To most people today, Manchuria refers to the three provinces in northeast China—Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Meanwhile Yeonhaeju is a translation of the Russian term "Primorskij Kraj," which refers to the far eastern region of Russia that faces the East Sea. Since Manchuria and Yeonhaeju belong to the territories of China and Russia respectively, they are often thought unrelated, separate regions. Looking at these two regions in the map, however, one can observe that they are bordering each other, closely linked together, despite the mountains and a river dividing the two. In particular, East Manchuria and Yeonhaeju not only have a similar natural environment including the climate and vegetation, but the Songhua River that runs through the center of Manchuria meets the Amur River that runs around the outer region of Manchuria, and flows together into the Sea of Okhotsk. As the Korean peninsula has long been sharing history as one historical community, Manchuria and Yeonhaeju also were an integrated space no earlier than 150 years ago.
Manchuria and Yeonhaeju can be divided into three areas. Today's East Manchuria and Yeonhaeju is a cold, humid mountainous zone which was long inhabited by hunter-gatherers. On the other hand, the Central Manchuria is warm and rainy, and hence inhabited by cultivators like Koreans, whereas the West Manchuria is a dry land inhabited by nomads whose livelihood depended on animal husbandry and hunting. These different tribes and peoples in the region have been building the history of Manchuria and Yeonhaeju together, as they feud, fight, and sometimes exchange and unify.
From a Place of Exchange and Integration to That of Dispute and Conflict
In the ancient period, Korea's old kingdoms such as Buyeo, Koguryo, and Balhae took the hegemony of this region. In particular, Koguryo unified different branches of the Yeomaek tribe into one, whereas Balhae, based on East Manchuria, reached its hegemonic rule to the Central Manchuria as well as Yeonhaeju. After the collapse of Balhae, this region was cut off from the history of Korea, but peoples who lived in the region such as the Kitans of the West Manchuria and the Nuzhens (the Manchus) of the East Manchuria established their own nations such as Liao, Jin and Qing and extended their hegemony to the mainland China. As they did, the tribes and peoples in the region sometimes fell politically into the ruler and the ruled, but have communicated and exchanged each other, creating a region of cohabitation and integration.
The year 1860, however, saw the Second Opium War end and Russia agree on the Beijing Treaty, creating the border that divides the region into 'Manchuria' and 'Yeonhaeju'. Since then, the region turned into a battleground and spoil of world powers such as Qing, Japan, Russia and Britain that tried to dominate the east of Eurasia. The consecutive wars that occurred in the later 19th and the early 20th centuries such as Qing-Japan War, Russo-Japanese War, and China-Japan War all signify the fierce competition to seize the region. That is, the unified region of exchange and integration among various tribes and peoples has turned into a place of dispute and conflict.
Furthermore, China recently attempts to monopolize the history of Manchuria under the hegemonic historical vision of "unified multiethnic state" theory, relegating the history of the Koreans arisen and expanded from Manchuria, namely Gojoseon, Buyeo, Koguryo, and Balhae, into a history of a minority polity in China. Even the name 'Manchuria' was changed to 'Dongbei Sansheng [東北三省, Three Provinces of Northeast]', thereby trying to obliterate the historical identity of the region created by blending of the Kitans, Nuzhens (Manchus) and others. Russia also has joined in this hegemonic aspiration, claiming the Mohos and Nuzhens as minorities of Siberia and interpreting the regional history in their favor.
Although, like this, the region of Manchuria and Yeonhaeju was split into two and turned into a place of dispute and conflict during the turbulent period of modern Eurasian history, it shows a sign of change these days. Northeast Asian countries including Russia are rising to be central players of trades, goods and tourism. If comes the day when Northeast Asian countries communicate and exchange more, Manchuria and Yeonghaeju can step up to be the hub of the Northeast Asian prosperity and once again have a chance to be transformed into an integrated region. UNDP's development project, Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI), is one example that shows this trend.
Recognizing Manchuria-Yeonhaeju as One Integrated Region
To prepare for the future with such changes, researching the historical flow of Manchuria and Yeonhaeju as one integrated unit in a broad context is urgently needed. In addition, it is necessary to interpret the region's history in a more objective and balanced perspective. To pursue these goals, there is a lot for us to prepare for. Not only is the condition inadequate yet to study Manchuria and Yeonhaeju as one unit, but not many share the idea that the two areas used to be in fact one unified region. Therefore, our research lacks an integrated, objective understanding on Manchuria and Yeonhaeju, and focuses just on the part of the region's history related to us and disregards else.
With this research attitude, we cannot overcome China's and Russia's ambition to monopolize the history of this region. If Koreans too fall into this trap of nationalistic interpretation of history, the conflict over historical understandings will get deeper and we will lose the pretext to criticize the hegemonic historical understandings of China and Russia. In this regard, Koreans should approach the history of Manchuria and Yeonhaeju with the perspective that they were historically one integrated region where different tribes and peoples cohabited. Koguryo was in fact an international state that ruled over a number of ethnically different peoples and that actively interacted with neighboring countries. Balhae, also, had a great number of Mohos as its subjects, showing the characteristics of a multiethnic nation. In the early 20th century, Koreans who went to Manchuria and Yeonhaeju fought together with Chinese and Russians against Japan's imperial aggressions.
If this fact that Manchuria and Yeonhaeju were once one unified historical region where various tribes and peoples lived together, interacting and commixing, is understood not just by Koreans but by peoples of other countries in the world, China and Russia will no longer be able to monopolize the history of the region with their hegemonic historical point of view. In this regard, integrated research on Manchuria and Yeonhaeju can not only extend the horizon of the historiography of Korea but begin co-existing, peaceful Northeast Asia. In addition, Manchuria and Yeonhaeju can be a bridge to Eurasia, with which unified Korea will more actively interact. The integrated research to Manchuria and Yeonhaeju, therefore, can help find directions of development for reunified Korea.