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 affect the numerous Chinese Bannermen, who enjoyed practically the same privileged status as the Manchus themselves.

The exodus of the Manchus and their Chinese allies greatly reduced the population of Manchuria. However, in the South, Chinese communities continued to exist. From this foothold a few settlers spread across the central part of Fengtien province. Their number was increased by a continuous infiltration of immigrants from China, who succeeded in evading the exclusion laws or who had profited by their modifications from time to time. Manchus and Chinese became still more amalgamated, and even the Manchu language was virtually replaced by Chinese. The Mongols, however, were not assimilated but pushed back by the advancing immigrants. Finally, to stem the Russian advance from the North, the Manchu Government decided to encourage Chinese immigration. In 1878, various parts of Manchuria were accordingly opened and various forms of encouragement given to immigrants, with the result that, at the time of the Chinese Revolution in 1911, the population of Manchuria was estimated at 18,000,000.

In 1907, a few years only before its abdication, the Manchu Dynasty had decided to reform the administration in Manchuria. These provinces had hitherto been administered as a separate, extra-mural dominion, with its own form of government. The Chinese practice of entrusting the civil administration in the provinces to scholars who had passed the competitive examinations had not been followed in Manchuria, which had been placed under a purely military regime in which Manchu officials and traditions were maintained. In China, officials were not allowed to hold office in their native province. Each Manchurian province had a military governor, who exercised complete power in civil as well as in military matters. Later, attempts had been made to separate military and civil administration. The results were not satisfactory. The demarcation of the respective spheres of authority was not adequate; misunderstandings and intrigues were frequent and inefficiency resulted. In 1907, therefore, this attempt was given up. The three military governors were replaced by a Viceroy for all Manchuria, with the object of centralising authority, especially in the domain of foreign policy. Provincial civil governors under the control of the Viceroy were in charge of provincial administration. This reorganisation prepared the way for the later administrative reforms which introduced the Chinese system of provincial government. These last measures of the Manchus were very effective, thanks to the able administrators in charge of Manchurian affairs after 1907.

When the Revolution broke out in 1911, the Manchurian authorities who were not in favour of the Republic succeeded in saving these provinces from the turmoil of civil war by ordering Chang Tso-lin, who was later to become the dictator of both Manchuria and North China, to resist the advance of the revolutionary troops. When the Republic had been established, the Manchurian authorities accepted the  and voluntarily followed the leadership of Yuan Shih-kai, who was chosen the first President of the Republic. To each province both civil and military governors were appointed. In Manchuria, as in the rest of China, the military governors soon succeeded in putting their civil colleagues into the background.

In 1916, Chang Tso-lin was appointed military governor of Fengtien province, concurrently acting as civil governor. His personal influence extended much further. When the question arose of declaring war against Germany, be joined the military leaders in China in their request to dissolve the Parliament which had opposed that measure. When the request was rejected by the President, he declared his province independent from the Central Government at Peking. Later, he withdrew that declaration and in 1918, in recognition of his service to the Central Government, he was appointed Inspector-General of all Manchuria. In this way Manchuria again became an administrative unit with its own special regime.