(501) Chinese Settlement

By Andrei Lankov

If one has a glance at a map, it is only logical to expect that Korea would have a large Chinese community. However, the first Chinese settlers appeared in Korea only quite recently, a mere 120 years ago.

We know that some migration from China took place in the more distant past, but since at least the 15th century the volume of human movement between two countries was surprisingly small.

In general, East Asia after the Mongolian retreat in the 14th century did not see much cross-country migration, since governments of this region tended to be suspicious about outsiders and discouraged or strictly regulated the settlement of aliens.

Thus, despite quite close and friendly relations, no Chinese natives were allowed to settle in Korea permanently for centuries.

It is known that some Chinese merchants came to Korea in the 1870s, when it was opened to Japanese trade. For example, Tan Kol-saeng, who became the richest Chinese tycoon of colonial Korea, arrived in Seoul in the mid-1870s (at least, this is the family's traditional telling).

These early arrivals largely consisted of merchants who by that time were already operating in Japan, and thus could take advantage of new treaties, which allowed Japanese to come to Korea for trade.

In 1882 the Korean government had to request Chinese military assistance in order to put down a major mutiny in Seoul. The Chinese troops were promptly dispatched, but then stayed on in Korea.

In earlier times Korea acknowledged its subordination to China, but this subordination was largely symbolic. In the new era of rampant imperialism, Chinese rulers wanted to turn Korea into a real dependency, a sort of quasi-colony, and once they had their military presence, they proceeded with this task.

The Chinese government's representative, the young and charismatic general Yuan Shikai, tried to control everything (it was the same Yuan Shikai who much later became president of China and unsuccessfully tried to proclaim himself the first emperor of a new dynasty).

According to a treaty, concluded in 1882, Chinese merchants were allowed to trade in Korea. Indeed, the Chinese detachment, which in 1882 was shipped in to restore order in Seoul, included not only 3,000 soldiers, but also 40 merchants who soon began their business.

These people were the first Chinese in many centuries to settle down in Korea. By the end of 1883, there were at least 210 Chinese merchants in the country, and in 1884 their numbers swelled to 588 in the port city of Incheon alone.

Most of the Chinese were engaged in export and import trade, so Incheon, the major port for shipping to and from China, became their main base.

The early Chinese merchants overwhelmingly came from three provinces in China: Shandong (closest to Korea's west coast), Zhejiang (also not far away) and Guangdong (a distant place, but also the most entrepreneurial and capitalist of all the Chinese provinces).

From the very beginning there was a clear division of labor between the merchants from the different provinces: the Shandong businessmen largely settled in Seoul where they opened shops and engaged in retail and wholesale trade, while the people from Guangdong were largely based in Incheon and ran export and import operations. The most popular imports were textiles, often of Western origin.

In April 1884 the Korean government agreed to establish a special Chinese settlement in Incheon. For this purpose, the local Chinese community received an area of some 17,000 square meters.

Around the same time, the Korean authorities allowed Chinese junks to sail up the Han River and unload their cargo in Seoul. In theory they were expected to pay custom duties, but around 1890 it was estimated that the amount of smuggled goods exceeded the volume of legal trade.

To a large extent this was a result of backing from Chinese officials. For example, Yuan Shikai arranged ginseng smuggling by loading boxes of red ginseng aboard the military vessels, which were off limits to the Korean officials.

In case of problems the Chinese military command was always on the side of Chinese merchants. The case of Yi Pom-po is but one clear demonstration of this.

Yi was a retired Korean official who refused to sell his land to a Chinese business association. The association leaders had him arrested by the Chinese troops and beaten in custody until he agreed to sign all the property transfer documents. This affair was completely outrageous, and in the end the Chinese had to express their regret, but similar incidents happened quite often.

This annoyed the Koreans and especially the Korean merchants who could not do much against such powerful competition. The Korea of the 1880s lacked commercial expertise, and Seoul merchants were losing out to their more experienced and better organized Chinese and Japanese competitors.

Korean businesses put pressure on the government, demanding the removal of foreign retail businesses from downtown Seoul.

In early 1887, Seoul merchants went on strike for the first time. More strikes followed in the next few years, and in 1890 a large strike was accompanied by a protest rally, but all to no avail.

Even if the government was sympathetic to the demands of the merchants and their employees, nothing could be done in the face of powerful foreign political pressure. But things were soon to change.

The disastrous defeat of China in its war with Japan ended the privileged position of the Chinese merchants, and changed the composition of the Chinese community.

Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. He has recently published ``The Dawn of Modern Korea," which is now on sale at Kyobo Book Center and other major bookstores. The book is based on columns published in The Korea Times. He can be reached at anlankov@yahoo.com.