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The 1940 Census of Manchuria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Edwin G. Beal Jr
Edwin G. Beal Jr
Affiliation:
The Library of Congress
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Extract

Many questions have been asked and are still being asked concerning the census which the Manchoukuo government conducted in 1940. It seems, therefore, that there is a need for a somewhat detailed statement of the background, aims, and methods of that census, and for a description of the results, in so far as they are available at present. No one familiar with the history of Manchuria will deny that it is one of the most vital and has been one of the most contested areas of the Far East. And though the vast majority of Americans, as well as the vast majority of Chinese, will deplore the auspices under which this census was conducted, it would be unrealistic to ignore the event, or to deny that the complete results, when they become available, will be of enormous value to those who must plan for the rehabilitation of Manchuria, and to those who hope to develop commercial relations with that area.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , May 1945 , pp. 243 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1945

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References

1 (Ti-i-tz'u) Manchoukuo nien-pao, pp. 45–82.

2 [Manchoukuo] cheng-fu kung-pao ([Mmshūkoku] seifu kōhō) [Gazette of the Manchoukuo Government], No. 477, Oct. 14, 1935. This Gazette is, for the most part, a bi-lingual publication, with parallel texts in Chinese and Japanese. Since the government which it represents, however, is nominally Chinese, the Chinese transcription of the title has been adopted here. In the remainder of this article it will be referred to as: CFKP.

3 Manshū ktmkei shiryō shūsei, pp. 634–635.

4 CFKP no. 651, May 22.1936.

5 CFKP no. 710, July 31, 1936.

6 CFKP no. 937, May 17, 1937.

7 Compiled by [Manchoukuo] Kuo-wu yūan Fa-chih ch'u [Bureau of Legislation of the State Council], and published in Hsinking by the Manchou hsing-cheng hsūeh-hui. The original text was issued November 1, 1934.

8 This issue of Cheng-fu kung-pao has never been received by the Library of Congress. This reference is taken from the Index (mu-lu) for May, 1941.

The “determined” 1940 census figures for the Kwantung Territory, subdivided by region, sex, and nationality, together with a comparison of the totals with those of the previous censuses, were published on April 19, 1941, in Kantō-kyoku kyoku-hō [Gazette of the Kwantung Government], no. 858. Since the Kwantung Territory has never been considered a part of “Manchoukuo,” however, it does not lie within the scope of the present article.

9 Manchoukuo fa-ling chi-lan, vol. 2, Section (p'im) on Documents (vxn-shu) and Statistics (t'tmg-cht), Chapter (chang) 3: Statistics (t'ung-chi), Surveys (tiao-ch'a), and Reports (ch'ing-pao), pp. 84–87.

10 For a brief discussion of the town and village “systems,” see: Manchoukuo State Council, Bureau of Information, ed., An Outline of the Manchoukuo Empire, 1939, Dairen, 1939, p. 41.Google Scholar

11 Manchoukuo fa-ling chi-lan, vol. 2, Wen-shu t'ung-chi p'ien, ch. 3, pp. 87–89.

12 For a discussion of the pao-thia system as it has been developed in Manchuria in recent times, see: Manchoukuo State Council, Bureau of Information, ed., op. cit., pp. 78–79.Google Scholar

13 This term has been very kindly explained by Mr. Owen Lattimore in a letter dated February 2, 1945. Regarding the term Nu-t'u-k'o Ta, Mr. Lattimore writes as follows:

“The first word is the Mongol nutuk (notok) ‘area within which a nomadic group has ownership in the form of right to pasture and right to move between pastures’ … Ta is a Manchu designation for an official. … In certain marginal Mongol regions, like Hailar and Chahar, Manchu was strongly established as the administrative language; hence the persistence of a number of Manchu designations of officials.”