The Wanpaoshan Incident

In July of 1931, tensions between Japanese-run Korea and China was building. These hostilities eventually resulted in a dispute over land in the Manchurian village of Wanpaoshan.

The simple issue over the use of land by farmers would be sensationalized by the Korean and Japanese media to incite anti-Chinese violence that lasted for weeks and left many Chinese citizens dead and even more businesses destroyed. Although the incident itself was relatively minor, it sparked a rash of violence and hatred across Korea.

Wanpaoshan is a small village in Manchuria and through it flows the Itung River. The area is particularly suitable for rice cultivation due the extremely wet climate. 140 Korean farmers had moved to Wanpaoshan with their families to set up rice cultivation. In April of 1931, these 370 Koreans leased a plot of land from local Chinese landowners for a period of ten years. The cost was a crop rental fee totaling the equivalent of $3,500 USD annually. After the land deed was completed, the Korean farmers proceeded with a plan to construct an irrigation ditch several kilometers in length. This ditch would come to cut through several plots of land not owned by the Korean farmers. The Chinese land-brokers knew of the Korean intentions of building a ditch as well as its location. These brokers led the farmers to believe that the Chinese residents would have no objection to an irrigation canal being built across their land. However, the lease agreement that was signed contained no mention of the construction project. Further, the broker never informed the Chinese villagers of the Koreans' plan.

Chinese hostilities began almost immediately after the Koreans moved into their leased land. When construction of the dam began...

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...ble to rebuild their lives. Homelessness became a major problem. The Japanese governing body claimed to be paying reparations to Chinese families, but evidence of this was dubious at best. Many Japanese simply claimed that the Chinese were exaggerating the extent of the damage while the Chinese accused the Japanese of orchestrating the whole ordeal. It would not be until September that the situation was fully resolved.

Even though the incident in Wanpaoshan, Manchuria was small and no one was seriously harmed, it resulted in mass unrest. Sensational media coverage had inflamed the population against China and in the ensuing riots thousands were injured and many were murdered by the angry mob. As entire Chinese districts in Korea were being leveled, most of the Chinese population in Seoul fled. This incident alone soured Chinese-Japanese relations for years to come.