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Chapter 1 - 1840–1894
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DISPATCH RECEIVED FROM the Vice-Commander Hu Sun-pu of Heilung-kiang province stating that the Russian boats were going to the Eastern Sea by way of the rivers Amur and Sungari owing to recent events whereby various islands lying on the east have been occupied by England. News of such a necessary measure has been communicate to the Lifan Yuan of Peking and free passage asked for. Hu Sun-pu, lacking instructions, naturally stopped them and was informed that their chief would come soon. Later in the afternoon, a large steamer with a bronze funnel anchored at the north bank of the city surrounded by several boats. Hu Sun-pu went on board, together with one of his associates, and saw the Russian Commander by the name of Muraviev who told them that he was ordered to come to rescue the eastern islands invaded by England. He was making a short cut through the Amur and Sungari, and he would not cause any disturbance to the locality to be passed through. Hu Sun-pu asked why there was no previous information, and then made further enquiries if any more men were coming. The reply was that there were only a thousand this time and more to come. At this juncture, a special delegation was sent to investigate the situation on the Russian bank of the river. It was afterwards reported that there were altogether eighty-three boats with more than two thousand men. There was plenty of provisions but not much ammunition. Besides this, there were four rafts with about one hundred horses and eighty oxen together with two boats loaded with women. Since entering Chinese territory, they had not molested any one. Hu-Sun-pu insisted that they should stop and sail no farther, but knowing the Chinese were not well prepared, he afterwards let them pass through in order to avoid any possible conflict. Some delegations were sent to pursue them to make investigations. The foregoing important report is hereby sent together with a copy of a dispatch given by the Russian Commander to the Lifan Yuan for your consideration.
List of Abbreviations
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Chapter Three - Prelude to the Russo-Japanese War, 1900–1905
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IN 1900 EAST Asia was one of the greatest trouble-spots of the world. Five years earlier, China had been decisively defeated by her neighbour Japan and had had no alternative but to grant leases of ports to acquisitive powers who participated in ‘the scramble for China’ that took place in the late 1890s. Those which concluded leases in north China were Russia, Germany and Britain. The ports in question were ringed round the Gulf of Pechili and menaced the security of the Chinese capital. In 1900, because of the activities of the ‘Boxers’, the military forces of the world’s major Powers were gathered around Peking. The weakness of China was exposed. For her part, Japan was slowly to recover from the shattering humiliation the country had suffered in 1895 at the hands of the European Powers. She had withdrawn her troops from Weihaiwei, her sole base in China, in 1898. It was not that Japan was not deeply concerned with developments in China; but Japan’s leaders adopted a cautious policy and concentrated on building her military strength by increasing her army and buying new ships to reinforce her navy. The situation was, however, to change dramatically during the period covered by this chapter when Russia seemed to flex her muscles and assert herself in Manchuria while Japan took that seriously enough to assume a leadership role and take more positive action in opposing her.
BOXER DISTURBANCES IN MANCHURIA
While the attention of the world had been focussed on the blood-curdling events of the Legation Quarter in Peking, similar events had been unfolding in Manchuria from mid-July. There were three strands of Chinese activities which intensified against the Russian railway: the actions of the anti-railway irregulars; those of the Boxer ‘regulars’; and the involvement ultimately of the Chinese Imperial Army. They were united in opposing the appalling circumstances under which the Chinese Eastern and South Manchurian Railways had been built and the encroachment on their lands. The ‘irregulars’ did not want railways in their districts and commonly threw rails into the rivers and destroyed telegraphs and railway property by way of demonstrating their annoyance. The Boxers, a secret society which practised martial arts and was generally anti-Christian, became increasingly active after 1899.
Acknowledgements
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Chapter 6 - 1922–1928
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[AUTHOR’S NOTE: THE Sino-Soviet Agreements, etc. of May 31, 1924 were not recognized by Marshal Chang Tso-lin, High Inspecting Commissioner of (independent) Manchuria, and the provisions relating to the Three Eastern Provinces could not, therefore, be fulfilled by the Central Government. In the latter part of September, when China was in the throes of civil war, and Marshal Chang Tso-lin was denounced as a “rebel” by the Central Government, a separate agreement was signed at Mukden between a Soviet emissary and representatives of Marshal Chang Tso-lin. The signatories of this agreement were: N. K. Kuznetzoff on behalf of Soviet Russia (Vice-Chairman of the Provincial Assembly) and Chung Shih-min (Commissioner for Foreign Affairs). The agreement as published by the Rosta News Agency was as follows.]
Agreement Entered into Between the Autonomous Government of the Three Eastern Provinces of the Republic of China and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
(Signed in Mukden on September 20, 1924)
The Autonomous Government of the Three Eastern Provinces of the Republic of China and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, desiring to promote friendly relations and to adjust the various problems concerning mutual rights and privileges, have agreed to conclude an agreement, and have to that end named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
The Autonomous Government of the Three Eastern Provinces of the Republic of China: Cheng Chien, Lü Jung Huan and Chung Shih Ming:
The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:—— N. K. Kuznetzoff;
Who, having communicated to one another their respective full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:
Article I.—The Chinese Eastern Railway.
The Governments of the two Contracting Parties agree to settle the question of the Chinese Eastern Railway as follows:
The Governments of the two contracting Parties declare that the Chinese Eastern Railway is a purely commercial enterprise.
Contents
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Chapter Nine - Manchukuo: From Republic to Empire, 1933–1937
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ON 1 JULY 1937, the Japanese occupied the Marco Polo Bridge which gave them a strategic position of control over the old national capital of Peking. This inaugurated what Chiang Kai-shek was to call China’s Total War of Resistance to Japan. It brought to an end five years of uncertainty in which two themes were predominant in China’s thinking: domestic unification and resistance to Japan. The Kuomintang leadership had since 1928 given priority to the former and tried to bring about national unification under the control of Nanking. As we have seen in previous chapters, Chang Hsueh-liang had broadly accepted the concept of unification and Chiang Kai-shek had, for his part, exercised an attitude of calculating tolerance towards him since he required the cooperation of Chang’s armies in the north. The Young Marshal was sorely tempted by possibilities of independence for Manchuria and was being sedulously cultivated by Japanese to find out what could be devised. But this was the subject of rumour and speculation and nothing concrete materialized.
The question of resistance to Japan in Manchuria was, of course, related to the Kuomintang’s failure to achieve effective political unification and, indeed, its involvement in costly campaigns elsewhere in China. Chiang identified two broad categories of Chinese opinion:
Those that were decadent and passive wanted to live quietly under the Japanese and therefore advocated a policy of non-resistance. The militant radicals, on the other hand, urged a policy of immediate war by which they hoped to strengthen their own position within the country.
In the face of this, what policy was the Nationalist Government or, in the case of Chang Hsueh-liang, a provincial government, to take in order to resist Japan after the Mukden Incident of 18 September? Chiang recognized
… that modern warfare is scientific warfare, and that China’s scientific inventions and industrial skill were in their infancy and inferior to Japan’s.
In the circumstances of protracted civil war, there was no possibility of retaliating with the large feudal armies which were available. In the circumstances, Nanking tried ‘to make concessions to all factions in the hope of stopping all internal strife in order to unite against the foreign enemy’.
Preface
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MANCHURIA WAS PROMINENT on the international agenda from 1894 onwards. It acquired a distinct notoriety at the time of the Manchurian Incident of September 1931. It was then that the prominent scholar of the region, Owen Lattimore, published his book, Manchuria: Cradle of Conflict (Macmillan, 1932) arguing that there were so many rivalries inherent in the country that conflict was inevitable. This could either be between its mixed communities, the so-called five ethnicities of its population, or between China and outside parties in an age of expansion. It may be that the focus of world attention moved away from Manchuria to a preoccupation with European affairs for the rest of the thirties. But the Manchurian episode left its mark by revealing the inability of world statesmen to achieve a settlement for such complicated domestic problems and especially puncturing the prestige of the League of Nations as a mechanism for finding international solutions for regional disputes. To that extent it has a continuing relevance to our situation today.
Northeast and Central Asia have received special treatment in recent years. The History of Tibet in three volumes appeared in 2003 (Routledge) edited by Alex Mackay while The History of Mongolia in three volumes appeared in 2010 (Global Oriental) edited by David Sneath and Christopher Kaplonski. These were collections of specialized papers gathered usefully together with appropriate commentary. Thus, it now seems an opportune moment to highlight the place of Mongolia’s neighbour, Manchuria, in the history of Northeast Asia in the modern period. In doing so, I have tried to maintain a balance between the domestic features of the country and its place in international relations.
Like the countries in the other two series, Manchuria covers a vast under-populated territory and, because it became a subject of great international significance, it has attracted a vast literature. When I embarked on the research for this history, I thought it important to make use of documents which would reflect both the contemporary and later perceptions and feelings of China herself, which was very conscious of her status as the sovereign power, but also of the other countries which claimed to have ‘special interests’ in the territory, particularly Russia and Japan.
Miscellaneous Frontmatter
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Chapter Six - Chang Tso-Lin’s Manchuria, 1922–28
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THE GREATEST CHALLENGE to orderly government in China in the twenties came from the military commanders who felt themselves to be virtually independent. Using their private armies, they plunged the country into almost incessant civil wars. While progressive thinkers in the South wanted to find a formula for unification of the country, the various parties in the North were jealous of one another and frequently came to blows.
These warlords or tuchuns collected the taxes in their provinces primarily in order to fund their armies. If their soldiers failed to receive enough pay, they became armed bandits and lived off the land. It was, therefore, difficult to draw a line between brigands and soldiers. This contributed to the instability of the territory, enhanced by increases in opium cultivation. While several leaders became very wealthy, they had to purchase modern weapons and ammunition at great cost. The European nations, having come out of the war with surplus weapons and aircraft, were over-ready to supply the latest military technology, as was Japan. This was in spite of the ban imposed at the Washington Conference of 1921–1922. The warlords of the Northern clique (hokubatsu) were to remain a force in the area until the death of Chang Tsolin in 1928.
In this chapter I have used the archives of Scottish missionaries whose area of endeavour covered most of Manchuria. They were widely distributed around the country but, for security reasons, kept close to the railway routes or the rivers. As teachers, doctors or ministers of religion, they had direct access to the Chinese people, especially students. They had therefore a broader vision of Chinese society than foreign newspapers or diplomatic archives. But they managed to maintain also remarkably good urban and national contacts. They owed this in part to the high reputation with Chinese leaders of Dr Dugald Christie, the founder of the Mukden Medical Mission who worked for forty years in Manchuria until his retirement in 1924. At the same time it has to be recognized that they had their own ‘constituency’, one part of which was their foreign donors mainly in Scotland who had to be satisfied that the results of their work were positive.
Chapter Seven - Chinese Nationalism and Foreign Railways, 1929–1931
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ONLY TIME WOULD tell whether the killing of the Old Marshal would result in chaos or orderly transition. Fortunately, the latter prevailed; and it was possible for Western sympathizers of China like Dr Dugald Christie to take an optimistic view of the future:
We may now confidently hope that a better day is dawning for China. The Nationalist rule is yet in its infancy, and its development will naturally take time, but the real work of reconstruction has begun. Already the army is being steadily reduced, and important economic and political changes are taking place.
The more wary, however, looked to the future of China the Nation with apprehension:
The nation is now actually politically organized, and the political machinery is at the mercy of whatever political gang is in power. It is absolutely based on Soviet and Facisti principles. There is no room whatever for Opposition or for real popular argument and free discussion.
The underlying popular nationalism which this bred led to the minor Sino-Russian War of 1929 and the descent of Sino-Japanese relations to bitter hostility. These two themes form the substance of this chapter.
It was some months before the circumstances of Chang Tso-lin’s death leaked out publicly. Speculation abounded about who had per petrated the crime and how and why. The purpose of the plot was specifically to get rid of Chang Tso-lin whom some Japanese saw as an obstacle to achieving their ambitions. A secondary aim was more generally to destabilize the administration in Manchuria. But as a result of Chang Hsueh-liang’s delaying tactics the predicted chaos did not materialize. Law and order were upheld and a peaceful transition to power of Hsueh-liang took place.
The bomb plot was a failure for Japan and a snub for Prime Minister Tanaka. It was locally and conspiratorially arranged and not authorized by Tokyo, either military or civilian. It was evidently not approved by the Kwantung army as a whole. It failed also as a political tactic to settle Sino-Japanese differences in a direction favourable to Japan. Amidst all the uncertainty, it was even suggested that the real perpetrators were associated with the Kuomintang and its Northern Expedition, of which Chang Tso-lin had been a long-standing opponent.
Chapter 7 - 1929–1931
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George Moss (Foochow) to Sir John Pratt (London), 12 March 1929
…I WISH YOU were anywhere in China today, preferably in Foochow for it is a lovely spring day and I would take you for a walk around the Chinese town and ask you, si monumentum requeris circumspice. (1)
It is today Sun Yat-sen’s Death Anniversary, and a public holiday on which by Decree there is to be no marrying or burying, no drinking of wine, games or jollification ‘for the work of the late revered leader is not yet accomplished’. Although most of the shops are, after the manner of Chinese, half-opened, as no decree is ever obeyed. Literally in this Country the solemn holiday is being observed by high and low, and municipal ceremonies and processions are taking place in Foochow today. Open flouting of the Decree would bring swift and public retribution, probably in the shape of a looted shop and a forlorn figure smeared with tar and wearing a dunce’s cap stumbling along with hands tied behind the back in the midst of a tawdry and tired procession of boys and girls and trade unionists, urged along by hard-visaged professional politicians shouting slogans through megaphones for the crowd to shout back through the blare of a brass band trying to play ‘Frere Jacques’ or ‘There is a Tavern’ or ‘Marching through Georgia’… [Text uncertain]
The point of all this is that you would see the new Chinese, a people consciously controlled and organized and prepared deliberately to demonstrate for or against anything as their Masters of the Kuomintang order. But they are no longer demonstrating against Britain and the British Empire, towards which their leaders have openly professed some degree of amity. Japanese and Communists are the popular enemies at present. But hate and attack somebody they must; they must also glorify their late leader; their attention must be deflected from their own miseries, otherwise they would turn and rend each other. It still would not take much to turn them again against us. But every day we pass in amity and every occasion which leads their masters to affirm official friendship with us makes a revulsion to mass hatred harder to contemplate.
Chapter One - Manchuria and Russian Ambition, 1840s–1890s
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AT THE TURN of the 1930s ‘Manchuria’ was headline news. By its geographical location it was one of those intermediate points in the world where international rivalries can so easily be aroused and crises sparked which can only be resolved with extreme difficulty. Scholars have observed this. Owen Lattimore, who had studied the country from its ancient tribal beginnings, described Manchuria as the ‘Cradle of Conflict’. Sherwood Eddy who was in Mukden when the Manchurian Crisis broke out in September 1931 described Manchuria as ‘The World’s Danger Zone’.
This book is written from the standpoint that Manchuria is part of China. What is known in this work as ‘Manchuria’ is described by the Chinese as the Three Eastern Provinces or its Northeastern Provinces; and the Nationalist Government of the 1920s had no hesitation in claiming that it exercised sovereignty there. The Japanese in the 1920s took a contrary view.It would be wrong to suggest that there was a representative Japanese view about Manchuria. But the following extract will show how some Japanese viewed the Manchurian thinking after 1931:
Manchuria, formerly part of China but since the revolution of 1911… a semi-independent state governed by warlords, determined to stand forth as an independent nation and at long last to cut adrift from the regime of exploitation.
This is an illustration of the view which Mr Ohara as a correspondent of The Manchurian Daily News was publishing in Mukden. The paper argued that ‘Manchuria’ was a recent creation; that Chinese in Manchuria came from North China on a seasonal basis and commonly returned to their homes; that Manchus were being neglected and wanted independence both from warlords and from the Chinese government at Nanking. These conflicting interpretations of the history and thinking of Manchurians were to sour relations between China and Japan. But it was only one aspect of Manchuria’s complex and interesting history.
In this book I take up the story when the intrusion of foreign countries and their nationals prompts the Chinese to tighten their relationships with remoter outposts of their Middle Kingdom. By the use of modern armies and navies these outsiders negotiated Western-style treaties – something with which the Chinese were not familiar.
Chapter Ten - A Decade of Wars, 1938–1948
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FOR A DECADE after 1938 Manchuria was enveloped in a fog of war. Over the border in the Chinese heartland the war was under way with Japan against the background of the ongoing civil war between the Kuomintang government and the Communists. Within Manchuria there was recurrent fighting on the periphery between the Soviet Union and the Japanese where border disputes led dramatically to the Soviet invasion of the country in 1945. These were strategically significant but they were small in scale compared to the global issues which were arising in connection with the European conflict of 1939, the German invasion of Russia (Barbarossa) in 1941 or the Asia-Pacific conflict which also began in 1941. It might have been possible to stop our story in 1937 but that would have meant leaving out of our account the important effects in Manchuria of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the emergence of the civil war on the Manchurian plain. But it is a complex many-sided story and we can only give a concise account of it here.
An important theme in the early part of this chapter is Soviet-Japanese relations in Manchuria. Partly this was an inter-state confrontation in north Manchuria between countries with conflicting commercial and political interests. Partly it was the outcome of ideological differences. Under the strong influence of the army, especially the Kwantung army, Japan had followed an anti-Soviet policy which justified her in keeping large numbers of troops in Manchuria and her colony of Korea. Sharing her anti-Soviet policies was Nazi Germany. To that end Japan had entered into the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany on 25 November 1936. Fearing that this was not enough, a group emerged which advocated converting the existing treaty into a military alliance with Germany and Italy. There were prominent lobbies opposed to this, especially after the outbreak of the European war (September 1939) and the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact (27 September). Eventually, Japan entered into an alliance with the Axis powers in September 1940. But loyalties were shallow in war; and outcomes were unpredictable.
Chapter 3 - 1900–1905
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[EDITOR’S NOTE: MARQUIS Ito, the senior Japanese statesman, visited Russia in November 1901 on a personal journey which turned out to include high-level talks with top statesmen, Foreign Minister Lamsdorf and Finance Minister Count Witte. He takes up a Russian proposal mooted the previous year that the two countries should sign a pact for the neutralization of Korea. Japan was opposed to Russia having any say in Korean affairs but wanted to see what compromise could be struck. Witte said he was not a diplomat and was not directly responsible for eastern questions. But was in regular touch with the Tsar and Lamsdorf. On 3 December Ito visited Witte who explained Russia’s position in his usual blunt way.]
Witte: Your country has always had considerable interests in Korea, mine has none. I have no objection to your people emigrating there. But while Russia has no need to occupy Korea, it could not look on with arms folded if Japan occupied the peninsula…. Under the present agreement [of 1898] there is an understanding which, while fully respecting Japan’s true interests, established regulations for Japan and Russia keeping equal garrisons there. One wonders if one can avoid mutual misunderstanding if that equality were lost….
To look at the Korean problem in the context of the oriental situation as a whole, our country does not want to extend its territories in the far east. Our lands are already big enough. Our government is quite strong financially but so weak in social provision that it is now time to set our house in order in a big way. We have just declared to the world that we will withdraw from Manchuria without fail. In this country as in yours there must be those who declare that we must capture the whole world. In our Navy and Army there are many who have such ambitions. But our Government and Emperor do not think thus. Should a dispute arise, I as Finance Minister would robustly oppose such measures. Such action is more than Russia could bear financially and it would in any case be less desirable than getting the Chinese to control the area while we possess only economic interests there.
Chapter 8 - 1931–1932
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The chairman of the Provincial Government of Heilungkiang (Ma Chan-shan) to the Chinese Delegation at Geneva
[HEIHO,] April 14, 1932.HISTORY RECORDS THAT the Manchus and the Chinese have been assimilated for the last five hundred years. During this period the Manchus and the Chinese have lived together in peace, their civilization, politics, customs, language and religion becoming identical. Therefore, although in 1911 the Chinese overthrew the Manchu Dynasty and instituted a republican regime in its stead, there has not been the slightest enmity between the Chinese and the Manchus; besides, the terminology used in designating the difference of the two peoples has disappeared even from the language. These facts are known commonly to all people who know anything about Chinese affairs and are not the opinion of an individual. It is clear, therefore, the expressions “Chinese” and “Manchu” are merely of historical significance and have no value per se in relationships of the two peoples today in the sense that the Manchu is not a part of the Chinese people and Manchuria not a part of China. Yet the Japanese insist on capitalizing this historical difference in nomenclature and exploiting the same in order to alienate the different groups of the Chinese people and occupy our territory. It is astonishing to see in this 20th century that there are still such a disregard for international right and justice and such inhuman actions which cannot but disturb the peace of the Far East.
According to Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity of all Members of the League. The provisions of the Nine Power Treaty signed in Washington guarantee to China her territorial and administrative integrity as well as the international policy known as the open door and equal opportunity relative to the Three Eastern Provinces. These are stumbling blocks to the Japanese in the way of their scheme to incorporate Manchuria as part of the Japanese Empire.
Chapter Eight - Lytton Commission in Manchuria, 1931–1932
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ON THE NIGHT of 18 September 1931, Chang Hsueh-liang was being entertained at the British legation in Peking. After returning home he received the report that the Japanese had occupied Mukden, having killed at least eighty Chinese soldiers. He immediately instructed his troops to put their arms back in the depot and refrain from all forms of retaliation or provocation. Chang had taken the decision on his own; but he had received the authority for this non-resistance policy from Chiang Kai-shek who was involved in the civil war in the south. This generated a great debate in China over the proper course of action to be taken towards Japan; the military men were against military action because of the inferiority of Chinese armies, while the general public, especially the students, were in favour, regardless of the consequences.
‘WAR IN DISGUISE’
Japanese forces took over Mukden on 19 September, neutralizing Chang’s small air force. The Kwantung army pressed on to other parts, using the rail network. In violation of the explicit orders of Tokyo, it pushed north; and major cities were occupied against minimal opposition culminating in the entry to Harbin in February. The Japanese sought to set up compliant civil and military local governments through accommodating Chinese leaders, primarily because their troop numbers were inferior to Chinese forces. Their largest problem was in Tsitsihar where the opposition of Ma Chan-shan and the uncertainty over soviet intervention made a settlement difficult. The other problem was westward to Newchwang and especially Chinchow where the armies of Chang Hsueh-liang were still a factor. Missionaries reported that things in Manchurian cities were gradually restored to normal. But commercial conditions were generally bad because of the depression; and there was an on-going guerrilla war, partly bandit-inspired, partly soviet-inspired.
Instead of risking a major confrontation, China appealed to the League of Nations of which both China and Japan were members. China had become a member of the League of Nations Council as recently as September. It was of course realized that the United States and the Soviet Union, possible sources of help, were not League members.
Epilogue
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IN HIS REVIEW of the year 1948, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wrote:
Mukden fell into the hands [of the Communists]. The Mukden tragedy of 1931 has repeated itself… During this national crisis I cannot but blame myself for my inadequate leadership.
While accepting blame himself, Chiang was implicating the Japanese, and claiming that their actions since 1931 had a bearing on the outcome in China and had affected the future of Northeast Asia. Thoughtful Japanese, pondering the news of what was happening in former Manchukuo in the late 1940s, did not deny this privately. In the discourse of newspaper readers in western Japan, where most hikiagesha (evacuees) from Manchuria first returned to, it was a topic often raised. They were concerned about the past but also about the humanitarian aspect of the present and the future spread of communism to Japan.
Among later Japanese scholars, Professor Tamanoi quotes many examples of disillusion and annoyance among farmers who had been enticed by the state to go to Manchuria and forced to leave their land in 1945 in humiliating circumstances. In his many-sided study, Professor Yamamuro Shinichi explains Japan’s visions for Manchukuo in terms of illusion, mainly on the part of the military. He concludes that the problem began ‘with the artificial founding of a state by a foreign people [Japan], introduced large numbers of immigrants and brought about its destruction by the armed forces of a foreign power [Russia]’.
This study has investigated the various phases of Manchurian history from the ascendancy of the Manchu dynasty in the seventeenth century. The first section of the book dealt with frontier adventurism, starting with the exploits of individual Russian adventurers along the Amur River. On the accession of Tsar Alexander II, there was a fresh incentive on the part of an enterprising group of Russian frontier officials to settle on the left bank of that river confirmed by China in the treaty of 1858 and later on land to the east of the Ussuri River, confirmed in the 1860 treaty. Whereas Western expansion in the east had been into territories already over-populated, Russia took over land previously under-populated, uncultivated and possibly unclaimed.
Chapter 9 - 1933–1937
- Ian Nish, London School of Economics and Political Science
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- Book:
- The History of Manchuria, 1840-1948
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 18 November 2023
- Print publication:
- 01 September 2016, pp 116-125
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
Stabilization of Manchou Empire
THE EMERGENCE OF Manchoukuo and the declaration of her independence from China ushered in a new era in Manchuria and the Far East. In the midst of skeptical but scrutinizing international observance, the new State undertook a gigantic task of national reconstruction and its achievements during the first eight years of statehood have been nothing short of a marvel. In many respects, it has successfully carried out reforms which were believed to be practically impossible under the former military regime, and the epochal progress widens its horizon and deepens its penetration as the first five-year plan was successfully concluded and the second five-year plan was auspiciously inaugurated in 1937.
The backbone of this marvellous achievement is without doubt the successful execution of political reconstruction, the building of a modern State on the ruins of feudalistic war-lordism. Most significant in this sense was the official transition from Manchoukuo to Manchoutikuo or the Manchou Empire on March 1, 1934, when His Excellency Chief Executive Pu Yi was enthroned as Emperor Kangte. It may be recalled that Manchuria is the home of the Manchous, whence they sprang, and that Emperor Kangte is the last of the Manchou Dynasty, who ascended China’s dragon throne as a child but who was deposed when the revolution resulted in the establishment of the Republic of China in 1911.
Under the Organic Law of the Manchou Empire of 1934 (For the text see Fourth Report, Appendix No. 18), the State is completely centralized in the Throne. The Emperor represents the State; supervises the sovereign rights and exercises them in accordance with the Organic Law; issues or causes to be issued ordinances for the maintenance of public peace and order and for the execution of laws; possesses the power to declare war, to make peace, and to conclude treaties; enjoys the supreme command of the army, navy, and air forces; and has the power to grant amnesty, special pardon, commutation of punishment, and restoration of civil rights.