抄録
This paper analyzes the relations between agricultural development and the construction of railways in Northeast China in the 20th century. The construction of the Chinese-Eastern Railway stimulated the cultivation of land along the lines and increased the speed of migratidn. Although the situations of agriculture in Northeast China were affected by various elements including her geographical conditions, the key determinant of the development of agricultural prodution was the construction of the railways. They promoted the influx of immigrants from North China, which played a critical role in the expansion of farmland. Given the conditions of farming technology at that time, it was the only way to increase the agricultural production. At the same time, the demand for soybeans in the world market experienced unprecedented growth in the export volume, which together with above stated escalation of the immgrants, generated an upsurge of total agricultural production in Northeast China. However, the conditions of agricultural production varied according to localities, that is, it was not limited to the monoculture of soybeans. This paper divides Northeast China into seven districts in accordance with railway networks and examines the features of agricultural conditions in each district. The growth of soybeans production, for example, was found mainly in newly cultivated lands along the Chinese-Eastern Railway, not in old, agricultural regions along the South Manchuria Railway. As noted above, the increase in agricultural production was only possible through the expantion of clativated land. The areas along the South Manchuria Railway could not fulfill this condition since they lack frontier land. This remained unchanged throughout the Manchukuo era until the 1960s when agricuitural technology improved.
