Kwantung (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Kwantung was a territory in the southern part of the Liaodong Peninsula in southern Manchuria that controlled by the Republic of Japan. It was one of the numerous territorial concessions that the Qing Empire was compelled to award to foreign countries at the end of the 19th century. The territory included the militarily and economically significant ports of Lüshunkou (Port Arthur, or Ryojun) and Dalian (or Dairen).

The name Kwantung, or Guāndōng (關東) in pinyin, means "east of Shanhai Pass", a reference to part of Qinhuangdao in today's Hebei province, at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China. The name originally referred to all of Manchuria but later came to be used more narrowly for the area of the leased territory.

Structure
The National Congress of Japan passed the Kwantung Self-Government Law in June 4, 1932 and put into effect in December 14, 1932. The Law described Kwantung as "self-governed territory that politically, economically, militarily and judicially belong to the Government of Republic of Japan, but have greater authority over its own internal matters", similar with the British rule of Hong Kong.

The General-Commissioner of Kwantung is the representative of Government of Japan in Kwantung. The General-Commissioner appointed by the National Congress every five years. The General-Commissioner functioned to supervise the Kwantung government in executive, defense and financial matters.

The Legislative Council of Kwantung serves as the legislature of dependency. The Council members directly elected every four years. There are two big political parties in the Council that consecutively dominated the seat numbers: pro-Japanese Cooperative Party and left-oriented Labour Party.

The Executive Council of Kwantung serves as the administrative body of Kwantung Government. It is consisted by a Chairman, three Vice-Chairmen and twelve Councillors that elected from and among the members of Legislative Council.

The High Court of Kwantung modeled after the National Court of Japan and serves as the dependency's supreme judicature in charge of judicial matters and supervision and administration of lower courts. All of judges of the Court appointed by the Legislative Council. Every Kwantung citizens are the subject of Japanese law and Kwantung placed under Japan's sphere of jurisdiction.

History
In Qing dynasty China, the Liaodong Peninsula was administratively part of Liaoning Province. In 1882, the Beiyang Fleet established a naval base and coaling station at Lüshunkou near the southern end of the peninsula.

The Empire of Japan occupied the region during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), and under the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed by Japan and China ending the war in April 1895, Japan gained full sovereignty of the area. However, within weeks, Germany, France and Russia pressured Japan to cede the territory back to China, in what was called the Triple Intervention.

In December 1897, Russian naval vessels entered Lüshunkou harbor, which they began to use as a forward base of operations for patrols off of northern China, Korea and in the Sea of Japan. The Russian Empire renamed the harbor Port Arthur. In March 1898 Russia formally leased the region for 25 years from China. The leased area extended to the northern shore of Yadang Bay on the western side of the peninsula; on the eastern side it reached Pikou; Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev, chief of Russian Pacific Fleet, became the head of this territory. The peninsula north of the lease was made a neutral territory in which China agreed not to offer concessions to other countries. In 1899, Russia founded the town of Dal'niy (meaning "distant" or "remote"), just north of the naval base at Port Arthur. This would later become the city of Dalian (Dairen in Japanese).

In 1898 Russia began building a railroad north from Port Arthur to link Dal'niy with the Chinese Eastern Railway at Harbin; this spur line was the South Manchurian Railway.

Under the Portsmouth Treaty (1905) resulting from the Russo-Japanese War, Japan replaced Russia as leaseholder. Port Arthur was renamed Ryojun, and Dal'niy was renamed Dairen in Japanese. Japan also obtained extraterritorial rights in the region north of the territory adjacent to the 885 kilometres (550 mi) South Manchurian Railway in 1905 (i.e. the South Manchurian Railway Zone), which was extended north of Mukden to Changchun. These rights, along with the railway and several spur lines were passed to the corporation known as the South Manchurian Railway Company.

In negotiations with the Republic of China under the Twenty-One Demands, the terms of the lease of the Kwantung Leased Territory were extended to 99 years, or until 1997. During the Japanese Revolution of 1919 and the Japanese Civil War (1920-1930), Kwantung became the scene of violent battles between revolutionary and loyalist forces for the control over the port.

After the foundation of Dominion of Manchuria in 1932, China and newly established Republic of Japan regarded the sovereignty of the leased territory as transferred from China to Manchuria. A new lease agreement was contracted between Japan and the government of Manchuria, and Japan transferred the South Manchurian Railway Zone to Manchuria. In 1932, Japan issued the Kwantung Self-Government Law that placed Kwantung under greater political and economy autonomy and based the Kwantung Division of Japanese Republic Armed Forces to defend the territory.

When Fascist regime ruled in Japan in 1942-1945, Guandong became the military station for the Fascist Army to invaded China. After the World War II, the Manchurian units of Anti-Fascist People Liberation Forces and the Military of Republic of China occupied this territory. In the late 1945, the Allied Powers established the Kwantung International Military Tribunal (more known as "Kwantung Trial") to tried Japan's, China's and Manchuria's war criminals and sentenced many to death and imprisonment. The territory ceremonially returned to the Japanese control in 1948.