The Manchurian Iron and Steel Industry and Its Resource Base

Abstract

THE future of Chinese industrialization depends in part on a resurgence of basic industry in Manchuria. The recent release of wartime data enables us to evaluate the possibilities. In the period from 1932 to 1944 one of the largest iron and steel centers on the Asiatic continent came into being in Manchuria, comparable in size with the developments at Kuznetsk and in India. To understand the nature of this Japanese creation, it is necessary to examine the relationship that existed between industry and that of Japan. Since the RussoJapanese War, Japan had been a heavy investor in Manchuria and by I930 had succeeded in eliminating most foreign competition. After the Manchurian Incident in 193 I and the establishment of effective Japanese control Manchuria became an integral part of the Yen Bloc economy. The economic structure, however, assumed a peculiar pattern. In Korea and Formosa, Japan had followed the time-hallowed pattern of colonial exploitation. Manchuria, on the other hand, was to be developed as an extension of the homeland. Capital and effort were poured into the creation here of a mainland industrial base strong enough to support Japan's military ambitions on the continent. The larger part of the effort was devoted to the iron and steel industry. THE RESOURCE BASE: IRON ORE