Hi everyone, this is Klaus.
Northeast China has been failing these years. Some long for the prosperity of Manchuria under Japan.
Nationalists, who strongly believe in unification, have always looked down on Manchuria.
We aren't going to join the debate today,
but the prosperity of Manchuria is beyond doubt.
Even though Manchuria had suffered the ravages of war and been plundered by the Soviets,
for a long time after the communists took over China in 1949,
the three northeastern provinces remained China's industrial and economic center.
Communist China's first car, first jet plane, first movie, etc., were all made in Manchuria,
a place of so many light and heavy industrial firsts,
all due to its growth under Japanese rule.
Today, let's have a look at how prosperous Manchukuo was back then,
how it was pillaged by the Soviets,
and how much support the Chinese Communist Party received from the Soviet Union in Manchuria.
I hope you enjoy this video.
Manchukuo was a puppet regime fostered by Japanese invaders in 1932.
To the Japanese government, Manchukuo was just as important as, if not more than, Japan itself.
This was shown in Japan's decrypted combat plan:
If Japan were to fall, it would retreat to Manchukuo and continue to fight.
Japan took seriously the development and construction of Manchukuo.
Thus, in August 1945, when the Soviet Red Army entered the Manchuria,
Manchukuo had developed into Asia's largest economy, surpassing Japan.
Its GDP was only lower than the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom,
ranking fourth in the world, so its name "Asia's industrial center" was well-deserved.
So, how powerful was Manchukuo?
Highly developed industry
Manchukuo was the fourth largest industrial entity in the world,
accounting for nearly half of the coal production,
nearly 90% of the pig iron production, over 90% of the steel production,
over 90% of the power generation in Asia.
Its sulfuric acid production was nearly 70% of Asia's total,
its output of soda ash 60% of Asia's total,
its cement production nearly 70% of Asia's total,
and the output of the machinery industry over 90% of Asia's total.
Travelling from Shenyang, known as the "Oriental Ruhr" back then, to Dalian, a port city, by train,
you would see factories and urban areas everywhere on the way.
When the Northeast was taken back in 1945, it accounted for 85% of the national industrial output,
while Taiwan accounted for 10%, and the rest of the country, namely areas like Shanghai, made up 5%.
At that time, modern industry couldn't be found anywhere else in China.
Thriving private businesses
In addition to well developed industry,
there were very active private businesses in Manchuria, and the people were rich.
Manchukuo fell on August 18, 1945.
When it was returned to the Republic of China,
China’s per capita GDP was US$40,
whereas the per capita GDP of Manchukuo was US$315.
By 1975, mainland China still had not reached this number yet,
and Taiwan's per capita GDP didn't get over US$300 until 1969.
Advanced and convenient transportation
At that time, the railways of Manchukuo were the densest and most technologically advanced in Asia.
In 1945, Manchukuo railways were 15,479 kilometers long in total.
By contrast, China only had 22,000 kilometers of railways in 1949.
Manchuria had the most advanced train in the world, the Asia Express,
which began operation between Dalian and Changchun in 1934.
It was the world’s first train equipped with air conditioning system.
Its speed was as high as 120 kilometers per hour, far ahead of all other trains in the world at that time.
The total length of highways in Manchukuo also ranked first in Asia.
In 1943, Manchurian highways were nearly 60,000 kilometers long.
In 1949, the length of all roads in China, including Manchurian ones, was only 80,900 kilometers.
Manchurian air transport was also the best in Asia.
In 1932, Manchukuo's national airline covered 15,000 kilometers.
By contrast, the total coverage of China's civil aviation in 1950 was only 11,400 kilometers.
Highly advanced and developed cities
Back then, Changchun was known as Shinkyo, the capital of Manchuria.
The name "Shinkyo" means "new capital", which shows that Japan wanted to build a new Tokyo.
It was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Asia.
In 1942, Shinkyo had an average of 2,272 square meters of green space per capita,
5 times the per capita size of green area in ​​a large Japanese city.
Shinkyo had a population of 1.2 million people, surpassing that of the Tokyo metropolis,
was even more prosperous than Shanghai, and was the largest city in Asia.
Shinkyo was globally known as "the most beautiful capital" and "Hundred Flowers Spring City".
Back then, Shinkyo was also the first Asian city to popularize the use of flush toilets,
and the first Asian city to fully use pipeline gas.
Skinkyo owned the largest radio station in Asia.
It was also the first city in China to have a subway system.
The 120-kilometer metro and tramway around the city had been planned since 1938.
There were also ring highways.
Main street lighting and telecommunication lines all use underground pipelines.
Shinkyo was the first city in Asia to have underground main road wires.
Highly international
Manchukuo was closely connected with the world.
At that time, there were nearly two thousand foreign business organizations in Harbin.
Major cities in the world such as Paris and New York had direct business relations with Harbin.
By 1932, over 30 foreign-funded financial companies had opened branches in Manchukuo.
At that time, Manchukuo was also a fashion leader.
Many people today still think that people from the Northeast are more fashionable,
especially the women there, who dare wear anything,
partly due to the influence of Manchuria.
Dalian, once the capital of clothing, was also at the forefront of fashion.
To this day, Dalian still holds the Dalian International Fashion Festival every year.
This was a bride wearing sunglasses at a Manchurian wedding, which says a lot.
But good times don't last long. On August 8, 1945, a few days before Japan’s official surrender,
the Soviet Union declared war on a waning Japan.
The 1.5 million Soviet troops took only 23 days to achieve a total victory with very few casualties.
Then the Soviet Union went on an organized and planned looting spree,
from which not even the Chinese people were spared.
From September 1945 to May 1946,
the Soviet army tore apart Manchurian factories, mines, power stations,
and transported those resources back to their country, leaving behind only empty houses.
For 7 months, the train kept going north day and night.
Even the furniture in Shinkyo's city government office building was taken by the Soviets.
From the high-end furniture of the Japanese to the radios and clocks of Chinese citizens,
everything was taken, including even farmers’ cows, as some elderly people recall.
It took 40 days and 60 trains to dismantle and transport the huge Anshan Iron and Steel Co. alone.
According to some declassified information in recent years,
as well as statistical data from public film and television materials and documentaries,
the Soviet Army took away US$2 billion worth of industrial equipment as "trophies",
and confiscated US$3 billion worth of gold and 80.5 billion Manchurian dollars.
The total value was over US$6 billion.
US$6 billion might be just a fraction of what China spent on the One Belt One Road,
but it was astronomical back then.
US post-World War II assistance to Japan was only 2 to 3 billion US dollars in total,
and that was enough to help Japan's economy grow quickly.
Manchukuo's wealth at that time was
the result of 14 years of hard work by the tens of millions of people in Manchuria and Japan,
and it was swept away by the Soviet Union. Let me give you one concrete example.
As mentioned earlier, the most advanced train in the world, the Asia Express,
was dismantled and taken to the Soviet Union.
There is only one set of carriages left in China, which is now in the museum.
In short, the Soviet Union took away whatever they could,
leaving behind only the military equipment of the Kwantung Army and the Manchurian Army.
This is because the Soviet Union was most developed in military industry.
At the same time, a large number of weapons from the US were all left in major ports in the Far East,
and these arms were given to the CCP.
Research by historians, memoirs of the Nationalist Government,
and declassified files of the Soviet Union are all consistent.
Let's take a look at the Soviet Union’s secret archive.
First, the Soviet Union provided the CCP with enough weapons to arm a million soldiers:
700,000 rifles, 14,000 machine guns,
4,000 cannons, 600 tanks, 860 aircrafts,
2,500 cars, and 679 ammunition depots.
Second, as arranged by Stalin,
the Soviet troops stationed in North Korea handed over all Japanese weapons there to the CCP.
The specific number has not been disclosed.
But Japan had been running North Korea and stockpiling weapons there for half a century.
Japanese weapons and equipment acquired by the Chinese Communist Party from the Soviet Union
was the most direct reason why historians believe the CCP could defeat the KMT.
In addition, the Soviet Red Army raped Chinese women.
To this day in Northeast China, the savagery of "Lao Maozi" (a derogatory term for the Soviets)
is still fresh in the memory of the elderly, who hate the Soviets more than they hate the Japanese.
Records show that the criminal activities of the Soviet Red Army,
as they occupied more and more lands in Northeast China, intensified.
Hal Leith, Director of the US Strategic Command Division (OSS),
after witnessing the Soviet atrocities in Shenyang, said the following,
"The Russians robbed and raped the Chinese.
Women were directly raped at bus stops, train stations,
and sometimes on the street...
Some soldiers wore several watches on their wrists."
According to him, in the Soviet Red Army occupying Shenyang,
only one tenth were considered "good soldiers"
who didn't do any robbing or raping.
Another American military attaché recalled,
"The Red Army soldiers kicked open the door to people's homes,
and took everything except the furniture.
Then a military truck would come to take away the furniture.
The Soviet officers turned a blind eye to the robbery and rape committed by their subordinates.
Sometimes they even joined in."
It was estimated that the total number of Chinese women raped by the Soviets was over 300,000.
Of course, the Chinese Little Pinks, the descendants of Marxism-Leninism, don't believe this.
However, everyone else knows the evil reputation of the Soviet Red Army.
The Soviets raped millions of women when it occupied Germany.
Although articles about Soviet soldiers raping Chinese people are censored online in China,
there are a lot of Chinese articles about the rape of German women by the Soviets.
Therefore, the Fifty Cents deserve a raise if they could whitewash the Soviets.
OK. Time to hear your comments on my last video.
In our last episode, we talked about Chinese farmer entrepreneur, Sun Dawu,
and China's social problem that the bad drives out the good.
Netizen Lao Yu revealed, "I have a good friend,
who was a regional agent of a certain product of Dawu Group.
So I have heard of Sun Dawu.
He is a private entrepreneur with faith and aspirations,
who is passionate about public welfare. But in mainland China,
such entrepreneurs cannot survive for long.
He is a legend. Him being arrested
signals social disasters in China."
Another netizen said,
"I understand why I am unsuccessful.
I don’t play by the CCP’s rules. I am not an opportunist.
In China, if you say you are a loser, a nobody,
a bunch of posh people will ridicule you,
saying it is because you don’t work hard.
Their so-called 'work hard'
and 'have motivation' actually mean 'be cunning and treacherous'."
Another netizen said,
"A democratic society, no matter how chaotic, is still better than autocracy where news is suppressed."
Netizen Teresa Wang said,
"Democracy is imperfect, but only with transparency can a country become better."
Netizen alexfox0718 said,
"There is an old saying, 'The wind destroys the highest tree in the forest.'"
Netizen MY L said,
"The Communist Party eliminates people who are better than they are,
so they can say they are the best."
Alright, that's all for this video.
Thank you so much for your comments.
This is Klaus. See you next time.