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Fengtian bianwu jiyao 奉天邊務輯要

Mar 4, 2016 © Ulrich Theobald

Fengtian bianwu jiyao 奉天邊務輯要 "Important matters of the border affairs of the province of Fengtian (modern Liaoning)" is a report on the restructuring of border defence to Korea.

In 1907, after the defeat of the Russians by the Japanese, the Qing government was worried about its northeastern frontier. Xu Shichang 徐世昌 (1855-1939) was entrustred to oversee a restructuring of border defence. He ordered Li Tingyu 李廷玉 (1869-1952), who was familiar with the local situation, to inspect the border and to draw exact maps of it. It took the group two months to carry out the military survey.

Li compiled a book of eleven chapters rendering the details of his survey. It is a resummé that describes the geography of the border, the economic activities of the Korean population in the border region, Japanese enterprises, the diplomatic relations between Japan and the kingdom of Korea, topography, commerce, the administration of the villages, education, and so on. A map is appended to the text.

Li was thereupon appointed magistrate (zhixian 知縣) of Linjiang 臨江 and concurrently entrusted to organized the regular administration of the border districts. He founded the prefecture of Changbai 長白府 and the districts of Antu 安圖縣 and Fusong 撫松縣. The book was printed in 1917 and republished in 2014 by the Heilongjiang Jiaoyu Press 黑龍江教育出版社, in a joint volume with the books Shengjing dianzhi beikao 盛京典制備考 and Shengjing zouyi 盛京奏議. It is found in the series Zhongguo fanglüe congshu 中國方略叢書 and Jindai Zhongguo shiliao congkan 近代中國史料叢刊.

Source:
Zhongguo fanglüe congshu 中國方略叢書 (Chengwen Publishing), www.chengwen.com.tw/tc/cat/str/guo5.htm.