The full Chinese name for the state is 晋北自治政府 (pinyin: Jìnběi zìzhì zhèngfǔ; Wade–Giles: Chin4-pei3 tzu4-chih4 cheng4-fu3), literally meaning "Shanxi North/Northern Autonomous Government".

[2] The state is also referred to by different names in other languages, such as the Mongolian ᠤᠮᠠᠷᠠᠲᠤᠱᠠᠨᠢᠰᠢᠠᠦ᠋ᠲ᠋ᠣᠨᠣᠮᠢ ᠳᠤᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭ ᠤᠨᠭᠠᠵᠠᠷ(Cyrillic: Умард Шаньси Автономит засгийн газар), though, this is uncommon.

[3] Among these plans, particularly early on in the war, involved the administration of China by means of dividing it into many smaller buffer states, all under the Japanese sphere of influence.

On the morning of September 13, 1937, the city center of Datong was captured by Japanese army forces, and was placed under military control for the time being.

Later that month on September 20, the foundations of the area's collaborationist government were established with the North Shanxi Public Security Maintenance Center in Datong.

Leading this effort at first was Chen Yuming, who was brought by the Japanese army from Zhangjiakou (Kalgan), the then-capital of Mengjiang, to direct Datong's administration.

Under Chen, the North Shanxi Public Security Maintenance Center formed a militia force of 150 citizens from Datong in cooperation with the Japanese Army for the city's own defense.

[7] In October, the Japanese army hosted a conference whose stated aim was to "Bring the Shanxi Province to Autonomy", which was held in the Gulou West Street Theater Archived 2019-08-27 at the Wayback Machine in Datong.

This position was filled by Maejima Masu, an ethnically Japanese political figure who had previously worked in local management in Manchukuo.

According to a Japanese correspondent of the Oriental Economist (via the Far Eastern Survey),All lines of political and economic enterprise have been placed in the hands of officials who were transferred from the civil and other services in Manchoukuo[14]Supporting this remark, systems of organization from Manchukuo began to be implemented in North Shanxi, as well as the rest of Mengjiang, along with the movement of experienced individuals from Manchukuo.

Chief among these new organizations was the Labor Control Committee of North Shanxi (Chinese: 晋北勞働統制委員會; pinyin: Jìnběi láodòng tǒngzhì wěiyuánhuì; Wade–Giles: Chin4-pei3 lao2-tung4 t'ung3-chih4 wei3-yüan2-hui4), founded on May 29, 1939.