Discussion On The Railways Of Self-Construction Initiated By Northeast Government And People In The First Years Of The Republic And Resistance To The Railway System Controlled By Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation

Modern Chinese northeast railways'transportation were being monopolized by the imperialist Powers for a long period of time, especially by the Japanese imperialist. Since striving for the Southern Manchuria Railway by provoking the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese imperialist had been waiting for opportunities to grab the northeast railways for expanding the Southern Manchuria Railway's transportation. Constructing the railway network of taking the Southern Manchuria Railway as center and covering the entire Three Eastern Provinces, the Japanese imperialist was trying in vain to control the Chinese northeast economic lifeline and eventually realize its ambition of the Three Eastern Provinces. Furthermore, the Japanese imperialist planed"Man-Meng Railway Network"in 1925, which was completed within 20 years and included 35 railway lines. The overall length of the Man-Meng Railway Network was more than 8,000 kilometers. Before the September 18th Incident , the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation had grabed all or parts of management and operation rights of Ji-Chang ,Ji-Dun, Si-Tao and Tao-Ang railways, which had become the feeders of the Southern Manchuria Railway.The fact that the railway system controlled by the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation monopolized the Chinese northeast railway transportation aroused great dissatisfaction of the northeast local government leaded by Zhang Zuo-Lin. In 1922, the northeast local government decided to construct its own railways in order to free from the trammels of the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation in the fields of the economy and military transportation. The northeast local government planed to build two main railways which was situated on both sides of the Southern Manchuria railway. One main railroad situated on the eastern side of the Southern Manchuria railway connected the capitals of the Fengtian and Heilongjiang province. Another main railroad situated on the western side of the Southern Manchuria railway connected the capitals of the Fengtian and Jilin province. The Northeast Traffic Committee was set up in 1924, leading body of the northeast self-constructive railway network. Before the September 18th Incident, the northeast local government had constructed nine railroads, that is the Jinzhou-Chaoyang railroad, the Dahushan-Tongliao railroad, the Fengtian-Hailong railroad, the Jilin-Hailong railroad, the Hulun-Hailan railroad, the Qiqihaer-Keshan railroad, the Taonan-Suolun railroad, Hegang railroad and Kaiyuan-Xifeng railroad. In the first years of the Republic, 85% of the Chinese national railways were controlled by the imperialist Powers, only 15% were self-constructive, of which the two-thirds were constructed by the northeast local government and people. The above number fully reflected the achievement of the northeast self-constructive railways.The railways constructed by the northeast local government and people suffered the extreme hatred from the Japanese imperialist and the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation. Therefore, the Japanese imperialist and the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation continually lodged the unreasonable protect in the course of constructing railways. Withstanding the pressure from the Japanese imperialist, the northeast local government not only completed railway construction depend on its own power but also improved railway operation by taking a series of measures for enhancing the self-constructive competitiveness and resisting the monopoly of the railway system controlled by the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation to the northeast railways'transportation. In the first years of the Republic, the northeast self-constructive railways not only helped the northeast and its industrial and commercial development, but also break the monopoly of the railway system controlled by the Southern Manchuria Railway Corporation to the northeast railways'transportation and crush the Japanese imperialist's conspiracy of annexing the northeast China by controlling railway transportation, which occupied an important place in modern Chinese anti-imperialist history.