Why did "Ryukyu", once a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, become Japan's "Okinawa Prefecture?"

As the great Celestial Empire that once stood in the east, due to its advanced culture and developed economy, countless small countries in the surrounding areas have attached themselves to it, and they have actively received titles and paid tribute to become vassal states of the empire. To be honest, being a vassal state of the Celestial Empire is really a happy thing.

First of all, hugging your thighs gives you a sense of security, and secondly, you can get a lot of economic benefits. And even though it was a vassal state paying tribute, in fact every time the Celestial Empire gave back a hundred times the value of the tribute. Another and most important point is that the Celestial Empire only seeks nominal submission to vassal states and never interferes in their internal affairs.

Because of this, the Chinese Empire even knew nothing about the national conditions of some vassal countries. Obviously, the nature of the Celestial Empire's treatment of vassal states was absolutely different from that of Western colonial rule.

Today, many vassal countries have separated from their suzerains and become truly independent sovereign countries, such as North Korea and Vietnam. However, there is a country that was once a tributary of the Celestial Empire, but now it has become a "region", which was forcibly included in the territory of a certain country and became one of the disputed territories in the world today. So where is this country in history? How did it fall to the point where a country is no longer a country? And what does the occurrence of all this have to do with the Qing Dynasty? Let the author walk through this tortuous history together.

Above picture_ Ancient map of Ryukyu Kingdom

Above picture_ Ryukyu Kingdom in Sanshan Period

This disputed area was called Ryukyu when it was a country. If you look up today's world map, it may be difficult to find the name "Ryukyu", but you will definitely find "Okinawa". In fact, this "Okinawa" was the main body of the Ryukyu Kingdom at that time. And it needs to be emphasized that Ryukyu is the name of the country, and Okinawa is the name of the county. Since it is a "prefecture", it cannot be independent. The area is currently under the jurisdiction of Japan. So what happened to turn Ryukyu into "Okinawa"?

To understand what happened, we need to briefly understand the geographical location of Ryukyu Kingdom and the history of its relations with neighboring countries.

The Ryukyu Kingdom is a small country composed of a group of islands. It is geographically located in the east of the East my country Sea, between Japan's mainland Jeju Island and our country's Taiwan Island. Such a geographical location destined the Ryukyu Kingdom to have close contacts with neighboring China and Japan and obtain survival benefits from them. However, the Ryukyu Kingdom is a small island country after all, and is always in danger of being invaded and annexed. In order to seek asylum and not offend the Heavenly Kingdom, the Ryukyu Kingdom threw itself into the arms of the Heavenly Kingdom and became a member of the Celestial Kingdom. This subordinate relationship was formally established during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, and this relationship continued until the late Qing Dynasty.

The above picture_Officials of the Ryukyu Kingdom (today's Okinawa, Japan), a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty

The above picture_People of the Ryukyu Kingdom (today's Okinawa, Japan), a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty

In fact Even when the Ryukyu Kingdom embraced China's thigh, the Ryukyu Kingdom did not completely avoid the threat from Japan in the north. In the mid-to-late 16th century, Japan entered the era of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This great figure in the history of Japan not only ended the division of Japan for many years, but also began to pursue large-scale external expansion. The small southern country Ryukyu naturally became a coveted place.

The Ryukyu Kingdom was naturally unable to withstand the powerful threat of force from Japan and was forced to surrender, providing food for Japan's invasion of the Korean Peninsula for eleven months. Later, after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Satsuma clan of Japan rose rapidly and replaced the Toyotomi clan. In 1609, the Satsuma Domain formally conquered the Ryukyu Kingdom by force, forcing the Ryukyu Kingdom to officially become a vassal state of Japan. The Ryukyu Kingdom entered the "double vassal" era, and in fact this relationship continued until the late Qing Dynasty.

Above picture_ The feudal lords of the Satsuma Domain during the Boshin War

So how did this kind of "double domain" relationship get broken? And why didn't the Ryukyu Kingdom finally break away from the suzerain state and become independent like North Korea and other countries?

This has to start with the collision between the two empires of the Qing Dynasty and Japan in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1868 AD, Emperor Meiji, who ended the shogunate era in Japan, began to implement a new reform policy, known in history as the "Meiji Restoration". After the Restoration, Japan's national power rose rapidly. At this time, foreign trade was particularly urgent for Japan. Naturally, the Qing Empire around it happened to be an excellent target for its trade expansion. As for the Qing government, it happened to be interested in wooing Japan's Communist Party to deal with the Western powers. Therefore, the Qing and Japan hit it off in establishing trade relations, that is, establishing diplomatic relations.

However, the diplomacy between the Qing and Japan was very impure. In addition to commercial exchanges, Japan has other intentions. Japan's abacus is to strengthen trade in China to solve the problem of excess domestic production means, and at the same time, it can obtain "most favored nation" treatment in China equal to that of Western powers, so as to improve its international status.

Above picture_ The last Ryukyu king Shangtai (?Shang? was given the surname by the Ming Dynasty)

In addition, Japan also hopes that through its alliance with the Qing Dynasty, it can restrain Russia's influence on itself. While threatening, it could also cover up its efforts to disintegrate the vassal states surrounding the Qing Dynasty, thereby achieving its own goal of territorial expansion.

Compared with Japan's many attempts, the Qing Dynasty's scheming and ideas seemed much immature, just to win over a younger brother. In the process of establishing diplomatic relations with Japan, the Qing government always acted as if the great power of heaven was benevolent to the small country of Zuoer, and sternly rejected Japan's "most favored nation" request. This gave the Japanese a diplomatic excuse for inequality and lack of sincerity.

In addition, the Qing government was only belatedly aware of Japan's various attempts, or even unconsciously, so naturally it would not make advance plans and preparations for Japan's further actions.

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Pictured above_ The clothing of Ryukyu people is very different from Japanese kimono, but very similar to Hanfu.

The inaction of the Qing government is just right Japan had an opportunity to take advantage of it, and the first person to fall prey to Japan's conspiracy was the small country of Ryukyu. In 1871 AD, Japan used the excuse that Ryukyu fishermen were drifted to Taiwan by wind and waves and were brutally killed by local residents. This was an opportunity for Japan to start attacking the Ryukyu Kingdom.

In 1873, Japan, as a suzerain state, formally lodged representations with the Qing government on this issue. As you can see, Japan turned its back on foreign affairs, taking the identity of the Ryukyu suzerain state as its own and ignoring the Qing Dynasty.

Why does Japan dare to be so arrogant? One of the reasons is that when the Ryukyu fishermen were killed, the Qing government did not immediately handle the matter properly as a suzerain state. Instead, Qing government officials ignored it on the grounds of the personal behavior of the Taiwanese people, which gave Japan an opportunity to take advantage of it. Occupy a favorable position. In 1874, the Qing government, which had repeatedly failed to negotiate on the matter, signed the "Beijing Treaty" with Japan, recognizing that Taiwan had mistakenly killed Ryukyu fishermen, and at the same time it recognized the Ryukyu citizens as Japanese subjects. After getting the "Special Treaty", Japan used this as an excuse to send troops to Taiwan. Japan achieved a comprehensive diplomatic victory.

Above picture_ Ryukyu Shuri Royal Castle in the late Qing Dynasty

Above picture_ Old photo of the residence of the Prince of Ryukyu in the late Qing Dynasty

After that, Japan intensified its efforts to annex Ryukyu. In 1875, Japan took advantage of the Qing Dynasty to send troops to the northwest to quell the border rebellion. When it had no time to take into account the issue of Ryukyu's vassal state, it forced Ryukyu to prohibit paying tribute to the Qing court and incorporated the Ryukyu state into Japan's territory. In 1879, Emperor Meiji of Japan officially issued an edict to depose Ryukyu as a country and change it to "Okinawa" Prefecture. At this time, Ryukyu was basically subjugated.

Of course, the Qing government was not willing to give up Ryukyu. Li Hongzhang also asked former U.S. President Grande to mediate in 1879 to strive for the restoration of Ryukyu. After mediation, Japan's solution was to divide Ryukyu into two parts, with the northern islands returning to the Japanese and the southern islands returning to the Qing Dynasty. But the problem is that the main island of Ryukyu and the capital Shuri are in the north. Obviously, Japan has a great advantage in this plan, and the Qing government denied it. Li Hongzhang proposed dividing Ryukyu into three parts, and returning Nakashima (where Shuri is located) to Ryukyu for restoration. This obviously conflicted with Japan's interests, and Japan vetoed it, leaving the Ryukyu issue unresolved.

After entering the 1880s, the Qing Dynasty had tense relations with Tsarist Russia due to the Ili issue. The Qing government, which was extremely worried about losing Japan's anti-Russian allies, did not dare to offend Japan. The ensuing series of major international difficulties such as the Sino-French War made the Qing government even more anxious and overwhelmed. As for 1985, Ito Hirobumi proposed on the Ryukyu issue that the Qing government could send envoys to Japan for negotiations. However, the Qing government, which already lacked confidence, did not respond positively, and the process of resolving the Ryukyu issue was completely stalled.

Above picture_ Ito Hirobumi (October 16, 1841-October 26, 1909), young name Toshisuke, style name Shunsuke, name Haruna, modern Japanese politician

Japan's successive victories on the Ryukyu issue made it full of confidence and ambition. Through this major international diplomatic event, they thoroughly understood the incompetence of their opponent, the Qing Dynasty. After the "Meiji Restoration" greatly increased its national power, Japan became more confident to implement a larger annexation plan to occupy and control the Korean Peninsula.

On the other hand, the Qing government did not pay enough attention to the loss of the Ryukyu vassal state, nor did it take effective preventive measures against Japan, an ambitious neighbor. As a result, when major changes occurred on the Korean Peninsula, They could only respond hastily, which ultimately led to the disastrous defeat of the Sino-Japanese War.

Although after World War II, according to the "Potsdam Declaration", Japan's territory was limited to the four mainland islands, the former Ryukyu Kingdom did not regain its independence, but was placed under the trusteeship of the United Nations. Later, the United Nations handed over the trusteeship of this land to U.S. But later, the United States and Japan privately signed the "San Francisco Peace Treaty", and the United States handed over the territorial sovereignty of Ryukyu to Japan. In 1972, it handed over administrative power to Japan, which has been maintained to this day.

Readers, do you think it is possible for Ryukyu to recover? ?

Text: Wang Jinbai

Reference: "Modern History of China" by Chen Gonglu/Northern Literature and Art Publishing House

The text was created by the team of the University of History, accompanied by The picture comes from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author