History
The history of Manchuria proper begins with Nurhaci , a tribal leader who in the sixteenth century united the warring tribes of the northeast against the corrupt central rule of Ming-dynasty Liaoning. He introduced an alphabet based on the Mongol script, administered Manchu law and, by 1625, had created a firm and relatively autonomous government that was in constant confrontation with the Chinese. His successor, Dorgun, the regent of his grandson, Shunchih, went a stage further and with the help of the defeated Ming general, Wu Sangui, marched on Beijing, proclaiming the Qing dynasty in 1644 and becoming the first of a long line of Manchu emperors. Keen to establish the Qing over the whole of China, the first Manchu emperors - Shunchih, Kangxi and Qianlong - did their best to assimilate Chinese customs and ideas. They were, however, even more determined to protect their homeland, and so the whole of the northeast was closed to the rest of China. This way they could guard their monopoly on the valuable ginseng trade , and keep the Chinese from ploughing up their land and desecrating the graves of their ancestors. But it was a policy that could not last for ever, and the eighteenth century saw increasing migration into Manchuria. By 1878, the laws had been rescinded and the Chinese were moving into the region by the million, escaping the flood-ravaged plains of the south for the fertile land of the northeast. All this time, Manchuria was much coveted by its neighbours. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894 left the Japanese occupying the Liaodong Peninsula in the south of Liaoning Province, and the only way the Chinese could regain it was by turning to Russia , also hungry for influence in the area. The deal was that the Russians be allowed to build a rail line linking Vladivostok to the main body of Russia, an arrangement that in fact led to a gradual and, eventually, complete occupation of Manchuria by the imperial Russian armies. This was a bloody affair, marked by atrocities and brutal reprisals, and followed in 1904 by a Japanese declaration of war in an attempt to usurp the Russians' privileges for themselves. The Russo-Japanese War ended in 1905 with a convincing Japanese victory. Japan's designs on Manchuria didn't end there; their population had almost doubled in the last sixty years, and this, coupled with a disastrous economic situation at home and an extreme militaristic regime, led to their invasion of the region in 1932, establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo . This regime was characterized by instances of horrific and violent oppression - not least the secret germ warfare research centre in Pingfang, where experiments were conducted on live human subjects. Rice was reserved for the Japanese, and it was a crime for the locals to eat it. It was only with the establishment of a united front between the Communists and the Guomindang that Manchuria was finally rid of the Japanese, in 1945, although it was some time (and in spite of a vicious campaign against the Communists backed by both Russia and the USA) before Mao finally took control of the region. Recent history is dominated by relations with Russia. In the brief romance between the two countries in the 1950s, Soviet experts helped the Chinese build factories and workshops in exchange for the region's agricultural products. The efficient, well-designed Soviet factories , such as the plant that produces the Liberation Truck in Changchun, remain some of the best in the area today. In the 1960s relations worsened, the Soviets withdrew their technical support, and bitter border disputes began, notably around the Ussuri, where hundreds of Russian and Chinese troops died fighting over an insignificant island in the world's first military confrontation between communist states. In addition, an extensive network of nuclear shelters was constructed in northeastern cities. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, military build-up around the border areas and state paranoia have lessened, and the shelters have been turned into underground shopping centres. Russian faces can again be seen on the streets, often not as tourists or foreign advisers but traders , legal and otherwise, buying up consumer goods to take over the border now that Russia's own manufacturing industry has almost collapsed.
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