The tension between China and Japan has appeared for so many years. As a Chinese, I want to know more about what Japan did during 1930s and 1940s. I also want to understand what was actually going on between China and Japan, and how the problems affect people's life now. I checked up a few web sites, both in Chinese and English, so that the ideas wouldn't be too subjective or simplistic.
Japan's industry and military powers were developing very fast during the 1920s to 1930s, and its population was rapidly increasing as well. Japan's land was getting crowded. Manchuria had nearly 200,000 square kilometers of land that could help Japan solve their population problem. Japan thought that Manchuria would have many resources, so the desire for taking over Manchuria became stronger and stronger. The Great Depression in US in 1929 hit Japan very hard as well. People lost their jobs and houses, and they didn't have the money to buy food.
NASA Satellite Image of Japan Captured March 11, 2...
Japan Fisheries cooperative
The League of Nations: A Pictorial Summary, Geneva...Many people saw Manchuria as a new opportunity, because they thought there would be new jobs and better lives. So some people started moving to Manchuria. The final result was that Japan created a puppet regime in Manchuria, and founded Manchokuo. Puyi, the last emperor of Qing dynasty, technically "ruled" Manchokuo, but, in reality, the real power lay in the hands of the Japanese.
Japan's actions during this time caused many problems. For example, the League of Nations was very angry about the establishment of Manchokuo, because it made them fail badly in 1930s and 1940s. "In the 1930s there was a world-wide economic depression. Japan tried to overcome the depression by building up an empire. In 1932, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria and threw out the Chinese. They set up their own government there and called it...