Manchukuo
Manchukuo[note 2] was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostensibly founded as a republic, its territory consisting of the lands seized in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria; it was later declared to be a constitutional monarchy in 1934, though very little changed in the actual functioning of government. Manchukuo received limited diplomatic recognition, mostly from states aligned with the Axis powers, with its existence widely seen as illegitimate.
This article is about the Japanese puppet state. For the geographical region, see Manchuria.
State of Manchuria
(1932–1934)
滿洲國
ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ
Empire of (Great) Manchuria
(1934–1945)
大滿洲帝國
ᡩᠠᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ
(1932–1934)
滿洲國
ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ
Empire of (Great) Manchuria
(1934–1945)
大滿洲帝國
ᡩᠠᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ
Puppet state of the Empire of Japan
Xinjing (Changchun)
(until 9 August 1945)
Tonghua
(from 9 August 1945)
Unitary personalist one-party republic (1932–1934)
Unitary personalist one-party constitutional monarchy under a totalitarian military dictatorship (1934–1945)
18 September 1931
16 February 1932
1 March 1932
4 March 1933
1 March 1934
30 November 1940
9 August 1945
17 August 1945
984,195 km2 (380,000 sq mi)
State of the Manchu region
Mǎnzhōuguó
Mǎnzhōuguó
ㄇㄢˇ ㄓㄡ ㄍㄨㄛˊ
Man3-chou1-kuo2
Mǎn-jhou-guó
Mon3-jiu1-goet6
Múhn jāu gwok
Mun5 zau1 gwok3
まんしゅうこく
Manshū-koku
Manshū-koku
Mansyuu-koku
Empire of Manchuria
Manchurian Empire
Mǎnzhōu Dìguó
Mǎnzhōu Dìguó
ㄇㄢˇ ㄓㄡ ㄉㄧˋ ㄍㄨㄛˊ
Man3-chou1 Ti4-kuo2
Mǎn-jhou Dì-guó
Múhn jāu Dai gwok
Mun5 zau1 Dai3 gwok3
Great Manchurian Empire
Dà Mǎnzhōu Dìguó
Dà Mǎnzhōu Dìguó
ㄉㄚˋ ㄇㄢˇ ㄓㄡ ㄉㄧˋ ㄍㄨㄛˊ
Ta4 Man3-chou1 Ti4-kuo2
Dà Mǎn-jhou Dì-guó
Daaih Múhn jāu Dai gwok
Daai6 Mun5 zau1 Dai3 gwok3
まんしゅうていこく
マンシュウテイコク
Manshū Teikoku
Manshū Teikoku
Mansyuu Teikoku
だいまんしゅうていこく
ダイマンシュウテイコク
Dai Manshū Teikoku
Dai Manshū Teikoku
Dai Mansyuu Teikoku
The region now known as Manchuria had historically been the homeland of the Manchu people, though by the 20th century they had long since become a minority in the region, with Han Chinese constituting by far the largest ethnic group. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty, which had governed China since 17th century, was overthrown with the permanent abolition of the dynastic system in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, with Puyi, the final emperor of China, forced to abdicate at the age of six. In 1931, Manchuria was invaded and occupied by the Empire of Japan following the Mukden incident. A puppet government was set up the following year, with Puyi brought in by the Japanese to serve as its nominal regent, though he himself had no actual political power. Japanese officials ultimately made all pertinent decisions, and exercised total control over Puyi's court and personal safety. Upon the nominal transition from republic to empire, Puyi was proclaimed as the emperor of Manchukuo.[2]
The Japanese population of Manchuria increased dramatically during this period, largely due to Japan's efforts to resettle young, land-poor farmers from the inner islands. By 1945, more than a million Japanese people had settled within Manchukuo. The region's Korean population also increased during this period. Regions in the western part of the country with large Mongolian populations were ruled under a slightly different system, reflecting the distinct traditions extant there. The southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, now the city of Dalian, continued to be ruled directly by Japan as the Kwantung Leased Territory until the end of the war.
The state was ultimately toppled at the end of World War II with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945; its government was formally dissolved following the Japanese surrender in September.[3] The territory was transferred to Chinese administration the following year.[note 3]
History[edit]
Background[edit]
The Qing dynasty was founded in the 17th century by Manchus hailing from northeastern China, conquering the ethnically Han Shun and Ming dynasties. Upon establishing themselves, the Qing referred to their state as 中國; Zhōngguó; 'central country' in Chinese and equivalently as ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ
ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ; Dulimbai gurun in Manchu.[11][12][13] 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 and Mongolian languages in addition to those 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.[14]
The Manchu homeland was referred to as the 三東省; Sān dōngshěng; '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.[15] 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.
Emperor of Manchukuo
In popular culture[edit]
in Hergé's 1934 Tintin: The Blue Lotus, Tintin and Snowy are invited to China in the midst of the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria, where he reveals the machinations of Japanese spies and uncovers a drug-smuggling ring.
The 1944 Australia radio serial Forgotten Men was set in the country.
In Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition (1959), Kaji, the main protagonist, is a labor supervisor assigned to a workforce consisting of Chinese prisoners in a large mining operation in Japanese-colonized Manchuria.[181]
Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 film The Last Emperor presented a portrait of Manchukuo through the memories of Emperor Puyi, during his days as a political prisoner in the People's Republic of China.[182]
Haruki Murakami's 1995 novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle deals greatly with Manchukuo through the character of Lieutenant Mamiya. Mamiya recalls, in person and in correspondence, his time as an officer in the Kwantung Army in Manchukuo. While the period covered in these recollections extends over many years, the focus is on the final year of the war and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.[183]
The 2008 South Korean western The Good, the Bad, the Weird is set in the desert wilderness of 1930s Manchuria.[184]
Michael Chabon's 2007 novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union; in this alternative 2007 Manchukuo has broken off from the rest of China and is an independent nation in its own right, and has its own Space Programme.