Mining the informal empire: Sino-Japanese relations and ironmaking in Manchuria, 1909–1931

Abstract

This article examines the history of ironmaking in Anshan in southern Manchuria (Northeast China) between 1909 and 1931, utilising Japanese and Chinese sources. I argue that the history of Anshan embodies the ambiguous statuses of Japan and China in the global economic order of the early twentieth century. Japan, despite being the only non-Western imperialist power, had a relatively underdeveloped economy and continued to import industrial technologies from the West, with heavy state intervention often driven by non-economic goals, particularly by the military. China, despite being a site of the Western and Japanese informal empires, pushed for catch-up industrialisation and resistance against foreign economic intrusions. The in-between statuses of Japan and China resulted in constant negotiations to define and redefine Japan’s informal empire in Manchuria, involving complex interplays of collaboration and resistance in business enterprises such as Anshan Ironworks.