Northeast China (Simplified
Chinese: 东北; Traditional
Chinese: 東北; pinyin: Dōngběi; literally "east-north"), historically
known as Manchuria, is the name of a region (ca. 1,550,000 km2) in Northeast Asia which is today the northeast part of People's Republic of China. Manchuria was the traditional homeland of peoples such as the
Xianbei, the Khitan, the Jurchen, and most recently and famously, the Manchus, who lent their name to the region. Today, Northeast China has a population of about 100 million, of which
the vast majority are Han Chinese.
Naming
The literal translation Manchuria in Chinese is
Manzhou (滿洲), but Chinese generally find the use of that name in Chinese highly offensive because of its
separatist connotations and because it invokes the memory of Japanese occupation under the puppet state of Manchukuo during World War II. In fact, calling someone from Northeast China a "Manchurian" (Manzhouren) may be
construed as an insult, since this can be taken as implying that the person is a collaborationist and separatist; both of these
concepts are usually viewed as deeply repugnant. If the term is used by Chinese, it is almost always preceded with the term
Wei, meaning false.
Instead, the usual name of the region in Chinese is the Northeast, or in English, Northeast China. An inhabitant
of Northeast China is a "Northeasterner" (Dongbeiren). "The Northeast" in this case is not just a word for a compass
direction, but denotes the entire region, encompassing its history, culture, traditions, dialect, cuisine, and so forth. As such,
other provinces in the northeastern part of China are not considered to be a part of the "Northeast"; only Manchurian provinces
are. This is similar to the United States, where "The South" usually refers only to the southeastern states and their
culture and history and not to states like California.
The use of the term Manchuria in English does not provoke nearly as strong a negative reaction among Chinese, but it is
generally frowned upon. Few in Northeast China today would endorse the use of the word "Manchuria" in English or "Manzhou" in
Chinese.
Geography
The region borders Mongolia in the west, Russia in the north and North Korea in the east. Since 1956 it has comprised Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning provinces (see map in Political divisions of China). Traditionally, the
borders also included the eastern part of Inner Mongolia (specifically,
the areas administered today by Hulunbuir, Xing'an League, Chifeng, and Tongliao), and
the northernmost part of Hebei Province, around Chengde.
Manchuria is more technically referred to as Inner Manchuria or Chinese Manchuria, and is contrasted with
Outer Manchuria or Russian Manchuria, a region that stretches from the Amur and
Ussuri rivers to the Stanovoy Mountains and the Sea of Japan,
encompassing Sakhalin. These regions were part of the Manchu Qing Dynasty before being ceded to Russia in 1858 and 1860. Outer Manchuria is today administered by Russia as Primorsky Krai, southern Khabarovsk Krai,
Sakhalin Oblast, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and Amur Oblast.
References to so-called Greater Manchuria can also be seen, which purely used as an ethnic history term. In addition to the
area described above, Greater Manchuria also includes the whole of the Korean peninsula,
the Sakhalin area and the Kuriles, as
well as sometimes the Japanese archipelago. The term is
sometimes used when discussing about the ethnic history of the area, and should in no way be used in conjunction with the
situation of the political entities in the area.
Major cities:
History
Earlier history
Manchuria was the home of nomadic tribes of Manchu, Ulchi, Goldi and Nanai.
Various ethnic groups or kingdoms including the Fuyu, Goguryeo, Xianbei, Khitan,
Bohai (Mohe) and Jurchen have risen into power in Manchuria.
The Government of the Han Chinese loosely controlled southern Manchuria up until the Song dynasty. During the Song dynasty, the Khitan set up the
Liao dynasty in Manchuria. Later, the Jurchen (Manchu) overthrew the Liao and formed the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). In 1644 the Manchu conquered China
and established the Qing dynasty (1644-1912).
To the south, the region was separated from China proper by the Inner willow palisade, a ditch and embankment planted with
willows intended to restrict the movement of the Han Chinese into Manchuria during the Qing dynasty, as the area was off-limits to them until the Qing started colonizing the area with the Han
during the later parts of the dynasty. The Manchu area was still separated from modern-day Inner Mongolia by the Outer willow palisade, which kept the Manchu and the Mongols living in the area
separate.
Russian and Japanese influence
To the north, the boundary with Russian Siberia was fixed by the Treaty of Nerchinsk
(1689) as running along the watershed of the Stanovoy mountains. South of the Stanovoy Mountains, the basin of the Amur and its tributaries belonged to the Manchu Empire. North
of the Stanovoy Mountains, the Uda valley and Siberia belonged to the Russian Empire. In 1858, a weakening Manchu China was forced to cede
Manchuria north of the Amur to Russia at the Treaty of Aigun. In 1860, at the Treaty of Peking, the
Russians managed to extort a further huge slice of Manchuria east of the Ussuri
River, so that Manchuria was divided into a Russian half known as "Outer Manchuria" and a remaining Chinese half known as "Inner Manchuria". In modern literature, 'Manchuria'
usually refers to Inner (Chinese) Manchuria. [cf. Inner and Outer Mongolia].
Manchuria was known for its shamanism, opium and tigers. The Manchu imperial symbol was a tiger with a ball of opium
in its mouth. Manchu Emperors were, first and foremost, accomplished shamans. By the
19th century, Manchu rule had become increasingly sinicized and, along with other borderlands of the Chinese Empire such as Mongolia and Tibet, came under the influence of colonial powers. England nibbled at Tibet, France at Hainan, Germany at Shantung while Russia encroached upon Turkestan and Outer Mongolia, having annexed Outer
Manchuria.
Inner Manchuria as well came under strong Russian influence with the building of the Chinese eastern railway through Harbin to Vladivostok.
Japan replaced Russian influence in Inner Manchuria as a result of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905, and Japan laid the South Manchurian Railway in 1906 to Port Arthur (Japanese: Ryojun).
Between World War I and World War II Manchuria became a political and military battleground. Japanese influence extended into Outer
Manchuria in the wake of the Russian Revolution but Outer
Manchuria had reverted to Soviet Russian control by 1925. Japan took advantage of the disorder following the Russian Revolution to occupy Outer Manchuria but Soviet
successes and American economic pressure forced Japanese withdrawal.
During the period of the warlords in China, Chang Tso-Lin established himself in Inner Manchuria but, being too independent for the increasing Japanese
influence, he was murdered; the last Manchu emperor, Pu Yi, was then placed on the throne
as to lead a Japanese puppet government. Inner Manchuria was
proclaimed as an "independent" state, Manchukuo. Inner Manchuria was thus
formally detached from China by Japan in the 1930s to create a buffer zone to defend
Japan from Russia's Southing Strategy and, with Japanese investment and rich natural resources, became an industrial powerhouse.
Prior to World War II, Manchuria was colonized by the Japanese and Manchukuo was used as a base to invade China, an expensive
action (in men, matériel and political integrity) that was as costly to Japan as the invasion of Russia was to Nazi Germany, and for the same reasons.
After World War Two
After the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 the Soviet Union invaded from Russian Manchuria as part of
its declaration of war against Japan. From 1945 to 1948, Inner Manchuria was a base area
for the Communist People's Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. With the encouragement of Soviet Russia, Manchuria was used as a staging ground during the Civil War for the Chinese Communists, victorious in 1949.
During the Korean War of the 1950s,
300,000 soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation
Army crossed the Chinese-Korean border from Manchuria to recapture Korea from South Korean and American Forces.
In the 1960s, Manchuria became the site of the most serious tension between Soviet
Russia and Communist China. The treaties of 1858 and 1860 which ceded territory north of the Amur were ambigious as to which
course of the river was the boundary. This ambiguity led to dispute over the political status of several islands. This led to
armed conflict in 1969, called the Sino-Soviet border conflict. With the end of the Cold
War, this boundary issue has been resolved.
Economy
Manchuria was the first region to industrialize in China. After the
founding of the People's Republic of China,
Northeast China continued to be a major industrial base of China. Recent years, however, has seen the stagnation of Northeast
China's heavy-industry-based economy as China's economy continues to liberalize and privatize; the government has initialized the
Revitalize the
Northeast campaign to counter this problem.
Demographics
The three provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning have a total population of 107,400,000 people. The
majority of the population of Northeast China is Han Chinese. Manchus form a significant minority, and have been almost completely assimilated into the Han
Chinese; the Manchu language is almost extinct, and many Han Chinese in Northeast China, as well as the rest of China, can claim some Manchu
ancestry. Other major ethnic groups include the Mongols and the Koreans.
Culture
The concept of "Northeast China" is important in the way Northeastern Chinese view themselves. People from Northeast China
usually define themselves as "Northeasterners" first and then by province (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang). This stands in contrast with the rest of China, where people usually identify themselves first
and foremost by province.
This self-concept exists in part because Northeast China is culturally homogeneous — Northeasterners have a sense that
they are similar to each other, and different from the rest of China. This is because most people in Northeast China are
descended from relatively recent immigrants, who left their homes in the late 19th or early 20th century to trailblaze a new life
in Manchuria, which was relatively empty at the time. Also, provincial boundaries in the Northeast have been more temporary than
in other parts of China, thus giving little time for provincial identities or cultural contrasts to take hold. Most other
provincial boundaries were fixed during the Ming dynasty while those in
Northeast China were first drawn in the late 19th century and have been changed numerous times since then.
In general, the culture of Northeast China takes its elements from the cultures of north China, especially Shandong where most of the Han Chinese
migration into Manchuria originated, and has innovated on its own.
People from Northeast China speak northeastern varieties of Mandarin Chinese, known collectively
as Dongbeihua, or the Northeast China dialect. This dialect is very similar to the Beijing dialect, upon which standard Chinese (Putonghua) is
based; however there are enough differences to give the Northeast China dialect its own distinctive flavour, one that is
frequently exploited by television shows and so forth to bring across a "northeasterner stereotype", for comedic purposes. Ethnic
Manchus speak Chinese, and the Manchu language is almost extinct. Ethnic Koreans and Mongols tend to be bilingual in both their own languages (Korean language and Mongol language) and
the Chinese language.
The cuisine of Northeast China is distinguished by the use of uncooked vegetables. In almost every
other region of China, vegetables are cooked thoroughly before being eaten. Northeast China is also distinguished by the
popularity of extremely strong distilled spirits known collectively as baijiu.
Errenzhuan and Jiju are popular forms of traditional entertainment in
Northeast China.
Northeast China is the base for China's winter sports. Ice hockey and skating athletes often come
from or were educated in Northeast China.
Stereotypes
Northeastern Chinese are usually stereotyped to be loud, open, honest people, sincere in friendship and quick in making
decisions; but also boisterous and prone to fighting. This stereotype may originate from the fact that most northeasterners are
descended from 19th-century Han Chinese immigrants, who are romanticized as
pioneers and trailblazers to the frontier, as well as pre-19th-century non-Han
Chinese groups like the Manchus, romanticized as free, unconstrained nomads roaming
the great grasslands.
The title of this article does not imply any official position by Wikipedia on the correct name of this
region.
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