Makeeva S.B. The Great Northern Wasteland (Beidahuang) in 1949–1966: pages of the regional and demographic history of the Chinese province of Heilongjiang ...

Abstract

The article examines the history of the regional demographic development of the Chinese northeastern province of Heilongjiang, known from the regional archival chronicles as the Great Northern Wasteland (Beidahuang). Historical Transformation of Heilongjiang Province from 1949 to 1966 demonstrates the experience of socialist industrial construction, accompanied by rapid population growth from 10 million 119 thousand to 21 million 886 thousand people. Despite the three years of natural disasters, the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations, the Chinese government used the potential of military-agricultural construction, the strengthening of timber complexes, industrial transformations to resettle migrant workers, the military from other provinces and involve them in the development of the Great Northern Wasteland . The history of the Beidahuang territory is the history of the development of the northeastern lands, the agricultural and industrial development of Heilongjiang province, the evolution of the adaptation of migrants from other Chinese provinces to the conditions of the Northeast of the PRC.