A Buffer against Whom? Rethinking the Qing-Chosŏn Border Region

ABSTRACT

As a social institution, a border simultaneously divides and connects. When thinking about state borders, or borderlands, scholars tend to view them as either linear or zonal spaces, distinguishing as well as linking one state with another. My article argues for an alternative interpretation and explores the geopolitical and cultural meanings of a historical border region from both domestic and inter-state perspectives. The border of China and Korea along the Yalu and the Tumen Rivers, is arguably one of the oldest state boundaries that is still effective today. The history of the border river region as a “buffer space” can be traced back to the seventeenth century when Qing China and Chosŏn Korea established the border along their northern frontiers. However, the geopolitical function of this border went beyond considerations of defence or communications. From the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, both the Manchu-Qing court and the Chosŏn court implemented strict laws to control domestic population flows to their northeastern and northern frontiers. Such policies, I argue, must be understood in the context of domestic politics in the two courts. Internal anxiety over preserving Manchu and Korean identity, coupled with strategy to control the border against an external power, contributed to the making of this borderland. Hence, the Qing-Chosŏn border region served as a “dual buffer”. Employing historical records and local gazettes in the two countries, my article reveals a subtler layer of “buffer” from a case study in early modern East Asia.

KEYWORDS:

• Qing China
• Chosŏn Korea
• Yalu River
• Tumen River
• Manchuria, Jilin
• P’yŏngan
• Hamgyᓰng
• border
• frontier

Notes

1. The “close-off” policy was never implemented consistently, nor did it cover the entire Manchuria. When there were famines in northern China, the Qing would soften the ban and allow refugees to enter Jilin or Heilongjiang.

2. A large number of immigrants came in the 1870s and 1880s. A census in 1888 showed that Ningguta had 32,883 banner people (soldiers and families) and 9,523 civilians. Another 2,824 people served in government manors. See Fuerdan (1994).

3. 10 koek is approximately 517 litres.

4. The concept of “northern provinces,” in Chosŏn dynasty, also included another province of Hwanghae.