capital of the Manchus, who ruled China from 1644 to 1911. Manchuria's
biggest city. Conquered by the Japanese in 1905. In 1911 it was ruled by
Chinese warlords and had regained its ancient Chinese name: Shenyang.
It was the hub of Manchuria's roadways and rail lines. The Japanese reestablished
control over the city in 1931 and built up the city industrially. In 1938
it had a population of 772,000, mostly Chinese, with 90,600 Japanese and
In 1945, Chiang Kai-shek's regime took possession of the city, and lost it to China's communists in 1948. By 1954, Shenyang's population was 2.2 million. Its industrial base had been damaged, and during the 1950s it was being rebuilt. In 1994 its population was 4.7 million.