The Northeast China Plain (), also known as Songliao Plain, Manchurian Plain or Northeast Plain, is located in

Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

. It lies between the Greater and Lesser Khingan and Changbai mountains, ending at the coast at

Liaodong Bay Liaodong Bay is largest and longest of the three main bays of the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. The other two bays are Laizhou Bay to the south and Bohai Bay to the southwest. Although named after the Liaodong Peninsula (wh ...

in the

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea ( zh, c=渤海, p=Bó Hǎi, l=Bo Sea) is a gulf/inland sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects via the Bohai Strait. It ...

. Covering 350,000 km², it is China's largest

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

, with an elevation of lower than 200 meters, and less than 100 meters to the southwest. The Songhua, Nen, and Liao rivers run through the plain. The Northeast Plain includes Songnen Plain in the north, Liaohe Plain in the south, and Sanjiang Plain in the northeast. The Songnen plain was formed by the Songhua and alluvial soils from the Nen. The Liaohe plain, located in the hilly areas near

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

, was created by the separation of watersheds of the Songhua and Liaohe, which are collectively known as the Liaohe plain. The Sanjiang plain, at the confluence of the Sungari,

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

, and Ussuri rivers,Encyclopedia Britannica
''Northeast Plain''
Retrieved 12-5-2019. was originally a swamp known as the "Great Northern Wilderness", becoming a food-producing area after reclamation. The original wetland area of the Sanjiang plain has been greatly reduced.

History

The Northeast Plain was inhabited by

Sushen Sushen is the historical Chinese name for an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in the northeastern part of China (in the area of modern Jilin and Heilongjiang) and what is in modern times the Russian Maritime Province and some other Si ...

ethnic groups since the Zhou Dynastic period, up to and including the

Jurchen people Jurchen (, ; , ) is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian people, East Asian Tungusic languages, Tungusic-speaking people. They lived in northeastern China, also known as Manchuria, before the 18th century. The Jurchens wer ...

, who were semi-nomadic. Large scale Han migration occurred during the Qing dynasty, in a process called Chuang Guandong, intensifying during the reign of

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China ...

in the late 19th century, and bringing with them large scale agriculture.

Agriculture

It is suitable for mechanized farming, with thick and fertile soil and extensive amounts of arable land. The plain is a major

Chernozem Chernozem ( ),; also called black soil, regur soil or black cotton soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very fertile soil and can ...

-producing region of the world. Huge areas are planted with wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, sugar beets, sunflowers, sorghum, and flax. The landscape is rich in resources such as iron ore, coal, and oil. After 1949, land reclamation began on the plain and state farms were established. There are very few trees on this landscape that have not been planted, typically poplars in long rows along roads, or on either side of the train tracks. There are not many fences on the landscape, no long running fences, though there are many wooden or stone fences adjacent to the houses. There is also much

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

, vast

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es, and many areas that are subject to flooding.Istituto Geografico De Agostini. ''Il Milione'', vol. VIII (Chinese region - Indochinese region), pp. 25–62. Novara, 1962.

References

External links

ISEE Newsletter, Vol.9, No. 4

Plains of China Geography of Northeast China Manchuria Inner Asia Regions of China {{-