1939: Manchuria (Manchukuo)

Physiography, Population.

The land area known as Manchuria consists of the three northeastern Chinese provinces of Fengtien, Kirin and Heilungkiang, which have an aggregate area of 424,523 square miles. In 1932 after the Japanese occupation of this area, a puppet government was set up under the leadership of Pu Yi, who had been the last emperor of China; and the name of the area was changed to Manchukuo (country of the Manchus). In 1933 Japanese conquest added the Inner Mongolian province of Jehol (72,000 sq. mi.) to Manchukuo. In March 1934 Pu Yi was enthroned as Emperor of Manchukuo. Since neither China nor the United States has recognized the existence of Manchukuo, it is still officially referred to as Manchuria.

The northern and eastern boundaries of Manchuria were established by various treaties between China and Russia, the last being the Treaty of Peking (1860). The Amur River provides the north boundary. The Ussuri River, Lake Hanka and a portion of the watershed provide the east; the Yalu and the Tumen rivers and the Yellow Sea, the south; Mongolia and China proper, the west.

The Great and Little Khingan mountains traverse Manchuria from south to north in the west. Near the southeast border lie the Changpei mountains. Fertile and extensive valleys lie between. The mountain regions are rich in timber and minerals, especially coal. Several great rivers provide irrigation, and the means of communication and navigation: the Sungari, the Liao, the Amur and Ussuri. The climate is less affected by ocean currents than other parts of China but is greatly influenced by the proximity of the Mongolian desert. The winters are long and severe, and the summers short and hot. Spring brings yellow dust storms.

The population of Manchukuo in 1935 was estimated at 34,200,923; of the three eastern provinces, about 29,000,000, Jehol having over 2,000,000.

History.

Before the Manchu conquest Manchuria was the abode of the Tungus tribes, one of which established the Liao Dynasty of North China. In 1115 the Nüchens established the Chin Dynasty, but were driven out by Genghis Khan, the Mongol conqueror. Their descendants, the Manchus, returning to power after the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, ruled China until the establishment of the Republic in 1911.

In 1895 the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese war, provided for the ceding to Japan of the southern part of Liaotung peninsula. Through the intercession of Russia and other European powers this area was later returned to China. As a reward for her services Russia was accorded the right to carry the trans-Siberian railway across Northern Manchuria (the Chinese Eastern railroad). On March 27, 1898, the southern tip of Liaotung (Kwantung Peninsula) was leased to Russia. This included the important ports of Port Arthur and Talienwan (Dairen). Alarmed by the extension of Russian influence to South Manchuria, Japan in 1904 engaged Russia in a war which resulted in victory. By the Treaty of Portsmouth Japan succeeded to Russian rights in the leased territory. Thenceforth she proceeded to entrench herself in Manchuria until in 1931 she took over the three eastern provinces. The puppet government of Manchukuo ensued.

In 1922 General Chang Tso-lin, the acknowledged leader in Manchuria, was defeated when attempting to extend his influence to North China. In 1925 he joined Marshal Wu Pei-fu in a revolt against General Feng Yu-hsiang, who had established himself at Peking. Chang occupied Peking and Tientsin in April 1926 until he was driven out by General Chiang Kai-shek in June 1928. Killed in 1928 by an explosion which destroyed his railway carriage, Chang was succeeded by his son, General Chang Hsuch-liang (the Young Marshal). In 1930 Chang Hsuch-liang allied himself with Chiang Kai-shek against the Feng Yu-hsiang-Yen Hsi-shan coalition. It was in September 1931 while he was in North China about this alliance that the Japanese initiated the Manchurian campaign.

Puppet Government.

Pu-Yi, who at the age of three had been enthroned Emperor of China, was now made Emperor of Manchukuo on March 1, 1934, with the title of Kang-te. The Imperial rescript was read only in the presence of Manchukuoan and Japanese officials. The organic law of the puppet state was promulgated on the same date. Under this law a Privy Council, a Legislative Council and a State Council were set up to advise and assist the emperor in the discharge of his duties. The latter consisted of the ministers of the government, of whom there are eight: Prime Minister (who also holds the portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Mongolian Affairs), Civil Affairs, Defence, Finance, Industry, Communications, Justice and Education. While the officials are Manchurians, Japanese advisers are present in every department and Manchukuo is to all practical purposes a Japanese dependency.

Economic Program and Foreign Trade.

An ambitious economic program was launched in Manchuria by the Japanese. On June 15, 1932 the Central Bank of Manchukuo was established with capital of 30,000,000 yuan, of which 7,000,000 was paid up. In 1937 a five-year plan was launched to mobilize such resources as steel, electric power, aluminum, soda ash, coal, lead, zinc, salt, pulp, gold, asbestos and motor vehicles. New railway construction, which has increased Manchurian lines to 3,720 miles, has been designed to provide a strategic network as well as to furnish necessary internal transportation.

Trade with Germany has been an important factor in Manchuria's new economic development. Purchase of capital goods from Germany was expanded in 1937 when further credits were extended by Germany. The Otto Wolff group, for example, extended credits in that year to the amount of £2,000,000 sterling. Ten per cent of the advances were to be made in sterling draft, and 90 per cent in Reichsmarks. Payments were to be made in semi-annual installments over a period of six years, with interest at 5.5 per cent. The advances were for the purpose of purchasing heavy industrial machinery. Beans, bean cake and oil, amounting to about 3,000,000 metric tons a year, represent about 50 per cent of Manchuria's exports.

Suspension of trade with Germany, a by-product of the current European war, represents a 45 per cent reduction in the acquisition of foreign exchange, and a 53 per cent reduction in the import of machinery and equipment. Other markets and uses for soybeans and other sources of machinery must be found. Manchuria can look for trade expansion within the yen bloc (Japan, China and Manchuria), or she can open trade with other countries. In 1938 China and Japan took 74 per cent of Manchuria's exports, and supplied 83 per cent of her imports.

Japanese Colonization.

Japan is attempting to settle some of her surplus population in Manchuria. In 1937 she launched a twenty-year colonization program, with a goal of 1,000,000 families. The plan calls for the fulfillment of this program in four five-year periods: 100,000 families are to be settled during the first period, 200,000 during the second, 300,000 during the third, and 400,000 during the fourth. There are two categories of colonists: Group colonists, subsidized by the government at yen 1,000 per family and Free colonists, with indirect government assistance (yen 300 per family). This project is being supervised by the Japanese Ministry of Overseas Affairs, assisted by the Manchurian Immigration Association. Plans were made to handle 6,000 families in 1937, but only 1,500 responded. By the end of 1938 this number had been increased to 10,000 families. In 1939 it was planned to send 13,000 families. The areas on which these families are settled lie in the north. It is estimated that 100,000,000 hectares of land have passed into Japanese ownership since 1931; 46 per cent of this is cultivated and 54 per cent is virgin. The bulk of the colonists are officials, business men, small shopkeepers and the like.

Commercial airways operate between the larger cities of the country, and between Hsinking (Changchun), the capital, and various points in Korea and Japan. The principal ports are Dairen, Yuki, Hulutao, Antung and Yinkow.

Military.

Japan maintains an army of about 300,000 men in Manchuria. There are also a Manchukuoan army, a Gendarmerie, and metropolitan and provincial police forces. In 1938 hostilities developed on the Manchurian-Russian frontier when the Russians commenced the construction of defense works on what the Japanese contended was Manchurian territory. The hostilities were localized, and they ended with the Russians in possession of the strategic height overlooking Possiet Bay. In May 1939 fighting broke out in the Lake Buir region along the Manchurian-Outer Mongolian border. It was brought to an end on September 15, when an armistice was signed pending the settlement of the boundary dispute by an arbitration commission. See also JAPAN.