DIANCHITRIA, man-eb5iVrA-it (the land of the Shui•hi's). The northeastern part of the Chinese Empire. situated east of Mongolia and the Argun River (which formerly traversed Man churian territory), south of the Amur Diver (which separates it from Siberia), and west of the rsuri. which separates it from Primorsk (Maritime Province) or Russian (a Chinese possession until 1860). It is bounded on the southeast and south by Korea, the hay of Korea, and the Gulf of Liao-tung. and is included between the parallels of 39° and 53° 30' N.. and the meridians of 117° and 135° E. As already indicated. it was formerly much more extensive it is now, Russian encroachments (begin ning about the middle of the seventeenth cen tury) having gradually narrowed it down to its present estimated area of 365.000 square miles. The eountry is known to the Chinese as Tung San Sfing(or Shi•ngl.i.e. the 'Three Eastern Prov inces.' referring to its three administrative divi SjfillS: (1 ) The Province of Tsi-tsi-har or Hei lung-kiang in the north, with an estimated area of 190,000 square miles; (2) Kirin (q.v.) in thu centre, the original home of the Manchus, area 115,000 square miles; and (3) Shing-king or Fling-Viol-fit in the south, area 60,000 square miles. This is, strictly speaking, no part of Manchuria, having been a Chinese province be fore the rise of the Manaus.
ToroGnAellY. The whole eastern part of the country bordering on Korea and Russian Man churia is occupied by huge mountain masses with many fertile valleys. The general trend of the ranges is from northeast to southwest,and the backbone of the whole is the Shan-a-lin or 'Long White Mountains.' In the northwest, within the
loop formed by the Argun and the Amur. is found the main mass of tile Greater Khingan (or llingan) system, stretching southward into _Mon golia, but sending out many spurs and ridges both westward toward Siberia and eastward through Tsi-lsi-har, forming in the centre of that province the hills and plateaus of the Lesser Khingan ranges. South of this (extending us far as the Gulf of Liao-tung) and west of the Shan-a-lin ranges lies the great plain of the country, diversified by hill and dale, with occa sional swampy regions, but of great agricultural value, producing large crops of pulse, barley, wheat. millet, maize, rice, cotton, indigo, tobacco, sesame. opium, ginseng, rhubarb. etc., and capa ble of sustaining immense herds of cattle. It has been estimated that at present only one-fifth of the arable land is under cultivation.
The mountains are still well covered with for ests, especially in the northern province, but those bordering on Korea are being rapidly de nuded to supply the needs of China. Tigers, wolves, bears, deer, foxes, martens. and other fur bearing animals abound. and hunting and trap ping are important occupations. Agriculture, however, and the many minor industries con nected with it, such as the manufacture of oil, oil-cake, etc., and the wild-silk industry. furnish employment for the bulk of the inhabitants.