Page:League of Nations-Appeal by the Chinese Government.pdf/23

 by Russia and Japan in the development of Manchuria found an ever-increasing insistence in the foreign policy of these two countries.

China at first showed little activity in the field of development. She almost allowed Manchuria to pass from her control to that of Russia. Even after the Treaty of Portsmouth, which reaffirmed her sovereignty in Manchuria, the economic activities of Russia and Japan in developing those provinces ﬁgured more prominently than her own in the eyes of the world. Meanwhile the immigration of millions of Chinese farmers settled the future possession of the land. This immigration was in fact an occupation—peaceful. inconspicuous, but none the less real. While Russia and Japan were engaged in delimiting their respective spheres of interest in North and South Manchuria, Chinese farmers took possession of the soil and Manchuria is now unalterably Chinese. In such circumstances. China could afford to wait for a favourable opportunity to reassert her sovereign rights. The Russian revolution of 1917 gave her that opportunity in North Manchuria. She began to take a more active part in the government and development of the country, which had been so long neglected. In recent years she has tried to diminish Japan's influence in South Manchuria. Growing friction resulted from that policy, the culminating point of which was reached on September 18th, 1931.

The total population is estimated at about 30,000,000, of whom 28,000,000 are said to be Chinese or assimilated Manchus. The number of Koreans is put at 800,000, of whom a large number are congregated in the so-called Chientao District on the Korean border, the remainder being widely scattered in Manchuria. Mongol tribes live in the pasture lands bordering Inner Mongolia, their number being small. There may be about 150,000 Russians in Manchuria, most of them living in the area along the Chinese Eastern Railway, especially at Harbin. About 230,000 Japanese are mainly concentrated in the settlements along the South Manchuria Railway and in the Kwantung Leased Territory (Liaotung Peninsula). The total number of Japanese, Russians and other foreigners (excluding Koreans) in Manchuria does not exceed 400,000.

Manchuria is a vast country with an area as large as that of France and Germany taken together, estimated at about 380,000 square miles. In China it is always referred to as the "Three Eastern Provinces" because of its administrative division into the three provinces of Liaoning (or Fengtien) in the South, Kirin in the East, and Heilungkiang in the North. Liaoning is estimated to have an area of 70,000 square miles, Kirin of 100,000, Heilungkiang of over 200,000.

Manchuria is continental in its characteristics. There are two mountain ranges, the Changpai Range in the south-east and the Great Khingan Range in the north-west. Between these tw0 mountain ranges lies the great Manchurian plain, of which the northern part belongs to the basin of the Sungari River and the southern part to that of the Liao River. The watershed between them, which has some historical importance, is a range of hills dividing the Manchurian plain into a northern and a southern part.

Manchuria is bounded on the west by the province of Hopeh and by Outer and Inner Mongolia. Inner Mongolia was formerly divided into thm special administrative areas—Jehol, Chahar and Suiyuan—which were given the full status of provinces by the National Government in 1928. Inner Mongolia, and more especially Jehol, has always had relations with Manchuria, and exercises some influence in Manchurian aﬂairs. On the north-west, north-east, and east, Manchuria is bounded by the Siberian provinces of the U.S.S.R.. on the south-east by Korea, and on the south by the Yellow Sea. The southern end of the Liaotung Peninsula has been held by Japan since 1905. Its area is over 1,300 square miles, and it is administered as a Japanese leased territory. In addition, Japan exercises