INTRODUCTION

Although the Great Wall of China was not erected until well after the time period with which this book is concerned, it makes a convenient geographical demarcation familiar to most readers. The region with which this book is concerned is known in China as Dongbei-the northeast. Now entirely within the People’s Republic of China, the Dongbei is nearly identical to the territory which historically has been known as Manchuria. The Dongbei consists of three provinces: Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, to list them from south to north. This region is of interest for its contributions to the formation of China south of the Great Wall as well as its non-Chinese inhabitants, and its connections in the distant past with Siberia, Mongolia, and beyond.