Frontier Manchuria and its Peoples Brad Sladek During the late 19th century the European Imperialist

powers began to vie for control of Asia. Reacting to this threat the Qing dynasty in China decided to rescind the ban they held on migration to Manchuria. Located in the middle of three competing powers, Russia, China and Japan; Manchuria was desired for its abundant natural resources. At first the Chinese, then Koreans and finally Japanese migrated to the region in large numbers. These migrants largely consisted of the poor and destitute, seeking a new beginning in the abundant Manchurian valleys. Each group had different motives for traveling to the area and establishing new communities among the frontier region. Early in the 19th Century the Qing dynasty decided to allow Chinese migration to Manchuria due to the threat of Russian encroachment and European Imperialism. Prior to this all migration had been restricted in order to preserve the wilderness of the Qing ancestral homeland. The Chinese see Manchuria as an extension of China, and regarded this migration as a way to establish suzerainty over the region away from outside control. Chinese peasants began to move in from the south, but Koreans also began to migrate to the eastern areas of Manchuria through the porous Manchuria-Korean border. The Chinese would end up comprising the largest ethnic group, with 8 million Chinese migrating to Manchuria through the first half of the 20th century alone. Koreans began to enter Manchuria in large numbers after peasant uprisings in the 1860s. The border of Manchuria and Korea was unguarded, and these peasants were attracted to the fertile farming lands of Manchuria. At first these immigrants came from the northern Korean provinces, but after the Japanese invasion and colonial administration Koreans from all over the

peninsula emigrated. Korean borderlands had historically been a region of exile, where dissidents of Seoul were sent. As Japanese hegemony extended to northern Korea these dissidents were pushed even farther into the interior and mountains of Manchuria. By 1931 there were estimated over 900,000 Koreans in Manchuria, by 1945 that number approached 2 million. Many of the early Korean immigrants were outsiders and exiles from Korea and were susceptible to brigandage and petty crime. They had fought the Japanese in Korea and continued to do so in Manchuria. These outlaw communities would band together to fight off encroachment from Qing or Japanese officials. It was not until the early 1940s after many Japanese punitive campaigns that Manchurian dissidents were pacified. The Japanese were last to the game of migration to Manchuria, but they made up for their lost time with rapid industrial and economic expansion of the area. Between the years of 1931 and the end of World War II in 1945 Japanese colonialism in Manchuria followed a logical path to turn the region into a Japanese continental settlement. Japan used their mass media in radio and newspaper as well as the semi-autonomous Kwangtung Army to obtain the region after the Manchurian Incident in 1931. Between 1931 and 1933 the Kwangtung Army put enough pressure on the Chinese forces defending the region that China was forced to withdraw. This was followed by a period of exploration and development where Japan invested 1.7 billion Yen between the years of 1933 and 1937. This led to the final stage of mass Japanese migration that was only ended due to the needs of the war in 1941. The conquest of Manchuria was largely instigated by Japan's media companies, who drummed up support for the war and resettlement of the population to the continent. The Kwangtung army merely took advantage of this domestic support to widen the

theater of command to the whole of Manchuria. Later during the resettlement program Japanese media would again promote Manchuria as a place of opportunity and abundance in an attempt to entice migration. Eventually there would be 1 million Japanese living in Manchuria. The three migrating groups held a few similarities; China, Korea, and Japan all saw Manchuria as a frontier to be conquered. The migrating stock mostly came from the peasant and lower classes of the three societies, seeking new opportunity. There were differences however, perhaps the most stark that Japan required conquest in order to colonize while Korea and Chinese migrants simply settled the area. A further difference is the individual reasons the people held for coming to the area. The Chinese migrated to defend the region from foreign encroachment, Koreans migrated to escape Japanese colonialism, and Japanese emigrated to establish a firm base on the continent and claim natural resources that Japan was in dire need of. North Korea's perspective is unreliable and containing falsehoods that help to deify Kim Il Sung's place in fighting for Korean independence. Charles Armstrong has tried hard to cut through the myths and follow the early years of the North Korean movement. Kim Il Sung traveled to Manchuria at an early age to escape Japanese colonial control. Eventually he joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, a Chinese led Korean outfit fighting Japanese expansion. He would fight against the Japanese in various organizations until 1942 when he retreated to Soviet Russia. North Koreans view Manchuria as the combat arena where Kim fought the Japanese to a standstill, helping to give their government legitimacy by linking its birth with ancient Korean kingdoms. Manchuria during the early 20th century was largely a lawless frontier where various competing nations vied for domination of the region and its vast natural wealth. The area would

fall under the sway of Japan before finally going to China after the Communist revolution, a result that meshes well with the history of the region as the birthplace of the Qing dynasty.