Background: Illusory Empire and Great Migration Campaign

Abstract

The first big question is: Why did the Japanese farmers settle in Manchuria? This project began in March 1932 when Japan created a puppet state, Manchukuo, in Northeast China. Pu Yi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty (deposed in 1912), became Manchukuo’s emperor in March 1934; however, he remained its nominal ruler (see photo- graph 1). Manchukuo was de facto a Japanese colony in Manchuria, controlled by the Kwantung Army. This Japanese military apparatus in charge of the region was the most celebrated Japanese colonial garrison force, and exercised considerable autonomy from the Imperial General Headquarters (IGH) in Tokyo. Considering Manchuria to be Japan’s lifeline, the Kwantung Army wanted a more aggressive expansion policy than the IGH and the civilian cabinet of Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirƭ (his first cabinet, January 1926—April 1927; his second cabinet, April 1931—December 1931). The Kwantung Army bombed the South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (present Shenyang) in September 1931, without authorization from Tokyo. It alleged that Chang Hsueh-liang (Zhang Xueliang), the heir to the influential Manchurian warlord Chang Tso-lin (Zhang Zuolin), was the culprit. This conspiracy gave the Kwantung Army an excuse to expand its military control over the entire region of Northeast China, ignoring the second Wakatsuki cabinet’s decision not to expand.