The Enforcement of Immigration Control in Colonial Korea and the Rise of Nationalism in the Chinese Media

Abstract

This paper investigates how conflicts and tension built up between Chinese migrant workers and Korean residents in colonial Korea (1910-1945). This led up to the enforcement of immigration controls by the Japanese authorities and also to a change of the image of Koreans in the Chinese media. The Japanese government adopted a policy to ban Chinese laborers from mainland Japan. This policy implied also, that, by contrast, the Government General of Korea should accommodate Chinese laborers to some extent, as long as the Chinese government accepted Korean people to inhabit and cultivate Manchuria. However, the competition between Chinese and Korean laborers became stronger and the Korean resentment against Chinese wealth in Korea also deepened the emotional gap between the Koreans and the Chinese as time passed. Along with these factors, the Korean nationalistic judgment, that the Chinese authorities oppressed Korean tenant farmers in Manchuria led to the first widespread anti-Chinese riots in Korea in 1927. Furthermore, the Wanbaoshan Incident in 1931 ignited Koreans’ anti-Chinese sentiment, which resulted in bloody ethnic riots and the killing of over 100 Chinese immigrants in Korea. Subsequently Chinese perceptions changed dramatically from Koreans as oppressed victims of Japanese imperialism to their collaborators. The subsequent Mukden Incident cemented this image decisively. However, the anti-Chinese riot not only was ignited by the nationalistic sentiment agitated over Chinese oppression in Manchuria, but also stemmed from long-lasting ethnic discord in colonial Korea. (This article is in English.)摘要此文通過探討朝鮮人與旅鮮華人之間的矛盾以及朝鮮總督府對華工入出境加强管理的過程，試圖追跡在中國媒體報道裏的朝鮮人形象的變化。日本政府雖然採取禁止華工入境到日本內地的政策，但至于朝鮮調整政策，放松限制，因爲此問題連結到東北地域（滿洲）的問題。旣然中國政府允許朝鮮農民在東北種田謀生, 朝鮮總督府也在某種程度上必修容納華工入境打工。而且，工資較低辛勤耐勞的華工素質在1920年代滿足了日本建設資本在朝鮮對勞工的需求。不過，一方面在勞工市場上朝鮮工和華工之間的競爭逐漸加熱，另一方面中國官方和地主在各方面壓制朝鮮人佃農，朝鮮新聞對朝鮮人在東北的悽慘情況頻繁報道，朝鮮人和華人在朝鮮的感情裂痕被拉開。一九二七年在朝鮮發生了第一次全國性排華暴動，而一九三一年的萬寶山事件引爆了大規模的排華暴動，招致了上一百的華人被殺的大悲劇。中國媒體對朝鮮人的看法急劇地從由帝國主義被壓迫的弱小民族轉變到日本帝國主義的走狗。九一八事變鞏固了如此的形象。但是，排華暴動不僅來自從滿洲傳來對民族主義的煽動，而且起源于長期持續在朝鮮國內的民族矛盾。