The Manchukuo's attempt to establish the landownership in Mongolian lands in Jinzhou and Rehe provinces

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the attempt to establish landownership in Manchukuo. During the Qing dynasty, in Northeast China and Eastern Inner Mongolia, landownership was restricted to the Qing, Mongolian banners (administrative units), and wanggong (Manchu princely title). At the time, according to the fengjin (closure) policy, Han Chinese (Hanren) were prohibited from migrating to Northeast China and Eastern Inner Mongolia. But in actual fact, Hanren did migrate there and became peasants, and although they could not buy land, they acquired the right to cultivation. Starting in 1935, Manchukuo undertook a land survey to investigate landownership and decided to grant peasants the right to landownership. But in the Mongolian lands of Jinzhou and Rehe provinces (Kinnetsu Mochi), land was owned by Mongolian bannermen, so it was difficult to establish landownership by other parties. Manchukuo thus had to maintain the status quo on landownership but abolished the fengjin policy, enabling peasants to purchase land.