and friendship with the Soviet Union. His armed forces became the Anti-Imperialist Army, and his political party was the Anti-Imperialist Society. On 16 May 1935 he signed an agreement with Moscow by virtue of which he obtained a large loan and technical assistance in the fields of public health, mining, petroleum extraction, and road construction. He received military aid once again in May 1937, when a rebellion led by Ma Hu-shan showed strong promise of succeeding.

Ties between Sinkiang and the Soviet Union, which had been formed because of Sheng Shih-ts'ai's need for political and economic support, strengthened with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937. Moscow stationed a regiment at Hami, granted Sheng a new loan, increased the number of Soviet technicians in Sinkiang, and increased trade. In 1938, during a trip to Moscow, Sheng joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On his return, though he still refused to allow the Chinese Communist party to operate as an organization in Sinkiang, he accepted a number of Chinese Communists from Yenan as officials in the provincial government. Among the newcomers was Mao Tse-min (q.v.). Sheng's pro-Soviet policy reached its peak with the signing, on 24 November 1940, of the so-called Tin Mines Agreement, which granted the Soviet Union extensive economic rights in Sinkiang for a period of 50 years.

If Sheng Shih-ts'ai's principle of "friendship for the Soviet Union" had continued to guide Sinkiang's foreign policy, Soviet influence might have become pervasive. In April 1941 the National Government at Chungking appointed Sheng governor of Sinkiang. The following year, as the Germans advanced on the Soviet Union and it appeared that Russian resistance might collapse in time, an imposing delegation from Chungking went to Urumchi in July. It soon became evident that Sheng had agreed to switch allegiance to the National Government. On 29 August 1942 a Nationalist delegation that included Soong Mei-ling (q.v.), the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, came to Sinkiang to celebrate Sheng's conversion. On 5 October, by his own account, Sheng demanded Soviet withdrawal from Sinkiang within three months. Early in 1943 the Russians complied with this demand. Sheng joined the Kuomintang in January 1943, and a Kuomintang provincial headquarters was established at Urumchi. Sheng soon received appointments as director of the Sinkiang party branch, commander of the Northwest Cadre Training Corps, member of the Kuomintang Central Supervisory Committee, director of a branch school of the Central Military Academy, deputy commanding officer of the Eighth War Area, and special officer for foreign affairs for Sinkiang. Also in 1943, Sheng caused the execution of Mao Tse-min and other Communist and "pro- Soviet" officials; their places in the provincial government were taken by Nationalists. The National Government patently intended to achieve what Huang Mu-sung and Lo Wen-kan had failed to do: to bring Sinkiang under its direct control at the expense of Sheng Shih-ts'ai's power. The encroachments on his authority by Nationalists, combined with a series of Soviet victories over the German invaders, convinced Sheng that he had made the wrong choice. Beginning in February 1944 he began to absent himself from official meetings in Urumchi; in April, he began to arrest Kuomintang officials on the timeworn charge that they were plotting against him. He reportedly contacted Moscow in August and asked that Stalin incorporate Sinkiang into the Soviet Union, but to no avail. At the end of August, he was named minister of agriculture and forestry at Chungking, and the National Government sent a special plane to fetch him. In September, Sheng left Urumchi forever to take up a sinecure post. He was removed from this office in July 1945 because of criticism of his past record. He had caused the arrest, imprisonment, or execution of thousands of persons during his rule in Sinkiang, and public outcry caused the National Government to move him to an obscure post as counsellor in the Wuhan headquarters of the Military Affairs Commission. In 1949 he followed the National Government to Taiwan. His past misdeeds were given formal consideration by the National Assembly in 1954, but the deliberations were kept secret. Sheng continued to live in comfortable retirement with his wife, Ch'iu Yü-fang, who had borne him a daughter and three sons.

Sheng Shih-ts'ai and the American scholar Allen S. Whiting wrote Sinkiang: Pawn or Pivot?, published in 1958. Sheng's contribution to that work is essentially an apologia for his administration of Sinkiang; it stands in radical contradiction to parts of his earlier works, Liu ta cheng-ts'e chiao-cKeng [lectures on the six great policies] and Cheng-fu mu-cKien chu-yao jen-wu [present tasks of the government].