Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/379

 When the Ming dynasty obtained possession of Liaotung in the fourteenth century they were the first rulers of Chinese blood who had governed north of the Yellow River for more than 400 years. It is evident, therefore, that during this period the population of North China must have been largely mixed with immigrants of Tartar blood, and conversely that the adjacent parts of Manchukia must have been much affected by Chinese civilisation. As an instance we may refer to the Sung dynasty porcelain mentioned by James as found on the north of the Sungari, and the writer possesses a coin of the same dynasty dug out of a ruin in the Imperial Hunting Grounds.

The Mings governed Liaotung as far north as Kaiguan, where their pagoda still remains. From that city their frontier ran east some 25 miles, then south to near the latitude of Liaoyang, where it ran east again to the Yalu. All this was an integral part of the Chinese Empire. The rest of was divided among numerous Nüchen tribes.

With the seventeenth century we enter on the modern period. At that time the tribe in the mountains, 100 miles east of Moukden was known by the name of Manchu. By a combination of diplomacy and force their chief Nurhachu had effected a combination of the tribes as far as the Sungari, and in 1617 he was able to declare war with China. In 1621 Moukden and Liaoyang fell into his hands, and he was master of all Liaotung. After much heavy fighting in Liaohsi and Chihli, the Manchus, in 1644, established their capital in Peking, being the third dynasty that their country had given to China.

The immediate effect on was disastrous. Great numbers of the population migrated to Peking, where the "Tartars" and the Chinese still remain apart. Others were scattered on garrison duty and formed military colonies in China. The natives of Southern Manchuria who submitted to the Conquerer were enrolled by him as the "Chinese Banner" (Han-Kün) and shared his fortunes. The country was thus denuded of its inhabitants, and as