동북아역사재단 2022년 10월호 뉴스레터
- Jang Se-yoon, Honorary Researcher
Eye to the West Gando and North Gando Regions of Northeast China during National Crisis
The independence movement of the Korean people that developed in the northeastern region of China (Manchuria) in the first half of the 20th century did not stop in the past. It still has important implications regarding current issues in the region. Let us briefly introduce the migration of Koreans, a movement to pioneer a base for the independence movement, and what it means.
The North Gando area was the first place that secret societies such as the New People’s Association and patriots paid attention to as a base for their independence movement overseas amid a national crisis. North Gando refers to the area of today’s Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province, China. National activists, such as Lee Sang-seol, Lee Dong-nyeong, Lee Hoe-yeong, Jeong Sun-man, and Yeo Jun, predicted the fall of the Korean Empire with the signing of the Protectorate Treaty between Korea and Japan in 1905. They chose Yongjeol Village in Yanji County, the central area of North Gando, as the place to build the base for the independence movement and initiated preparations in April 1906. In the fall of that year, they established various national schools, such as Seojeon Seosuk, the cradle of national education, and achieved significant results.
The independence movement in northeast China mainly focused on the anti-Japanese armed struggle and education. If the symbol of the armed struggle in North Gando is the Battles of Bongo-dong and Cheongsan-ri, the site of the national education movement is Myeongdong Village. Myeongdong, meaning ‘to light the east,’ harbored the ideal of the national education movement. The families of Kim Yak-yeon, Kim Ha-gyu, Mun Chi-jeong, and Nam Wi-eon took the initiative. They provided national education by purchasing forest land, reclaiming the land into paddies to support the school, and opening a classical school called Gyuamjae from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.
Gyuamjae developed into Myeongdong Seosuk, Myeongdong School, and into the backbone of the national education movement in North Gando as independence activists, such as Jeong Jae-myeon and Lee Dong-hwi joined the New People’s Association. Since then, Myeongdong Village has played a vital role as a base for the independence movement in North Gando. In particular, after the 'Longjing March 13 Demonstration Movement' on March 13, 1919, Myeongdong School virtually became the headquarters of the North Gando National Association, and the graduates of the school joined Ahn Moo’s National Association Army and Hong Beom-do's Korean Independence Army contributing greatly to the armed struggle against Japan. It is well known that Yun Dong-ju, a resistance poet who wrote the most cherished poem among Koreans, was from Myeongdong Village and Myeongdong School.
West Gando and North Gando Regions, Effectively Serving as the Base for Independence Movement
In August 1907, right after the Japanese imperialists disbanded the Korean Empire’s army, the issue of establishing an independent army base and an independent army overseas was first reviewed. Afterward, the New People’s Association began discussing this policy in earnest in the spring of 1909, when the war of the righteous army was in decline. At this time, the New People’s Association held a national staff meeting at Yang Gi-tak's house and decided to select suitable candidate sites overseas, establish a military school, and set up a base for the independence army to train a strong independence army. However, before implementing this decision, the Japanese Residency-General detained a number of New People’s Association executives, including Ahn Chang-ho, Lee Dong-hwi, Yoo Dong-yeol, Lee Jong-ho, and Kim Hee-seon, and released them only in February of the following year. The New People’s Association held an emergency staff meeting in March 1910, adopted the ‘independence war strategy,’ and started the movement to establish a military school and a base for the independence army in earnest.
The 'Independence War Theory' was a new logic in which the ideology and logic of the enlightenment-for-national-salvation movement and the anti-Japanese war of the righteous army during the Korean Empire became united. The most effective way to drive out the Japanese aggressors and achieve national liberation and independence was the system of the independence movement theory, which was to wage a war of independence against Japan at the appropriate time. The first action plan for the ‘Independence War Theory’ was establishing an independent military base abroad. Collective migration was also envisioned.
According to this plan of the New People’s Association, Ahn Chang-ho, Lee Gap, Yoo Dong-yeol, Shin Chae-ho, Kim Hee-sun, and Lee Jong-ho departed the country in April 1910. In the fall of the same year, Lee Dong-nyeong and Joo Jin-soo also secretly explored southern Manchuria to select candidate sites. Also, Lee Dong-nyeong and Lee Hoi-young, the advance group, promoted group migration to establish a base for the independence army between September and December, embarking on the project of pioneering a base in Sanyuanpu, Lihe County, Fengtian Province in southern Manchuria.
After much meandering, members of the New People’s Association successfully established the self-governing organization called Gyeonghaksa and New Korean Town in Sanyuanpu in the spring of 1911 and Sinheung Gangseupso (school) in June. Here, the families of Lee Seok-young, Lee Si-young, and Lee Hoe-young, and the families of Lee Dong-nyeong, Yang Ki-tak, Lee Sang-ryong, Heo Wi, Kim Dae-rak, and Kim Dong-sam liquidated their family fortunes and migrated altogether to pioneer a Korean village and a base for the independence army. The Sinheung Gangseupso became widely known as the ‘Sinheung Military Academy.’ This school produced many talented people and laid the foundation for the independence movement in the 1920s and 1930s. The lyrics of the Sinheung Military Academy’s song (third verse) below definitely draw our attention.
“Who will lead our perishing nation, wielding a sword and urging on the horse to train our bodies, build up knowledge, develop character, and strengthen the spirit, to establish a new country?
They are the young people of Korea.
Raise your arms! Shout and sing! The flag of freedom has been raised.”
Implications for Today and Its Meaning
September 3 was a momentous day marking the 70th anniversary of the foundation of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China. However, most Koreans, as well as many Korean compatriots from China, must not have remembered it, being busy with their livelihoods. Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture started as the ‘Yanbian Korean National Autonomous Region’, which was established based on the ‘Guideline for Ethnic Regional Autonomy of the People’s Republic of China’ on September 3, 1952. Later, in 1956, when it was changed to ‘Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture,’ the legal concept of Koreans living in China as a 'minority ' in China, called 'ethnic Koreans living in China,' citizens who acquired Chinese nationality, was established. The establishment of the ‘autonomous prefecture of Korean-Chinese’ was due significantly to the Korean people's anti-Japanese armed struggle in northeast China and the related figures and groups.
In addition to Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, currently, there is Changbai Korean Autonomous County in the southwest of Baekdusan mountain and several autonomous villages of Korean ethnicity in China, which are implementing national autonomy in their own way. However, it is reported that the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, which had adhered to the principle of writing in Korean first, started to implement the policy of writing in Chinese first. There are concerns that policies like this would accelerate regional disintegration and 'Chinese nationalism' while the Korean-Chinese population decreases due to the outflow of Korean-Chinese people.
Recently, Chinese authorities have intensified research on the anti-Japanese war in the 1930s and 1940s and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army. In particular, the independence movement of Koreans who were active in China in the first half of the 20th century is regarded as “the activities of ethnic minorities in China,” and the activities of “Korean-Chinese of China.” Based on this idea, the independence movement of the Korean people in northeast China can be classified as an 'anti-Japanese struggle of Korean-Chinese of China' or a 'revolutionary struggle of Korean-Chinese of China.' If we neglect research and education on our independence movement and the turbulent history of migration that took place in northeast China during this period, there is a risk that it will be transformed into the history of anti-Japanese struggle and migration of 'Korean-Chinese of China' or even the history of the Chinese revolution rather than the modern and contemporary history of Korea, the history of the independence movement, and 'Korean Diaspora.' Under such circumstances, it is necessary to re-recognize the Northeast region of China, the Korean-Chinese issue, the meaning and relevance of the history of the independence movement, and their geopolitical and strategic importance, and continue to conduct the investigation, research, and education in the future.
동북아역사재단이 창작한 '한인의 만주 이주와 독립운동 기지 개척' 저작물은 "공공누리" 출처표시-상업적이용금지-변경금지 조건에 따라 이용 할 수 있습니다.
