Manchurian Incident Jiǔ Yībā Shìbiàn 九一八事变

◀ Manchuria Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667.

In an attempt to bring China into a confron- control of Liaodong and pressured Japan to return the ter- tation with Japan over control of Manchuria, ritory in exchange for an increased indemnity of 30 mil- Japanese troops used explosives to destroy lion taels (currency based on the weight of silver). Almost a segment of the Manchurian railway. This immediately Russia began construction of a new South Manchurian railway, linking Harbin (a major city on the bombing became known as the Manchurian East Manchurian railway) with Port Arthur (Lushan) on Incident, and the events that followed posi- the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. These two rail lines, tioned Japan for its attempt at Asian and Pa- bisecting Manchuria and protected by 175,000 czarist cific conquest during World War II. troops, effectively brought the region under Russian control. The Japanese considered Russian aggrandizement in Manchuria a direct threat not only to their national secu- he Manchurian Incident (also called the “Mukden rity via a possible attack through Korea but also to their Incident,” the “September 18 Incident,” or the “Liu- own imperialist ambitions in East Asia. The inevitable tiaoguo [ditch worker] incident”) occurred on 18 confrontation between the two began on 8 February 1904 September 1931 when explosives destroyed a section of the when the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on the South Manchurian railway near the city of Mukden (She- Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur. Japan’s capture of nyang) in Liaoning Province. Japanese troops stationed Port Arthur in January 1905 and the destruction of the near the railroad were responsible for the bombing, which Baltic fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905 forced was intended to draw China into a confrontation with Russia to sue for peace. The Treaty of Portsmouth (5 Sep- Japan over control of Manchuria. Although the Chinese tember 1905) ending this conflict stipulated that Japan government did not respond to the provocation by declar- would assume Russian leases on the Liaodong Peninsula ing war, Japan mobilized troops, occupied the region, and as well as control of the South Manchurian Railway. Both established the puppet state of Manchuguo. nations agreed to withdraw from Manchuria and to rec- ognize China’s sovereignty over the region. The collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) led to Background the rise of warlords in China. By the early 1920s one of the most powerful of these was Zhang Zuolin, who con- The Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the FirstSino- Japanese trolled all of Manchuria through his Fengtian Army, a war of 1894–1895 originally ceded Formosa (Taiwan), the well-equipped fighting force of 100,000 troops. At this Pescadores, and Liaodong Peninsula to Japan. France, time approximately ten thousand Japanese soldiers of Germany, and in particular Russia objected to Japanese the Guandong Army were also stationed in Manchuria

“The first battle near Manturia (i.e., Manchuria). The Japanese soldiers defeated the enemy’s cavalry.” Lithographic print, Tokyo, Shobido & Co., (c. 1919). Sovereignty over Manchuria had been contested for decades before the Manchurian Incident took place. Library of Congress. to protect the railroad. Many young officers in this army The Incident were eager to spark a war with China in order to annex Manchuria as Japan had done to Korea in 1910. As Zhang In December 1928 Zhang Xueliang pledged his loyalty to was returning to Shenyang from Beijing on the morn- the Nanjing government and much to Tokyo’s disappoint- ing of 4 June 1928, a bomb planted by one of these young ment brought the three provinces of Manchuria back un- officers exploded near his private train, killing him in- der China’s nominal control. He maintained a hard line stantly. Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the newly formed in negotiations with the Japanese, refusing to approve Nationalist government in Nanjing, cautioned against any new concessions and seeking to recover those al- reprisals. Zhang’s son, Zhang Xueliang (known as the ready granted. Meanwhile he continued to strengthen his “Young Marshall”) took over his father’s position as war- armed forces, which increased to nearly 250,000 troops. lord of Manchuria and agreed to follow Chiang’s direc- Responding to critical economic issues at home, military tives. War was averted, although the situation remained and civilian officials in Tokyo were preparing to issue di- tense and uncertain. rectives prohibiting deliberate provocation by Japanese

© 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC 1384 Berkshire Encyclopedia of China 宝库山中华全书 troops in Manchuria. As the window of opportunity be- to the League of Nations demanding Japan’s withdrawal gan to close, young Japanese officers again took matters from Manchuria. In November the league sent a delega- into their own hands. On 18 September 1931 they deto- tion to Manchuria headed by Lord Lytton of Great Britain nated explosives along the South Manchurian Railway on to investigate the situation. Lytton’s report concluded that the outskirts of Mukden near the largest Chinese garrison the Manchurian Incident was a Japanese fabrication and in the region. Chinese soldiers investigating the explosion that Manchuguo was not a sovereign nation but rather a were fired upon by Japanese troops, who pursued them puppet state of the Japanese military. The League of Na- back to their barracks and attacked the garrison. tions voted to uphold the findings of this report, and Japan As news spread of the alleged Chinese attack, To- responded by withdrawing from the organization. kyo cautioned restraint, but the military responded ag- Now firmly entrenched in Manchuria and isolated gressively. The commander of Japanese forces in Korea from the international community, Japan was poised to dispatched troops across the border into southern Man- embark on its imperialist conquest of Asia and the Pacific churia. The Guandong Army was quickly mobilized, during World War II. fanning out to occupy Mukden and other major cities. Daniel J. MEISSNER Surprisingly the army met with only sporadic resistance. Under orders from Chiang Kai-shek, Zhang’s troops had been forbidden to engage the Japanese in battle. More- Further Reading over, within three months all of Zhang’s forces had been Anti-Japanese economic disruption movement in Shanghai: redeployed south of the Great Wall, leaving Manchuria After the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident. (1932). completely in the hands of the Japanese. Tokyo: League of Nations Association of Japan. Borg, D. (1964). The United States and the Far Eastern crisis, 1933–38. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Implications Doenecke, J. (1984). When the wicked rise: American opinion-makers and the Manchurian crisis of 1931–33. The abandonment of Manchuria sparked massive pro- Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press. tests in China. A virulent anti-Japanese boycott spread Guo Yingjie. (2004). Cultural nationalism in contemporary throughout China, raising fears in Shanghai’s foreign China: The search for national identity under reform. settlements of violent reprisals. In late January Japanese New York: Routledge. marines who had been landed in the city to protect its He Baogang & Guo Yingjie. (2000). Nationalism, national businesses and citizens clashed with Chinese troops. In identity, and democratization in China. New York: retaliation the Japanese bombed Zhabei, a residential and Ashgate. industrial suburb of Shanghai, and invaded the city. After Koo, V. K. Wellington. (1933). The Manchurian question: fierce fighting an armistice was signed in May 1932. China’s case against Japan. Beijing: Northeastern Af- fairs Research Institute. By that time two other major events related to the Morely, J. (1984). Japan erupts: The London Naval Accords Manchurian Incident had transpired. In the first event, and the Manchurian Incident. New York: Columbia just days after the first shots were fired, the Japanese had University Press. already approached the last Qing emperor, Puyi, about Moses, D. (1982). The role of the League of Nations in the possibility of his restoration as head of a new Manchu the Manchurian crisis, 1931–1933. Rexburg, ID: D. J. state. In November he left Tianjin for Changchun and in Moses. March 1932 was installed as chief executive of the new Wilson, S. (2002). The Manchurian crisis and Japanese so- state of Manchuguo. The second event was China’s appeal ciety, 1931–33. New York: Routledge.

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