LIAONING

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Liao-ning, (Pinyin) Liaoning, sheng (province) of the Northeast region of China (formerly called Manchuria). With an area of 56,300 square miles (145,700 square kilometres), Liaoning is bounded on the northeast by the province of Kirin, on the east by North Korea, on the south by the Yellow Sea, on the southwest by the province of Hopeh, and on the northwest by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The provincial capital is Shen-yang (formerly Mukden). The area, a region of early Chinese settlement in the Northeast, was known as Sheng-ching in Ch'ing, or Manchu, times (16441911/12). The area was redefined in 1903 and named Fengtien; in 1928 the boundaries were altered and it was renamed Liaoning. From 1947 to 1954 the territory was divided into a western province, Liaosi, and an eastern province, Liaotung. In 1954, however, a northern zone was detached and it was reestablished as a single province. It achieved its present form in 1956, when the former province of Jehol was partitioned and a portion added to Liaoning. Liaoning, Liaosi, and Liaotung all take their names from the Liao River. Precedents for the names go back to Han times. Wade-Giles romanization Liaoning, Pinyin Liaoning, sheng (province) of northeastern China, southernmost of the three that form the region of Manchuria, bounded on the northeast by Kirin province, on the east by North Korea, on the south by the Yellow Sea, on the southwest by Hopeh province, and on the northwest by the Inner Mongolian autonomous region. The area was known as Sheng-ching in Manchu times (16441911). It was redefined in 1903 and named Feng-t'ien; in 1928 the boundaries were altered once again and it was renamed Liaoning. From 1932 to 1945, the province was part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Shen-yang (then called Mukden), the capital, fell to the Chinese Communists in 1948. In 1954, Liaoning was established as a single province and was given its present form in 1956. Liaoning consists of a central lowland, with Shen-yang at its centre and mountain masses to the east and west. A southward extension of the eastern highlands forms the Liaotung Peninsula. There are four main topographical regions: the central plains, the Liaotung Peninsula, the western highlands, and the eastern mountain zone. Summer rainfall is often torrential. Strong winds occur in spring and the scarcity of spring precipitation tends to leave growing crops short of water. Most of the Liaoning population is Han Chinese. Significant minorities are Manchu, located mainly in the Liao River valley and around Shen-yang, and the Mongols, who live near the frontier of Inner Mongolia. Liaoning is rich in mineral resources, especially iron ore and coal. Petroleum is produced from oil shale. There are rich reserves of manganese and magnesium ore and substantial deposits of copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, and gold. Sea salt is produced for use in food and in the chemical industry. The province ranks first in China in heavy industrial production, producing steel, cement, crude oil, and approximately one-fifth of the nation's electrical power. Other Liaoning industries include nonferrous-metals processing; the manufacture of electrical, agricultural, mining, and transport machinery and machine tools; textiles, including both cotton and silk; foodstuffs; paper; and cement. Most of these manufactures are produced in five cities: Shen-yang, An-shan, L-ta, Fu-shun, and Pen-hsi. Although agricultural development has not matched industrial development in the growth of Liaoning, much of the climate, topography, and soils are favourable to agriculture. The degree of farm mechanization is very high by Chinese standards. Industrial and export crops are yielded from a small portion of the cultivated area; the majority is used for grain crops, vegetables, and soybeans. The rail transportation facilities of Liaoning are the best in China, and the tonnage transported is also the highest for any province. Highways are extensive but of poor quality. There is little internal sea or river traffic, but sea navigation is of great importance for transport to other parts of China. L-ta is the largest port, followed by Ying-k'ou. Area 58,300 square miles (151,000 square km). Pop. (1990) 39,459,697; (1995 est.) 40,670,000. History Most of the present province of Liaoning fell within the confines of the earliest Great Wall of China, built during the reign of the first Ch'in emperor (221210/209 BC), and hence formed part of China from early times. The environment and traditional Chinese civilization of the central plain in Liaoning continue into the North China Plain and into Shantung to the south. Political power in the region often passed to nonagricultural peoples, such as the Khitan, who invaded the area in the 10th century AD and established the Liao dynasty, and the Juchen, who founded the Ch'in dynasty in the 12th century. During the Yan dynasty, Chinese (Mongol) power was reasserted over the region, and ties remained relatively close through the Ming dynasty. Chinese immigration from the south also has a long history, but until the last years of the 19th century it was on a modest scale. The traditional economy of Liaoning was one of Chinese peasant farm production in the plains; on the peripheries the economy was based in various places on herding, forestry, fishing, mining, and estate farming. Neither the aristocratic holders of the landed estates nor the people who depended on animals or on the products of the forests or rivers were generally Chinese; as elsewhere in the Northeast, they were of Mongol or Manchu stock. Under the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911/12), whose own origins lay in the Manchu frontier aristocracy, official efforts were made to protect the Northeast from Chinese encroachment with the exception of the old Chinese-settled area in the Liao Valley. This policy was gradually abandoned, partly because of the pressure of Russian influence in the north. Toward the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, two intersecting forces together created a radically novel situation in Liaoning. One was foreign interferenceRussian and, later, Japanese. The other was rapidly increasing Chinese immigration. These two forces resulted in the expansion of the economy of Liaoning at a wholly unprecedented rate. Immigrants traveled to Liaoning both by the Shan-hai-kuan land corridor in the southwest and from Shantung by sea to the Liaotung Peninsula in the east. The second group were the more numerous and have been the more successful, both because of the relative ease of travel by sea and because of the better opportunities for both work and settlement in Liaotung. During the first half of the 20th century, the population of the province rose to a size proportionate to its present figure. The population movement was based on seasonal migration for farm work, with about half of the migrants remaining in Manchuria after the harvests each year. Many strong Shantung communities grew up in Liaotung, with traditions of mutual dependence and help. The all-important South Manchurian Railway was constructed by the Russians between 1896 and 1903. This railway linked the new Liaotung port of L-ta with Ch'ang-ch'un, in Kirin Province, as well as with Harbin in Heilungkiang Province, and with the then new Chinese Eastern Railway branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The South Manchurian Railway passed close to Shen-yang, replaced navigation on the Liao and much of the old cart transport, and bypassed the old port of Ying-k'ou. The foundations of the modern geography of Liaoning were laid by this railway. In 1907 the Russian railway, port, and territorial privileges were transferred to Japan at the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War of 190405. From that time, Japan continually strengthened its hold on the economic life of Liaoning and all of Manchuria, partly through physical control but also through an active and successful policy of investment and economic expansion. From 1932 to 1945 Liaoning was part of the Japanese-dominated, independent state of Manchukuo. Throughout this period, which included the Sino-Japanese War and World War II (193745), Japanese policy aimed to develop the resources of Liaoning in a manner that would complement the economic strength of Japan. Heavy industry was particularly developed. This concentration on heavy industry at the expense of light industry and agriculture has been criticized; but, in the face of China's general lack of heavy industrial capacity, these installations have stood her in good stead since 1949. Shen-yang fell to the Chinese Communists in 1948. The industrial installations of Liaoning had suffered heavily from war damage and from Soviet seizures of stockpiles and machinery. The new government made the restoration of the Northeast one of its first priorities. After the defeat of the Japanese in 1945, the Soviet Union took over from Japan and retained residual rights to share with China the use of the naval base facilities at L-shun and some rights on the former South Manchurian Railway. These rights were given up in 1955. Frank Andrew Leeming Victor C. Falkenheim The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica