The history of Manchuria proper begins with Nurhachi, a strong and warlike leader who in the 16c united the warring tribes of the northeast against the corrupt central rule of Ming dynasty Liaoning. He introduced an alphabet based on the Mongol script, administered Manchu law and by 1625 had created a firm and relatively autonomous government that was in constant confrontation with the Chinese. His successor, Dorgun, the Regent of his grandson, Shunchih went a stage further and with the help of the defeated Ming general, Wu Sankuei marched on Beijing and in 1644 proclaimed the Qing dynasty- the beginning of what was to be a long line of Manchu emperors.                                                                                                     The first of these- Shunchih, Kang Xi and Qian Long - were keen to establish  the Qing over the whole of China and did their  best to assimilate Chinese customs and ideas. They were however, even more determined to protect their homeland and so the whole of the north-east was closed to the rest of China: this way, they could protect their monopoly on the valuable ginseng trade and keep the Chinese from ploughing up their land and desecrating the graves of their ancestors. It was a policy that couldn't last forever though: the 18c saw increasing immigration into Manchuria and by 1878 the laws had been rescinded and the Chinese were moving into Manchuria by the million, escaping the flood-ravaged plains of the south for the fertile lands of the north-east.                                                                                                             All this time Manchuria was being coveted by its neighbours. The Sino-Japanese war of 1894 left the Japanese occupying the Liaotung peninsula and the only way the Chinese could regain it was by turning to Russia who was also hungry for influence in the area. The deal was that the Russians be allowed to build a railway that linked Vladivostok to the main body of Russia - an arrangement which in fact led to a gradual and eventually, complete occupation of Manchuria by the imperial Russian armies. This was by and large a bloody affair marked by atrocities and brutal reprisals and in 1904, the Japanese decided (by declaring war) to adopt the Russians' privileges in Manchuria for themselves.                                                                                               Japan's designs on Manchuria didn't end there: their population had almost doubled over just 60 years, and this, coupled with a disastrous economic situation at home and an extreme militaristic regime, led to their invasion of the region in 1932, establishing the puppet-state of Manchukuo. The aims of this were ostensibly peaceful but in spite of that Japan was unceremoniously booted out of the League of Nations and the state never really took legitimate root. Also, it was characterised by some examples of horrific and violent oppression- not least in a secret Japanese germ warfare research centre in Pingfang where experiments conducted on people during the last war were on a par with anything that happened at Auschwitz.                                          There were bitterly disputed cases both for and against the Japanese occupation of Manchukho- sovereignty over the area had always been contentious, though there is certainly no case for its ever being Japanese. The Japanese undoubtedly brought a degree of prosperity and organization, even a certain stability but as before, the indigenous peoples and peasants who had flocked to Manchuria from all over China suffered degradation, oppression and brutality. The only reason the Japanese regime lasted so long was because the Chinese were occupied elsewhere with Mao's Red Armies and it was only with the establishment of a united front between the Communists and the Kuomingtang that Manchuria was finally( in 1945) rid of the Japanese forever. Of course, the region's problems didn't stop there and it was some time (and in spite of a vicious campaign against the Reds backed by both Russia and the USA) befoe Mao and the Comunists fully took control of the region.