Following the Invasion of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army and the capture of Liaoning and Jilin provinces. Hostilities did not commence in the Harbin area until the end of January 1932 when Ding Chao resolved to defend the northern metropolis, a key hub of rail and riverine communication, against the approach first of General Xi Qia's "New Kirin" Army and then Japanese troops. He appealed to the city's Chinese residents to join his Jilin Self-Defence Army made of railway garrison troops and other regulars in battle against the Japanese. On 29 January, Ding put the Chief Administrator under house arrest and took possession of the office.