Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2014

 

The Construction of Japan's Dominance in Northeast China before the Mukden Incident of 1931 and Its Influence   

(Abstract)

                                                       

Li Shujuan and Wang Xiliang

 

After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan established colonial ruling institutions that encroached on China's sovereignty in Kwantung and the South Manchuria Railway Zone in Northeast China, illegally stationing troops and exercising police and administrative powers. Backed up by national politics and military power, Japan, starting with the South Manchuria Railway Zone, administered industries such as transportation, mining, finance, ports and commerce under the banner of its "union of government and people" economic system. In this way and by borrowing money or engaging in joint operations with Chinese organizations, Japan came to exercise an economic monopoly in northeast China. At the same time, a large number of Japanese flooded into the area, and, relying on the various privileges given them by the unequal treaties, personally carried out Japan's policy of continental expansion and accessed and cultivated pro-Japanese forces. These economic and political colonizing activities laid the foundation for Japan’s instigation of the Mukden Incident and its full administration of its northeast Chinese colony.