Chahar (; ), also known as Chaha'er, Chakhar or Qahar, was a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in existence from 1912 to 1936, mostly covering territory in what is part of Eastern

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

. It was named after the Chahar Mongols.

Administration and history

Chahar Province is named after the Chahar, a tribal group of the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

who live in that area. The area was controlled (in part or fully) by various empires that ruled over China's north including the Han, Tang, Liao, and Jin dynasties. After the unification of the Mongol tribes under

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

, the area came under Yuan rule. After the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

(1271–1368), the area was a battleground between the Ming dynasty and Northern Yuan. Then the Chahar tribe became the personal appanage of the monarchs of the

Northern Yuan dynasty The Northern Yuan was a dynastic state ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen people, Jurchen-led ...

since the reign of Batumongke Dayan Khan (r. 1479–1517). By the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

(1644–1912), Chahar was a "Zhangyuan Special Region" (), although Yao Xiguang () proposed making Chahar a province as early as 1908.Facsimile reprinted in 1965 in Taipei by Wen-Hai Press

Republic of China era

In 1913, the second year of the

, Chahar Special Administrative Region was created as a subdivision of Zhili Province, containing 6 banners and 11

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

:OCLC 7421313
/ref> In 1928, it became a province. The last five counties on the above list (starting from Xinghe) were partitioned to Suiyuan province. And ten counties were included from Xuanhua

Subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

(宣化府), Koubei Circuit (口北道), Hebei Province: All banners belong to the Shilingol League (, 锡林郭勒盟). From 1937 to 1945, it was occupied by Japan and made a part of Mengjiang, a Japanese-controlled region led by Mongol Prince Demchugdongrub of the Shilingol Alliance. The Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Army Alliance (察哈爾民眾抗日同盟軍) was established in Kalgan on May 26, 1933 by Feng Yuxiang (馮玉祥) and

Ji Hongchang Ji Hongchang (; 1895–1934), born Ji Hengli, was a Chinese general and patriot. Hongchang was born in Fugou, Henan province. He started his military career in 1913 under General Feng Yuxiang. He was the commander of the 22nd Army when he was ...

(吉鴻昌).

1948–1952

In 1952, six years after becoming communist, the province was abolished and divided into parts of

, Beijing Municipality and

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Geography

Chahar Province was divided north-south by the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection agains ...

, with North Chahar being the larger in area and South Chahar, with the capital, Zhangjiakou, being far larger in population. It had an area of . In North Chahar most of the land was part of the northeastern extension of the Gobi Desert.

Bordered

* North: Xing'an * North and West:

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

* West and South: Suiyuan * South:

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

and

* East: Rehe and Liaobei

Notes

References

{{coord, 43, N, 115, E, display=title Provinces of the Republic of China (1912–1949) Former provinces of China 20th century in Inner Mongolia States and territories established in 1912 States and territories disestablished in 1936 1912 establishments in China History of Zhangjiakou