Outer Manchuria

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Outer Manchuria

1. The part of Russia near northeastern China which was ceded to the Russian Empire in the mid 19th century understood as part of Manchuria. [from 21st c.]
   • 2009, Christopher Meyer, Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: The Inside Story of British Diplomacy‎, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, page 181:

     In particular, Elliot found himself confronted by a redoubtable opponent in Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatyev, the Russian Ambassador to the Sublime Porte. Ignatyev was cunning, agile and bold. He had had adventures aplenty and narrow escapes in Central Asia, where he had sought to build Russian influence. A particularly nimble piece of diplomacy had led to his acquiring Outer Manchuria from the Chinese Emperor.

   • 2010, Vaillant, John, “Markov”, in The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival‎ (Adventure/Nature), →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 59:

     Two years later, Czar Alexander II went a step further and coerced the Chinese into signing the Treaty of Peking, thereby adding another slice of Outer Manchuria—what is now Primorye and southern Khabarovsk Territory—to the Russian empire. In the mid-1960s, it seemed as if Mao might try to get them back.

   • 2011, Kissinger, Henry, “From Preeminence to Decline”, in On China‎, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 68:

     For these services Moscow exacted a staggering territorial price: a broad swath of territory in so-called Outer Manchuria along the Pacific coast, including the port city now called Vladivostok.¹⁴ In a stroke, Russia had gained a major new naval base, a foothold in the Sea of Japan, and 350,000 square miles of territory once considered Chinese.

   • 2012 February 21, Jacobs, Frank, “Manchurian Trivia”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-07-29, Opinion Pages‎:

     Russian settlers took possession of the fringes of the Chinese world, de facto annexations that were ratified by a series of “unequal treaties” [8], the Treaty of Aigun of 1858 and the Russo-Chinese Convention of Peking of 1860, which established the easternmost part of the present-day border between China and Russia [9].

     [9] Establishing what is now known as Russia’s Far East but is still referred to by some in China as Outer Manchuria. Basically, the Russian territory south of the Stanovoy Mountains, a 500-mile-long range that forms the watershed between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans and that until 1858 constituted the border between Russia and China.

   • 2019 February, Stent, Angela E., Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest‎, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page :

     After praising the border agreement, Deng led the Soviet foreign minister into a room where a map of China lay on the table. The map showed Outer Manchuria, which forms the Russian Primorsky Krai province, as Chinese, not Russian, territory.

   • 2023 April 12, Bolton, John, “A New American Grand Strategy to Counter Russia and China”, in The Wall Street Journal‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 April 2023, Opinion:

     Third, after Ukraine wins its war with Russia, we must aim to split the Russia-China axis. Moscow’s defeat could unseat Mr. Putin’s regime. What comes next is a government of unknowable composition. New Russian leaders may or may not look to the West rather than Beijing, and might be so weak that the Russian Federation’s fragmentation, especially east of the Urals, isn’t inconceivable. Beijing is undoubtedly eyeing this vast territory, which potentially contains incalculable mineral wealth. Significant portions of this region were under Chinese sovereignty until the 1860 Treaty of Peking transferred “outer Manchuria,” including extensive Pacific coast lands, to Moscow. Russia’s uncontrolled dissolution could provide China direct access to the Arctic, including even the Bering Strait, facing Alaska.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Outer Manchuria.
2. (literally) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see outer,‎ Manchuria (a region of northeast China/Manchuria) [from 20th c.]
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Outer Manchuria.
3. (figurative) Any proverbially distant or remote place. [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: Outer Mongolia, Timbuktu

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Outer Manchuria.

• Inner Manchuria

• South Manchuria

In 21st century usage in English, the term Outer Manchuria most often refers specifically to territories ceded by the Qing Dynasty (Manchu) to the Russian Empire in 1858 and 1860. The term is closely associated with discussions of irredentism. However, in 20th century usage, the term Outer Manchuria or outer Manchuria refers to remote parts of Manchuria or northeast China in a more general sense. Additionally, Outer Manchuria can be used in a figurative sense like Timbuktu to refer to a proverbially remote location.

• Russian Far East
• Boli, Hailanpao, Haishenwai/Haishenwei, Jiangdong, Kuye, Miaojie, Nibuchu, Outer Khingan, Shuangchengzi