Shenyang, also Shen-yang, formerly Mukden, city, northeastern China, capital of Liaoning Province, on the Hun River, a major industrial center. Manufactures include machine tools, processed copper, machinery, steel, and electrical equipment. Northeast College of Technology, a School of Medicine, and a Music Conservatory are located here. The 17th-century Manchu Imperial Palace, the tomb of Emperor Tai-tsung, and other Chinese historical monuments are notable landmarks.
Originally called Shen, the city was a prosperous Mongol trading center from the 10th to the 12th century AD. Renamed Feng-t'ien, it was under Chinese control during 1368-1625; and, as Mukden and Shengking, was an early capital (1625-1644) of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644-1911) before its conquest of Beijing. Modern development, begun by Russian interests in 1895, continued under Japanese influence following the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and with the aid of powerful local warlords. The Mukden Incident (1931) marked the start of the Japanese conquest of Manchuria and establishment of the former Japanese-controlled state of Manchukuo (1932-1945). Looted of its industrial equipment, the city was returned to China in 1945 and renamed Shenyang in 1948. It was the capital (1949-1954) of the short-lived Northeast Administrative Region and was rebuilt as a diversified industrial center in the 1950s. Population (1991) 4,649,490.
