Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

So what part of China have I chosen to travel over the summer break?
Manchuria is the historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia.

Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China and includes Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces but sometimes it can cross into Russia. This region is the traditional homeland of the Xianbei, Khitan and Jurchen peoples who built several dynasties in the area.

The region is also the home of the Manchus, after whom Manchuria is named.
'Manchuria’ is a translation of the Manchu word Manju.

According to the Manchu Records, the name Manju was originally given by the legendary dynastic founder Bukuri Yong to the country he established when he united the three warring clans of Odoli at the location of the modern city of Dunhua in Jilin province.

Geography and Climate

Manchuria consists mainly of the northern side of the funnel-shaped North China Craton, a large area of tilled and overlaid Precambrian rocks. The North China Craton was an independent continent prior to the Triassic period, and is known to have been the northernmost piece of land in the world during the Carboniferous. The Khingan Mountains in the west are a Jurassic mountain range formed by the collision of the North China Craton with the Siberian Craton.

This marked the final stage of the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.

In the summer, when the land heats up faster than the ocean, low pressure forms over Asia and warm, moist south to southeasterly winds bring heavy, thundery rain, yielding annual rainfall ranging from 400 mm, or less in the west, to over 1150 mm in the Changbai Mountains. Temperatures in the summer are very warm to hot, with July average maxima ranging from 31°C in the south to 24°C in the extreme north. In the winter however, the vast Siberian High causes very cold, north to northwesterly winds that bring temperatures as low as −5°C in the extreme south and −30°C in the north, where the zone of discontinuous permafrost reaches northern Heilongjiang.

History of Manchuria

Manchuria was the homeland of several nomadic tribes, including the Manchu, Ulchs and Hezhen. Various ethnic groups and their respective kingdoms, including the Sushen, Donghu, Xianbei, Wuhuan, Mohe, Khitan and Jurchens have risen to power in Manchuria. At various times in this time period, Han Dynasty, Cao Wei Dynasty, Western Jin Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and some other minor kingdoms of China occupied significant parts of Manchuria. Various Korean kingdoms, such as Gojoseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo and Balhae were also established in parts of this area.

Manchuria under the Mongol Empire

In 1211, after the conquest of Western Xia, Genghis Khan mobilized an army to conquer the Jin Dynasty. His general Jebe and brother Qasar were ordered to reduce the Jurchen cities in Manchuria. They successfully destroyed the Jin forts there. The Khitans under Yelü Liuge declared their allegiance to Genghis Khan and established nominally autonomous state in Manchuria in 1213.

Genghis Khan (1206–1227) gave his brothers and Muqali Chinese districts in Manchuria.

During the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), established by Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1294) by renaming the empire to "Great Yuan" in 1271, Manchuria was divided into Liaoyang and Zhendong districts. Descendants of Genghis Khan's brothers such as Belgutei and Qasar ruled the area under the Great Khans. The Mongols eagerly adopted new artillery and technologies.

The world's earliest known cannon, dated 1282, was found in Mongol-held Manchuria.

Manchuria during the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty took control of Liaoning in 1371, just three years after the expulsion of the Mongols from Beijing. During the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the early 15th century, efforts were made to expand Chinese control throughout entire Manchuria. Mighty river fleets were built in Jilin City, and sailed several times between 1409 and ca. 1432, commanded by the eunuch Yishiha down the Sungari and the Amur all the way to the mouth of the Amur, getting the chieftains of the local tribes to swear allegiance to the Ming rulers.

Manchuria within the Qing Dynasty

In 1644, after the Ming Dynasty's capital of Beijing was sacked by the peasant rebels, the Manchus allied with Ming general Wu Sangui and seized control of Beijing, overthrowing the short-lived Shun Dynasty and soon established the Qing Dynasty rule (1644–1912) over all of China.

Russian and Japanese Encroachment

By the 19th century, Manchu rule had become increasingly sinicised and, along with other borderlands of the Qing Empire such as Mongolia and Tibet, came under the influence of European powers such as Britain which nibbled at Tibet, France at Hainan and Germany at Shandong. Meanwhile the Russian Empire encroached upon Turkestan and Outer Mongolia.

Inner Manchuria also came under strong Russian influence with the building of the Chinese Eastern Railway through Harbin to Vladivostok. Some poor Korean farmers moved there. In Chung Guondong many Han farmers, mostly from Shandong peninsula moved there.

Japan replaced Russian influence in the southern half of Inner Manchuria as a result of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–1905. Most of the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway (the section from Changchun to Port Arthur (Japanese: Ryojun)) was transferred from Russia to Japan, and became the South Manchurian Railway. In this series of historical events, Jiandao (in the region bordering Korea), was handed over to Qing Dynasty as a compensation for the South Manchurian Railway.

Between both world wars (WW1/WW2), Manchuria became a political and military battleground. Japanese influence extended into Outer Manchuria in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but Outer Manchuria had reverted to Soviet 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.

Japanese Invasion and Manchukuo

Following the Mukden Incident in 1931 and the subsequent Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Inner Manchuria was proclaimed as an independent state, Manchukuo. The last Manchu emperor, Puyi, was then placed on the throne to lead a Japanese puppet government in the Wei Huang Gong, better known as "Puppet Emperor's Palace". Inner Manchuria was thus detached from China by Japan to create a buffer zone to defend Japan from Russia's Southing Strategy and, with Japanese investment and rich natural resources, became an industrial domination. However, under Japanese control Manchuria was one of the most brutally run regions in the world, with a systematic campaign of terror and intimidation against the local Russian and Chinese populations including arrests, organised riots and other forms of subjugation.

After World War II

After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, the Soviet Union invaded from Soviet Outer Manchuria as part of its declaration of war against Japan. Soon afterwards, the Chinese communists and nationalists started fighting for the control over Manchuria. The communists won in the Liaoshen Campaign and took complete control over Manchuria. With the encouragement of the Soviet Union, Manchuria was then used as a staging ground during the Chinese Civil War for the Communist Party of China, which emerged victorious in 1949.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by KISS
The album was ‘Kiss My Ass’
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