Manchukuo - a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic, but in 1934 it became a constitutional monarchy. It had limited international recognition and was under the de facto control of Japan. A Festival Stilt Dance. The area, collectively known as Manchuria, was the homeland of the Manchus, including the emperors of the Qing dynasty. In 1931, the region was seized by Japan following the Mukden Incident and a pro-Japanese government was installed one year later with Puyi, the last Qing emperor, as the nominal regent and later emperor.[1] Manchukuo's government was dissolved in 1945 after the surrender of Imperial Japan at the end of World War II. Date: circa 1930s