So long as it was under the direction of the Chinese, much of this activity had as its objective the construction of north-south lines parallel to the S.M.R. and leading towards independent junc tions on the east-west main line of the C.E.R. (N.M.R.). Japa nese capital built an exceedingly important railway leaving the S.M.R. main line at Supingkai, half-way between Mukden and Changchun (Hsinching), and passing by way of Taonanfu to join the main line of the N.M.R. at Angangchi, near Tsitsihar. This line parallels not so much the S.M.R. as the branch of the N.M.R. from Changchun (Hsinching) to Harbin and gives the S.M.R. di rect access, without the intermediary of Harbin, to a rapidly de veloping part of the central plain. Farther south the Chinese themselves were engaged in railway construction on both sides of the S.M.R. main line. On the west a branch led off from the Peking-Mukden line and headed towards the Japanese Supingkai Taonanfu-Angangchi branch, with the possibility that in the future it might effect a junction with the N.M.R. independently of the Japanese line. On the east the Peking-Mukden railway was ex tended beyond its Mukden terminus to Hailung, half-way to Kirin, to which it was planned ultimately to continue it. Both of these railways paralleled the S.M.R. main line and both communicated with Hulutao on the Peking-Mukden system, an ice-free port on the Gulf of Liaotung whose harbour works the Chinese engaged in developing. Japan saw in this Chinese railway construction a threat to Dairen and alleged that China had on two occasions, in 1905 and in 1915, promised not to construct any lines parallel to and in competition with the S.M.R. until the expiry of the com pany's lease. China in reply maintained that the agreements re ferred only to foreign projects other than Japanese. It was gen erally admitted, however, that these lines, although numerous, would be no more than sufficient to carry the intense traffic that was likely to develop in the future.
Af ter the creation of Manchoukuo, the Japanese entered upon a period of intense railway building. They purchased from Russia (1935) the latter's interest in the Chinese Eastern railway. To the approximately 4,000mi. of railway in existence in 1931 they have added about 2,000 miles. They completed some of the lines begun by the Chinese. They pushed the Changchun (Hsinching) line eastward to Seishin and Rashin, on the northern coast of Korea. At Rashin, only a short distance south of the Russian border, they developed a new port, presumably partly with strate gic purposes in mind. From Harbin and Tsitsihar they built lines northward toward the Amur, presumably again in part with the purpose in mind that they would prove useful in the war with Rus sia which the Army regarded as inevitable. They completed a new line from Mukden to Peking by way of Jehol. All of these lines also contributed to the economic development of the country.
In parenthesis it must be noted that the waterways within Manchuria function only as the adjunct of the railway system. The main objective of the river traffic is Harbin, the point of transhipment from the river to the railway of the trade of the whole Sungari valley. Many of the steamers plying on the Sun
gari were until recently the property of the C.E.R. (N.M.R.). The course of the Amur is not the great artery of river traffic that might be expected, for its mouth lies far to the north away from all ocean trade routes, and its middle course from the point of view of through traffic is paralleled by both the Trans-Siberian and the North Manchuria railways.
Apart from the lines penetrating across or skirting the edges of the great timber reserves of the East Manchurian Highlands, this intense railway activity is primarily intended to promote the agricultural development of the plains. The lowland corridor of South Manchuria has hitherto been the main seat of cultivation but it is being rapidly overtaken by the central plain which is not only much greater in area but has also, apart from its south-west ern section (Eastern Gobi), considerably more fertile soils. Po tentially the richest districts of all lie in an arc passing from Changchun (Hsinching) and Kirin through Harbin towards Tsitsi har, and it is this area that in the 1920's was the main scene of Chinese colonization. It lay significantly enough, in the zone of the C.E.R. (N.M.R.) rather than of the S.M.R. and was there fore the objective of the branch railways constructed by Japanese interests, seeking to divert traffic from Vladivostok to Dairen. Although the three provinces of the Chinese regime divided the central plain between tnem, yet the following figures for Fengtien and for Kirin and Heilungkiang give some indication of the rela tive agricultural value of south and north respectively. Fengtien had a total area of 57,800,000ac. of which 19,100,00o were culti vable and 12,700,000 actuary cultivated. Kirin and Heilungkiang (i.e., North Manchuria) together had an area of 187,20o,000ac. of which 38,200,000 were cultivable and 18,200,000 cultivated.
Manchuria is climatically similar to North China and has much the same agricultural character. The cold winters limit cultiva tion to the summer half-year during which only one crop can be grown, apart perhaps from a catch-crop after the main harvest. The staple crops are those adapted to a relatively low rainfall: millet, kaoliang, maize, wheat, barley, and legumes, especially beans. Cereals and beans form the essential elements in the rotation system. These features are characteristic of all Manchuria and in deed of North China, but as between the north and south there is a difference as regards the relative importance of particular crops. In South Manchuria the warm temperate cereals (millet, kaoliang, and maize) predominate, but northwards they gradually give place to wheat, barley, and oats (not grown at all in the south) which are the staple crops of Heilungkiang. Moreover much of the millet grown in North Manchuria is harvested green, because of the short growing season. Certain subtropical crops, rice, and cotton, characteristic of the Yangtze valley, are cultivated where the conditions are favourable in North China and even as far north as South Manchuria, which has over ,000,000ac. under rice and about 400,000 under cotton. Some rice is grown in Kirin, but both crops are absent from Heilungkiang.