South Manchurian Railway Company (1906–1945)

Abstract

Manchuria is the native home of the Jurchens, who built the Qing Dynasty (1612–1912) in China. In a narrow sense, Manchuria means the North-East district in modern China and usually means the three east provinces, namely, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Across the Amur River and its tributary Ussuri, the Northeastern area meets the East Siberia district. Across the Yalu River, the Southern area meets the Korean Peninsula. The Western area is separated from the Mongolian Plateau by the Greater Khingan Range. In a broad sense, the East district of the Inner-Mongolia Autonomous Region was added to the three provinces mentioned above. In this regard, the present Chinese government insists that the name “Northeast district of China” should be used instead of “Manchuria.” One reason for this is that they have the intention of getting rid of the abhorrent past connection to Manchukuo, which was undoubtedly a Japanese puppet state. Another is that they want to claim that this land has always been inalienably possessed by China since ancient times. I am afraid to say that this allegation by the Chinese government is, however, pretty impossible.