From three provinces to nine: Nationalist China's 1947 map of the Northeast

[u/arthurhu5498]

Before Japan's occupation, Northeast China's three provinces were Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. After Japan's defeat in 1945, the Nationalist government introduced a nine-province arrangement, subsequently revised in 1947. This official map, published in July 1947, shows that later arrangement.

The nine provinces were Liaoning, Andong, Liaobei, Jilin, Songjiang, Hejiang, Heilongjiang, Nenjiang, and Xing'an. Rehe (Jehol) remained a separate province outside the Nationalists' nine-province scheme. Familiar names such as Liaoning and Heilongjiang therefore refer to territories different from their modern counterparts.

Historian Steven I. Levine interprets the subdivision as an attempt to prevent another powerful regional leader like Zhang Zuolin from building an autonomous Manchurian power base. Smaller provinces, supervised by a regional authority loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, would help the central government curb the regionalism that had characterized the Northeast before the Japanese occupation.

A contemporary U.S. War Department intelligence report also described the subdivision as intended "to enable the Government to administer the area more efficiently as well as to break down the power of local leaders."

This map shows the Nationalist administrative scheme and territorial claims, rather than effective control. A July 1947 American diplomatic report described the Communists as controlling the greater part of Manchuria. The Nationalists still held important cities, including Shenyang and Changchun, but their provincial scheme extended far beyond their effective authority.

The Communists developed their own changing administrative arrangements. Their April 1949 reorganization comprised six provinces—Heilongjiang, Songjiang, Jilin, Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Rehe—or five when Rehe is excluded from the comparison. Western territories were also incorporated into Inner Mongolia, whose autonomous government was established in 1947, with further transfers in 1949.

The strip across the Amur near Blagoveshchensk labeled 江東六十四屯—the "Sixty-Four Villages East of the River"—is colored as part of Heilongjiang despite being under Soviet administration. Russia had taken control of this area in 1900. Farther downstream, the Heixiazi island area at the Amur–Ussuri confluence near Khabarovsk is colored as part of Hejiang despite Soviet control.

Near Manzhouli, comparing the map with the 1911 Qiqihar agreement indicates that its frontier lies farther north than the agreement's alignment. The agreement placed boundary point 61 just 5.341 km northeast of Manzhouli railway station, a location well inside the Chinese territory depicted here.

The nine-province arrangement also had a long afterlife in Taiwan. The Interior Ministry's 1998 national map still displayed the old provincial boundaries alongside contemporary PRC boundaries. By early 2004, the ministry's new mapping program had dropped that national-map series, and historian Wang Wen-lung dates the geography-textbook switch to PRC administrative divisions to the same year.

Sources:

• Official map, Ministry of the Interior, July 1947.
• Steven I. Levine, Anvil of Victory: The Communist Revolution in Manchuria, 1945–1948 (Columbia University Press, 1987), pp. 47 and 111.
• U.S. War Department, Intelligence Review, 14 February 1946, printed p. 21, for administrative efficiency and weakening local leaders.
• American diplomatic report forwarded on 14 July 1947, especially paragraph 5, for Communist control of the greater part of Manchuria.
• Heilongjiang provincial historical chronology, entry for 21 April 1949, for the Communist provincial reorganization, including Rehe.
• Xing’an League government’s administrative history, for the establishment of the Inner Mongolian autonomous government and territorial transfers.
• U.S. Department of State, China–U.S.S.R. Boundary, International Boundary Study No. 64 (revised, 1978), especially pp. 12 and 18, for the border disputes.
• 1911 Qiqihar agreement, reproduced in MacMurray’s treaty collection, vol. I, p. 920, for boundary point 61 near Manzhouli.
• National Museum of Taiwan History catalogue entry for the 1998 official national map, describing its inclusion of both old ROC and contemporary PRC boundaries.
• Liberty Times, 4 January 2004, “官版地圖 不再印中華民國全圖”, for the change in the Interior Ministry’s mapping program.
• Wang Wen-lung, “臺灣中學地理教科書的祖國想像（1949–1999）,” 國史館學術集刊 17 (2008), printed p. 237, for the 2004 textbook change.

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Before Japan's occupation, Northeast China's three provinces were Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. After Japan's defeat in 1945, the Nationalist government introduced a nine-province arrangement, subsequently revised in 1947. This official map, published in July 1947, shows that later arrangement.

The nine provinces were Liaoning, Andong, Liaobei, Jilin, Songjiang, Hejiang, Heilongjiang, Nenjiang, and Xing'an. Rehe (Jehol) remained a separate province outside the Nationalists' nine-province scheme. Familiar names such as Liaoning and Heilongjiang therefore refer to territories different from their modern counterparts.

Historian Steven I. Levine interprets the subdivision as an attempt to prevent another powerful regional leader like Zhang Zuolin from building an autonomous Manchurian power base. Smaller provinces, supervised by a regional authority loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, would help the central government curb the regionalism that had characterized the Northeast before the Japanese occupation.

A contemporary U.S. War Department intelligence report also described the subdivision as intended "to enable the Government to administer the area more efficiently as well as to break down the power of local leaders."

This map shows the Nationalist administrative scheme and territorial claims, rather than effective control. A July 1947 American diplomatic report described the Communists as controlling the greater part of Manchuria. The Nationalists still held important cities, including Shenyang and Changchun, but their provincial scheme extended far beyond their effective authority.

The Communists developed their own changing administrative arrangements. Their April 1949 reorganization comprised six provinces—Heilongjiang, Songjiang, Jilin, Liaodong, Liaoxi, and Rehe—or five when Rehe is excluded from the comparison. Western territories were also incorporated into Inner Mongolia, whose autonomous government was established in 1947, with further transfers in 1949.

The strip across the Amur near Blagoveshchensk labeled 江東六十四屯—the "Sixty-Four Villages East of the River"—is colored as part of Heilongjiang despite being under Soviet administration. Russia had taken control of this area in 1900. Farther downstream, the Heixiazi island area at the Amur–Ussuri confluence near Khabarovsk is colored as part of Hejiang despite Soviet control.

Near Manzhouli, comparing the map with the 1911 Qiqihar agreement indicates that its frontier lies farther north than the agreement's alignment. The agreement placed boundary point 61 just 5.341 km northeast of Manzhouli railway station, a location well inside the Chinese territory depicted here.

The nine-province arrangement also had a long afterlife in Taiwan. The Interior Ministry's 1998 national map still displayed the old provincial boundaries alongside contemporary PRC boundaries. By early 2004, the ministry's new mapping program had dropped that national-map series, and historian Wang Wen-lung dates the geography-textbook switch to PRC administrative divisions to the same year.

Sources:

• Official map, Ministry of the Interior, July 1947.
• Steven I. Levine, Anvil of Victory: The Communist Revolution in Manchuria, 1945–1948 (Columbia University Press, 1987), pp. 47 and 111.
• U.S. War Department, Intelligence Review, 14 February 1946, printed p. 21, for administrative efficiency and weakening local leaders.
• American diplomatic report forwarded on 14 July 1947, especially paragraph 5, for Communist control of the greater part of Manchuria.
• Heilongjiang provincial historical chronology, entry for 21 April 1949, for the Communist provincial reorganization, including Rehe.
• Xing’an League government’s administrative history, for the establishment of the Inner Mongolian autonomous government and territorial transfers.
• U.S. Department of State, China–U.S.S.R. Boundary, International Boundary Study No. 64 (revised, 1978), especially pp. 12 and 18, for the border disputes.
• 1911 Qiqihar agreement, reproduced in MacMurray’s treaty collection, vol. I, p. 920, for boundary point 61 near Manzhouli.
• National Museum of Taiwan History catalogue entry for the 1998 official national map, describing its inclusion of both old ROC and contemporary PRC boundaries.
• Liberty Times, 4 January 2004, “官版地圖 不再印中華民國全圖”, for the change in the Interior Ministry’s mapping program.
• Wang Wen-lung, “臺灣中學地理教科書的祖國想像（1949–1999）,” 國史館學術集刊 17 (2008), printed p. 237, for the 2004 textbook change.

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[u/cobsen_ula2316]

🤮🤮🤮This is the worst division in Manchuria.