After the nation-wide War of Resistance Against Japan broke out in 1937, guerrilla warfare was waged by the Communist led Eighth Route Army with many anti-Japanese bases opened far behind enemy lines. Guan Xiangying, a Manchu general, who was also Political Commissar of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, played a vital role in setting up the Shanxi-Suiyuan Anti-Japanese Base.

Before the founding of the People¡¯s Republic of Chins, the social and economic conditions of the Manchu people in northeast China was quite different from those of the people in the central part of the country. In the days of Japanese occupation, most land in the northeast was in the hands of landlords and rich peasants, with large tracts of farmland under direct control of the Japanese "Land Reclamation Corps." The Manchu people were subjected to plunder and enslavement. A compulsory "grain purchasing system" was enforced. All soybean, maize, corn and millet harvested by the peasants were taken by the Japanese and Chinese puppet officials, policemen and village heads. Food grain was strictly rationed after all the layers of corruption, leaving only swill for the average Manchus. Along with this were all sorts of military services and forced labor. A physical examination was required of all young Manchu peasants at the age of 19. With the strong ones conscripted into the Japanese military or the puppet army, the weaker ones were made coolies building highways, fortifications and factories or working in the mines. Life for them was extremely miserable. Treated like beasts of burden and tortured by cold and hunger they were forced to work 15 to 16 hours a day. Many perished under the lashes of the Japanese. Massacres of press-ganged Manchu workers by the Japanese were the rule upon completion of strategic military projects.

In Shenyang, Dalian, Anshan, Fushun, Changchun and Harbin, the Japanese and their Chinese helpers opened many big mines and factories. The capitalists ruthlessly exploited the workers, Manchus and Hans alike, and deprived them of their political right and personal safety.

Life was no better for many Manchu intellectuals, including scientific and artistic workers, teachers and government employees, since inflation and currency devaluation made things all the worse for those with meagre pay. This circumstance left no exception for the Manchu peasants living in the countryside south of the Great Wall. A few privileged old-timers and offspring of big families under the Qing Dynasty were the only ones better off than the general run. These were rent collectors or dealers in jewellery, calligraphy and Chinese painting.

In 1952, the government issued a decision protecting the right of people of all national minorities living in scattered groups to enjoy political equality. The decision stipulates that all minority people be duly represented in governments at all levels. Under this policy the Manchu people have their own deputies to the national and local People's Congresses and enjoy equal right with other nationalities running state affairs.