Manchurian Incident

Manchurian Incident or Mukden Incident, 1931, confrontation that gave Japan the impetus to set up a puppet government in Manchuria. After the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), Japan replaced Russia as the dominant foreign power in S Manchuria. By the late 1920s the Japanese feared that unification of China under the Kuomintang party would imperil Japanese interests in Manchuria. This view was confirmed when the Manchurian general Chang Hsüeh-liang , a recent convert to the Kuomintang, refused to halt construction of railway and harbor facilities in competition with the South Manchurian Railway , referring Japan to the Nationalist central government. When a bomb of unknown origin ripped the Japanese railway near Shenyang (then known as Mukden), the Japanese Kwantung army guarding the railway used the incident as a pretext to occupy S Manchuria (Sept., 1931). Despite Japanese cabinet opposition and a pledge before the League of Nations to withdraw to the railway zone, the army completed the occupation of Manchuria and proclaimed the puppet state of Manchukuo (Feb., 1932). See Sino-Japanese War, Second .

Bibliography: See T. Yoshihashi, Conspiracy at Mukden (1963); S. N. Ogata, Defiance in Manchuria (1964).

Manchurian Incident (1931) Japanese seizure of Manchuria. The Japanese captured Mukden in September 1931, and rapidly overran the province, setting up the puppet state of Manchukuo. The ensuing Sino-Japanese War later merged into World War II. After the defeat of Japan (1945), Manchuria was returned to China.

Mukden incident (18 September 1931) Japanese seizure of the Manchurian city of Mukden (now Shenyang in NE China). A detachment of the Japanese Guandong army, stationed in Manchuria in accordance with treaty rights, used an allegedly Chinese-inspired explosion on the South Manchurian Railway as an excuse to occupy the city of Mukden. Acting without reference to their own government, and in the face of condemnation from the League of Nations, Japanese military authorities then went on to occupy all of Manchuria before the end of 1931, establishing the state of MANCHUKUO. Japan, labelled an aggressor by the League of Nations, withdrew its membership.