Himiyama, Y.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Land Use in North-East China in the 1930s and AfterHimiyama, Y.IIASA Interim ReportMarch 1997 Himiyama, Y. (1997) Land Use in North-East China in the 1930s and After. IIASA Interim Report. IR-97-011 Copyright © 1997 by the author(s). http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/5280/ Interim Report on work of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis receive only limited review. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Institute, its National Member Organizations, or other organizations supporting the work. All rights reserved. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage. All copies must bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. For other purposes, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, permission must be sought by contacting repository@iiasa.ac.at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis • A-2361 Laxenburg • AustriaTel: +43 2236 807 • Fax: +43 2236 71313 • E-mail: info@iiasa.ac.at • Web: www.iiasa.ac.atInterim Reports on work of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis receive onlylimited review. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of theInstitute, its National Member Organizations, or other organizations supporting the work.Approved byINTERIM REPORTIIASAIR-97-011/MarchLand Use in North-East Chinain the 1930s and AfterYukio HimiyamaGünther Fischer (fisher@iiasa.ac.at)Leader, Modeling Land-Use and Land-Cover Changesin Europe and Northern AsiaTable of ContentsIntroduction 1I. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LAND USE IN THE 1930s 11. Basic Data 12. Production and Analysis of the Data Files 1II. DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN LAND USE 21. Settlements 22. Roads and Railways 3III. DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND USE 31. Dry Field 32. Paddy Field 43. Orchard 4IV. DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST 41. Broad-leaved Forest 52. Coniferous Forest 53. Mixed Forest 5V. ROUGH LAND 6REFERENCES 7Table 1. Land Use Structure in the Study Area in North-East China in     the 1930s (km2) 8Figure 1. Setting of North-East China 9Figure 2. Grid System for Data Coding 10Figure 3. Land Use in North-East China in the 1930s 11Acknowledgments   This is an interim report of the study on land-use changes in North-East China. Ittherefore covers only limited part of the study.   The study has been partly sponsored by the LU/GEC Project of the National Institutefor Environmental Studies, Japan, and by the Fukutake Foundation. I am particularlygrateful to the students in the Institute of Geography, Hokkaido University of Educationat Asahikawa, for their assistance.Yukio HimiyamaHokkaido University of EducationHokumoncho, Asahikawa 070JapanLand Use in North-East Chinain the 1930s and AfterYukio HimiyamaINTRODUCTION   Land use in much of North-East China in the 1930s has been reconstructed andcompared with that of today. North-East China, which was once called Manchuria inJapan or elsewhere, was a place of invasion and colonization by Japan till the end ofWorld War II. This region currently comprises of Liaoning, Jilin and HeilongjiangProvince and Neimongol Autonomous Region (see Figure 1). The study areacorresponds to the territory covered by the 1:100 000 topographic maps produced byJapan in the 1930s, and it covers 81% of Liaonin, 76% of Jilin, 27% (southern part) ofHeilongjiang, and 9% (eastern part) of Neimongol. The study area covers the entireNortheast Plain, the Changpai Shan Mountains in the east, and the barren Neimongolarid region in the west.I. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LAND USE IN THE 1930s1. Basic Data   Some 420 maps at 1:100 000 have been used as basic source of land use information.The survey for this map series was mostly carried out between 1932 and 1935, i.e. soonafter the notorious Manchurian Incident. The maps thus produced belong to what arecalled "gaiho-zu" in Japan. The land use classification in this map series is close to thatwhich was used in the 1:50 000 topographic maps of pre-war Japan. Most of the mapsused in this study were copied by courtesy of the Institute of Geography, TokyoUniversity, and the Diet Library.2. Production and Analysis of the Data Files   Each map is first coloured according to the land use or land cover type identified fromthe symbols and other clues on the maps, then digitized and recorded in laster form foreach of the grid squares drawn on the maps (see Figure 2). The size of a grid square isapproximately 2 cm x 2 cm on the map, or 2 km x 2 km on the ground. The land useinformation recorded for each grid square includes the land use at the top-left corner,1st, 2nd and 3rd largest uses and all other uses within the grid square.2   The data files produced as above are assembled into a system called LUIS-C, or LandUse Information System for China. LUIS-C has a number of programmes which areeasily operated by menu-selection procedures. It enables one to produce various kinds ofmaps as listed below. 1) Dominant land use in each grid square (see Figure 3). 2) Land use existing in each grid square (including trace elements). 3) Land use at each grid point. 4) Complexity of land use structure in each grid square. 5) Combination of different types of land use   LUIS-C also offers the total extent of each land use type for each province, as shownin Table 1. The figures in Table 1 are entirely based on the data produced in the currentstudy, so they should be regarded as such. It is noted that the 1:100 000 maps ignoreplots smaller than 100-200 m, hence the types of land use that tend to exist in smallplots tend to have smaller areal figures than in reality. LUIS-C is revised from time totime with additional data and programmes. It will become available to the academiccommunity in 1997.   The 1930s figures are compared with the figures of 1990 which have been taken from"Land Use in China" (Wu & Guo, 1994), in the following chapters. The land useclassifications of the two data sources are not exactly the same, but it is neverthelesspossible to compare the two data sets in some ways. Other major information sourcesfor the study include "1:1 000 000 Land Use Map of China" (Wu, 1988)II. DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN LAND USE1. Settlement   "Settlement" refers to the area that is shown as such by dots or stripes on the map.Industries, schools, temples etc. are also included in this category, but roads andrailways shown on the map are treated separately. Low-density settlements are shown bydots, so the exact extent of them is difficult to identify without additional informationobtainable from the field survey etc. The areal figures of settlement in Table 1 aretherefore subject to change as the study progresses.   Settlement occupied 2,900 km2 in the 1930s, which is 0.6% of the whole study area.At this period the region was still predominantly rural, and only a few settlements, suchas Harbin, Jilin, Changchun and Shenyang, exceeded 2 km2 in areal size. The North-East Plain was dominated by agricultural land, but there were many rural settlements init. As settlements were so numerous that most of 2 km x 2 km grid cells in the Plain hadat least one settlement. On the other hand, the semi-dry area to the west of the Plain andthe mountainous areas to the north and east of the Plain had only very few settlements.The mountainous area in the south, however, had some distribution of settlements,indicating the relative affluence of the area because of its better climatic and economicconditions.   Settlement occupied 6.1% of Liaoning and 3.0% of Jilin in 1990, as against 0.9% and0.6% in the 1930s. The 1930s figures will become a little smaller if the areas outside the3study area (mostly forest) are included. Therefore, the increase in Liaoning is abouteight times and that in Jilin is about six times.   A more detailed study on the urbanization is underway.2. Roads and Railways   Roads and railways are usually exaggerated on the map at 1:100 000. It has beendecided, however, to count all the sample points falling on them in the map. It istherefore likely that the areal figures obtained here are larger than actual figures. Theaccuracy of the data will be improved in the future study.   Roads occupied 12,030 km2 (2.5%) in the 1930s. They were found in most gridsquares except in the mountain areas dominated by forest. As against the case ofsettlement, they existed in the areas dominated by rough land. This fact indicates thathuman activity was already widespread throughout the region by the 1930s.   Railways occupied 240 km2 in the 1930s. The total length of the railways in the regionwas about 3,800 km, so the areal figure obtained here is a little too large, as predicted.III. DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND USE   Agricultural use occupied 152,560 km2, or 32% of the total study area, in the 1930s.The agricultural land predominated the whole area of the Northeast Plain, and extendedas far south as to the Liaotung Peninsula. It was also seen along the valleys in thewestern arid upland region in Liaoning, where rough land is the main physical feature. Itwas also visible in the valleys in the Changpai Shan Mountains in the south-east Jilin.These facts suggest that much of the land cultivable by then conventional means wasalready cultivated by 1931, when Japan established the colonial rule there. Agriculturaldevelopment progressed in the region since then, but the development sites are mainlyin the saline arid zone in the west, flood-prone lowland along the great rivers, andmountainous region in the east.   Agricultural use occupied 49.3% of Liaoning and 34.1% of Jilin in 1990, as against44.5% and 28.3% in the 1930s. The 1930s figures will become a little smaller if theareas outside the study area (mostly forest) are included, as in the case of settlement.Therefore, the increase in Liaoning is estimeted to be around 30%, and that in Jilin isestimated to be around 50% or more.   According to the "Statistics of China" (Nakajima, 1994), agricultural land increasedonly in Jilin (+9%), Heilongjiang (+2%) and Yunnan (+3%) Province between 1980 and1990. In Jilin, where the increase rate of agricultural land was the highest in the country,the cultivation of maize and rice increased. During the same period, Neimongol andLiaoning lost 5% and 8% of their agricultural land, respectively.1. Dry Field   Dry field occupied 152,300 km2, or 99.8% of agricultural land, in the 1930s. Theregion has a cold winter which is not suitable for agriculture,but the summer is warm4enough for agriculture. It was already a major agricultural area in China in the 1930s.Main crops in the region are soy beans, wheat, maize, and kaoliang, now. Soybeanproduction accounts for some 40% of the country’s total. Kaoliang production has beendeclining in recent years, but Liaoning still produces 30% of the country’s total.2. Paddy Field   Paddy field occupied 220 km2, or less than 1% of agricultural land, in the 1930s. Itwas only marginally observed along the Songhua River in Heilongjiang, in the YanjiBasin in the east of Jilin, and in the Liaotong Peninsula in Liaoning. It is far morewidespread now, due to the government’s policy of promoting rice production and theincreasing demand for rice. Rice production in Liaoning is said to have started as farback as in 400 B.C., but the area of paddy field there was only 20 km2 in the 1930s. Thefigure is now 5,160 km2, i.e. more than 250 times as much as in the 1930s. In fact, theincrease in paddy field is the most significant change in the agricultural land use inNorth-East China after the revolution in 1949.   Most of the paddy field in Liaoning exists in the vicinity of the mouth of Liaohe River,where dry field was predominant in the 1930s. In Jilin Province, paddy field increasedfrom 40 km2 to 2,800 km2 in the same period. About 40% of paddy field exists withinJilin City. Again, most of the new paddy field exists where dry field was oncepredominant. Paddy field occupied 3,550 km2 in Heilongjiang in the 1980s, and abouthalf of it exists in the study area. Most of the paddy field in Heilongjiang is concentratedin the drainage basin of the Songhua River. The paddy field area within the study area inHeilongjiang was 150 km2 in the 1930s, so the increase was more than ten times.3. Orchard   No symbol of orchard is visible in the 1930 maps, although it is found in the land useclassification of these maps. There were some orchards in the 1930s in reality, but theywere all too small to be shown on the 1:100 000 maps.   According to "Land Use In China", orchard occupied 0.8% of the country in 1990.Liaoning produced 6% of fruits in 1992 (no. 4 in China). mainly in the south and west.Main fruits in Liaoning today are apples (no. 2 in China), pear (no. 3), grape (no. 4).Orchard is still rare in Jilin and Heilongjiang.IV. DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST   Forest was mainly found in the altitude range above 400 m, namely in themountainous region in the east and north, in the 1930s. This situation is basicallyunchanged till today. The forest area was 95,460 km2, or 20% of the whole study area,in the 1930s. Forest existed in the Plain as well, but it was only minor.   Jilin had 51,710 km2 of forest within the study area, which was mostly in themountainous east, in the 1930s. The area of forest in the whole of Jilin Province in the1930s is estimated as about the same as the current figure, which is 86,670 km2. In otherwords, the forest area in Jilin has not changed much in the last sixty years. In Liaoning a5major increase in forest was observed in the inland part of the Liaotung Peninsula. Thepercentage area of forest in the 1930s in the whole of Liaoning Province is estimated asabout 18%, as compared with the 1990 figure of 33%. The increase is thereforeestimated to be about 80%. In Heilongjiang, a major increase in forest was observed inthe mountain area south-east to Harbin.1. Broad-leaved Forest   Broad-leaved forest occupied 56,290 km2, or 12% of the whole study area, in the1930s. It forms 59% of forest, and was mainly found in the altitude range of 400 m -1,400 m. Broad-leaved forest was also seen around settlements or along roads, but theywere usually narrow or small. In Jilin, the area of broad-leaved forest was 22,500 km2 inthe 1930s.   Broad-leaved forest increased a little since the 1930s. In HeilongjiangProvince, muchof the rough land observed south-east to Harbin in the 1930s has become broad-leavedforest. In Jilin Province, farmland shelter forest increased in the western part (Zhang,1994). In Liaoning Province, a notable change was that much of the rough land observedin the Liaotong Peninsula in the 1930s has been converted to broad-leaved forest.According to "The Conservation Atlas of China" (Fan, 1990), much of the new forest inthe Liaotong Peninsula is now regarded as commercial forest.2. Coniferous Forest   Coniferous forest occupied only 580 km2 in the study area. It was mainly found in thealtitude range over 1 000 m.3. Mixed Forest   "Mixed forest" here refers to such area where symbols of coniferous and broad-leavedforests are mixed. In the 1930s, it occupied 38,590 km2, or 8% of the whole study area.The distribution was concentrated in the altitude range over 1,000 m. In Jilin Province itformed 56% of forest. In Liaoning Province and Neimongol Autonomous Region, nonotable distribution was found in the 1930s.   It is noted that the definitions of "mixed forest" in the Land Use Map of China and inthe "gaiho-zu" are not exactly the same, and the differences in the two sets of mapsshould not always be regarded as changes. More detailed study is obviously needed inorder to identify changes more precisely. With this in mind, however, it may still beuseful to compare the two sets of land use maps. Following are the findings: 1) The mixed forest in Jilin Province in the 1930s is now 70% broad-leaved forest, 10%coniferous forest. 2) The mixed forest in Heilongjiang Province in the 1930s is now 40% broad-leavedforest, 20% coniferous forest, and 10% sparse forest.    Sparse forest extends in the plains-piedmont area.6V. ROUGH LAND   "Rough land" refers to unused land with poor vegetation. It occupied 190,040 km2, or39% of the whole study area, in the 1930s. It surpassed agricultural land and forest inarea size. It was widely seen in the western part of the Northeast Plain. The bulk ofrough land area corresponds to the area with the annual precipitation below 400mm. Inthe eastern part of Neimongol Autonomous Region, rough land occupied 80% of theland. The figures are 38,620 km2 (33%) in Liaoning, 36,760 km2 (26%) in Jilin, and35,320 km2 (29%) in South Heilongjiang.   It is noted that "grassland" in the Land Use Map of China is nearly equivalent to"rough land" of the 1930s data. The comparison of the 1930s data with the Land UseMap of China revealed the following: 1) Most of the rough land prevalent in 124- 125E in Jilin in the 1930s was converted todry field. 2) Part of the rough land west of 124E in Heilongjiang in the 1930s was converted todry field. 3) Much of the rough land to the south-east of Harbin in the 1930s was converted toeither broad-leaved forest or sparse forest. 4) Most of the rough land in the western part of Liaoning was converted to broad-leaved forest. 5) Most of the rough land in the eastern part of Neimongol remains as it was in the1930s.7REFERENCESHimiyama, Y., H. Ito, T. Honma, T. Kikuchi (1995) Land Use in North-East China inthe 1930s, Reports of the Taisetsuzan Institute of Science, No. 30, pp. 25-35.Fan, Z. ed. (1990) The Conservation Atlas of China, Science Press, 238 pp.Nakajima, S. (1994) Statistics of China, JETRO, 464 pp.Wu, C. ed. (1988) 1:1 000 000 Land Use Map of China, Science Press.Wu, C. & Guo, H. eds. (1994) Land Use in China, Science Press, 422 pp.Zhang, B. (1994) The Structure and Dynamics of the Land Resources System in theFarmland Shelter Forest Region in the NorthEast Plain, Chinese GeographicalScience, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 322-332.8Table 1.  Land-Use Structure in the Study Area in North-East China in the 1930s(km2)LandUseType Whole Jilin Liaoning S.HeilongjiangE.NeimongolUrban 15161       6022 3590 4196 1353   settlement   road   railway289412030237839510677100625117393231808411712333Agricultural 152563 40385 52710 48930 10538   paddyfield   dryfield   orchard   othertreecrops   grassland21715230306374140323061520526770013146487780061010525003Forest 95461 51712 18841 23536 1372   broad-leaved   coniferous   mixed5629258238587224981272908717597202104214888223842513093033Other 212886 40929 41591 44594 85772   roughland   rockyland   wetland   water190043562112494472836762232264312923862012557679493531733720020447934441011884443No Information 5308 3701 1607 0 0Total 481379 142749 118339 121256 99035(after Himiyama et. al., 1995)91011Figure 3. Land Use in North-East China in the 1930s (after Himiyama et al., 1995)

Land Use in North-East China in the 1930s and After

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