Liaoning << lyaw nihng >> Province is a province in northeastern China. It has an area of 58,300 square miles (151,000 square kilometers). Shenyang is the province’s capital and largest city. Liaoning was formerly called Fengtien (also spelled Fengtian). It is the southernmost part of China’s Northeast region (sometimes called Manchuria).
The Yalu River forms the border between Liaoning and North Korea. The Liao River flows through the middle of the province. Plains surround the Liao River. Hills and mountains are in the east and west. The Liaodong Peninsula, in southern Liaoning, juts out between the Bo Gulf and the Korea Bay. Dalian, near the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, is an important port city.
Liaoning has large deposits of iron, natural gas, and oil. Its main crops include apples, corn, cotton, grapes, rice, soybeans, tobacco, and wheat. Farmers also raise cattle and hogs. Liaoning has one of the largest fishing industries in China. The province’s main manufactured goods include chemicals, machine tools, pig iron, steel, television sets, and textiles.
For centuries, various tribes lived in Manchuria. A leader of the tribal group called Ruzhen (also called the Jurchen) founded the Jin dynasty (1115-1234). A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family. Beginning in the late 1500’s, separate Ruzhen tribes united and began to ally with some neighboring groups. In the early 1600’s, they took the name Manchu. Shenyang was the Manchu capital from 1625 to 1644. The Manchus conquered China, seizing Beijing in 1644. They established the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Today, much of China’s Manchu population lives in Liaoning.
In the late 1800’s, Japan and Russia occupied parts of Liaoning. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) began when Japan attacked Russian ships at Lüshun (part of present-day Dalian). In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria following a railroad bombing near Shenyang. The Japanese seized Liaoning along with the rest of Manchuria. The Soviet Union occupied Manchuria at the end of World War II (1939-1945). In 1946, the Soviet Union returned Liaoning and the rest of Manchuria to China.
