Manchuria

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

A north-eastern division of the Chinese Empire and the cradle of the present [1910] imperial dynasty. It lies to the north-east of the Eighteen Provinces of China, and extends from 38º 40' to 49º N. lat. and from 120º to 133º E. long. It is bounded on the north by the Amur and Russian territory, on the east by the Usuri, on the south by Corea (Yalu River), the Gulf of Liao-tung, and the Yellow Sea, and on the west by the Nonni River and the line of palisades (Liuch'êng), running from the sea to the Great Wall of China. On account of its situation, its southern portion is sometimes called Shan-hai-kwan-wai Man-chou san-sheng, that is, the three Manchou provinces beyond Shan-haikwan, and also Kwan-tung, or the Country East of the Pass (Shan-hai-kwan). The markets opened to foreign trade are New-chwang, Ngantung (Japanese Antoken) Dalny (Jap. Dairen), and Harbin: Port Arthur (Liu Shun-k'ou), being the terminus of the Siberian railway, is a port of great importance. Manchuria is divided into three provinces, Tung-san-sheng (the three eastern provinces); Fêng-tien, also known as Sheng-king (Holy Court) from its capital Mukden, with 6 fu and 2 t'ing (prefectures), 4,000,000 inhabitants; Kirin or Ki-lin, with six prefectures, 6,500,000 inhabitants; and He-lung-kiang or Tsitsihar (Amur), with 5 prefectures, 2,000,000 inhabitants. The northern part of the country is watered by the Sungari and its affluent the Nonni, belonging to the Amur region; the southern part is watered by the Liao-ho and its affluent the Kara-muren, which empty themselves into the Gulf of Liao-tung. The country is generally mountainous, but it includes two plains, the Liao-ho and the Central Sungari. The two chief ranges are the Hing-ngan-ling in the west, and the Ch'ang-peshan or Shan-a-lin, the "long white mountain", in the east.

The Chinese administration was reorganized by an Imperial Decree of 20 April, 1907, and, instead of a Tsiang-kiun (military governor), a Tsung-tu (governor general and imperial high commissioner) with residence at Mukden, is placed at the head of the three provinces. The present (1910) occupant of this office is Siu Chih-ch'ang. He is assisted by the three Siun-fu (governors) of the provinces, a senior and a junior secretary to the government (Tso Ts'an-tsan and Yu Ts'an-tsan) and commissioners of education, of justice, for foreign affairs, for banner affairs, for internal affairs, of finance, for Mongolian affairs. The Eight Banners (Pa-k'i) of the Manchu army are divided into two classes, the three superior and five inferior banners, distinguished by their colours:

There are eight banners of each of the following nationalities: Manchu, Mongolian, Chinese (Han-kiun), consisting of the descendants of the natives of northern China who helped the Manchu invaders in the seventeenth century. Each nationality is called Ku sai (Ku shan), and as each has eight banners or K'i, the whole force thus includes twenty-four banners. At the head of the banners is a Chu-fang Tsiang-kiun or general with an assistant (Ts'an-tsan-ta-tch'en); then come the Tu T'ung, Fu Tu-tung, etc. They are garrisoned not only at Peking, but also in various provincial towns.

HISTORY

The Liao (K'i-tan) and the Kin (Niuchen), two Tatar tribes which governed northern China from the tenth to the thirteenth century, sprang from Manchuria. The present imperial Manchu dynasty of China, the Ts'ing, comes from the Ngai-sin family, and is related closely to the Kiu, both being descended from a common stock, the Su-shen of Kirin. The Manchu chieftains, ancestors of the present dynasty, bear the dynastic title (miao-hao) of Chao Tsu Yuan, Hing Tsu Chih, King Tsu Yih, Hien Tsu Yih, Hien Tsu Siuan (1583), T'ai Tsu Kao, and T'ai Tsung Wen; the two last have the title of reign or nien-hao of T'ien Ming (1616) and T'ien Tsung (1627), the latter changed into Ts'ung Teh (1636). These kings are buried at Mukden. The first emperor at Peking was Shun-che (1644), with the dynastic title of She Tsu Chang. During the war between China and Japan, after the severe engagement at Ping Yang (16 Sept., 1894) and the naval fight at the mouth of the Yalu River (17 Sept., 1894), the Japanese crossed the river, entered Manchuria, and marched on Feng-huang-cheng and Hai-cheng, whilst another army under the command of Count Oyama landed at Kin-chou and captured Ta-Lien-Wan and Port Arthur (21 Nov., 1894). Under Article II of the treaty of peace signed between China and Japan at Shimonoseki on 17 April, 1895, China ceded to Japan in perpetuity full sovereignty over the southern portion of the province of Fêng-tien, including all the islands belonging to it, which are situated in the eastern portion of the Bay of Liao-tung and in the northern part of the Yellow Sea. By a new convention signed at Peking on 8 Nov., 1895, Japan retroceded this portion of Fêng-tien to China for a compensation of 30,000,000 Kuping taels; this gain to China was obtained through the action at Tokio of Russia, France, and Germany. Russia was to reap the benefit of it. By a convention signed at Peking on 27 March, 1898, China agreed to lease to Russia Port Arthur, Ta-Lien-Wan, and the adjacent waters, while an additional agreement, defining the boundaries of leased and neutral territory in the Liao-tung peninsula, was signed at St. Petersburg on 7 May, 1898. Six years later, war broke out between Russia and Japan. In the night of the 8-9 Feb., 1904, the Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur was attacked by Admiral Togo. The culminating point of the defence was Port Arthur, which surrendered on 2 Jan., 1905. Manchuria was the field of the action between the two contending armies, the chief battles being those of Liao-yang (25 Aug.-3 Sept., 1904) between Kuropatkin and Oyama, of Sha-ho (9-14 Oct.), and of Mukden (1-9 March, 1905). By the Treaty of Portsmouth both Russia and Japan agreed to evacuate simultaneously Manchuria, with the exception of the portion of the Liao-tung peninsula leased to Russia and surrendered to Japan, and to retrocede the administration of the province to China.

RAILWAYS

On 8 Sept., 1896, an agreement was signed between the Chinese Government and the Russo-Chinese Bank for the construction and management of a line called the Chinese Eastern Railway, and running from one of the points on the western borders of the province of Heh Lung Kiang to one of the points on the eastern borders of the province of Kirin; also for the connexion of this railway with those branches which the Imperial Russian Government was to construct to the Chinese frontier from Trans-Baikalia and the Southern Usuri lines. An agreement between Russia and China with regard to Manchuria was signed at Peking on 26 March (8 April), 1902, by which Russia agreed to the re-establishment of the authority of the Chinese Government in that region, which remains an integral part of the Chinese Empire. By the regulations for mines and railways, approved by the Emperor of China on 19 Nov., 1893, it had been stipulated that mining and railway questions in the three Manchurian provinces, in Shan-tung, and at Lung-chou, being affected by international questions, shall not hereafter be invoked as precedents by the Chinese or foreign authorities. The Russian line from the Lake Baikal to Vladivostok passes via Hâilar, Tsitsihar, and Harbin, whence a line branches southwards to Port Arthur via Ch'ang-ch'un and Mukden. A short line runs from Port Arthur to Dalny; another from Tashi-li-k'iao to Yingk'ou (New-chwang) ; another from Liao-yang to the Yen-t'ai mines; another from Mukden to Ngantung at the mouth of the Yalu River. The Peking-T'ientsin line is extended through Shanhai-kwan to Sinmint'un and Mukden, and has a branch line which diverges to New-chwang. Express trains with Pullman cars began running towards the end of October, 1908; a train leaves Dalny every Monday and Friday morning, connecting with the Russian express at Kwan-cheng-tze, and returning on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

TRADE

We give the revenue of the various customs districts according to the statistics of 1908, the last published (1 Haikwan tael = 65 cents): - Gross value of the trade in taels: Ngantung, 6,941,986; Tatungkau, 353,517; Dalny, 32,688,186; Suifenho, 12,754,878; Manchouli, 4,078,788; New-chwang, 41,437,041. Net value of the trade: Ngantung, 6,188,799; Tatungkau, 350,850; Dalny, 32,258,461; Suifenho, 11,985,705; Manchouli, 3,829,785; New-chwang, 41,199,027. Suifenho and Manchouli form the Harbin District. On 11 Sept., 1908, the Japanese and Chinese commissioners signed at Mukden the detailed working regulations of the Sino-Japanese Yalu Timber Company, the re-establishment of which was first provided for by Article X of the Komura Agreement signed at Peking on 22 Dec., 1905, and later made the subject of a more definite compact when the Yalu Forestry Agreement was concluded at Peking on 14 May, 1908.

VICARIATES APOSTOLIC

The Vicariate Apostolic of Manchuria was created in 1838 at the expense of the Bishopric of Peking, and the first vicar Apostolic was Emmanuel-Jean-François Verrolles, of the Society of Foreign Missions, Paris (born 12 April, 1805; created Bishop of Colombia, 8 Nov., 1840; died 29 April, 1878). The names of his successors, who all belonged to the same congregation, are: Constant Dubail, Bishop of Bolina, died 7 Dec., 1837; Joseph André Boyer, Bishop of Myrina, coadjutor to Mgr Dubail, died 8 March, 1887; Aristide Louis Hippolyte Raguit, Bishop of Trajanopolis, died 17 May, 1889; Laurent Guillon, Bishop of Eumenia, died 2 July, 1900. By Decree of 10 May, 1898, Manchuria was divided into two vicariates Apostolic: Northern Manchuria and Southern Manchuria, which Mgr Guillon retained. The present years Apostolic are Pierre Marie Lalouyer, Bishop of Raphanea, for Northern Manchuria (1898), residing at Kirin, and Marie Felix Choulet, Bishop of Zela, for Southern Manchuria (1901), residing at Mukden. This mission suffered dreadfully during the Boxer rebellion; not only missionaries like Emonet were massacred, but Bishop Guillon himself was burnt to death at Mukden. Southern Manchuria (Mukden) includes 32 European and 8 native priests, 23,354 Christians, and 8406 catechumens; 4 churches and 86 chapels; 32 schools for boys and 31 for girls; 11 orphanages; 15 sisters of Providence of Portieux and 30 native sisters. Northern Manchuria (Kirin) includes 25 European and 8 native priests, 19,350 Christians; 21 churches and 66 chapels; 74 schools for boys and 49 for girls; 9 orphanages; 35 native sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and 135 native sisters.

HENRI CORDIER.