South Manchurian Railroad

South Manchuria Railway

Native name	南滿洲鐵道 Minamimanshū Tetsudō (Japanese) Nánmǎnzhōu Tiědào (Chinese)
Founded	26 November 1906
Headquarters	Dairen, SMR Railway Zone, Xinjing, Manchukuo (after 1931)

The South Manchuria Railway (南滿洲鐵道: Japanese Minamimanshū Tetsudō; Chinese Nánmǎnzhōu Tiědào), officially South Manchuria Railway Company (南満洲鐵道株式會社: Minamimanshū Tetsudō Kabushikigaisha; Nánmǎnzhōu Tiědào Zhūshìhuìshè), or 南鐵 Mantetsu for short (Mǎntiě in Chinese), was a large National Policy Company () of Japan whose primary function was the operation of railways on the Dalian–Fengtian (Mukden)–Changchun (called Xinjing from 1931 to 1945) corridor in northeastern China, as well as on several branch lines. However, it was also involved in nearly every aspect of the economic, cultural and political life of Manchuria, from power generation to agricultural research, for which reason it was often referred to as "Japan's East India Company in China".

The main line from Changchun to Port Arthur, as Dalian was called under Russian rule, was built between 1898 and 1903 by the Chinese Eastern Railway according to the 1896 secret treaty and the 1898 lease convention between Qing China and Imperial Russia in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War; after Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, this area was taken over by Japan as the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Mantetsu was established in 1906 to operate the railways taken over from the Russians. Subsequently, Mantetsu expanded by building new lines for itself and for Chinese-owned undertakings, and after the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo was established in 1932, it was also entrusted with the management of the Manchukuo National Railway. Between 1917 and 1925, Mantetsu was also responsible for the management of the Chosen Government Railway in Japanese-occupied Korea.

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