Manchukuo National Capital Construction Commemorative Ceremony Badge/滿洲国都建設記念式典章

Obverse

國都建設記念式典 - National Capital Construction Commemorative Ceremony

 

On 10 March 1932 the capital of Manchukuo, a Japan-controlled puppet state in Manchuria, was established in Changchun. The city was then renamed Hsinking (Chinese: 新京; pinyin: Xīnjīng; Wade–Giles: Hsin-ching; Japanese:Shinkyō; literally "New Capital") on 13 March. The Emperor Puyi resided in the Imperial Palace (Chinese: 帝宮; pinyin: Dì gōng) which is now the Museum of the Manchu State Imperial Palace. During the Manchukuo period, the region experienced harsh suppression, brutal warfare on the civilian population, forced conscription and labor and other Japanese sponsored government brutalities; at the same time a rapid industrialisation and militarisation took place. Hsinking was a well-planned city with broad avenues and modern public works. The city underwent rapid expansion in both its economy and infrastructure. Many of buildings built during the Japanese colonial era still stand today, including those of the Eight Major Bureaus of Manchukuo (Chinese: 八大部; pinyin: Bādà bù) as well as the Headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army.

Hsinking was the only Direct-controlled municipality (特别市) in Manchukuo after Harbin was incorporated into the jurisdiction of Binjiang Province. In March 1932, the Inspection Division of South Manchuria Railway started to draw up the Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking (simplified Chinese: 大新京都市计画; traditional Chinese: 大新京都市計畫; pinyin: Dà xīn jīngdū shì jìhuà).​

Hsinking Master Plan Map (1934)

The Bureau of capital construction (国都建设局; 國都建設局; Guódū jiànshè jú) which was directly under the control of State Council of Manchukuo was established to take complete responsibility of the formulation and the implementation of the plan. Kuniaki Koiso, the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, and Yasuji Okamura, the Vice Chief-of-Staff, finalized the plan of a 200 km2 (77 sq mi) construction area. The Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking was influenced by the renovation plan of Paris in the 19th century, the garden city movement, and theories of American cities' planning and design in the 1920s. The city development plan included extensive tree planting.

Hsinking Master Plan Map (1937)

In accordance with the Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking, the area of publicly shared land (including the Imperial Palace, government offices, roads, parks and athletic grounds) in Hsinking was 47 km2 (18 sq mi), whilst the area of residential, commercial and industrial developments was planned to be 53 km2 (20 sq mi). However, Hsinking's population exceeded the prediction of 500,000 by 1940. In 1941, the Capital Construction Bureau modified the original plan, which expanded the urban area to 160 km2 (62 sq mi). The new plan also focused on the construction of satellite towns around the city with a planning of 200 m2 (2,200 sq ft) land per capita. Because the effects of war, the Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking remained unfinished. By 1944, the built up urban area of Hsinking reached 80 km2 (31 sq mi), while the area used for greening reached 70.7 km2 (27.3 sq mi). As Hsinking's city orientation was the administrative center and military commanding center, land for military use exceeded the originally planned figure of 9 percent, while only light manufacturing including packing industry, cigarette industry and paper-making had been developed during this period. Japanese force also controlled Hsinking's police system, instead of Manchukuo government. Major officers of Hsinking police were all ethnic Japanese.


This is how the city of Hsinking would look like in 1938 (when the 5 year plan for rebuilding the capital would be complete).

The population of Hsinking also experienced rapid growth after being established as the capital of Manchukuo. According to the census in 1934 taken by the police agency, the city's municipal area had 141,712 inhabitants. By 1944 the city's population had risen to 863,607 with 153,614 Japanese settlers. This population amount made Hsinking the third largest metropolitan city in Manchukuo after Mukden and Harbin, as the metropolitan mainly focused on military and political function.

View of the Future City (1936)​

 

Nice quality.

 

Salty specimen. Almost all coating is lost.

 

 

Sometimes ribbon has stamped number.

2638

 

3113

Together with original invitation.

啓者康徳四年九月十六日為 - On September 16th, 1934

国都建設記念奉 - National Capital Construction Commemorative Ceremony

旨於大同公園 - In Datong Park

賜餐遵此奉達即候時祉 - Dinner is Served Immediately

宮内府大臣熙洽 - Minister of the Imperial Household Xi Qia

内務局管理處事務官牧福松 - Administrative Officer of the Ministry of Home Affairs Maki Fukumatsu

 

Hsinking in period poscards.

Postcard series "Great Hsinking"/躍進する新京大観

asiamedals.info

Postcard series "Great Manchukuo Capital Hsinking"/大満州国首都 新京大観

asiamedals.info

 

State architecture, which dominated the streets of Changchun, could be classified into two types: Japanese administrative buildings and Manchurian administrative buildings. Representatives were the Headquarters of Guandong Army (1934) derived from Japanese castles and the State Council (1936), respectively. There were neither Ancestral Temple nor Altar of Land – the headquarters of Guandong Army and the new railway station were planned instead in their positions. The Manchurian government buildings included a series of eight ministries located between the two nuclei. Both planning and architecture carry built-in symbolic meaning that has a didactic political message, especiallynational capital and state architecture.​

In Changchun, the architectural tactic was to relate the Chinese to the Western by superimposing Chinese tiled roofs as iconographic ornaments on Western buildings. Form was paramount and structure became dissociated. The two modes ran parallel through all government architecture except the Foreign and Education Ministries. They were carefully conceived to express political meaning. The Chinese roof and Western building produced a total image of Manchurian architecture combined with stylistic variants of the period. The architectural unity of the state buildings was further emphasized by materials, colours and ornamental elements.​

 

Hsinking Railway Station.

 

Specimen in excellent condition.

Coating is intact.