Why do Ryukyu people claim that they are not Japanese?

(Original by Chen, published in Baijia No.,and may not be reproduced, washed or robbed without permission)

Ryukyu Islands is a series of islands in the western Pacific Ocean, located between Taiwan Province Island and Kyushu Island. It's northeast-southwest. Ryukyu Islands, from north to south, include Dayu Islands, Tugara Islands, Amami Islands (collectively known as "Sanan, Kagoshima Prefecture"), Okinawa Islands and Sendao Islands (collectively known as "Ryukyu Islands", under Okinawa Prefecture).

Ryukyu is an independent kingdom in history, with its own language, but no writing. This is the earliest written record, which can be found in Sui Shu, China. There is a biography of Ryukyu in Sui Shu.

The contact between Ryukyu and China began in 607 AD.

This year, Yang Di sent Yu Qiwei (the name of the military attache, one of the Eighth Route Army) Zhu Kuan to visit other ethnic groups in the East China Sea. When he came to Ryukyu, he saw these islands floating in the blue sea like dragons, so he called it Wei Qiuqiu. After he landed, he was unable to communicate because of the language barrier, and brought back an aboriginal. The following year, Zhu Kuan was ordered to go to Ryukyu again to persuade them to join the Sui Dynasty. But the other party refused to accept it and failed. Subsequently, the court sent general Chen? When he led the Kunlun army to Ryukyu, the other side still refused to accept it. Chen Ji went to war and defeated the other side, returning home with 1000 local men and women.

Since then, the two places have lost contact again.

In the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1372), Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, sent Yang Zai, an envoy, to Ryukyu with letters. The letter said:

"I push for the people to wear, acceded to the throne as emperor, there will be the name of the world, Daming, Jianyuan Hongwu. Is to send envoys abroad, tell me what I want, envoys will come, barbarian leaders will pay tribute. However, Ryukyu is located in the southeast of China, far from overseas, and has not been reported. I'm sending you a message, you know. "

This imperial edict calls itself the central government and calls it "barbarians". King Zhongshan Chadu of Ryukyu Kingdom first received the imperial edict, bowed down and sent Wang Ditai to China with Yang Zai. Ming Taizu was awarded the title of "Ryukyu King". In this way, Ryukyu became the official name of the country-that is, the name of Ryukyu country was taken by China and accepted by the other side.

Following the Empress Zhongshan, Cheng Chadu, king of the southern part of Ryukyu Mountain, and Banizi, king of the northern part of the mountain, successively paid tribute to Emperor China in the following year. At that time, Ryukyu was "separated by three mountains" and the soldiers met each other. When Ming Taizu learned of this, he issued another imperial edict, saying, "The emissary came back from the sea and said that the three kings of Ryukyu were fighting, abandoning agriculture and hurting the people. I can't bear to smell it. " They are required to "express their feelings, stop their soldiers, support their people and prosper their country." Sanwang really stopped fighting, stopped fighting.

Emperor China enjoyed such authority in Ryukyu, and Ryukyu actually became a vassal state of China, similar to the vassal state formed by Zhu Yuanzhang's enfeoffment of kings. Since then, Ryukyu has been using China characters and year numbers, adhering to the principle of China Zhengshuo.

Through exchanges and consultations between the two sides, Ryukyu has greatly strengthened its ties with the court in Zhengshuo, China.

In the 25th year of Hongwu (1392), Zhu Yuanzhang "gave Fujian people thirty-six surnames", that is, he sent thirty-six immigrants from Fujian to Ryukyu, and introduced China's advanced production technology and culture to Ryukyu. From time to time, the Ryukyu Kingdom also took the initiative to ask the imperial court to send people to Ryukyu. 1606, when the king of Shang Ning was conferred by the imperial court, he asked the emperor to "naturalize"-to send someone to Ryukyu. Ming Chengzu sent many people, such as Cai (a descendant of Cai Xiang) and Lin (a descendant of his family). At the same time, the king of Ryukyu often sends his children to study in China.

Since then, Ryukyu has never stopped paying tribute to China, except for occasional storms at sea. During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor also awarded the title of "King of Quality" and agreed to pay tribute every two years.

However, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty, Japan became powerful and the two countries went to war from time to time. Japan forced the Ryukyu king to stop paying tribute to the Qing central government. 1On April 4th, 879, Japan brought the King of Ryukyu Kingdom to Tokyo and forcibly changed Ryukyu to Okinawa Prefecture.

1In September, 880, Japan initialled the Treaty on the Delimitation of Ryukyu according to its own dichotomy (not the dichotomy of the Qing court), and assigned the Xiandao Islands, including Miyako, Shi Heng and Yaeyama Islands, to China, and the rest to Japan. But the Qing court refused to sign it. This means that China has not recognized this demarcation treaty and continues to have sovereignty over the South and North Ryukyu Islands. Since then, Japan has pretended to be deaf and dumb, and no longer mentioned the return of the islands and the signing of the treaty.

1945 At the end of World War II, the US military occupied the Ryukyu Islands. 1953, the United States "returned" Sanan Islands to Japan, 1972, and "returned" Ryukyu Islands to Japan. Later, with the establishment of prefectural governance and other measures in Japan, the Ryukyu Islands were divided into two parts by Kagoshima Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture, and were under the jurisdiction of Japan.

Although Japan claims that the Ryukyu Islands "belong" to Japan, even the Ryukyu people have not recognized it so far.

1996, a survey conducted by the University of Ryukyu showed that 38.4% of the respondents believed that Okinawa should be financially independent. 13.2% people think that Okinawa should be independent in all aspects except diplomacy, and 3% people think that Okinawa should be completely independent. Meanwhile, 42.6% of the respondents call themselves "Okinawans", 3 1.2% call themselves "Okinawans" and "Japanese", and 12% call themselves "Japanese". In 2005, Lin Quanzhong, an associate professor of Ryukyu University, conducted a telephone survey of Ryukyu people over 18 years old, and collected 1029 valid answers, among which 40.6% thought they were Ryukyu people, not Japanese people. 24.9% people expressed support for Ryukyu independence movement.

Today, the revival movement of Ryukyu people has never stopped.