Three-River Region Research Articles

Russian Emigrants in Manchuria and the Japanese New Order: The Collapse of Hopes

In imperial studies, the inclusion of diasporic groups, fragments of vanished empires, into newly formed imperial spaces remain considerably underexplored. This article is devoted to the problem of the integration of the Russian emigrant colony into the multinational community of the quasi-sovereign state of Manchukuo (1932–1945), which was a product of Japanese pan-Asian imperial construction. The option of integrating emigrants with the status of a national-cultural autonomy into the society of early Manchukuo generally suited the emigrant community. This option of maximum integration corresponded with the special role of emigration as the heir of Russian colonisers of the Manchurian region and the bearer of the mission of preserving Russian culture in exile. Very quickly, the integration process ran into an insurmountable contradiction between the ideal model of organising Manchukuo on the principles of national-cultural federalism and the real imperial practice of governing the peoples ruled by Japan. Japanese pan-Asian nation-building, which after the late 1930s turned towards the creation of a single East Asian nation, began to threaten emigration with the loss of national identity. This threat, along with the forcible politicisation and mobilisation of the colony to solve Japan’s imperial problems, intensified protective tendencies in the emigrant environment and contributed to some emigrants refusing integration strategies. Almost the only successful example of the inclusion of emigrants into Manchukuo society was the so-called frontier integration of the Russian Cossack population of Sanhe Qu (so-called Three-River Region) bordering the USSR. Another important factor that stimulated the refusal of emigrants to integrate was the growth of pro-Soviet patriotism during the Great Patriotic War. The article is based on materials from periodicals and other print media of Russian emigrants in China, documents from emigrant organisations and Japanese special services, and emigrant ego-documents.

Farmland change and its implications in the Three River Region of Tibet during recent 20 years.

Farmland is a key resource for safeguarding the regional food security and social stability, particularly in Tibet where the farmland is very limited due to its high altitude. With quick economic development during recent decades, farmland changes are great in China, and thus have been extensively studied. These studies generally focused on eastern regions, and seldom for Tibet due to the lack of good quality and available data. To this end, taking the Three River Region (TRR) as the case area, this study obtained 1 m spatial resolution farmland data for 2000 and 2018 by visual interpretation of the Google Earth high resolution satellite images, and then analyzed the farmland change, its driving factors and impact on grain production between 2000 and 2018. The results showed that farmland in the TRR decreased by 8.85% from 219.29 k ha in 2000 to 199.89 k ha in 2018, averagely reduced by 0.51% per year, mainly driven by the economic development, agricultural progress, urbanization, and population growth. The farmland losses largely occurred in urban areas and their surrounding counties due to urban land occupation, and caused the grain production reduced by 9.38%. To control the quick farmland losses and to ensure the regional food security of Tibet, it should strengthen the supervision on non-agricultural occupation of farmland and increase agricultural investment to improve the land productivity in the TRR.

MaxEnt Modeling to Predict the Current and Future Distribution of Pomatosace filicula under Climate Change Scenarios on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

As an important Tibetan medicine and a secondary protected plant in China, Pomatosace filicula is endemic to the country and is mainly distributed in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP). However, global climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions might lead to the extinction of P. filicula. To understand the potential spatial distribution of P. filicula in future global warming scenarios, we used the MaxEnt model to simulate changes in its suitable habitat that would occur by 2050 and 2070 using four representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios and five global climate models. The results showed that the QTP currently contains a suitable habitat for P. filicula and will continue to do so in the future. Under the RCP2.6 scenario, the suitable habitat area would increase by 2050 but shrink slightly by 2070, with an average reduction of 2.7%. However, under the RCP8.5 scenario, the area of unsuitable habitat would expand by an average of 54.65% and 68.20% by 2050 and 2070, respectively. The changes in the area of suitable habitat under the RCP4.5 and RCP6.0 scenarios were similar, with the unsuitable area increasing by approximately 20% by 2050 and 2070. Under these two moderate RCPs, the total suitable area in 2070 would be greater than that in 2050. The top three environmental factors impacting the habitat distribution were altitude, annual precipitation (BIO12) and annual temperature range (BIO7). The cumulative contribution rate of these three factors was as high as 82.8%, indicating that they were the key factors affecting the distribution and adaptability of P. filicula, P. filicula grows well in damp and cold environments. Due to global warming, the QTP will become warmer and drier; thus, the growing area of P. filicula will move toward higher elevations and areas that are humid and cold. These areas are mainly found near the Three-River Region. Future climate change will aggravate the deterioration of the P. filicula habitat and increase the species’ survival risk. This study describes the distribution of P. filicula and provides a basis for the protection of endangered plants in the QTP.

Predicting the Suitable Geographical Distribution of Sinadoxa Corydalifolia under Different Climate Change Scenarios in the Three-River Region Using the MaxEnt Model.

Sinadoxa corydalifolia is a perennial grass with considerable academic value as a rare species owing to habitat destruction and a narrow distribution. However, its distribution remains unclear. In this study, we predicted the distribution of Sinadoxa corydalifolia in the three-river region (the source of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Lancang River) under the context of climate change using the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model. Under the current climate scenario, the suitable distribution mainly occurred in Yushu County and Nangqian County. The suitable distribution area of Sinadoxa corydalifolia covered 3107 km2, accounting for 0.57% of the three-river region. The mean diurnal air temperature range (Bio2), temperature seasonality (Bio4), and mean air temperature of the driest quarter (Bio9) contributed the most to the distribution model for Sinadoxa corydalifolia, with a cumulative contribution of 81.4%. The highest suitability occurred when air temperature seasonality (Bio4) ranged from 6500 to 6900. The highest suitable mean air temperature of the driest quarter ranged from −5 to 0 °C. The highest suitable mean diurnal temperature (Bio2) ranged from 8.9 to 9.7 °C. In future (2041–2060) scenarios, the suitable distribution areas of Sinadoxa corydalifolia from high to low are as follows: representative concentration pathway (RCP)26 (6171 km2) > RCP45 (6017 km2) > RCP80 (4238 km2) > RCP60 (2505 km2). In future (2061–2080) scenarios, the suitable distribution areas of Sinadoxa corydalifolia from high to low are as follows: RCP26 (18,299 km2) > RCP60 (11,977 km2) > RCP45 (10,354 km2) > RCP80 (7539 km2). In general, the suitable distribution will increase in the future. The distribution area of Sinadoxa corydalifolia will generally be larger under low CO2 concentrations than under high CO2 concentrations. This study will facilitate the development of appropriate conservation measures for Sinadoxa corydalifolia in the three-river region.

Comparative leaf anatomy, FTIR discrimination and biogeographical analysis of Camellia section Tuberculata (Theaceae) with a discussion of its taxonomic treatments

A comparative anatomical and FTIR study on the leaves of 18 disputed species of section Tuberculata (Camellia, Theaceae) combined with their biogeographical distribution have been conducted in order to investigate interspecific variations which are useful in species taxonomic treatment and systematic evolution. All Tuberculata species have bifacial and hypostomatic leaves, contain sclereids and crystals. Multivariate analysis of leaf FTIR data shows a visualization of the degree of affinity among the species in this section, which is consistent with the distribution of synonymous Tuberculata species indicated in the biogeographical maps. Our study indicates that the combination of characters based on leaf comparative anatomy, FTIR analysis and biogeographical distribution are useful in species revision. The results determine 11 species in section Tuberculata and provide the evolutionary trends in Tuberculata, which originated in three-river region of Guizhou province and spread to Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan and probably Hubei provinces of China.