State of Manchuria (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)



The Dominion of Manchuria (traditional Chinese: 滿洲自治領 Mǎnzhōu Zìzhìlǐng) was a designation of Manchuria from 1932 to 1950 when the country was an associated state of Japan. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China. In 1931, the region was transferred to Japan by Republic of China following the end of Sino-Japanese War and in 1932, a dominion government was established. In 1950, the Dominion ended and Manchuria was proclaimed as an independent republic.

Manchus formed a minority in Manchuria, whose largest ethnic group were Han Chinese. There were also Koreans, Japanese, Mongols, White Russians and less numerous minorities.The southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula was ruled by Japan as the Kwantung Leased Territory.

History
As a direct result of the Russo-Japanese War (1904/05) Japanese influence replaced Russia's in Inner Manchuria. In 1906, Japan laid the South Manchurian Railway to Port Arthur (Japanese: Ryojun). After the World War I, Manchuria became a political and military battleground between Russia, Japan, and China. Japan moved into Outer Manchuria as a result of the chaos following the Russian Revolution of 1917. A combination of Soviet military successes and American economic pressure forced the Japanese to withdraw from the area, however, and Outer Manchuria returned to Soviet control by 1925.

During the warlord period in China, the warlord Zhang Zuolin established himself in Inner Manchuria with Japanese backing. Later, the Japanese Kwantung Army found him too independent, so he was assassinated in 1928.

The regime in Japan changed from Empire to Republic in 1931. With the advices from left-wing member of the State Council and the Legislative Council, President Nagayama Yoshida decided to talk with the Government of Republic of China in Nanjing in the issue of Manchuria and the armistice for Sino-Japanese war in March 6, 1931. Former Imperial Prime Minister, Shidehara Kijuro chosen as the head of Japanese delegations for negotiates with Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China government over those issues in April 5, 1931. Both of parties agreed to ceasefire the conflict and signed the Nanjing Peace Treaty in April 30, 1931.

The Chinese Government in return also recognized the new Japanese Republican government and agreed to transferred northern part of Manchuria into Japan to become the buffer territory between anti-communist Kuomintang China and communist Soviet Union. The territories annexed by Japan included southern Heilongjiang, Hejiang, Songjiang, Nenjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Andong, Shenyang, and Yanbian. For handle administration affairs of those territories, Japan formed the Harbin Commitee chaired by Jiang Yue-xin. The commitee initially only handled the migration of thousand Han peoples from the Japan-controlled Manchurian provinces to the Republic of China territory, but later grew in power as the executive board and the quasi-legislature for Japanese-occupied Manchuria.

Manchuria later granted the dominion status by the Republican government modeled after British dominion system as the Dominion of Manchuria with Harbin as the capital of new entity. Jiang Yuexin elected as the first High Commisioner and Hu Jiaoyi as the first prime minister on January 18, 1932. Japan recognized the Dominion of Manchukuo with Protocol of Dalian in February 25, 1932.

In this manner, Japan formally detached Manchuria from China in the course of the 1930s. With Japanese investment and rich natural resources, the area became an industrial powerhouse.

In 1935, the Dominion government bought the Chinese Eastern Railway from the Soviet Union.

In the World War II, Japanese Provisional Government in Vladivostok issued an order to the Dominion of Manchuria and Dominion of Korea to autonomously resisted the Fascist Japan regime on May 1942. Prime Minister of Manchuria, Fu Shanxun then formed the Manchurian Liberation Forces when the Fascist Japan formed a pro-Fascist government led by Wen Gongjin on January 24, 1943. Manchurian Liberation Forces then united with Japan's Republic Liberation Forces, Japan's People Volunteers Army and Korean Independence Army under the name of Anti-Fascist Japanese Liberation Forces (AFJLF) on September 12, 1943. The Manchurian unit of AFJLF officially formed on September 14, 1943

By the end of World War II, the United States troops occupied this country and established the United States Military Administration for Manchuria (USAMM) in September 4, 1945.

From 1945 to 1948, Inner Mongolia served as a base area for the People's Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang (KMT). PLA forces itself unsuccesfully tried to attacking the Manchurian borders in the southern Liaoning on 4 June 1948. Beware of the wider Civil War, Prime Minister Fu ordered Manchurian Home Guards to protected Manchurian borders on 5 June 1948 by the permission of Japanese government and USAMM. Several smaller combats occured between PLA and combined Japanese-American-Manchurian forces in the country borders from 1948 to 1950. This event later escalated into the Sino-Manchurian War (1950-1952)

In early 1949, Dominion of Manchuria handled back from the U.S to Japanese government. The independence of dominion was proclaimed on February 18, 1950, and the dominion renamed as State of Manchuria with Shao Chin-tsu as its first President and Fu Shanxun as the prime minister.