Abstract
This chapter maps out the various stages of Korean minority’s development in Chinese modern history, which naturally reveals the dependence on state as political authority and multicultural, multi-ideological background of Korean minority’s development in the Manchurian region.
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Notes
- 1.
The Samjeong Disorders refers to the political disorders that occurred during the Joseon Dynasty under the rule of the Lee Royal Family in 1862. Samjeong means three dimensions of governance, namely land governance, military governance, and agriculture governance.
- 2.
The Manchu Royal family in the Qing Dynasty regarded Manchuria as their place of holy cultural and racial origin. After entering the central plains of China through the Shanhai Pass, they encircled a region of thousands of square-kilometers north of Changbai Mountain, Yalu River, and Tumen River to form a Sealed and Restricted Area.
- 3.
The current city of Changchun in Jilin province, China.
- 4.
The Trade Charter between Fengtian and Korean Border Residents.
- 5.
Researches on Korean Minority. (Yanji: Yanbian University Ethnicity Research Institute, Yanbian Renmin Press, 1991), 35.
- 6.
In 1910, Japan coerced the Korean Empire into signing the Japan-Korean Annexation Treaty, which handed sovereignty of the Korean Peninsula over to Japan, and marks the start of a 36-year-long history of colonization on the Korean Peninsula.
- 7.
“Korean Government House,” Overview of Koreans in Manchuria, 1936, 13.
- 8.
“Dongbian Dao” is an important historical concept referring to Manchuria, especially Eastern Manchuria. It firstly appeared in the 1970s during the Qing Dynasty as a political and military unit term. During the Qing Dynasty, Dongbian Dao presided over twenty counties, which nowadays have become cities and counties throughout the Manchurian provinces. Historically, both Russia and Japan used to have a prominent influence in this region and built some railways there. In 1929, the Republic of China withdrew the administrative unit of “Dongbian Dao”, though later it was still widely used by people to refer to this region until the PRC was founded.
- 9.
Jiandao, also known in Korean as Kando, refers to a small piece of marshland north of the Tumen River and south of the Hailan River covering the current border region between China and North Korea, including the current Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. During the years of the Manchukuo (March 1, 1932–August 17, 1945), this region in Southern Manchuria was an independent administrative unit called Jiandao Province, with its provincial capital in Longjing city. In this period of history, the region under this name was related to Japanese colonization. When the Korean Peninsula was being colonized by the Imperial Japan in early twentieth century, the Jiandao region, due to the considerable number of Koreans living there, was claimed by the Japanese as necessary to take over under itw own influence too. On September 4, 1909, the Chinese and Japanese delegates signed the Tumen River Sino-Korean Boundary Affairs Clause in Beijing, also called the Kando Treaty by the Korean side, which confirmed China’s sovereignty over the Jiandao region. The specific Jiandao region claimed by the Japanese at the time has now mainly become part of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Currently China has abandoned this term on official occasions due to the association with Japanese colonial history and contemporary territorial controversy with South Korea; though both North and South Korea recognize its official sovereignty as Chinese. However, some disputes over the legitimacy of China’s current sovereignty have erupted in recent years. Some South Korean nationalists claim that what happened in Jiandao between 1907 and 1909 (Japan’s invasion and subsequent withdrawal was an “illegal transfer” of “Korean territory” between Japan and China), thus they believe the nationality issue of the Koreans living in Jiandao at that time is not clear as it is today (in other words, Koreans in Jiandao at that time are not a legally recognized minority at all).
- 10.
The original name of the so-called Jiandao is Jiajiang, referring to the beach land belonging to the Guangji Islet of Yanji municipality on the northern shore of the Tumen River, later it became a term generally referring to the area where the Korean migrants resided in Yanbian.
- 11.
“A Telegram by the General Governor Xiliang in Manchuria on Granting Citizenship to Korean Migrants Who Pay Taxes 10 Jun 1909”. The Qing Dynasty government issued the Ordinance on Nationality of Qing Dynasty in 1909, requiring the migrant peasants to shave their hair according to the Manchu style and change their styles of dress, and become naturalized into the Qing nationality as a form of education campaign for the immigrant peasants.
- 12.
Kando Regular Schools: Kando Regular School Development History, September 1912, 6.
- 13.
The two major institutions that took action for Japan and implemented its education policy for Koreans in Manchuria are the Japanese Southern Manchurian Railway Corporation and the General Korean Governing Office.
- 14.
By 1911, there were a total of 9 schools founded by China, using the Korean language or being bilingual in Chinese and Korean, with a total number of 1289 enrolled students (87 % is Korean) from Kuwahi Taoshi, The Issue of the Education of Korean People in Manchuria. Corporation Body of Sino-Japanese Culture Association 1929 (Showa 4 Years).
- 15.
Zhang Zuolin’s military presence was limited within Fengtian Province (later renamed by Liaoning Province by Zhang Xueliang); in 1918 he defeated the warlord Meng Enyuan in Jilin Province, and then drove the warlord provincial governor Bi Guifang out of Heilongjiang Province; finally, he unified the three provinces in Northeastern China.
- 16.
Currently there is still a town named Linjiang in the same region, which is under the direct administration of Baishan city.
- 17.
On the dawn of June 4, 1928, the most powerful warlord in Manchuria Zhang Zuolin was assassinated by a train bomb; which had been planned by the Japanese people after they found Zhang’s reluctant to cooperate with them.
- 18.
It worthies being noted here that Korean people are referred to as Xianren in this ordinance, which is a term firstly adopted and widely used by the Japanese people as a derogatory term to refer to Korean people in a racial sense. Nowadays this term would sound strongly offensive to Korean people.
- 19.
In 1927, the Japanese cabinet held the Oriental Conference to make a policy on Manchuria and Mongolia. The main idea of the Policy Program on China is that the Manchurian and the Inner Mongolian regions need to be separated from the mainland of China. In the programs it is said that “as for Manchuria and the Inner Mongolia, especially Manchuria, there is significant interest relevant to Japan’s national security and national well-being. Not only do we need to pay special attention, but also we need to maintain peace in the region and support its economic development, so that it would be a better place for our migrants to settle down”.
- 20.
The Kwantung Army was established in 1919 as an important component of Japanese land force, and disbanded in 1945. The name Kwantung comes from this army’s initial missions in the Kwantung State (under the rent of Russia then) in China at that time. It is currently the city chain of Dalian, Lvshun, and Jinxian in Liaoning Province.
- 21.
They are separately Zang Shiyi in Liaoning, Xi Qia in Jilin, and Ma Zhanshan in Heilongjiang.
- 22.
A general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Governor-General of Korea between 1936 and 1942.
- 23.
Minami Jiro believes that the more Manchuria is under Japan’s control, the more convenience there would be for Japan’s further expansion toward Russia, the more resources Japan could transport back to its homeland, and the more migrants it could send to Manchuria.
- 24.
In this Declaration of Independence, it is announced that both the Manchurian and the Mongolian regions separate themselves from the central government of the Republic of China; and according to the demands of local people, an independent administration would be conducted in these two regions, and independent governments would be established.
- 25.
The capital of Manchukuo set by the Japanese during the period of Japanese colonization, the current capital city of Jilin province in China, Changchun.
- 26.
Interview with Interviewee Mr. Y on the afternoon of February 15th in Jilin.
- 27.
Compilation of Manchukuo’s National History, Manchurian and Mongolian Brethren Assistance Association 1971, 226–27.
- 28.
Kanto State is the current Lvshun and Dalian city, and then was rented by Japan from Manchukuo.
- 29.
Changchun, by mid-1930s, had become the greenest city of Asia, had developed the biggest radio station in Asia, and had become the first Asian city with universalized flush toilet and gas pipeline. The industrial scale of Manchuria surpassed Japan to become the first in Asia in 1945, the gross industrial output value took around 85 % of the total national figure.
- 30.
The biggest anti-Japanese movement that has taken place in Korean Peninsula, since March 1, 1919, more than two million Korean people have participated in the anti-Japanese movement all over the Korean Peninsula for more than 3 months. After Japan cracked down this movement by the end of 1919, Japan had seriously readjusted its ruling policy in Korea, by allowing capital and cultural freedom, and the Temporary Government of Republic of Korea was also established on April 13,1919 in Shanghai.
- 31.
From interviews with scholars at the Chinese Korean Minority History Association Annual Conference 2011, July 26–27, 2011 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
- 32.
Regulations of People’s Government of Yaniban Korean Minority Autonomous Prefecture.
- 33.
At the First Ethnic Affairs Conference of Jilin Province.
- 34.
UNDP has proposed to co-explore the Tumen River region by uniting the five countries of China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia, with emphasis on the role of the border city Hunchun in Yanbian prefecture; in 1999 it further suggested to include the whole Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture into this plan.
- 35.
Yanbian Daily (Korean edition), 2005.11.09, 2003.01.07.
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Yu, M. (2017). Background of Korean Minority, and Its Development in People’s Republic of China. In: Instrumental Autonomy, Political Socialization, and Citizenship Identity. Governance and Citizenship in Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2694-2_3
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