MANCHURIA, inan-choo'ri-a, China, com prises the northeasternmost portion of the em pire, called by the Chinese TuNG SAN SHENG, "Three Eastern Provinces,* from its adminis trative divisions, Hilung Kiang, the northern province; Kirin, the central province, and Sheng-King, the southern province. It lies mainly between lat. 40° and 53° N. and long. 118° and 135° E., and is separated from Asiatic Russia on the north and northeast by the Amur, on the east by the Usuri and on the northwest by the Argun. On the west it is bounded by Mongolia and China proper, part of the bound ary being the Palisade Barrier, separating it from the province of Pe-chi-li; on the south the boundaries are the Liao-tung Gulf, the Strait of Pe-chi-li, Korea Bay, the Yalu River and Korea. The estimated area is 363,610 square miles. Vast chains of mountains ramify all over the country, one of them forming the south limits of the valley of the Amur. The principal rivers are the Amur ; the Argun; the Sungari, the vast basin of which occupies a great pareof the territory; the Usuri, like the Sungari, a tributary of the Amur; and the Liao-ho, flowing south into the Gulf of Liao tung. Nonni is an important southward flowing tributary of the Sungari and the Hurka or Khurkha joins the same river from the south. i The climate is in most parts health ful and invigorating. In the northern and more elevated parts the cold of winter is in tense, the thermometer sometimes falling to 48° below zero and the snow lying for six months in the year. The summer temperature reaches about 90° in the shade. There are no roads in the modern sense of the word, transportation being best in winter on the frozen rivers.
The vast forests of the north are rich in useful timber of all kinds, such as walnut and cak, together with the soft pine and fir. They abound in wild animals, the tiger, panther, bear, wolf and stag, as well as the eagle and other birds of prey. The rivers abound with fish. The soil is exceedingly fertile, especially in the valleys of the Liao and Nonni rivers. In
the summer the southern part looks to an Amer ican much like Illinois, and one may find on its most northern hills lilies-of-the-valley,pink peonies, white and yellow daisies and the frag ile dog roses, as in Wisconsin and Minnesota. With the exception of four ice-locked months its fields are luxuriant with wheat, barley and millet, so that it has come to be called the "Gar den of China.* It has one of the richest soils in the world and with the development of the Loya bean in dustry has grown more rapidly than any other Chinese province. Not one-fifth of the arable land is under cultivation. In the warmer por tions the grape vine, indigo, cotton, opium, to bacco, sorghum, rice, ginseng, etc., are culti vated, the opium poppy being a valuable crop. The silkworm also is reared. The mineral wealth of Manchuria is great, but as yet is little developed. Iron, gold, silver, coal, peat, etc., occur in abundance. Not more than 10 per cent of the people of Manchuria are Man chus, Chinese forming 90 per cent of the popu lation. The Manchus are a Tungusian race. They are of a lighter complexion and a more powerful build than the Chinese, have the same conformation of the eyelids, but their counte nances are far more expressive and intellectual. In the 17th century they invaded China and placed their leader's son upon the throne. Since that time the Manchu dynasty has con tinued to reign in China, the Manchu language being the court and official language. Man churia possesses a probable native population of 20,000,000, of whom 10,000,000 inhabit the southern province of Sheng-King, 8,000,000 the central province of Kirin, and 2,000,000 the wild northern province of Hilung Kiang; but esti mates of total population vary from 5,750,000 to 29,400,000. A great immigration from Russia, China, Korea and Japan took place especially after the Russian occupation in 1900. See