The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in
Northeast China (also known as
Manchuria).
The
Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 to 1902 using a
concession from the
Qing dynasty government of
Imperial China. The system linked
Chita with
Vladivostok in the
Russian Far East and with
Port Arthur, then an Imperial Russian leased ice-free port. The T-shaped line consisted of three branches:
* the western branch, now the
Harbin–Manzhouli Railway
* the eastern branch, now the
Harbin–Suifenhe Railway
* the southern branch, now part of the
Beijing–Harbin Railway
which intersected in
Harbin. Saint Petersburg administered the railway and the concession, known as the
Chinese Eastern Railway Zone, from the city of Harbin, which grew into a major rail-hub.
The southern branch of the CER, known as the Japanese
South Manchuria Railway from 1906, became a locus and partial ''
casus belli
A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one b ...
'' for the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
of 1904–1905, the 1929
Sino-Soviet Conflict, and the
Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937–1945. The
Soviet Union returned the Chinese Eastern Railway to the
People's Republic of China in 1952.
Name
The official Chinese name of this railway was Great Qing Eastern Provinces Railway (), also known as Eastern Qing Railway () or Eastern Provinces Railway(). After the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty, the Manchu people, Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of Chi ...
, the northern branches was renamed to Chinese Eastern Provinces Railway () in 1915, shortened form as ().
The southern branch was renamed to
South Manchuria Railway (Japanese
kyujitai/) after Japanese took over from Russians in 1905.
It is also known in English as the Chinese Far East Railway, Trans-Manchurian Railway and North Manchuria Railway.
History
The Chinese Eastern Railway, a single-track line, provided a shortcut for the world's longest railroad, the
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...
, from near the
Siberian city of
Chita, across northern inner
Manchuria via
Harbin to the Russian port of
Vladivostok. This route drastically reduced the travel distance required along the originally proposed main northern route to Vladivostok, which lay completely on Russian soil but was not completed until a decade after the Manchurian "shortcut".
In 1896
China granted a construction
concession through northern Inner Manchuria under the supervision of Vice Minister of Public Works
Xu Jingcheng
Xu Jingcheng (; 1845 – 28 July 1900) was a Chinese diplomat and Qing politician supportive of the Hundred Days' Reform. He was envoy to Belgium, France, Italy, Russia, Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany for the Qing imperial court an ...
. Work on the CER began in July 1897 along the line
Tarskaya (east of Chita) —
Hailar
Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administrative terms onl ...
—
Harbin —
Nikolsk-Ussuriski
Ussuriysk (russian: Уссури́йск) is a city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, located in the fertile valley of the Razdolnaya River, north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about from both the China–Russia border and ...
, and accelerated drastically after Russia concluded a
25-year lease of
Liaodong
The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the ...
from China in 1898. Officially, traffic on the line started in November 1901, but regular passenger traffic from
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
to
Vladivostok across the
Trans-Siberian railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...
did not commence until July 1903.
In 1898, construction of a 550-mile (880 km)
spur line, most of which later formed the
South Manchuria Railway, began at Harbin, leading southwards through Eastern Manchuria, along the Liaodong Peninsula, to the ice-free deep-water port at
Lüshun, which Russia was fortifying and developing into a first-class strategic naval base and marine coaling station for its Far East Fleet and Merchant Marine. This town was known in the west as Port Arthur, and the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
(1904–1905) was fought largely over who would possess this region and its excellent harbor, as well as whether it would remain open to traders of all nations (
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy () is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. The policy wa ...
).
The Chinese Eastern Railway was essentially completed in 1902, a few years earlier than the
stretch around Lake Baikal. Until the Circumbaikal portion was completed (1904–1905; double-tracked, 1914), goods carried on the Trans-Siberian Railway had to be trans-shipped by
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...
almost a hundred kilometers across the lake (from
Port Baikal to
Mysovaya).
The Chinese Eastern Railway became important in international relations. After the
first Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, Russia gained the right to build the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria. They had a large army and occupied Northern Manchuria, which was of some concern to the Japanese. Russia wanted the railway badly. It loaned money to China and promised to use the proposed railway to help defend China against Japan, in the secret
Li–Lobanov Treaty of 1896. Construction started in 1898 and was completed in 1903.
In 1900 during the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
– which was suppressed by the
Eight Nation Alliance including Russia – Russia also launched a separate
invasion of Manchuria sending 100,000 troops to protect their interests in the railroad. During the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, Russia lost both the
Liaodong Peninsula and much of the South Manchurian branch to Japan. The rail line from
Changchun
Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...
to
Lüshun — transferred to Japanese control — became the
South Manchuria Railway.
During the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
(1917–1924) the Russian part of the CER came under the administration of the
White Army
The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...
. From the 1919
Karakhan Manifesto
The Karakhan Manifesto was a statement of Soviet policy toward China dated 25 July 1919. It was issued by Lev Karakhan, deputy commissioner for foreign affairs for Soviet Russia. The manifesto offered to relinquish various rights Russia had obtain ...
to 1927, diplomats of the Soviet Union would promise to revoke concessions in China, but the Soviets secretly kept
tsarist concessions such as the Chinese Eastern Railway, as well as
consulate
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth co ...
s, barracks, and Orthodox churches. This led
Chiang Kai-Shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
— who pushed foreign powers such as Britain to return some of their concessions from 1925 to 1927 — to turn against his former Soviet ally in 1927, seizing Soviet
legation
A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legations ...
s. The Soviets would later fight an armed conflict to keep control over the northern CER in the
Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929.
while Japan maintained control of the southern spur line.
After the establishment of
Manchukuo it was known as the North Manchuria Railway until 23 March 1935, when the
USSR sold its rights to the railway to the Manchukuo government; it was then merged into the
Manchukuo National Railway
The Manchukuo National Railway (Traditional Chinese and Japanese kanji: , Japanese romanization: ''Manshū Kokuyū Tetsudō'') was the state-owned national railway company of Manchukuo. Generally called the "國線" ("National Line", ''Kokusen ...
and converted to standard gauge in four hours on 31 August.
From August 1945, the CER again came under the joint control of the
USSR and
China. After World War II the Soviet government insisted on occupying the
Liaodong Peninsula but allowed joint control over the Southern branch with China; all this together received the name of the "Chinese Changchun Railway" (russian: Кита́йская Чанчу́ньская желе́зная доро́га).
In 1952, the Soviet Union
transferred (free of charge) all of its rights to the Chinese Changchun Railway to the
People's Republic of China.
File:Title- Manchuria (14238160432).jpg, Railway in Manzhouli
File:Ag1987 0662x 40 opt.jpg, Chinese Eastern Railway Workmen at Meal, ca. 1903–1919
File:Sungari.jpg, Cossack
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
s guard the CER bridge over the Sungari River in Harbin during the Russo-Japanese War (1905)
File:Lushunzhan.jpg, The Lüshun train station, built during the period of Russian control
File:The Official Saloon Car of the Chinese Eastern Railway Russian Railway Museum.jpg, A CER executive car at the Russian Railway Museum
The Russian Railway Museum is situated next to Baltiysky railway station in Saint Petersburg. The museum was established in 1978, its current site and exhibition opened to public on 1 November 2017. The museum utilizes the nineteenth century lo ...
Flags
The flag of the Chinese Eastern Railway is a combination of Chinese and Russian flags. It changed several times with the political changes of both owners. The first CER flag (1897–1915) was a combination of the triangular version of the
flag of the Qing dynasty
The flag of the Qing dynasty was an emblem adopted in the late 19th century featuring the Azure Dragon on a plain yellow field with the red flaming pearl in the upper left corner. It became the first national flag of China and is usually refe ...
and the
flag of Russia, with ''East Provinces Railway of Great Qing'' () in Chinese. The 1915–1925 flag replaced the flag of the Qing dynasty with a triangular version of the
five-colored flag, with ''East Provinces Railway Company of China'' () in Chinese. The flag was changed again in 1925 and 1932, with the
flag of the Soviet Union
The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), commonly known as the Soviet flag (), was the official state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922 to 1991. The flag's design and symbolism are derived fro ...
and the
flag of Manchukuo
The flag of the Empire of Manchuria had a yellow field with four horizontal stripes of different colours in the upper-left corner. The colours of the flag were based on the colours on the Five Races Under One Union flags used by the Beiyang govern ...
added.
Trains
The only train that covers the entire route is the train #19/20 "Vostok" (translated as "East") Moscow — Beijing.
The trip from Moscow to Beijing takes 146 hours (6 days, 2 hours). The journey in the opposite direction lasts 143 hours (5 days, 23 hours).
There is also a train #653/654 Zabaikalsk — Manzhouli which one can use to cross the
Russian-Chinese border. The trip takes 25 minutes.
See also
*
Harbin–Manzhouli railway
*
Harbin Russians
The term Harbin Russians or Russian Harbinites refers to several generations of Russians who lived in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Russians and other Europeans settlers were responsible for turning Harbin into a European city with th ...
*
Harbin–Suifenhe railway
*
Russian Railway Museum
The Russian Railway Museum is situated next to Baltiysky railway station in Saint Petersburg. The museum was established in 1978, its current site and exhibition opened to public on 1 November 2017. The museum utilizes the nineteenth century lo ...
,
St.Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
*
Russian gauge
*
Empire of Japan–Russian Empire relations
Relations between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire (1855–1917) were minimal until 1855, mostly friendly from 1855 to the early 1890s, but then turned hostile, largely over the status of Manchuria and of Korea. The two empires establ ...
*
History of Sino-Russian relations
References
Further reading
* Chia-pin, Liang. “History of the Chinese Eastern Railway: A Chinese Version.” ''Pacific Affairs'' 3#2 (1930), pp. 188–211
online in English translation* Deane, Frederick. "The Chinese Eastern Railway." ''Foreign Affairs'' 3#1 (1924), pp. 147–52
online* Elleman, Bruce A. "The Soviet Union's Secret Diplomacy Concerning the Chinese Eastern Railway, 1924–1925." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 53.2 (1994): 459–486.
* Kantorovich, A. J. “The Sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway.” ''Pacific Affairs'' 8#4 (1935) pp. 397–408,
online*
*
*
*
* Wang, Chin-Chun. "The Chinese Eastern Railway." ''Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'' 122.1 (1925): 57–69
online* Wang, C. C. “The Sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway.” ''Foreign Affairs'' 12#1 (1933), pp. 57–70
online
External links
Archival collections
Guide to the Photograph Album of the Chinese Eastern Railway.Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Views of the Chinese Eastern RailwayThis album contains 42 photographic prints depicting depots, railroad shops and yards, rolling stock, car interiors, tracks, health resorts, and other views along the line. Captions for the photographs are in Russian, Mandarin, and English.
Other
Hong Kong Railway Society web pages: under “English, Members Corner, Feature Articles”. Retrieved January 2009
{{Authority control
History of Manchuria
Railway lines in China
Rail transport in Siberia
Railway companies of China
Concessions in China
China–Russia relations
China–Soviet Union relations
1520 mm gauge railways in Russia
Standard gauge railways in China
Standard gauge railways in Russia
1520 mm gauge railways in China
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Heilongjiang