Use of Mondragón rifle in China?

[Hama]

Has anyone come across historical sources of Mondragón semi-auto rifles being used in China during the 20th century? This is something I've seen claimed on a couple websites but with no real sources to back it up or details given, I thought perhaps some of our China experts here (or Chinese language speakers) might know of some actual sources for whether this was true?

[Carl Schwamberger]

First I'd heard of it. Had assumed so few were made they went into collectors cabinets.

[Hama]

The only two militaries that I know for sure used them were the Mexicans and Germans, and as you say even in those armies the low production numbers of the rifles meant they weren't super common. The only reason I can see the Mondragóns maybe having been used in China is the fact that Germany in the inter-war era was dumping a lot of military equipment into the Chinese arms market, but again without proper sources on the Mondragón being among them I don't just want to assume it's true...

[Stephen_Rynerson]

Sorry for the delay in responding, Hama, but I haven't turned up anything promising in my library on the subject. The only references to semi-auto rifles in pre-WW2 service in China that I've found are to the Czech ZH-29/32/35 designs. If any Mondragon semi-autos actually made it to China, I'd suspect they were imported only in "sample size" quantities. The only thing I can think of to further suggest is that you try contacting Bin Shih, author of China's Small Arms of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), directly to ask him if he knows anything about it. I'll PM you the last e-mail address I have for him if you're interested.

[Hama]

Thanks Stephen, that would be helpful.