MUKDEN, the capital of Fengtien province, the seat of Government of the "Three Eastern Provinces," i.e., Manchuria, and the ancestral capital of the Manchu Dynasty which ruled China from 1644 to 1911 (4i° 55' N. and 123° 25' E.). It is known to the Chinese as Fengtien or Shengking ("Abundant capi tal"). It is situated on the Hun-ho tributary of the Liao-ho, where the broad basin of central Manchuria contracts to a relatively narrow corridor between the east Manchurian Highlands and the Jehol hills which prolong the Mongolian Plateau almost to the coast. Mukden therefore controls the main north-south route which traverses this Liao corridor and the still narrower coastal sill giving access to the north China plain. Moreover the valley of the Upper Hun-ho, which here debouches on to the lowland, affords one of the chief routes through the east Manchurian Highlands. The strategic and focal significance of its position was realized at an early stage. In the 12th century it was the northernmost of the three capitals of the Empire of the Kin Tatars (Golden Horde), originally from the steppes of northern Manchuria. About the same period Aisiu Goro, from whom ultimately descended the Manchu dynasty, had his capital in the neighbourhood of the Chang-pai-shan mountains, north of the Korean peninsula. In the early 57th century his descendant Nurhachu, for the purpose of organizing and uniting the various Manchu tribes and with a view to the conquest of China, moved his capital down to the plain of the Liao-ho, towards the Chinese frontier. Mukden was then known as Shengking and proved an admirable organising base for the conquest of China. In 1644 when the Manchus sup planted the Mings on the Imperial throne the capital was trans ferred to Peking. Shengking, however, retained its prestige as the older capital of the reigning dynasty; the treasures of the royal house were deposited in its Palaces and the tombs of the earlier Emperors (particularly the mausoleum of Tatsung d. 1644 at Pei lung, i.e., North Mausoleum, about four miles from the city) are among the most famous monuments of China. In 1658 the provin cial government of Fengtien was established and the city became known by its present name of Fengtien (Mukden).
In the period of struggle between Russia and Japan for domi nance in Manchuria, Mukden was inevitably one of the key posi tions. It was for a time a Russian stronghold and was the scene of the protracted "Battle of Mukden" which lasted from February 19th to March loth, 1905, when the city fell to the Japanese. Since the Russo-Japanese War the Japanese concession in Mukden has been one of their chief bases for the exploitation of South Man churia, but it has also been the seat of government of the Chinese "Viceroy" of the three Manchurian provinces (Fengtien, Kirin and Heilungkiang). The relationship of this official to the Japa nese on the one hand and the various parties contending for power in China Proper on the other has been for several years, and still is, one of the crucial factors in Chinese politics. During the Civil War (1924-27) Chang Tso-lin, the "Mukden War-Lord" governed Manchuria as virtually an independent country, from which he advanced, as the Manchus had done before him, to dominate the government of Peking. As a result of the advance of the National ist armies to the capital in 1928 and the dramatic death of Chang Tso-ling on his retreat to Mukden, the status of Manchuria has now somewhat altered. The position at the conclusion of 1928
was that the "War-Lord's" son, Chang Hsueh-liang, had given his adhesion to the Nanking Government and was one of its 16 State Councillors, but retained control over a separate sphere of administration in Manchuria.
As a focus of trade and industry Mukden reflects the remark able economic development of Manchuria during recent years. The natural advantages of its site and its central position in rela tion to China on the one hand and the Japanese sphere in Korea and Kwantung on the other have made it the chief centre of the rapidly expanding railway system of South Manchuria. It is the central junction of the South Manchurian Railway where the main north-south line from Changchun (linked with the Chinese Eastern Railway) to Dairen in the Kwantung Leased Territory is connected with the Mukden-Antung-Korean system, and where too a short line runs to the Fushun coalfield. With China Proper it is connected by the Peking-Mukden (Chinese Government) Railway, recently continued north-eastwards to Hailung and ulti mately to reach Kirin. Mukden lies near the junction of the rich agricultural Plain of South Manchuria with the forested highlands on the east and their resources are becoming increasingly avail able by the good system of communications. The chief crops of the plain are soya beans, grains, kaoliang and sugar-beet, along the S.M.R. zone, while the hills furnish forest products of various kinds, and other raw materials such as furs and hides reach Muk den from the North. In comparatively close proximity to the city are the Fushun coalfield, at present the most productive in all China, and the smaller Yentai field. Upon this varied basis of pro duction many manufacturing industries have been developed in recent years. These include flour-mills, oil mills, tanneries, paper mills, soap factories and soy manufactures, while the expansion of the road system is making Mukden the headquarters of numerous transport companies, with good prospects for the motor industry. The railways and the Mukden Government Arsenal have created a strong demand for engineering material and Mukden has the be ginnings of an important iron industry in the Ta Yeh works.
Mukden is the chief educational centre of South Manchuria, and its higher institutions include colleges established under Japanese, Chinese and missionary auspices, notably the North-Eastern Uni versity and the Mukden Medical College (Presbyterian Mission) which has done notable work in combating the bubonic plague, at times a serious menace to Manchuria.
Mukden now consists of three parts:—the old city, containing the Imperial Palaces and the Chinese Government Offices, sur rounded by a brick wall about 3o feet high and four miles in cir cumference; the New Town or Japanese concession, which is the property of the South Manchurian Railway and laid out on a grand scale with wide macadamised roads, squares and parks; and an intermediate commercial quarter. The road system has been much improved; an electric-tram route under municipal control runs between the West Gate of the old city and the borders of the Japanese concession and a motor-omnibus service—a joint Chinese-Japanese enterprise—links the city with the South Man churian Railway station. The Post Office estimate of the popula tion of the Mukden administrative area (hsien) is 773,846 and the census of 1926 returned that of the native city at 245,315. (See MANCHURIA.)