Manchukuo

Manchukuo (‘state of the Manchus’) was the name given by the Japanese to the Chinese state of Manchuria—historically a territory disputed by China, Japan, and Russia—after their Kwantung Army occupied it in September 1931. The occupation took place after what was known as the Mukden (Fengtien after 1932), or Manchurian, Incident, in which the Japanese accused the Chinese of blowing up a railway line which they had sabotaged themselves. A puppet state was established in March 1932 for the 34 million inhabitants, to which the province of Jehol was added the following year and eastern Chahar in 1935. They and the 240,000 Japanese residents in Manchuria—who by 1939 had increased to 837,000—were nominally ruled by Emperor Pu Yi. But the real power lay with the Japanese commander of the Kwantung Army, while Manchukuo's commerce was dominated by the South Manchurian Railway Company, whose influence and prestige have been likened by one historian to those of a latter-day East India Company. Japan officially recognized Manchukuo's existence in September 1932, but, with the exception of Germany and Italy—and later Wang Ching-wei's puppet regime in Nanking (see China, 3(b))—few other countries did so. When the League of Nations condemned the occupation Japan simply left the League.

Japan's huge investment programme modernized Manchukuo's communications and economy, and developed raw materials such as coal, iron ore, and timber. It soon became a market closed to everyone but Japanese businessmen; Nissan formed the Manchukuo Heavy Industries Development Corporation to exploit the area's natural resources; a five-year industrial plan was introduced; and eventually the country's output was completely geared to Japan's war economy. Also, the Japanese cynically encouraged the production and sale of opium and its more lethal derivatives, heroin and morphine, thereby not only acquiring staggering financial profits but ensuring a quiescent population.

After Manchukuo was annexed the Kwantung Army became involved in many border clashes with the USSR which culminated in the Nomonhan Incident in August 1939 (see Japanese–Soviet campaigns). After Japan surrendered in August 1945 Manchukuo was returned to China. See also China incident and collaboration.