To the guards and patrols of the Manchurian railway and the garrisons of Port Arthur and Vladivostok, 80,000 in all, Japan could, in consequence of her recruiting law of 1896, oppose a first-line army of some 270,000 trained men.
The first portion of the Manchurian railway, built by Russian engineers, with Chinese labour, was finished in 1902.
The Manchurian crane is common, as also are eagles, cuckoos, laughing doves, &c. Insects abound, owing to the swampy nature of much of the country.
Under the RussoJapanese treaty of August 1905, after the war, supplemented by a convention between Japan and China concluded in December of the same year, Japan took over the line from Port Arthur as far as Kwang-cheng-tsze, now known as the Southern Manchurian railway (508 m.).
The rest of the original Manchurian system (1088 miles) remains under Russian control.