The region is historically known as Manchuria and for centuries the main ethnic group were the Manchus. In 1644 the Manchus conquered China and founded the Qing dynasty which ruled until 1911. Manchuria was declared off limits to Han Chinese, but that prohibition broke down as the Qing started losing power in the late 1800's. Today, the Han by far are the largest ethnic group in the region. However, the area still has a mysterious quality separate from the rest of China and small Manchu minority still can be found.
Russia sought dominance in the region in the 19th and early 20th centuries, taking Port Arthur (now called Dalian) as a naval base, building a railroad, and generally exerting great influence. The failing Qing dynasty were unable to effectively oppose them. The British and Japanese tried to limit Russian influence, with mixed success. Russian influences continued in later times as well. After 1917 many White Russians fled to this region, or to Shanghai. After 1949 the communist government brought in many Russian advisors. Trade and tourism continue now.
The Qing dynasty fell in 1911. From 1915 to 1928, Manchuria was ruled by the Manchu warlord Zhang Zuolin, "the old marshal". At first he favoured the restoration of the Qing, but eventually he acknowledged the authority of the Nationalist government. He was therefore assassinated by the Japanese. His son, "the young marshal", fled to China with most of his army and became a prominent anti-Japanese fighter. At one point (the "Xi'an incident") he kidnapped Chiang Kai Shek and forced him to work out a truce with the the Communists so both could fight the Japanese.
Japan grabbed Manchuria and a chunk of Mongolia in the 1930s and set up a puppet state called "Manchukuo" under Puyi, the last Qing emperor, who had been deposed by China's 1911 revolution. They tried to expand further into Mongolia, but were soundly thrashed by a Russian/Mongolian force at Khalkin Gol. After that, they changed their strategy and struck South instead of trying to grab Mongolia and Siberia. As elsewhere, Japanese occupation was brutal; in particular millions in Manchuria were conscripted into slave labour.
China regained control of the region in 1945 when Japan lost the second World War because of the combined attack of the Allied forces which included China. With infrastructure already in place from its former masters, Russia and Japan, the Chinese government made North East the center of their efforts at development on the Soviet model, with five-year plans and a concentration on heavy industry. The region is still sometimes referred to as "the rust belt".
Since Deng Xiao Ping's "reform and opening up". other regions such as the Pearl River Delta and the area around Shanghai have developed enormously, based mainly on trade and light industry. The North East has not had quite that spectacular sort of development, but it is doing very well indeed. As elsewhere, the coastal regions have some of the fastest development; in the North East, Dalian is one of the most prosperous cities.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Northeast China
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Northeast China - updated Apr 2024
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Northeast China Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
