as the Premier. However, in October 1924, the armies of the warlord Feng Yuxiang overthrew President Cao Kun, and Gao Lingwei fled to Tianjin, and from there to Shanghai. Later career In 1926, Gao Lingwei returned from Shanghai to Tianjin, where he lived at the Japanese concession. He came into contact there with Duan Qirui, Wang Yitang and Zhang Yanqing, the future foreign minister of Manchukuo) and was active in promoting Sino-Japanese relations. He began cooperating with the Japanese secret services from 1930. In 1935, Gao Lingwei was made a member of the Hebei-Chahar Political Council. After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, he joined the pro-Japanese Provisional Government of the Republic of China led by Wang Kemin, who appointed him acting Mayor of Tianjin. From December 17, 1937 he was appointed governor of Hebei province. However, he resigned his post in May 1938 and moved to Beijing, where he died of a heart attack in 1940. References Dryburgh, Marjorie. North China and Japanese Expansion 1933-1937. Routledge (2013) Li, Chien Nung. The Political History of China, 1840-1928. Stanford University Press (1967) |- |- |- |- 1868 births 1939 deaths Republic of China politicians from Tianjin Presidents of the Republic of China Mayors of Tianjin Premiers of the Republic of China Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan 20th-century Chinese heads of government