South Manchuria Railway

The South Manchuria Railway Company, Ltd.

Native name	南満州鉄道株式会社
Romanized name	Minami-Manshū Tetsudō kabushiki gaisha
Company type	Public KK
Founded	26 November 1906
Founder	Government of Japan
Defunct	after the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945
Headquarters	Dairen, SMR Railway Zone , Xinjing, Manchukuo (after 1931)
Key people	Gotō Shinpei (first president)
Owner	Government of Japan (50%)

The South Manchuria Railway (Japanese: 南満州鉄道, romanized: Minamimanshū Tetsudō; simplified Chinese: 南满洲铁道; traditional Chinese: 南滿洲鐵道; pinyin: Nánmǎnzhōu Tiědào), officially The South Manchuria Railway Company, Ltd. (南満州鉄道株式会社, kyujitai: 南滿洲鐵道株式會社, Minamimanshū Tetsudō Kabushikigaisha), Mantetsu (Japanese: 満鉄, romanized: Mantetsu) or Mantie (simplified Chinese: 满铁; traditional Chinese: 滿鐵; pinyin: Mǎntiě) for short, was a large National Policy Company [ja] of the Empire of Japan whose primary function was the operation of railways on the Dalian–Fengtian (Mukden)–Changchun (called Xinjing from 1931 to 1945) corridor in northeastern China, as well as on several branch lines.

In 1905, after Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, this area was taken over by Japan as the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Mantetsu was established in 1906 to operate the railways taken over from the Russians. Subsequently, Mantetsu expanded by building new lines for itself and for Chinese-owned undertakings,^[1] and after the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, it was also entrusted with the management of the Manchukuo National Railway. Between 1917 and 1925, Mantetsu was also responsible for the management of the Chosen Government Railway in Japanese-occupied Korea.

However, it was also involved in nearly every aspect of the economic, cultural and political life of Manchuria,^[1] from power generation to agricultural research, for which reason it was often referred to as "Japan's East India Company in China". Nisshō Inoue, the founder of the interwar Japanese far-right militant organization Ketsumeidan (血盟団, League of Blood), was employed by Mantetsu from 1909 to 1920.

In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded and overran Manchukuo, and following Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, Mantetsu itself was dissolved by order of the American occupation authorities in occupied Japan. The railway was operated by the Soviets for a time, and handed over to China Railway after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Fengtian has been called Shenyang since 1945, and the line from there to Dalian is today part of the Shenda Railway from Changchun to Dalian, whilst the Shenyang–Changchun section is now part of the Jingha Railway; the branch lines have also been part of China Railway since then.