It’s worth mentioning that the term Manchuria comes from the Japanese, who controlled the region during WWII, and isn’t what the Chinese today refer to it as.
Given that eastern China’s successes were built on their proximity to the ocean, why was Liaoning province left out of this regional bloc and included in northeast China instead?
This is where location is crucial.
Liaoning is next to North Korea, and while South Korea is still not qatar whatsapp number far away, Shandong province to the south is much closer and has profited from trade with the neighboring East Asian country more.
Tianjin and Beijing are similar to Liaoning in their location, but they are different in that Beijing has had a traditional role as China’s capital city, and Tianjin has a lot of vestige infrastructure from its colonial past.
These economic, historical, and political reasons might be why they are both T1 cities and part of Eastern China.
The other two provinces of northeast China, Jilin and Heilongjiang, suffer from being close to North Korea, a closed-off and impoverished nation that doesn’t trade with many countries.
The region’s long winter may also have a role in differentiating it economically from the more southern provinces. Though Heilongjiang relies on agriculture, not all the land is arable.
This region is its own bloc for four reasons:
Ethnic Minorities: As an outlier region with many parts ruled by tribal people like the Manchus, this part of China didn’t fully come under Chinese control until the 14th century. Even during that time, the local people still revolted against the Ming Dynasty’s newly established rule. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the Han ethnic majority of China was encouraged to migrate to this area.
Japanese Rule: This area came under the control of the Japanese Empire from 1932 until 1945. Japan was more industrialized than China, so this region became home to industry.
Mao Era: After Japan returned the area to China in the late 1940s, the newly formed communist government inherited the infrastructure left behind. Northeast China’s already established industrialization became a model for other parts of the country.
Reform Era: After China opened up, this part of China did not reap the same rewards as other regions closer to global shipping routes. The area remained more under state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and many of these SOEs also closed, and the population left for other parts of China that were receiving more investment, like the southern coast, Shanghai, and Tianjin I mentioned earlier.
Today, Heilongjiang has a larger retired population than the national average, and northeast China is considered China’s rust belt.
Despite the population decline in the area, there are revitalization movements to restore the area to its former prosperity.
How does this background information help us understand how China’s city tier system plays out in this region?
Although Liaoning’s capital Shenyang recently earned the title of a T1 city, the other two provinces’ capitals, Harbin and Changchun, are second-tier cities.
Only one other city in this region is even classified as a tier 1 city: Dalian in Liaoning.
Looking at the map, Dalian’s ranking here makes sense given