Zhang Zuolin - Regional Development

Regional Development

In the following years Wang realized a far reaching development plan. He tried to bring more workers to the booming Manchurian economy. Most workers had come on a temporary basis, returning to their homes in North China in winter. Now the Manchurian government encouraged them to bring along women and children and settle permanently. They were eligible for reduced fares on all Chinese owned railways in Manchuria, received funds to build a dwelling and were promised total ownership after five years of continuous occupation. Rent for the land was canceled for the first years. Most were sent to the interior of Manchuria, where they reclaimed land for agriculture, or worked in forestry or mines. Between 1924 and 1929 the amount of land under tillage increased from 20 to 35 million acres (80,000 to 140,000 km²).

Manchuria's economy boomed while chaos and uncertainty reigned in the rest of China. An especially ambitious project was to break the Japanese monopoly on cotton textiles by creating a large mill, which, much to Japan's sorrow, succeeded. The government also invested in other enterprises, among them quite a number of Sino-Japanese companies. During this time the Fengtian Army successfully kept a lid on Manchuria's many bandits. Various railway lines were built, among them the Shenyang-Hailong line, which opened in 1925. In 1924 Wang amalgamated three regional banks into the Official Bank of the Three Eastern Provinces and personally became its General Director. By this move he tried to create a development bank and at the same time to keep accurate records of military spending.