Population migration: breaking through the Guandong River

In 2008, CCTV's opening drama "Go East" was well received as soon as it was broadcast. This TV series tells the story of Zhu Kaishan, the protagonist, who led his family to flee from Shandong to Northeast China because of the pressure of life. In the long history of China, there have been three major population migrations, westward, downward to South Asia and eastward. Among them, the number of people crossing the Kanto is the largest and the span is the longest.

According to historical records, the Eastern Expedition first occurred in the Qing Dynasty, and until the founding of New China, tens of millions of people fled to the Northeast for survival, especially Shandong people. The word Kanto first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, referring to the area east of Hangu Pass. Until the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Xu Da, a general of Ming Dynasty, drove Beiyuan to the present Shanhaiguan. Since then, Kanto generally refers to the area east of Shanhaiguan. Since the Qing army entered the customs, a large number of Manchu, Daur, Oroqen and Xibe nationalities in the northeast have settled in the customs, making the already sparsely populated northeast even more sparsely populated. In order to rule the northeast, the land reclamation order was issued from Shunzhi period. From then on, people from inside Shanhaiguan pass entered the northeast one after another, until the reclamation order was abolished in Kangxi period. Although a small number of people entered the customs one after another, there was still no large-scale population inflow due to the policies of the Qing government at that time and the poor living conditions in the customs area. Since then, until the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the government only banned the Northeast, and the registered population of the three northeastern provinces was only over 5,000.

In the late Qing Dynasty, great powers invaded, and Russia invaded the northeast of China. The Qing government realized the crisis of sparsely populated northeast. In addition, there are many factors such as population explosion, uneven land distribution and natural disasters. After the Qing Dynasty occupied Manchuria by Russia, 1860, General Tepkin of Heilongjiang played in the imperial court and invited the Northeast to open up and recruit people to reclaim land, which was quickly approved by the Qing government. The Han people in Shanhaiguan began to enter the northeast in large numbers and openly, and the door of Shanhaiguan was completely open to intruders. A large number of Han people began to cross the Songhua River and soon reached the edge of Heilongjiang. Before the lifting of the ban, all the refugees and victims who arrived in Northeast China were registered, resettled and managed by the county. By the time the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the total population of Northeast China had exceeded 8 million.

After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing government discovered Japan's ambition to the northeast, and Russia also attempted to go north of the Songhua River. Even North Korea, which has just been renamed the Korean Empire, has ambitions to get its hands on the Northeast. 1897, the Qing government decided to completely open the northeast. As a result, hundreds of thousands or even millions of Han people enter the northeast every year, and the population of Heilongjiang soon exceeds one million. The Han population began to spread all over the northeast. In Jilin, the Qing government even distributed the land of the Banners to the Han people for farming. At that time, the trip to Kanto was divided into two roads: trunk branch and trunk branch. The end of the waterway is Lushun, which is short, but it also has risks. If the wind and waves are strong, they will fall into the sea to feed the fish. In addition, the war between Japan and Russia at that time may be regarded as cannon fodder at sea. And travel by boat, too poor people can't afford to take a boat. The dry road is to bypass Shandong to Hebei and then to Shanhaiguan. It's a long way, food is simply not enough, and bandits rob from time to time. They almost make a living by begging all the way. Maybe the guest died. For more than a year, most people are on the road. After arriving in the northeast, some people do business, some work, and some work for gold. If you want to survive in the northeast, you have to work hard, because all the good jobs have been taken away. Many people work hard, tired and desperate, hoping to earn money and live a down-to-earth life. Most of these people were from Shandong, accounting for nearly 70% of the number of people traveling eastward at that time.

By the time of the September 18th Incident, the total population of Northeast China had exceeded 35 million. When it comes to going to the East, we have to talk about Shandong people. From the early Qing Dynasty when the Qing government issued the "Liaodong Reclamation Order" to 1860, during the two hundred years when the Northeast was partially opened, Shandong people mainly went to the Northeast. At the end of Kangxi, the Han people in Liaodong Peninsula were all Shandong immigrants and descendants. Even Shandong people went to Liaodong every spring and returned to Shandong in winter. Before 1860, Shandong was the place with the largest number of people who risked being punished and ventured to the northeast. 1860, after the Qing government banned the Northeast, there was an upsurge of going to the Northeast in China. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Shandong people go to the northeast, and the first people to arrive in Heilongjiang are Shandong people. There is a view that Shandong people arrived in Heilongjiang, Wusuli and Tumen rivers in large numbers, which prevented Russia from annexing the present Northeast. The main reason for Russia's withdrawal from the settlements on the south bank of Heilongjiang is that a large number of Shandong immigrants arrived in Heilongjiang.

From 1860 to 193 1 the September 18th Incident, almost 20 million Han immigrants migrated to the northeast, which was the largest migration in the history of China. The total number of immigrants even exceeds the population of ancient China in many periods, and it is also one of the largest immigrants in the world.