Shenyang
Historical Background

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Shenyang, the capital of the Liaoning province, dates back 7,200 years to the "new" Stone Age. The city endured numerous name changes throughout its "growing years" beginning with Houchen County in 206 BC, followed by Shenzou under the Liao (907-1125) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties, and then Shenyang in 1297.

Its glory days began in 1625, when the Manchus, under the rule of "Dragon Tiger General" Nurachi, toppled the Ming dynasty and crowned Shenyang as China’s new capital. To celebrate the occasion, Nurachi honored Shenyang’s dubious "tradition" by renaming it Shengjing. Yet, oddly, it would become better known throughout the country as Mukden.

So as to stamp Shenyang with an appearance of prominence the Imperial Palace was built in 1626. Patterned after Beijing’s Forbidden City, it easily achieved its purpose of impressing by featuring more than 300 rooms and two massively large courtyards. But it was not enough to keep the Manchus in town. In 1644, they bolted for the more prestigious confines of Beijing and opened the long running Qing dynasty (1644-1911). As a small consolation to Shenyang, the Qing’s designated it as a "secondary capital" under the new name of Fengtian. Despite the name change, the nation still referred to it as Mukden.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894, which flared over dibs on Korea, ended miserably for China. The resulting Shimonoseki Treaty garroted China with economically crippling indemnities and forced it to relinquish Dalian and Port Arthur, Shenyang’s coastal neighbors, to Japan. Russia, meanwhile, was in dire need for an ice-free port during winter and secretly forged a deal with China. In exchange for Dalian, Russia would help pay off China’s war fines.

From 1898 through 1904 Russia, much to the ire of Japan, "rented" Dalian and the surrounding peninsula. Russian influences quickly seeped into Shenyang and helped modernize it by connecting it with the South Manchurian Railroad. For the first time in Shenyang’s history, it now possessed the ability to directly ship its bounty of farm products and mined ores to inland China. Within three years Shenyang would mushroom into one of Asia’s largest manufacturing centers.

Prosperity, however, took a hit when Japanese anger with Russia’s presence precipitated the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. On March 10, 1905, following a gruesome 15-day battle (26,000 Russians and 41,000 Japanese perished) along the Sho Ha River just south of Shenyang, Russian forces capitulated. The resulting Portsmouth Treaty mediated by the United States worked in Shenyang’s favor for unlike Dalian Shenyang was ceded back to China.

Even though Shenyang enjoyed autonomy from foreign domination, Japan’s presence in nearby Dalian stained the city with military tensions. On September 18, 1931, the Japanese used a train car explosion (now cleverly known in history books as the "September 18 Incident") north of Shenyang as a murky pretext for invading the city and seizing all of northeast China. They quickly established a puppet state called Manchukuo and elevated former Qing emperor Pu Yi as its figurehead emperor. Despite Japanese occupation, Shenyang’s industrial center continued to swell. Copper and zinc smelting plants expanded, as did heavy machinery and chemical factories.

Japan was finally expelled once and for all following its defeat in World War II. However, this did not signal an end to the presence of uniformed armed men. For almost 10 months, a Civil War battle between Mao Zedong’s Communists and China’s Nationalists (the Kuomintang) raged in and around downtown Shenyang. On November 1, 1948, the Communists claimed victory and shortly after seized control of the entire nation. But, more importantly from Shenyang’s perspective, it restored peace to the city.

Today, Shenyang towers as one of China's largest metro with almost 7 million residents. As the largest railroad hub in northeast China, it continues to enjoy "industrial giant" status. Textiles, transformers, chemicals, medicines, tractors, motor vehicles and heavy machinery are all manufactured here, and it also harbors the largest machine-tool plant in all of China. Scientific research also interweaves with its economic fabric thanks to the presence of 30 colleges and universities. And the recent import of major four and five star chain hotels signals its intent on developing a strong tourist market.