Manchuria: A Concise History

Manchuria is a historical region, which roughly corresponds to Northeast China. The Manchu people, who established the last dynasty of Imperial China (the Qing, 1644–1911) originated there, and it has been the stage of turbulent events during the twentieth century: the Russo-Japanese war, Japanese occupation and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo, Soviet invasion, and Chinese civil war. This innovative and accessible historical survey both introduces Manchuria to students and general readers and contributes to the emerging regional perspective in the study of China.

Table of Contents:
Part One Introduction: Manchuria and a Regional Approach to Chinese History. Chapter One: The Ethnic Mosaic of the Northeast. Chapter Two: The “Rise of the Manchus” and their Later Fortunes. Chapter Three: Russian expansion into Asia and the way to the treaty of Nerchinsk. Chapter Four: Qing-Russian Relations in the Eighteenth Century. Chapter Five: The Treaties of Aigun and Peking. Chapter Six: From the First Sino-Japanese War to the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria. Chapter Seven: Russian Imperialism in China and the Chinese Eastern Railway. Chapter Eight: The Japanese Sphere of Influence and the South Manchuria Railway. Chapter Nine: Chinese Migrant Society in the Northeast. Chapter Ten: Manchuria in the 1920s, Banditry and Warlord Rule. Chapter Eleven: The Manchukuo State: Resistance and Collaboration, 1932–45. Chapter Twelve: Soviet Occupation, Civil War and Communist Victory, 1945–49. Chapter Thirteen: The Northeast through Literature. Chapter Fourteen: The Northeast Under Mao. Chapter Fifteen: The Northeast After Mao. Part Two Chapter Sixteen: History and Geography: Heilongjiang. Chapter Seventeen: History and Geography: Jilin. Chapter Eighteen: History and Geography: Liaoning. Chapter Nineteen: The Mongol Component in Manchuria. Chapter Twenty: Jehol / Rehe / Chengde: The Perspective of “New Qing History”. Select Bibliography

About the Author :
Mark Gamsa is Associate Professor of History at Tel Aviv University. He gained his DPhil from Oxford University in 2003 with a thesis on Manchuria in the twentieth century. He reads fluent Chinese alongside several European languages and is also fluent in Russian.

Review :
Manchuria has been attracting the attention of observers to the west since the Russian Empire began taking an interest in the seventeenth century. Cultures, economies, resource flows, and interests have converged and encountered each other there. It is, therefore, no surprise that contemporary scholars have recently begun taking a more serious look at Manchuria and its capacity to induce change and be changed by indigenous and external influences. This book presents an encompassing, but engaging, survey of how individuals and collective actors - principally China, Japan, and Russia - have shaped Manchuria's history over the last four centuries as well as its present. It is a rich guide for students and experts looking to discover and reassess the diverse scholarly claims about how Manchuria has become the fascinating region and research object that it currently is. Mark Gamsa's Manchuria: A Concise History... meets a significant need, deftly weaving together the many diffuse strands which make up the history of what we now call northeast China. Conveniently broken down into easily digestible chunks, each dealing with a key historic juncture and the parties involved, the book sheds light on both known and overlooked aspects of Manchurian life.