The South Manchuria Railway Zone ( ja, 南満州鉄道附属地, translit=Minami Manshū Tetsudō Fuzoku-chi; ) or SMR Zone, was the area of Japanese

extraterritorial In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...

rights in

northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of ...

, in connection with the operation of the

South Manchurian Railway The South Manchuria Railway ( ja, 南満州鉄道, translit=Minamimanshū Tetsudō; ), officially , Mantetsu ( ja, 満鉄, translit=Mantetsu) or Mantie () for short, was a large of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operatio ...

History

Following the Japanese victory in 1905 over Imperial Russia in 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 ...

and the signing of the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

, the South Manchuria branch (from Changchun to Lüshun) of the

China Far East Railway 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 (als ...

was transferred to Japanese control. Japan claimed that this control included all the rights and privileges granted to Russia by China in the Li-Lobanov Treaty of 1896, as enlarged by the Kwantung Lease Agreement of 1898, which included absolute and exclusive administration within the railway zone. The Zone was geographically a 62 m wide strip of land on either side of the

tracks, extending along the 700 km main trunk route from Dalian to Changchun, the 260 km

Mukden Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu name Mukden, is a major Chinese sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. Located in central-north Liaoning, it is the prov ...

to Antung route, and four other spur routes, for a total length of 1100 km and a total land area of 250 km². The rail lines connected 25 cities and towns, and within each town, the zone included warehouses, repair shops, coal mines and electrical facilities that were deemed necessary to maintain the trains. Coox, Nomonhan, pp.3 Japan stationed railway guards to provide security for the trains and tracks throughout the zone, but they were regular Japanese soldiers and frequently carried on maneuvers outside the railway areas. In addition, Japan also maintained Consular Police attached to the Japanese consulates and branch consulates in major cities as Harbin,

Tsitsihar Qiqihar () is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total popula ...

, and Manchowli as well as in the Chientao District in which lived large numbers of ethnic

Koreans Koreans ( South Korean: , , North Korean: , ; see names of Korea) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. Koreans mainly live in the two Korean nation states: North Korea and South Korea (collectively and simply re ...

. In 1915, Japan presented to China the

Twenty-One Demands The Twenty-One Demands ( ja, 対華21ヶ条要求, Taika Nijūikkajō Yōkyū; ) was a set of demands made during the First World War by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to the government of the Republic of China on 18 ...

, resulting in the Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1915. It provided that Japanese subjects would be free to reside and travel in South Manchuria, and engage in business and manufacture of any kind and lease land that was necessary for erecting suitable buildings for trade, manufacturing, and agricultural enterprises. Japan loosely interpreted that to include most of Manchuria in the term "South Manchuria." After the foundation of Manchukuo, with full Japanese control over all of Manchuria, the zone ceased to have a function and was abolished in 1937.

References

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External links

INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR EAST Judgement, Chapter III

Notes

{{reflist 1906 establishments in China 1906 establishments in the Japanese colonial empire 1937 disestablishments in China 1937 disestablishments in Japan Foreign relations of the Empire of Japan Japanese colonial empire History of Manchuria Kwantung Army Kwantung Leased Territory Rail transport in Manchukuo