In December 1937, after the Nanjing Massacre, in order to maintain their rule in Nanjing, the Japanese army planned to establish a puppet regime to maintain order in Nanjing.
At this time, Nanjing has become a dead city, and the figures with heads and faces have long fled the city of Nanjing in order to avoid disasters. After careful selection, the Japanese army chose Tao Baojin as the administrator of the puppet regime.
Tao Baojin Zi Xisan, a direct descendant of Tao Yuanming, was the only remaining most prestigious person in Nanjing at that time, he once studied in Japan, participated in the New Deal at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and had a certain influence in the political circles. At the same time, he is also enthusiastic about religious and charitable causes, and since 1927, he has been the president of the "Nanjing Branch of the Red Swastika Society".
Tao Baojin also took people to Japan twice to participate in the post-disaster relief work in the 1923 Kanto Earthquake in Japan and the 1927 Kansai Earthquake in Japan.
With such a perfect resume and having made contributions to Japan, Tao Baojin was naturally attracted to the Japanese and made him the chairman of the "Nanjing Municipal Autonomous Committee". Regarding the appointment of this position, there are many versions on the Internet, some people say that Tao Baojin took the initiative to take it in order to survive, and some people said that he was repeatedly pressured and forced by the Japanese Kou to take up the position.
Is Tao Baojin a traitor in the end? It is not easy to conclude that during the massacre, he did a lot of charity, not only leading the burial team of the Nanjing Red Swastika Society to collect more than 43,000 innocent compatriots killed, but also recording the crimes of the Japanese Kou in the routine files of the Red Swastika Society.
If he was not a traitor, he served as the chairman of the "Nanjing Municipal Autonomous Committee", and after taking office, he also participated in shameless propaganda activities such as "The Imperial Army is our great savior" and "Japan is the ally of the East Asian nations" on many walls of Nanjing.
Tao Baojin's merits and deeds are a confused account until now, after all, he has served as the chairman of the "Nanjing Municipal Autonomous Committee" and can be said to be the leader of the traitors, but even with such an identity, his fate is still miserable.
On the day of the Lantern Festival in 1938, several Japanese soldiers openly rushed into the inner chamber of the traitor Tao Baojin, insulted his daughter and aunt, heard the shouts from the inner room, Tao Baojin could not care about greeting the Japanese officers, directly ran to the door of the inner chamber, looking at the wife and daughter curled up at the foot of the bed crying, Tao Baojin was very angry, but he had no choice, who let himself be a Japanese lackey now.
In order to ask for an explanation, Tao Baojin went back to the living room and told the Japanese officer about it, and he felt that the Japanese should look at the face of their president and punish the soldiers.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese officer directly dragged Tao Baojin to the inner chamber, and then looked at Tao Baojin's aunt and daughters, smiled and said to him: "Very good, give it to me!" Before Tao Baojin could react, he asked the Japanese soldiers to carry them to the Japanese barracks.
After this humiliation, he was unwilling to serve as the president, and finally resigned, only serving as the leader of the traitor for more than ten days, but after resigning, he still became the vice president.
Later, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Tao Baojin was accused by the Nationalist government of being a traitor with four counts:
(1) "Under the command" of the enemy, he has served as the president of the Autonomous Council for more than ten days;
(2) Persecuted by Gao Xiang, president of the Damin Association, and "forced" to charge the vice president;
(3) "Instigated" by Wen Zongyao to serve as a legislator of the puppet restoration government;
(4) After the establishment of the puppet National Government, "won the legislative council" for consecutive years.
However, because of Tao Baojin's charitable acts during the Nanjing Massacre, he was sentenced to a light sentence of only eight years in prison and confiscated all his property. After being released from prison, Tao Baojin was sentenced to a traitor because he could not accept it, and he died suddenly in just two months!
Now Tao Baojin's descendants are still running for his reputation, no matter what, just by virtue of his collection of the bodies of the forty-three thousand compatriots killed in the massacre, Tao Baojin should be treated with courtesy, what do you think?
