Shenyang, China

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textile works.

History

Over 2000 years ago, at the time of the western Han (206 BC-AD 24) Shenyang (under the name of Honcheng) was already one of the greatest cities in northeastern China. It has been known under its present name since the Yuan era (1271-1368), perhaps because of the military importance it gained three hundred years before that as the stronghold of the Liao dynasty. Mukden is the Manchurian name for the city.

Between 1625 and 1644 Mukden was the Manchurian seat of government of the Qing dynasty which ruled the whole of China from here. Towards the end of the 19th C it came into the sphere of influence of Russia, although the city and southern Manchuria had to be handed over to the Japanese following the defeat near Mukden in 1905.

The murder of a Japanese General in 1931 was the cause of the so-called ''Mukden incident'', which ended with the Japanese occupation of the whole of Manchuria. Japanese foreign rule lasted until 1945, when the Russians declared war on Japan and took Shenyang. After they had exploited the south Manchurian minerals, the new occupiers dismantled the industrial sites. In 1948 the city was captured by the communists.