History of Shenyang

History of Shenyang

Ancient era

Archaeological findings show that humans resided in present-day Shenyang as early as 8,000 years ago. The remains of the Xinle culture, a late neolithic period society over 6,800–7,200 years old, are located in a museum in the north part of Huanggu District. It is complemented by a recreated village on site. A wood-sculptured bird unearthed there is the earliest cultural relic in Shenyang, as well as one of oldest wood sculptures found anywhere in the world.

The city, now known as Shenyang, was first established in about 300 BCE during the Warring States period by Yan general Qin Kai, who conquered the Liaodong region, and was then named Hou City (侯城; Hóu Chéng). However, around 350 years later during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han, the city was sacked and burnt by the Donghu nomads and subsequently abandoned. It came back to prominence during early Liao dynasty and was known as the Shen Prefecture through to the end of Jin dynasty, and became the Shenyang Circuit during the Yuan dynasty. During the Ming dynasty, it was designated as a “guard town” (militarized settlements, such as walled/heavily garrisoned cities or towns) named Shenyang Central Guard and gradually became one of the most important strongholds beyond the Shanhai Pass.

Manchu capital

In 1625, the Manchu leader Nurhaci captured Shenyang and decided to relocate his entire administrative infrastructures to the city, or Simiyan hoton, in 1634. The new name derives from the Manchu word, mukdembi , meaning “to rise” as reflected also by its Han Chinese name. Under Nurhaci’s orders, the Imperial Palace was constructed in 1626, symbolizing the city’s emerging status as the Jurchen political center. The palace featured more than 300 ostentatiously decorated rooms and 20 gardens as a symbol of power and grandeur.

Russian and Japanese influence

After the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 and the routing of the Shun army in the Battle of Shanhai Pass merely a day later, the Manchus successfully entered the Shanhai Pass to establish the Qing dynasty in China proper, with the capital relocated to Beijing. However, Shenyang retained considerable importance as the secondary capital and the spiritual home of the Qing dynasty through the centuries. Treasures of the royal house were kept at its palaces, and the tombs of the early Qing rulers were once among the most famous monuments in China. In 1657, Fengtian Prefecture.

In 1625, the Manchu leader Nurhaci captured Shenyang and decided to relocate his entire administrative infrastructures to the city, or Simiyan hoton as it is called in Manchu language. The official name was changed to Shengjing, or Mukden, in 1634. The new name derives from the Manchu word, mukdembi, meaning “to rise” as reflected also by its Han Chinese name. Under Nurhaci’s orders, the Imperial Palace was constructed in 1626, symbolizing the city’s emerging status as the Jurchen political center. The palace featured more than 300 ostentatiously decorated rooms and 20 gardens as a symbol of power and grandeur.

Warlord Era and Japanese occupation

In 1914, the city changed back to its old name Shenyang, but continued to be known as Mukden (sometimes spelled Moukden) in some English sources and in Japan through much of the first half of 20th century. The postmark of the Chinese postal administration kept the spelling “MOUKDEN” for usage on international mails until the late 1920s. After that, a Chinese–Manchurian bilingual type “SHENYANG (MUKDEN)” datestamp was used until 1933.

In the early 20th century, Shenyang began expanding out of its old city walls. The Shenyang Railway Station on the South Manchurian Railway and the Shenyang North Railway Station on the Jingfeng Railway, both west of the old city, became the new commercial centers of Shenyang. In the 1920s, Mukden was the capital of the warlord Zhang Zuolin, who was later assassinated when his train was blown up on June 4, 1928 at a Japanese-guarded railway bridge. At the time, several factories were built by Zhang to manufacture ammunition in the northern and eastern suburbs. These factories laid the foundation for Shenyang’s industrial development.

At around 10:20 pm on September 18, 1931, a small quantity of dynamite was detonated close to a railway line near Mukden owned by the Japanese South Manchuria Railway Company by Kwantung Army Lt. Kawamoto Suemori. The Imperial Japanese Army, accusing Chinese dissidents of the act, then use the false flag explosion as pretext to launch a full attack on Mukden, and captured the city the following morning (September 19). After the Mukden Incident, the Japanese further invaded and occupied the rest of Northeast China, and created the puppet state of Manchukuo with the deposed emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi as the figurehead. During the Manchukuo era (1932–1945), the city was again called Fengtian (and Mukden in English), and was developed by the Japanese into a center of heavy industry. Japan was able to exploit resources in Manchuria using the extensive network of railroads. For example, vast expanses of Manchurian forest were chopped down. The development of Shenyang was also unbalanced in this period; municipal facilities were mostly located in Japanese residential areas, while Chinese residential areas had poor living conditions.

Post-World War II

Under Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky, the Far East Command[37] of Soviet forces entered Manchuria in early August 1945 following the surrender of Japan. On 16 August 1945, Manchurian Emperor Puyi was captured in Shenyang Airport by the Soviet Red Army while he was in an airplane fleeing to Japan. On 20 August, Soviet troops captured Shenyang. British and US reports indicate that the Soviet troops that occupied Northeast China and Eastern Inner Mongolia region looted and terrorized the people of Shenyang, and were not discouraged by Soviet authorities from “three days of rape and pillage”. The Soviets were replaced by the Nationalist Chinese, who were flown in on U.S. transport planes. During the Chinese Civil War, Shenyang remained a Kuomintang stronghold from 1946 to 1948, although the Chinese communists controlled the surrounding countryside. It was captured by the communists on October 30, 1948, following a series of offensives known as the Liaoshen Campaign.

Over the past 200 years or so, Shenyang has somehow managed to grow and increase its industrial might, despite consecutive wars with Russia and Japan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Second World War, and China’s Civil War (Shenyang became the main battleground between the Communists and Nationalists).

Old City

The old city of Shenyang resided almost entirely within the modern day Shenhe District, and used to have two city walls.

Situated roughly within the area bounded by the four “Shuncheng” roads/streets in Shenhe District, the (now-demolished) square-shaped inner city wall marked the bounds of ancient Shenyang. The earliest wall was built in 926 during early Liao dynasty to settle Northern Song civilians the Khitans abducted from raids to use as slave labourers, and was then made of rammed earth because the city was merely a small settlement at the time (historically the administrative center of the Liaodong region was at Liaoyang). However, in 1368, Hongwu Emperor of the newly founded Ming dynasty ordered a new regional military command—the Liaodong Regional Military Commission—to be established, and Shenyang was made a prominent regional “guard town”. In 1388, Min Zhong, the newly appointed city commissioner of the Shenyang Central Guard, wrote to Hongwu Emperor immediately upon his tenure requesting permission to upgrade the city wall, and the old wall was made taller and thoroughly reinforced with overlaid bricks. According to History of Ming, the reconstructed Ming-era wall was 2.5 zhàngs (8 metres or 26 feet) tall, more than 1 zhàng (3.2 metres or 10.5 feet) wide at the top, and 9 lis and 30 bus (about 5.2 kilometres or 3.2 miles) long. It has two layers of moats dug outside, each being 3 zhàngs (9.6 metres or 31.5 feet) wide and 8 chis (2.56 metres or 8 feet 4.8 inches) deep, fed with water from Shen River. There were four city gates, each at the center of one side, connected by two main roads that intersected at Central Temple of the city’s center in a “+” fashion.

This Ming wall was heavily damaged in 1625 after the Manchu laid siege and captured the city, with only the north wall and gate (which had undergone reinforcing reconstructions in 1545 under the orders of Jiajing Emperor) remained intact. The Manchu leader Nurhachi however saw the strategic value of the city, and decided to formally relocate his Later Jin capital from Liaoyang to Shenyang, and ordered the city wall to be rebuilt. According to Annals of Mukden, the new city wall was a standard black brick wall standing at a height of 3.5 zhàngs (about 12.5 metres or 41.0 feet), a width of 1.8 zhàngs (about 6.4 metres or 21.0 feet) and a total length of 9 lis and 332 bus (about 6.4 kilometres or 4.0 miles) long, complete with 12 towers (8 gate and 4 corner) and a 14.5 zhàngs (about 52-metre or 171-foot) wide moat. The city gates were increased from four to eight, though the old Ming-era north gate and tower was preserved but sealed shut, later known as the “Ninth Gate”.

The outer city wall, called the “peripheral wall” or “pass wall”, was actually a rammed earth rampart built in 1680 to expand the urban area outside the inner city. It was almost round in shape, standing at a height of 7.5 chis (around 2.7 metres or 8 feet 10.3 inches) and an overall length of 32 lis and 24 bus (about 20.7 kilometres or 12.9 miles), and also had eight gates known as the “peripheral gates”. The corresponding inner and outer gates were linked by roads that intersected within the inner city in a “#” pattern around the Mukden Palace.

Nearly all of these city walls and gates were demolished after 1949. Two gates and one corner tower of the inner wall were rebuilt during the 1990s. There had, however, been proposals to rebuild the other gates and towers in preparation to the 12th National Games in 2013.

Around 2.5 km (1.6 mi) outside Shenyang’s former outer wall, there were four pagodas each located within an associated Tibetan buddhist temple, namely the East Pagoda in Yongguang Temple (永光寺), the South Pagoda in Guangci Temple, the West Pagoda in Yanshou Temple and the North Pagoda in Falun Temple. They were built in 1643 and completed in 1645. The four pagodas are identical white Buddha-stupas as tall as 26 m (85 ft). Nowadays only the temple for the North Pagoda is well preserved, the East and South has only the pagodas left, and the temple for the West Pagoda was rebuilt in 1998.

Both the Temple of Heaven and Temple of Earth were also to be found in the old city during the Qing dynasty. They were smaller replicas of Beijing’s counterparts. Neither exists today.

Source From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang#History