Ming immigrants from Okinawa, Japan

Although the Ryukyu Islands are small in size, there was a section hundreds of years ago. Three kingdoms? It is divided into three countries: Shannan, Zhongshan and Northern Shaanxi. In the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Taizu (A.D. 1372), the three countries became vassal states of the Ming Dynasty at the same time, and in the fourth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1429), the three countries were unified as Ryukyu. After hundreds of years, Ryukyu Kingdom has always maintained a vassal relationship with China (in the second year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Ryukyu declared its surrender to the Qing Dynasty in A.D. 1663), and all Ryukyu kings had to accept the title of China.

With its special geographical location, Ryukyu has always been a trade transit point in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, and is known as? Wan Guo Jin Liang? Therefore, Japan, separated only by a strip of water from Ryukyu, has naturally coveted it for a long time. In that era when the Japanese were rampant, Ryukyu had to bow to Japan. In the thirty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1609), Japanese Samoans invaded Ryukyu, forcing Ryukyu to submit to Daming and Samoa at the same time, but in fact Ryukyu was controlled by Japan from this time.

In A.D. 1872, Emperor Meiji of Japan unilaterally announced the revocation of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the establishment of Ryukyu Francisco. Three years later, on 1875, Japan forced Ryukyu to stop paying tribute to the Qing government, stopped the restoration of the Qing government, changed it to the name of Japan, and then forcibly incorporated Ryukyu into Japanese territory, announcing the official demise of Ryukyu Kingdom.

Japan's invasion has long been fully resisted by Ryukyu Kingdom. After its national subjugation, domestic nobles also went into exile in the Qing Dynasty. They came to Beijing to plead with Li Hongzhang and others, hoping that the suzerain country would give them a revenge for national subjugation. Li Hongzhang immediately asked Grant, then president of the United States, to mediate, which gave birth to what later generations said? Ryukyu three-point plan? . That is, Japan is required to return part of the land and leave it to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Its territory mainly includes Ryukyu Island and several islands in the middle of Ryukyu Islands. The area south of Miyako and Yaeyama in Ryukyu Islands was ceded to China; Five islands, including Amami Island, were ceded to Japan. In this way, both China and Japan gained territory, and at the same time, the national subjugation of Ryukyu was avoided. Therefore, in A.D. 1880, the Qing Dynasty and Japan signed the Ryukyu Treaty and the Discretionary Clause, and the two countries became familiar with each other from then on.