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bad recently arrived, Police stations have, I understand, been opened at fourteen places in the four districts of Holung, Yenchi, Wanghsing and Hunchun (.e., in addition to the open marts, where the Japanese consulates are entitled to have a limited number of police), and in only two cases has the consent of the Chinese authorities been obtained. There are about ten or twenty men at each station, and their methods, I gather, are to make periodical visits to the Korean villages scattered throughout the country and to make house-to-house visitations with a view to finding
ut who are in favour of the independence movement, &c. where there is a Japanese police box in the native town, there must, I should say, At Langchingtsub, Le 100 Japanese police, and the back of the consulate compound is covered with buildings, many of them recently erected. The same applies to Yenchi, though at Hunchun, where the consulate buildings destroyed in the raid last October are now in course of reconstruction, the existence of police is not so obvious.
There is, as already stated, a Japanese consulate-general at Lunchingtsun, and Mr. Sakai, the acting consul-general there, is in control of the whole district. There are branch consulates, each, I understand, in charge of a vice-consul, at each of the other four open marts. The staff at Lungchingtsun is a large one, consisting, so I was told by Mr. Joly, of two vice-consuls, five chancellors, one interpreter, one veterinary surgeon, and two police superintendents, in addition to the consul general. Seeing that there are only some 600 Japanese residents in Lungchingtsun itself and about 1,200 in the whole district, it is somewhat difficult to understand why such a large staff is necessary, but the explanation, of course, is that the work of the consulates is mainly connected with the Koreans. In fact, Mr. Kawanami, the vice-consul at Yenchi, admitted as much to me in the course of a conversation I had with him during my visit to the town, and his remark seemed to me significant, as it is, of course, the clue to the whole situation in Chientao at the
resent time,
The treaty of 1909 between Japan and China gave the latter the right of juris diction over Koreans resident in the district, But the Japanese claim that as Koreans are now Japanese subjects the position is completely altered as a result of the treaty concluded with China following the Twenty-one Demands, by which Japanese subjects were given the right to reside in Manchuria and Mongolia and to own land there. Many Koreans who by naturalisation had acquired the rights of Chinese citizenship had their papers destroyed by the Japanese at the time of the military expedition of last year and the Japanese now refuse to acknowledge the right of Koreans to become Chinese subjects. It is probable that many of the leading spirits of the independence movement among the Koreans have moved to Chienta during the last few years, thinking that free from Japan's control they could do as they pleased. But, however mucli one may sympathise with the Japanese in their desire to stamp out the independence movement, one cannot sympathise with the tactless and often ruthless methods they have adopted to attain their object, and the general opinion seems to be that they have unwittingly made of the Koreans ac intensely patriotic people whom it will take many years to pacify, even though for the time being they may be completely cowed by the methods employed by the Japanese military forces during last winter and the present activities of the police recently sent to the district,
That Japan would like to secure for herself the Chientao district seems beyond question, especially if, as seems not unlikely, she has designs on the maritime province of Siberia. The soil is exceedingly rich, and the mineral resources of the country. hitherto undeveloped and to a great extent unexplored, are said to be rich. Large coalfields are said to exist in the neighbourhood of Lungchingtsun, while the Tien- poshan district is also rich in minerals. It seems to be the opinion almost universally Leld that Japan seized upon the opportunity of the Hunchun raids of last autuma to carry out a long-conceived plan to occupy the district, and according to the local missionaries the military authorities showed upon entering the country a wonderful knowledge of conditions in the district, of where the Christians lived. and of who were the leaders of the independence movement, so that by making a set at certain places they were able to absolutely terrorise the natives. After about a fortnight of general burning and destruction the whole thing ceased as suddenly as it had beguil probably because the Japanese found that news of what they were doing was finding its way to the outside world. But during the whole of the time they were in the district the military are said to have acted as though they thought they could do as they liked and that they were there to stay.
However this may be, the military have now been withdrawn, and for the time
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being the district is apparently quiet. In fact, the opinion expressed by the foreign residents is that the country is quieter now than at any time since the commencement of the independence movement in March 1919. The Chinese bandits, who were esponsible for the Hunchun raids, the last of which afforded Japan an excuse for her punitive expedition, seem to have withdrawn to the north, but it remains to be seen whether now that the Japanese withdrawal has been effected they will reappear. At the time of the raids there are said to have been about 3,000 bandits in the district, but it is impossible to estimate their exact numbers, as men who in good times are apparently living peaceful lives as farmers become bandits in times of stress, and it seems to be recognised that there will always be bandits in the moun- tainous country to the north. In fact, it is said that a band of about 100 had been reported on the borders of Hunchun and Tongning districts about the time of my visit, and that troops had been sent to Yenchi to find them. A great deal, of course, depends on the type of soldier stationed in the district, and though the troops recently drafted into the district from Kirin are said to be an improvement on those who were stationed there last autumn, I cannot say that I was favourably impressed with the few soldiers I saw during my tour. I gather that the troops are being regularly paid with money sent from Kirin for this purpose.
In conversation with the Taoyin at Yenchi I asked him what was the present position as regards Korean insurgents, with whom the Japanese military forces are said to have had several encounters in the mountains at the western end of the Chientao district. Mr. Tao said that according to his information there had at the time been about 1,000 of these men, but that for the time being they had disbanded, though he thought that they still had in their possession small quantities of arms and ammuni- tion, which the Japanese had been unable to take from them.
Japan has been charged with connivance at the raid made upon the town of Hunchun in October last, but the general opinion seems to be that though she may have known that a raid was likely she did not directly instigate it. That she made the most of the opportunity afforded by it, however, is beyond doubt, and it is highly probable that should further raids occur, which seems by no means impossible, though perhaps for the present unlikely, she would act in the same way as she did last year. But for the time being she has withdrawn, though both politically and commercially she is doing all she can to increase her hold upon the district.
Politically she is usurping authority over the whole Korean population by the establishment of police stations. She is also establishing schools at various places where Korean children are taught, no doubt as the Japanese would have them taught, while commercially she is by various means obtaining for herself a preponderating influence in the trade of the district. The Bank of Chosen, which has a branch at Lungchingtsun, is erecting a large new building at that place at a cost, it is said, of 300.000 yen, while the Oriental Development Company is also operating in the
district.
The greater part of the land is, I understand, still owned by Chinese, who rent it out to the Korean farmers. Small quantities, however, are owned by Koreans. But owing principally to the debasement of the tiao, the currency of the district, as a result of the issue by the authorities at Kirin of large quantities of paper money without any reserves to maintain its value, the Oriental Development Company are gradually acquiring an interest in considerable quantities of land, as the native owners who last year could secure loans from the company in gold ven at the rate of about 18 tiao to the yen, find it difficult, and in many cases impossible, to repay the suma borrowed now that the rate of exchange is about 70 or 80 tiao to the yen. Their lands, which are mortgaged to the company as security, are accordingly forfeited.
There is at present no Japanese bank at lunchun, but the trade of this district is of less importance than that of the other three districts. The country is not so rich and until recently the greater part of the trade was with Russia. The Japanese vice-consul told me, however, that there was a probability that either the Bank of Chosen or the Industrial Bank of Korea would shortly open there.
On the whole, therefore, I venture to express the opinion that although Japan has for the present withdrawn the military forces sent to the district last year and there are no signs of any immediate attempt at encroachment, everything points to the fact that she is intensely interested in the country, and that should a favourable Opportunity present itself in the future she would not hesitate to avail herself of it. in order, if possible, to add Chientao to her possession.
In conclusion I should say that throughout the whole of my tour I was treated with the utmost courtesy and cordiality by the Chinese officials with whom I came
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