Manchuria

Manchuria (located in red)

Manchuria(Northeast China) is the homeland of theManchu people.To the Chinese, the region is simply known as the Northeast (Chinese:Đông Bắc, Dōngbĕi). Manchuria is made up of China's three northeastern most provinces:Liaoning,Jilin,andHeilong gian g.Parts of Manchuria wereannexedby theRussian Empirein the past, and they are now ruled byRussia.

The name “Manchuria” comes from a Japanese version of the Chinese word Manzhou (Chinese:Mãn Châu, Mǎnzhōu).

History

In the early history, Manchuria was under the control of many Chinese kingdoms. Later, the Manchu people formed their own empire calledJurchen.They eventually invaded China and founded the ManchuQing Dynasty.

Although the Manchus, who at the time ruled China, signed atreatywithRussia,the Russians took advantage of the weak Qing government andannexedthe part that touches thePacific Ocean,where the modern Chinese city ofDalianstands today.Japanthen attacked the Russians to take this important piece of land. Later, Japan invaded the Chinese part of Manchuria too (seeManchukuo). This eventually led toWorld War II.

After the war, Manchuria was handed over to China by the Soviet Union.

Geography

Manchuria is in north-east China and theRussian Far East.The land has rocks, grasslands,mountains,anddeserts.Theweatheris very extreme. It is very hot and humid in the summer, and is very cold and dry in the winter.