Jiandao - History

History

Many different states and tribes succeeded each other in ruling the area during ancient times. These included Buyeo, Goguryeo and Goguryeo's successor state Balhae. Goguryeo was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea and controlled northern Korea and southern Manchuria. Balhae was a state that existed in the area during the Tang Dynasty in China and the Unified Silla Period in Korea. China emphasizes Balhae's temporary tributary relationship to the Tang, while Korea emphasizes that Balhae was a successor state and a cultural extension of Goguryeo.

Balhae was destroyed by the Khitan Liao Dynasty in 926, and was formally annexed in 936. Over the next nine to ten centuries the region was administered by the Liao Dynasty (Khitans), Jin Dynasty (Jurchens), Yuan Dynasty (Mongols), Ming Dynasty and finally, the Qing Dynasty, which was established by Manchus. Eventually, the Qing dynasty succeeded in unifying China by replacing the Ming Dynasty.

In 1712, the border between Qing and Joseon was formally demarcated. For years, Qing officials did not allow people to move to northeast China, as it always believed that should a Han majority government rise again in parts of China south of the Great Wall, the Manchu royalty could retreat to this area north of the Great Wall and retain a strong base to recover control in those parts of China. Joseon officials also did not allow its subjects to move to northeast China. These governmental regulations, with the general marshy nature of the area, left these lands north of the Tumen River relatively undeveloped and the region was sparsely populated by Manchu tribes for a long time. Qing officials regularly inspected this region and occasional Korean intruders were detained and sent back to the kingdom of Korea. However, by the late 19th century, peasants in northern Korea migrated to northeast China to flee famine and poverty. Even more arrived as refugees when Japan invaded Korea in 1894.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan began the process that led to the formal annexation of Korea. In 1905, the Korean Empire became a protectorate of Imperial Japan, effectively losing diplomatic rights, and became a part of the Imperial Japan in 1910. In the early 20th century, Korean immigration to Manchuria steadily increased, either by refugees fleeing from Japanese rule, or from encouragement by the Japanese government for people to develop the land. Some local Chinese governments welcomed the Korean immigrants, as they were a source of labor and agricultural skill.

In the meantime, Japan began to expand into northeast China. One of the regions the Japanese targeted was Jiandao (known in Korean as Gando). Rather than being a small piece of marsh land, the Japanese claimed that Jiandao included territory of four counties (Yanji, Wangqing, Helong and Hunchun) of Jilin province. The Japanese further claimed ethnic Koreans living in this region should be placed under the influence of Imperial Japan.

The Japanese first infiltrated Jiandao in April 1907 to collect information and data. On August 7, 1907, Japanese troops invaded Jiandao and claimed that the "Jiandao Issue" was "unsettled". (see reference: Jiandao Incident)

In the Jiandao Convention of 1909, Japan affirmed territorial rights of the Qing over Jiandao after the Chinese foreign ministry issued a thirteen-point refutation statement regarding its rightful ownership. Japan agreed to withdraw its invading troops back to Korea in two months. The treaty also contained provisions for the protection and rights of ethnic Koreans under Chinese rule. Nevertheless there were large Korean settlements and the area remained under significant Japanese influence.

Despite the agreement, Koreans in Jiandao continued to be a source of friction between the Chinese and Japanese governments. Japan maintained that all ethnic Koreans were Japanese nationals, subject to Japanese jurisdiction and law, and demanded rights to patrol and police the area. The Qing and subsequent local Chinese governments insisted on its territorial sovereignty over the region.

After the Mukden Incident, the Japanese military (the Kwantung Army) invaded Manchuria. Between 1931 to 1945, Manchuria was under the control of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state. Jiandao was a province of Manchukuo. This period initiated a new wave of Korean immigration, as the Japanese government actively encouraged (or forced) Korean settlement in order to colonize and develop the region. The Japanese also moved to suppress resistance in the region. Within three and half years (from Sept 1931 to March 1935), Japanese regular forces and police murdered 4520 people.(also see reference: Jiandao Incident) During and after 1930s, many ethnic Koreans in the region joined and participated in the Chinese Communist Party.

In December 1938, a counterinsurgency unit called the Gando Special Force was organized by the Japanese Kwantung Army to combat communist guerrillas within the region. The top commander of this battalion-size force was Japanese. Historian Philip Jowett noted that during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Gando Special Force had "earned a reputation for brutality and was reported to have laid waste to large areas which came under its rule."

After World War II and the liberation of Korea, many Korean expatriates in the region moved back to Korea, but a significant majority still remained in Manchuria; descendants of these people form the Korean ethnic minority in China today.

The area is now the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin province.