Kwantung Leased Territory

Kwantung Leased Territory
關東州
1905–1945
Flag of Kantō-shū
Flag
(1905–1945)
Crest of Kantō-shū
Crest
Anthem: 
Kwantung Leased Territory in 1921 including the Japanese area of influence and neutral zone.
Kwantung Leased Territory in 1921 including the Japanese area of influence and neutral zone.
StatusLeased territory (colony) of the Empire of Japan
CapitalDalian
Governor 
• 1905–1912 (first)
Ōshima Yoshimasa
• 1944–1945 (last)
Otozō Yamada
Historical eraEmpire of Japan
World War II
17 April 1895
23 April 1895
5 September 1905
2 September 1945
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Russian Dalian
Dalian
Today part of
Kwantung Leased Territory
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese關東州
Simplified Chinese关东州
Japanese name
Kanji關東州
Kanaかんとうしゅう
Shinjitai関東州

The Kwantung Leased Territory (traditional Chinese and Japanese: 關東州; ; pinyin: Guāndōng zhōu; Wade–Giles: Kwan-tung-chou; rōmaji: Kantō-shū) was a leased territory of the Empire of Japan in the Liaodong Peninsula from 1905 to 1945.

Japan first acquired Kwantung from the Qing Empire in perpetuity in 1895 in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. Kwantung was located at the militarily and economically significant southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula at the entrance of the Bohai Sea, and included the port city of Ryojun (Port Arthur/Lüshunkou). Japan lost Kwantung weeks later in the Triple Intervention and the Qing transferred the lease to the Russian Empire in 1898, who governed the territory as Russian Dalian and rapidly developed infrastructure and the city of Dairen (Dalniy/Dalian). Japan re-acquired the Kwantung lease from Russia in 1905 in the Treaty of Portsmouth after victory in the Russo-Japanese War, continued to rapidly develop the territory, and obtained extraterritorial rights known as the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Japan extended the lease with the Republic of China in the Twenty-One Demands and used Kwantung as a base to launch the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Kwantung Leased Territory ceased to exist following the Surrender of Japan in World War II in September 1945 when the Soviet Red Army began to administer the region until Kwantung and the Lüshun base was handed over to the People's Republic of China on 16 April 1955.


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