Editing Manchukuo (section)

== History ==
=== Background ===
The Qing dynasty was founded in the 17th century by Manchus hailing from northeastern China, conquering the ethnically Han [[Shun dynasty|Shun]] and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] dynasties. Upon establishing themselves, the Qing referred to their state as {{zhi|t=中國|p=Zhōngguó|l=central country}} in Chinese and equivalently as {{lang|mnc|{{ManchuSibeUnicode|ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ<br />ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ}}}}; {{transliteration|mnc|Dulimbai gurun}} in Manchu.{{sfn|Hauer|Corff|2007|p=117}}{{sfn|Dvořák|1895|p=80}}{{sfn|Wu|1995|p=102}} The name was used in official documents and treaties, and while conducting foreign affairs. The Qing equated the territory of their state, which among other regions included present-day Manchuria, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Tibet, with the idea of 'China' itself, rejecting notions that only Han areas were core parts of China. The Qing thought of China as fundamentally multi-ethnic: the term 'Chinese people' referred to all the Han, Manchu and Mongol subjects within the empire; likewise, the term 'Chinese language' was used to refer to the [[Manchu language|Manchu]] and [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] languages in addition to those [[Sinitic languages|language varieties that descended from Old Chinese]]. Moreover, the Qing stated explicitly in various edicts, as well as within the [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]], that the Manchu home provinces belonged to China.{{sfn|Zhao|2006|pp=4, 7–14}}

The Manchu homeland was referred to as the {{zhi|t=三東省|p=Sān dōngshěng|l=three eastern provinces}} during the Qing, those provinces being [[Jilin]], [[Heilongjiang]], and [[Liaoning]]. These regions were first delineated in 1683, but would not become actual provinces until 1907.{{sfn|Clausen|Thøgersen|1995|p=7}} Jilin and Heilongjiang, considered primarily Manchu, were separated from Han Liaoning along the [[Willow Palisade]], with internal movement and migration regulated by ethnicity. These policies continued until after the end of the [[Second Opium War]] in the late 19th century, when the government started to encourage massive waves of Han migration to the northeast, collectively known as the [[Chuang Guandong]], in order to prevent the [[Russian Empire]] from seizing more of the area. In 1907, the three provinces constituting Manchuria were officially constituted, and the [[Viceroy of the Three Northeast Provinces]] position was established to govern them.

===Qing decline and rising nationalism===
{{See also|History of the Republic of China|Japanese nationalism|Japanese militarism}}
As the power of the court in Beijing weakened, many of the empire's outlying areas either broke free (such as [[Kashgar]]) or fell under the control of the Western imperialist powers. The Russian Empire had set its sights on Qing's northern territories, and through [[unequal treaties]] signed in 1858 and 1860 ultimately [[Amur Annexation|annexed huge tracts of territory]] adjoining the [[Amur River]] outright, now known collectively as [[Outer Manchuria]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/analysis/29263.stm|title=Russia and China end 300-year-old border dispute|work=[[BBC News]]|date=10 November 1997|access-date=14 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106025930/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/analysis/29263.stm|archive-date=6 November 2011}}</ref> As the Qing continued to weaken, Russia made further efforts to take control of the rest of Manchuria. By the 1890s, the region was under strong Russian influence, symbolized by the Russian-built [[Chinese Eastern Railway]] that ran from [[Harbin, China|Harbin]] to [[Vladivostok]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Origins of the Russo-Japanese War|first=Ian|last=Nish|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|page=[https://archive.org/details/originsofrussoja0000nish/page/31 31]|isbn=9780582491144|url=https://archive.org/details/originsofrussoja0000nish/page/31}}</ref>

The Japanese ultra-nationalist [[Black Dragon Society]] initially supported [[Sun Yat-sen]]'s activities against the Qing state, hoping that an overthrow of the Qing would enable a Japanese takeover of the Manchu homeland, with the belief that Han Chinese would not oppose it. [[Tōyama Mitsuru]], who was the Society's leader as well as a member of the pan-Asian secret society [[Gen'yōsha]], additionally believed that the anti-Qing revolutionaries would even aid the Japanese in taking over, as well as helping them to enlarge the opium trade that the Qing were currently trying to destroy. The Society would support Sun and other anti-Manchu revolutionaries until the Qing ultimately collapsed.<ref name="Nash1997">{{cite book|author=Jay Robert Nash|title=Spies: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Dirty Tricks and Double Dealing from Biblical Times to Today|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FIWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99|date=28 October 1997|publisher=M. Evans|isbn=978-1-4617-4770-3|page=99}}</ref> In Japan, many anti-Qing revolutionaries gathered in exile, where they founded and operated the [[Tongmenghui]] resistance movement, whose first meeting was hosted by the Black Dragon Society.<ref name="BergèreLloyd1998">{{cite book|author1=Marie-Claire Bergère|author2=Janet Lloyd|title=Sun Yat-sen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vh7M1u4IGFkC&pg=PA132|year=1998|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-4011-1|page=132}}</ref> The Black Dragon Society had a large impact on Sun specifically, cultivating an intimate relationship with him. Sun often promoted pan-Asianism, and sometimes even passed himself off as Japanese.<ref name="Horne2005">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQsVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252|title=Race War!: White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire|author=Gerald Horne|publisher=NYU Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8147-3641-8|page=252}}</ref><ref name="Chung2000">{{cite book|author=Dooeum Chung|title=Élitist fascism: Chiang Kaishek's Blueshirts in 1930s China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfkvAQAAIAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-1166-0|pages=61}}</ref><ref name="Chung1997">{{cite book|author=Dooeum Chung|title=A re-evaluation of Chiang Kaishek's blueshirts: Chinese fascism in the 1930s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_OY-AQAAIAAJ|year=1997|publisher=University of London|pages=78}}</ref> In the wake of the Xinhai Revolution, the Black Dragons began infiltrating China, making inroads selling opium and spreading anti-Communist sentiment. Eventually, they also began directly agitating for a Japanese takeover of Manchuria.<ref name="Carlisle2015">{{cite book|author=Rodney Carlisle|title=Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXysBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|date=26 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47177-6|page=71}}</ref>

With the [[Russo-Japanese War]], Japanese influence largely replaced that of Russia in Manchuria. Japan had mobilized one million soldiers to fight the Russians in Manchuria, one for every eight Japanese families.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=33}} Despite shocking success, the Japanese military underwent heavy losses, ultimately incurring about 500,000 casualties.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=33}} The war caused many Japanese people to develop a more possessive attitude towards Manchuria, with Japan having sacrificed so much while fighting in Manchurian territory.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=33}} From 1905 on, Japanese publications often described Manchuria as a "sacred" and "holy" land where many Japanese had died as martyrs.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=33}} The war had almost bankrupted Japan, forcing the Japanese to accept the compromise [[Treaty of Portsmouth]] mediated by President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] of the United States, under which Japan made gains, but nowhere to the extent that the Japanese public had been expecting.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=33}} The Treaty of Portsmouth set off [[Hibiya incendiary incident|an anti-American riot]] in Tokyo between 5–7 September 1905 as the general viewpoint in Japan was that the Japanese had won the war but lost the peace. The perception in Japan was the Treaty of Portsmouth was a humiliating diplomatic disaster that did not place all of Manchuria into the Japanese sphere of influence as widely expected, and the question of Manchuria was still "unfinished business" that would one day be resolved by the Imperial Army.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=89}} In 1906, Japan established the [[South Manchurian Railway]] on the southern half of the former [[Chinese Eastern Railway]] built by Russia from [[Manzhouli]] to [[Vladivostok]] via [[Harbin]] with a branch line from Harbin to [[Lüshunkou District|Port Arthur]], now known as [[Dalian]].

Under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth, the Kwantung Army had the right to occupy southern Manchuria while the region fell into the Japanese economic sphere of influence.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=31}} The Japanese-owned South Manchurian Railroad company had a market capitalization of 200 million yen, making it Asia's largest corporation, which went beyond just running the former Russian railroad network in southern Manchuria to owning the ports, mines, hotels, telephone lines, and sundry other businesses, dominating the economy of Manchuria.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=31}} With the growth of the South Manchuria Railroad company (''Mantetsu'') came a growth in number of Japanese people living in Manchuria, from a Japanese population of 16,612 in 1906 to one of 233,749 in 1930.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=33}} The majority of blue-collar employees for ''Mantetsu'' were Chinese, and the Japanese employees were mostly white-collar, meaning most of the Japanese living in Manchuria were middle-class people who saw themselves as an elite.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=34}} In Japan, Manchuria was widely seen as analogous to the Wild West: a dangerous frontier region full of bandits, revolutionaries, and warlords, but also a land of boundless wealth and promise, where it was possible for ordinary people to become very well-off.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=34}} During the interwar period, Manchuria once again became a political and military battleground between Russia, Japan, and China. Imperial Japan moved into Russia's far eastern territories, taking advantage of internal chaos following the [[Russian Revolution]]. However, in the years following the establishment of the Soviet Union, a combination of Soviet military successes and American economic pressure forced the Japanese to withdraw from the area, and Outer Manchuria would be under Soviet control by 1925.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

=== Japanese invasion and establishment of Manchukuo ===
{{see also|Mukden Incident|Japanese invasion of Manchuria|Pacification of Manchukuo|Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere}}
During the [[Warlord Era]], Marshal [[Zhang Zuolin]] established himself in Manchuria with Japanese backing.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fenby|first1=Jonathan|title=Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the China he lost|date=2003|publisher=Free|location=London|isbn=9780743231442|page=103}}</ref> Later, the Japanese Kwantung Army found him too independent, so he was assassinated in 1928. In assassinating Marshal Zhang, the 'Old Marshal', the Kwantung Army generals expected Manchuria to descend into anarchy, providing the pretext for seizing the region.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=31}} Marshal Zhang was killed when the bridge his train was riding across was blown up while three Chinese men were murdered and explosive equipment was placed on their corpses to make it appear that they were the killers, but the plot was foiled when Zhang's son [[Zhang Xueliang]], the 'Young Marshal', succeeded him without incident while Tokyo refused to send additional troops to Manchuria.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=31}} Given that the Kwantung Army had assassinated his father, the "Young Marshal"—who unlike his father was a Chinese nationalist—had strong reasons to dislike Japan's privileged position in Manchuria.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=38}} Marshal Zhang knew his forces were too weak to expel the Kwantung Army, but his relations with the Japanese were unfriendly right from the start.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=38}}

[[File:Japan Manchukuo Protocol 15 September 1932.jpg|thumb|The [[Japan–Manchukuo Protocol]] signed on 15 September 1932]]
[[File:Museum imperial palace manchu state throne room 2011 07 26.jpg|thumb|Throne of the Emperor of Manchukuo]]

After the [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria]] in 1931, Japanese militarists moved forward to separate the region from Chinese control and to create a Japanese-aligned puppet state. To create an air of legitimacy, the last Emperor of China, [[Puyi]], was [[Tientsin Incident (1931)|invited to come]] with his followers and act as the head of state for Manchuria. One of his faithful companions was [[Zheng Xiaoxu]], a Qing reformist and loyalist.<ref name="rj438">Reginald Fleming Johnston, p. 438.</ref>

The "Northeast Supreme Administrative Council"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shaosi|first=Zhang|title=中国抗日战争大辞典 [A Dictionary of the Chinese Anti-Japanese War]|publisher=Wuhan Publishing House|year=1995|pages=389}}</ref> was established as a Japanese puppet organization in [[Manchuria]] following the [[Mukden Incident]]. On 16 February 1932, the Imperial Army hosted the "Founding Conference" or "Big Four Conference" with [[Liaoning]] governor [[Zang Shiyi]], [[Heilongjiang]] governor [[Zhang Jinghui]], commander of the Kirin Provincial Army [[Xi Qia]], and general [[Ma Zhanshan]], in order to establish the Northeast Administrative Committee. On the committee's second meeting, the aforementioned four plus [[Tang Yulin]], Ling Sheng, and Qimote Semupilei were appointed as chairmen. On 18 February, the Council issued a statement announcing that "the Northeast provinces are completely independent".{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

On 18 February 1932<ref>[http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_2.html ''Between World Wars''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031081550/http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_2.html |date=31 October 2006 }}</ref> Manchukuo was proclaimed by the Northeast Supreme Administrative Council nominally in control of the region.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} On 25 February, the Council decided that the name of the new country name (Manchukuo), the national flag, era name, and more. Manchukuo was formally established on 1 March in [[Changchun|Xinjing]], and the council was abolished.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chongde|first=Xu|title=中华法学大辞典·宪法学卷 [Chinese Law Dictionary·Constitution Volume]|publisher=China Procuratorate Press|pages=1995}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hongyuan|first=Wei|title=伪满洲国的成立 [The establishment of Manchukuo]|publisher=Liaoning People's Publishing House|year=1998}}</ref> It received formal recognition from Japan on 15 September 1932 through the [[Japan–Manchukuo Protocol]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4pX1uKkWf8C&pg=PA20 ''Continent, coast, ocean: dynamics of regionalism in Eastern Asia'' by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies p.20] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140613022152/http://books.google.com/books?id=Q4pX1uKkWf8C&pg=PA20 |date=13 June 2014 }}</ref> after the assassination of [[Prime Minister of Japan|Japanese Prime Minister]] [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]]. The city of [[Changchun]]—renamed {{lang-zh|c=新京|p=Xīnjīng|l=new capital|labels=no}}—became the capital of Manchukuo. The local Chinese organized [[Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies|volunteer armies]] to oppose the Japanese and the new state required a [[Pacification of Manchukuo|war]] lasting several years to pacify the country.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

===Nominal transition to monarchy===
[[File:Pu Yi (Kangde) - Manchukuo uniform.jpg|thumb|Pu Yi ([[regnal name]] "Kangde") as emperor of Manchukuo]]
Manchukuo was proclaimed a monarchy on 1 March 1934, with Puyi assuming the throne with the era name of Kangde. He was nominally assisted in his executive duties by a Privy Council and a [[General Affairs State Council]]. This State Council was the center of political power, and consisted of several cabinet ministers, each assisted by a Japanese vice-minister. The commander-in-chief of the [[Kwantung Army]] also served as the official Japanese ambassador to the state. He functioned in a manner similar to [[Resident minister|resident officer]]s in European colonial empires, with the added ability to veto decisions by the emperor. The Kwantung Army leadership placed Japanese vice ministers in his cabinet, while all Chinese advisors gradually resigned or were dismissed.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Qiqihar Shrine.JPG|thumb|upright|Shinto shrine in [[Qiqihar, Heilongjiang]], taken prior to 1945]]
[[Zheng Xiaoxu]] served as Manchukuo's first prime minister until 1935, when [[Zhang Jinghui]] succeeded him. Puyi was nothing more than a figurehead and real authority rested in the hands of the Japanese military officials. An [[Wei Huang Gong|imperial palace]] was specially built for the emperor. The Manchu ministers all served as frontmen for their Japanese vice-ministers, who made all decisions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Yamamuro |first=Shin·ichi|translator=Fogel, Joshua A.|title=Manchuria under Japanese domination|date=2006|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia, Pa.|isbn=9780812239126|pages=116–117}}</ref>

In this manner, Japan formally detached Manchukuo from China over the course of the 1930s. With Japanese investment and rich natural resources, the area became an industrial powerhouse. Manchukuo had its own issued [[Manchukuo yuan|banknotes]] and [[Postage stamps and postal history of Manchukuo|postage stamps]].<ref>{{cite web|title=MANCHUKUO|url=http://www.banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/ASI/MNK/MNK.htm|website=www.banknote.ws|access-date=11 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129210635/http://www.banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/ASI/MNK/MNK.htm|archive-date=29 November 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/211/1/138 Future of American Trade with Manchukuko], Roy H Akagi, 3 June 1940, accessed September 2009</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Stamp Atlas China |url=http://www.sandafayre.com/stampatlas/china.html |website=www.sandafayre.com |access-date=11 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222085022/http://www.sandafayre.com/stampatlas/china.html |archive-date=22 February 2013 }}</ref> Several independent banks were founded as well.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

The conquest of Manchuria proved to be extremely popular with the Japanese people who saw the conquest as providing a much-needed economic "lifeline" to their economy which had been badly hurt by the Great Depression.{{sfn|Young|1998|pp=88–93}} The very image of a "lifeline" suggested that Manchuria—which was rich in natural resources—was essential for Japan to recover from the [[Great Depression]], which explains why the conquest was so popular at the time and later why the Japanese people were so completely hostile towards any suggestion of letting Manchuria go.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=95}} At the time, censorship in Japan was nowhere near as stringent as it would later become, and the American historian Louise Young noted: "Had they wished, it would have been possible in 1931 and 1932 for journalists and editors to express anti-war sentiments".{{sfn|Young|1998|p=85}} The popularity of the conquest meant that newspapers such as the ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'' that had initially opposed the war swiftly pivoted to support the war as the best way of improving sales.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=85}} The conquest of Manchuria was also presented as resolving the "unfinished business" left over the Russo-Japanese war that finally undid one of the key terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth. The most popular song in Japan in 1932 was the ''Manchuria March'' whose verses proclaimed that the seizing of Manchuria in 1931–32 was a continuation of what Japan had fought for against Russia in 1904–05, and the ghosts of the Japanese soldiers killed in the Russo-Japanese war could now rest at ease as their sacrifices had not been in vain.{{sfn|Young|1998|p=89}}

In 1935, Manchukuo purchased the Chinese Eastern Railway from the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chinese Eastern Railway railway, China|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-Eastern-Railway|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=11 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221001222/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-Eastern-Railway|archive-date=21 December 2016}}</ref>

=== Second Sino-Japanese War ===
{{see also|Second Sino-Japanese War}}
[[File:Manchukuo map 1939.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Location of Manchukuo (darker red) within the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]], 1939]]
During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the Japanese used Manchukuo as a base to conduct their invasion of the rest of China. The Manchu general [[Tong Linge]] was killed in action by the Japanese in the [[Battle of Beiping–Tianjin]], which marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the summer of 1939, a border dispute between Manchukuo and the [[Mongolian People's Republic]] resulted in the [[Battle of Khalkhin Gol]]. During this battle, a combined Soviet–Mongolian force defeated a [[Kwantung Army]] with limited Manchukuoan support.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Coox|first1=Alvin D.|title=Nomonhan : Japan against Russia, 1939 |date=1990 |publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, Calif.|isbn=978-0804718356|page=841|edition=1st}}</ref>

=== Soviet invasion, dissolution, and aftermath ===
On 8 August 1945, the [[Soviet Union]] declared war on Japan, in accordance with the agreement at the [[Yalta Conference]], and [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchukuo]] from Outer Manchuria and Outer Mongolia. During the Soviet offensive, the [[Manchukuo Imperial Army]], on paper a 200,000-man force, performed poorly and whole units surrendered to the Soviets without firing a single shot; there were even cases of armed riots and mutinies against the Japanese forces.{{sfn|Jowett|2004|pp=36–38}} Puyi abdicated on 17 August and had hoped to escape to Japan to surrender to the Americans, but the Soviets captured him and eventually extradited him to the government of China, when the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949, where the authorities had him imprisoned on charges of [[war crimes]], along with all other captured Manchukuo officials.{{sfn|Behr|1987|p=285}}

From 1945 to 1948, Manchuria served as a base of operations for the [[People's Liberation Army]] against the [[National Revolutionary Army]] in the [[Chinese Civil War]].<ref name="Borisov">Borisov, O. (1977). ''[https://archive.org/details/sovietmanchurianrevolutionarybase The Soviet Union and the Manchurian Revolutionary Base (1945–1949)]''. Moscow, Progress Publishers.</ref> The [[Communist Party of China|Chinese Communists]] used Manchuria as a staging ground until the final Nationalist retreat to Taiwan in 1949. Many Manchukuo army and Japanese Kantōgun personnel served with the communist troops during the Chinese Civil War against the Nationalist forces. Most of the 1.5&nbsp;million Japanese who had been left in Manchukuo at the end of World War II were sent back to their homeland in 1946–1948 by U.S. Navy ships in the operation now known as the [[Japanese repatriation from Huludao]].<ref>Paul K. Maruyama, ''Escape from Manchuria'' (iUniverse, 2009) {{ISBN|978-1-4502-0581-8}} (hard cover), 9781450205795 (paperback), based on the earlier books in Japanese by K. Maruyama (1970) and M. Musashi (2000) and other sources</ref>