The South Manchuria Railway, officially the South Manchuria Railway Company, Ltd. (南満州鉄道株式会社, kyujitai: 南滿洲鐵道株式會社, Minamimanshū Tetsudō Kabushikigaisha), Mantetsu (Japanese: 満鉄, romanized: Mantetsu) or Mantie for short, was a large National Policy Company of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operation of railways on the Dalian–Fengtian (Mukden)–Changchun (called Xinjing from 1931 to 1945) corridor in northeastern China, as well as on several branch lines.
In 1905, after Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, this area was taken over by Japan as the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Mantetsu was established in 1906 to operate the railways taken over from the Russians. Subsequently, Mantetsu expanded by building new lines for itself and for Chinese-owned undertakings, and after the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, it was also entrusted with the management of the Manchukuo National Railway. Between 1917 and 1925, Mantetsu was also responsible for the management of the Chōsen Government Railway in Japanese-occupied Korea.
However, it was also involved in nearly every aspect of the economic, cultural and political life of Manchuria, from power generation to agricultural research, for which reason it was often referred to as "Japan's East India Company in China". Nisshō Inoue, the founder of the interwar Japanese far-right militant organization Ketsumeidan (血盟団, League of Blood), was employed by Mantetsu from 1909 to 1920.
In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded and overran Manchukuo, and following Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, Mantetsu itself was dissolved by order of the American occupation authorities in occupied Japan. The railway was operated by the Soviets for a time, and handed over to China Railway after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Fengtian has been called Shenyang since 1945, and the line from there to Dalian is today part of the Shenda Railway from Changchun to Dalian, whilst the Shenyang–Changchun section is now part of the Jingha Railway; the branch lines have also been part of China Railway since then.
Contents
History
The main line from Changchun to Port Arthur, as Luishun was called under Russian rule, was built between 1898 and 1903 by the Russians as the southern branch of their Chinese Eastern Railway according to the 1896 secret treaty and the 1898 lease convention between Qing China and Imperial Russia in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War.
Following the Japanese victory over Imperial Russia in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War and the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, most of the southern branch (Harbin—Port Arthur) of the China Eastern Railway was transferred to Japanese control. The last station remaining in Russian hands was at Kuanchengzi (寬城子) in modern-day Changchun. The northernmost Japanese-controlled station was the Changchun railway station.
Under the authorization of Emperor Meiji, Japan then established a new semi-privately held company, the South Manchurian Railway Company (a.k.a. Mantetsu), with a capitalization of 200 million yen to operate the railroad and to develop settlements and industries along its route. The organizing committee was headed by General Kodama Gentarō, and after his death, by General Terauchi Masatake. Count Gotō Shimpei, formerly the Japanese governor of Taiwan, was appointed the first president of the company, and the headquarters was established in Tokyo before relocated to Dalian in 1907.
One of the first tasks of the new company was to change the railway gauge. The rail line was originally built according to the gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm), during the war it had been converted by the advancing Japanese troops to the Japanese 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge, in order to facilitate the use of rolling stock brought from Japan. But once the new Japanese South Manchuria Railway Company took possession of the line, it had the tracks re-gauged again, now to the gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, presumably with an eye to connecting the system to other railways of China.
In 1907, an agreement was reached between the Japanese and Russian authorities about connecting the Japanese South Manchuria Railway with the line to the north, which remained in the hands of Russian China Far East Railway. According to the agreement, Russian gauge tracks would continue from the "Russian" Kuanchengzi Station to the "Japanese" Changchun station, and vice versa, tracks on the "gauge adapted by the South Manchuria Railway" (i.e., the standard gauge) would continue from the Changchun Station to the Kuancheng Station.
Railway dining car service
In conjunction with magazine advertising by Japan Tourist Bureau (JTB), the railway attempted to create a unique food culture in Manchukuo. They offered a variety of special cuisine such as Yamato beef steak, Mongolian barbeque, and sorghum vulgare (kaoliang) confectionery in dining cars along the line and in the railway-operated Yamato Hotel. There was little uptake in the cuisine however after the fall of Manchukuo.
Network
Anpō Line: Fengtian–Andong, 260.2 km (161.7 mi)
Bushun Line: Sujiatun–Fushun, 52.9 km (32.9 mi), electrified
Eikō Line: Dashiqiao–Yingkou, 22.4 km (13.9 mi)
Endai Colliery Line: Yantai–Yantai Colliery, 15.6 km (9.7 mi), freight only
Futō Line: Shahekou–Dalian Quay, 6.9 km (4.3 mi), freight only
Gusai Line: Dalian–Wuqi, 2.9 km (1.8 mi), freight only
Kanseishi Line: Nanguangling–Dalian Ganjingzi Quay, 11.9 km (7.4 mi), freight only
Kinjō Line: Jinzhou–Chengzitan, 102.1 km (63.4 mi)
Kon'yu Connecting Line: Hunhe–Yushutai, 4.1 km (2.5 mi), freight only
North Chosen East Line: Tumen, Manchukuo–Namyang, Korea–Unggi, Korea, 158.5 km (98.5 mi)
North Chosen West Line: Sangsambong–Namyang 36.0 km (22.4 mi) (entirely in Korea)
Nyūzen Line: Shahekou–Ruchuan Quay, 5.8 km (3.6 mi), freight only
Rashinfutō Line: Najin–Najin Quay, 3.0 km (1.9 mi), freight only (entirely in Korea)
Renkyō Line: Dalian–Xinjing, 701.4 km (435.8 mi)
Ryojun Line: Zhoushuizi–Lüshun, 50.8 km (31.6 mi)