Outer Manchuria - Name

Name

The term "Outer Manchuria" and its counterpart "Inner Manchuria" were coined by analogy with Outer and Inner Mongolia, and also refers to the parts under Chinese jurisdiction as the "inner" part, and those parts not under Chinese jurisdiction as the "outer" part. The very few critics of this analogy, however, suggest though Mongols under the Qing Court were a recognized ethnic group, 'Manchus' were an ethnic group constructed by Nurhaci in the early 17th century, mainly for the purposes of military conquest in China; according to this view, there were no Manchus north of the Nen River and the Songhua River, so that region cannot properly be called "Outer Manchuria" and the term from this perspective is considered to be a neologism. This perspective, however, has no major support anywhere outside of Russia, and even there it is generally considered to be only ultra-nationalistic grandstanding with no factual basis or scholarly merit, conjured up primarily for the purposes of propaganda, justification of unequal treaties and past national wrongs, obfuscation of historical facts, and the obstruction of justice sought thereof.