Alyssa M. Park - Sovereignty Experiments (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)

SOVEREIGNTY EXPERIMENTS

Korean Migrants and the Building of Borders in Northeast Asia, 18601945

Alyssa M. Park

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

For my parents

Maps

Figures

Tables

Growing up in New York, I found myself surrounded by people who came from elsewhere. Some arrived from a neighboring borough, others from far-off places I had not heard of. It was their stories of journeying that stirred my curiosity about connections between near and distant places and liminal spaces. A personal interest grew into a scholarly one, and this book is the product of that journey.

Many people helped me along the way. At Columbia I benefited greatly from the advising of Charles Armstrong, Jahyun Kim Haboush, Ted Hughes, Adam McKeown, Carol Gluck, and Mark von Hagen, all of whom inspired me and provided constructive criticism when I needed it. Adam wrestled with my draft chapters and chatted with me about the possibilities of doing transnational history. Stephen Kotkin, who first introduced me to Russian history at Princeton, pushed me to think broadly and helped shape the project from its inception. Columbia was also a stimulating place to work because of fellow graduate students. I especially thank Matt Augustine, Li Chen, Hwisang Cho, Adam Clulow, Colin Jaundrill, Charles Kim, Cheehyung Kim, Jisoo Kim, Joy Kim, Liz LaCouture, and Jason Petrulis.

During my research stints abroad, I received kindness from local scholars. In Vladivostok, Igor Tolstokulakov helped me navigate the intricacies of working at Far Eastern State University, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, and state archives. Aleksandr Toropov and his staff provided guidance in the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East, and librarians at the Institute of History generously allowed me to use their collection. I give special thanks to Slava and Higyng, who helped me transcribe documents because photocopying was not possible. During my stay in Korea, Lew Young-Ick at Yonsei University and Ban Byung Yool at the Northeast Asia History Foundation introduced me to scholars and sources related to my topic. Finally, I thank Ross King at the University of British Columbia and German Kim at Kazakh National University for opening up their homes and personal libraries to me in Vancouver and Almaty, respectively, many years ago.

At the University of Iowa, I have had the privilege of being part of a nurturing intellectual community. In particular, I thank Elizabeth Heineman and Glenn Penny for their encouragement. Jen Sessions always had her door open and provided critical feedback on the book when I needed it most. Shuang Chen is a warm-hearted colleague; I owe her special thanks for checking many of my translations of literary Chinese documents. I am grateful to Stephen Vlastos for reading a draft of most of the manuscript and for believing in the project. For conviviality and meals along the way, I thank Songmi An, Steve Choe, Melissa-Anne Curley, Kendall Heitzman, Yumiko Nishi, and Jiyeon Kang.

A number of colleagues have provided encouragement over the years: Sayaka Chatani, Eleanor Hyun, Nancy Lin, Jenny Wang Medina, and Yumi Kim. I am grateful to Yumi and Charles Steinwedel for reading several chapters of the manuscript and helping me clarify my arguments. I thank Daham Chng and Hanshin Kim for annotated translations of several literary Chinese sources into Korean, and Aiqi Liu for translations of two select Chinese documents. Andre Schmid was an ideal anonymous reader. His comments and those of another reader helped improve this work immensely.

The project has benefited from the financial support of several institutions. I gratefully acknowledge Columbia University, the International Research and Exchanges Board, Fulbright-Hays Commission, Mellon/ACLS, Korea Foundation, Korea Institute at Harvard University, Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University, University of Iowa, and Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. At Cornell University Press, I thank Roger Haydon for guiding the book through the publishing process. I also thank Rob Shepard at the University of Iowas Digital Studio for making the maps. Paul Behringer helped secure permissions for the images. Any errors are, of course, my own.

Finally, I am indebted to my family and friends on the East and West Coasts and in Iowa, especially Deborah, Felice, Joyce, and Jenny. My greatest debt is to my parents, my brother, and his family. They have been with me the longest on this journey, and I could not have finished without them.

AVPRIArkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi imperii (Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire)

DODalekaia okraina

f./o./d./convention to denote fond (archival collection), opis (subdivision within archival collection), delo (folder) for Russian archival materials

GARFGosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (State Archive of the Russian Federation)

GAPKGosudarstvennyi arkhiv Primorskogo Kraia (State Archive of Primorskii Krai)

Chuhan Ilbon kongsagwanKuksa Pynchan Wiwnhoe, ed., Chuhan Ilbon kongsagwan kirok

Hanin kwallyn charyoKu Snhi and Cho Mynghi, eds., Chungguk tongbuk chiyk Hanin kwallyn charyo

Itogi perepisi Koreiskogo naseleniia v 1929 g.Vladivostokskii okruzhnoi statisticheskii otdel, Itogi perepisi Koreiskogo naseleniia Vladivostokskogo okruga v 1929 goda

K voprosu o migratsii Koreiskogo naseleniiaIspolnitelnyi komitet Primorskogo kraevogo Soveta narodnykh deputatov, K voprosu o migratsii Koreiskogo naseleniia na iuge Dalnego Vostoka (18641932 gg.)

Kangjwa yjigiKukhak Chinhng Yngu Sap Unyng Wiwnhoe, ed., Kangbuk ilgi; Kangjwa yjigi; Aguk yjido

Ku Hanguk oegyo munsKory Taehakkyo Asea Munje Ynguso, ed., Ku Hanguk oegyo muns

Ku Hanmal i choyakKukhoe Tosgwan Ippp Chosaguk, ed., Ku Hanmal i choyak

l.list or listy (page number) for Russian archival materials

Obzor POObzor Primorskoi oblasti

RGIADVRossiiskii gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv Dalnego Vostoka (Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East)

Tongmun hwigoPae Usng and Ku Pmjin, eds., Kugyk Tongmun hwigo pmwl saryo

VEVVladivostokskie eparkhialnye vedomosti

This book is a transnational history of a people and place, located at the intersection of four states and at the putative divide between East Asia and Russia. Writing about this subject has required a careful consideration of names and terms because naming itself lay at the heart of disputes between various actors in the region. I clarify terms below and explain administrative-territorial toponyms to help the reader along.

The Tumen valley is the name I give to a region that spanned the contiguous areas of the Maritime Province in Russia, Jilin Province in China, and Hamgyng Province in northern Korea. It is a geographical designation for a region through which the Tumen River flowed.

More specifically, the book focuses on the Kando region in Jilin and Ussuri in the Maritime. Kando was the subject of disputes first between Chosn Korea and Qing China, and then Qing/Republican China and Japan. Kando, the Korean transliteration for island in between (Kant in Japanese; Jiandao in Chinese), came into use in the late nineteenth century. The toponym, however, was never agreed upon. The area was referred to in general terms, such as area near the river, as well as Yanji in the Qing case and Kando in the Chosn case. The Japanese called the region Kant and established a consular regime there in 1907. For discussion prior to 1907, I use topographical designations for the region (left or north bank of the Tumen) and privilege the Korean transliteration of Kando because that is what the majority population of Koreans called it. After 1907, when the regions districts and cities were discussed with more specificity in documents, I give both Chinese and Korean transliterations, which are still in use today. My choices should not be read as acquiescence to the nationalist and imperialist views of contemporaries. The same holds for my use of Manchuria, which refers to the region of northeast China bordering on Korea and Russia.