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I had made Ryukyu into a separate section because Ryukyu was the only place where the Chinese emperors had exported peasant labor and agriculture technology in the same fashion as German farmers' relocation to Russia at the request of Katherine the Great. This is different from Han Emperor Wudi's dispatching farming soldiers to western China during Western Han Dynasty. Still another purpose of this writing is to dispute the prevalent mistaken interpretation of "liu qiu" as beling equivalent to ancient Taiwan. The ancient term of "liu-qiu" [in "Sui Shu" (History of Sui Dynasty)], in my opinion, was specifically referring to Ryukyu and later became a categorical term for islands in the southeastern Chinese seas. Below, I will use the travellogue to validate the point that "liu-qiu" [Ryukyu] was not necessarily Taiwan, but Ryukyu [Okinawa]. And, certainly, the topic of Ryukyu would bring out a deliberate American containment policy against China, i.e., a 1850s policy that passed down from merchant-turned naval general Matthew Perry as well as revived in the US transfer of Diaoyutai Islands, i.e., Senkaku Gunto [Pinnacle Islands], to Okinawa of Japan in 1971. Ryukyu was first mentioned in "Bei Shi" (History of Northern Dynasties) as an island country in the East China Sea, which could be reached by sailing for five days. "Bei Shi" stated that Ryukyu was full of caves; that it had three circles of defence-purpose fences, with water flowing by the fences; that its king was named Huan-si-shi, with a first name of Ke-ci-dou and 16 palace rooms decorated with inscriptions of animals; that their people were in constant fights with each other; that various villages were ruled by a chief called Niao-lian-shuai; that it had 4-5 marshals in charge of various caves; and that they were cannibals eating dead bodies of enemies and family members. The Historical Confusion As To Name & Location Of "liu-qiu" [Ryukyu] "Bei Shi" (The History of Northern Dynasties) and "Sui Shu" (The History of Sui Dynasty A.D. 581-618) recorded that the coastal Chinese people often noticed smoke or mist rising in the East China Sea during spring and autumn time periods of the year and that Sui Dynasty Emperor Yangdi confirmed the identity of Ryukyu via a Japanese emissary. In the 3rd year of the Daye Era, i.e., A.D. 607, Emperor Yangdi dispatched Zhu Kuan [i.e., "yu qi wei", cavalry captain] and Heh Man [i.e., "hai shi", sea master] to Ryukyu. Emperor Yangdi sent the delegation to Ryukyu in the hope of having the Ryukyu king submit to China as a vassal. The Sui Chinese failed to communicate with the Ryukyu people and abducted one aboriginal home. The next year, i.e., A.D. 608, Emperor Yangdi dispatched Zhu Kuan to Ryukyu for pacification again. The Natives refused. Zhu Kuan grabbed some cloth and shields for the emperor. Zhu Kuan requested for an expedition to punish the Ryukyu king. Back in A.D. 607, Wa Japanese King Duo-li-si-bi-gu, who was recorded to have an imperial clan surname of A-mei (? Ame, ? heaven), sent an emissary to Sui China, stating that they had heard that the new 'buddha' emperor west of the sea had revived buddhism and they would like to have a dozen monks study Buddhism in China. Emperor Yangdi at first refused to hear about the Wa State (Japan) because the Japanese king wrote the sentence "The Son of Heaven from the sunrise wish good health for the Son of Heaven at the sunset...." However, Emperor Yangdi sent an emissary, Pei Shiqing, to the Wa State the second year, i.e., A.D. 608. Pei Shiqing crossed the sea (the Yellow Sea) to Paekche, arrived at Zhu-dao (bamboo island) Island, watched Dan-luo-guo statelet to the south, passed through Du-si-ma-guo statelet, crossed sea [? the Japan Sea] again to Yi-zhi-guo statelet, arrived at the Zhu-si-guo statelet, went eatward to the Qin-wang-guo (i.e., the Qin King Country which was commented to be similar to the Chinese) statelet, travelled through another dozen countries to reach the coast of Wa Japan [? which moved to Honshu from Kyushu hundreds of years earlier]. Pei Shiqing recorded that the domain east of Zhu-si-guo belonged to the vassalage of Wa Japan. Wa King welcomed Pei Shiqing with over one hundred people, displaying the ceremonial courtesy and beating the drums and horns. Within the next ten days, Wa King dispatched 200 cavalry to fetch Pei Shiqing at the outskirts of the capital. After arriving at the capital, Pei Shiqing and Wa King exchanged gifts and tributes. The Japanese king asked another emissary to accompany Fei Qing back to China. It was from the mouth of this Japanese emissary that Emperor Yangdi confirmed the identity of Ryukyu, an island to the southwest of Japan. The Japanese emissary claimed to Emperor Yangdi that the cloth and shields that Zhu Kuan had grabbed from Ryukyu were from the 'Yi-ye-jiu' statelet. Sui Emperor dispatched Chen Leng and Zhang Zhenzhou to Ryukyu, and the two, departing from Yi'an, first sailed to Gaohua-yu Island, then after two more days, sailed to Xi-bie-yu [?] island in between, and then one more day later, reached Ryukyu. Among General Chen Leng's recruits from southern China would be a so-called "Kunlun" ["kun-nu", i.e., possibly balck-skinned natives from Southeast Asia who used to perform stunts and magic for the Tang Dynasty court]. The "Kunlun" interpreter, whom the Chinese had brought along with the belief that he must know the islanders' language - as the Chinese classics repeatedly stated the Wa Japanese shared similar customs as the natives living in southern China and today's Hainan Island, failed to subdue Ryukyu by persuasion. Chen Leng killed the Ryukyu king (Er'chidou), burnt down the palaces, captured thousands of the Ryukyu people, and brought them back to China. Apparently, later, chronicles from Sui Dynasty onward had possibly adopted the categorical term of "liu-qiu" [Ryukyu] for all islands in the seas, to the southeast of the Chinese coastline. Both "Sui Shu" and Zhao Rushi's A.D. 1225 book "Zhu [various] Fan [foreign countries] Zhi [records]" mentioned that "liu-qiu" [Ryukyu] was 5-6 days trip to the east of Quanzhou of Fujian Prov, while Penghu Islands (Pescadores) and Taiwan are in fact situated to the exact southeast of Quanzhou. In contrast, "Taiwan, an island beyond Penghu Islands (Pescadores), could be reached after two days and nights of sailing [with stopver at the Pescadores] if departing from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou of Fujian Prov per Heh Kai's proposal to Ming Emperor Chongzhen in A.D. 1635. Note that from Fuzhou port to Jilong of Taiwan, sailing would take 5 'geng' [if going straight to Taiwan without stopover], with 10 'geng' being equivalent to 24 hours. It is clear to me that the Ryukyu Island referred in Sui records, unlike what historian Wang Zhonghan et al. had claimed to be designation for Taiwan, meant for today's Okinawa, while the two stopover island happened to be Diaoyutai Islands, i.e., what the Japanese called by Senkaku Gunto [Pinnacle Islands] after taking possession around the timeframe of the First Sino-Japanese War. Details about Ryukyu's midway role between China and Japan could be seen at "Japanese Piracy, Shogunate Tallies, Korea & Taiwan Island". "Ming Shi" lumped together about one dozen island countries or statelets, including Liu-qiu [Ryukyu], Luu-song [Luzon], He-mao-li, Mei-luo-ju [Malacca?], Sha-ya-na-bi-tan, Ji-long [Keelung, i.e., Taiwan], [Wenlai, i.e., Brunei], Ma-ye-weng, Gu-ma-la-lang, Feng-jia-shi-lan, and Wen-lang-ma-shen. Here, the distinction was made between Liu-qiu [Ryukyu] and Ji-long [Keelung, i.e., Taiwan]. "Ming Shi" stated that Mongol Yuan Emperor Shizu [i.e., Khubilai] had tried to pacify Ryukyu but the emissary failed to deliver the message. (See Taiwan section for details.) In the phylogenetic tree Ryukyuans and Ainu were neighbors, but the genetic distance between them was larger than the distances between Ryukyuans and Hondo Japanese and between Ryukyuans and Korean populations. The geographic cline of the predominant haplotype in Ryukyuans, A*24-B*54-DRB1*0405, suggests that an ancestral population possessing A*24-B*54-DRB1*0405 moved into the Okinawa Islands after the divergence of Ryukyuans from the Ainu. Such a recent gene flow, probably from South China to the Okinawa Islands, is considered the major cause of difference in genetic characteristics between Ryukyuans and the Ainu. Ming Dynasty Establishing Suzerainty Over Ryukyu By the time Ming Dynasty's Emperor Hongwu overthrew Yuan, Liu-qiu [Ryukyu] was said to have possessed three kings entitled "middle of the mountain" ['i.e., zhong-shan], "south of mountain" [i.e., shan-nan], and "north of mountain" [i.e., shan-bei]. The three kings bore the surname of "Shang". The three kingdom story of the 14th century sounds the same as the status quo of Ryukyu at the time of the Japanese invasion in the late 19th century when USA offered to intervene by dividing Ryukyu [Okinawa] into three parts, with Japan and Manchu China in control of the "south of mountain" Ryukyu and "north of mountain" Ryukyu, respectively. In Jan of A.D. 1372, Ming Emperor Hongwu dispatched Yang Zai to Liu-qiu [Ryukyu]. Liu-qiu [Ryukyu] King Cha-du sent over his brother Tai-qi with tributes. Emperor conferred "da [grand] tong [unification] li [calendar]" and silk clothing onto the Ryukyu emissary. In the winter of 1374, Tai-qi came to the Ming court again. Emperor asked minister Li Hao to offer cloth, 10,000 pieces of pottery, and 1,000 iron works. In summer of A.D. 1376, Tai-qi came back with Li Hao, and was offered 40 horses. The next year, Ryukyu sent in 1,000 grams of sulphur, i.e., Ryulyu's most famous native product. (Sulphur, pronounced "liu huang [yellow]" in Chinese, could possibly be the source of the name for Ryukyu.) The next year, King "south of mountain" sent an emissary to China with tributes, too. In spring of 1382, King "middle of the mountain" sent an emissary, and the Ming court escorted him back. The next year, the two kings asked for a silver seal with gold embedding. Knowing that the two kings were fighting King "north of mountain", Emperor Hongwu ordered a ceasefire. Then the 3rd king, i.e., King "north of mountain", dispatched an emissary to China with the two other kings' delegation. In 1385, King "north of mountain" was given a silver seal. Two kings were granted a boat each. In A.D. 1390, the emissary of King "middle of the mountain" was caught with smuggled goods of 10 grams of spice and 300 grams of pepper. Once goods were confiscated at the capital, the Ming paper currency was given as compensation. In summer of 1392, King "middle of the mountain" sent a prince and a general's son to the Chinese capital for attending the Confucian Academy [i.e., "guo zi jian"]. Emperor offered the "overseas" students both summer clothing and winter clothing. The next year, another general's son was sent to the capital. In spring of 1396, succeeding King "north of mountain" sent an emissary to China. The Chinese Emperor asked students from "south of mountain" of Liu-qiu [Ryukyu] return to their country, but the students returned to China in the winter, apparently enjoying life in China more than on the island. King "middle of the mountain" sent over female students. King "middle of the mountain" requested for conferral of Ming court's costumes. Emperor dispatched to Ryukyu 36 households of Fujian Prov artizans who were good at building ships. Emperor Huidi and Emperor Chengzu continued the relations with Liu-qiu [Ryukyu]. TO BE CONTINUED !!! The Myth about the Ryukyu's Trusteeship with the U.S. This was a myth. In Cairo, Roosevelt purportedly asked Chiang Kai-shek's opinions as to post-war Japan, including the revocation or retention of the so-called Tenno, the independence of Okinawa, etc. Chiang purportedly answered that Okinawa should be put under the trustee control of the United Nations. This discussion did not cover the Diaoyudao (Sengaku) - since ROC never foresaw the PRC-Japan confrontation today, and when Taiwan was supposed to revert to China in 1945, the nearby islands, which were seized at the same time as Taiwan by Japan in the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War, should be returned as well - which was a common sense. The talk on Okinawa at Cairo was merely question and answer on an informal occasion, and Roosevelt never intended to give China any benefits, other than making China a puppet vote of the four voting members at the U.N. security council so that the U.S. could have a majority vote over the U.S.S.R. Why so? Because, days later, Roosevelt, at Tehran, already sold out China's interests to Stalin. VENONA scripts already showed that the Soviet spies, every step, surrounded Roosevelt and influenced Roosevelt on all decisions in favor of the Soviet Union. (The Soviet spies actually cut off the access of people to Roosevelt, with grand eunuch Harry Hopkins being the gatekeeper to rule who got to see Roosevelt and who could not.) At the exact same time, in Cairo, in the presence of Roosevelt's son, James, you had Stilwell and the Soviet spy talking about killing Chiang Kai-shek, with Roosevelt's full nodding approval. You may refer to the memoirs by Roosevelt's son for this episode, at least 10 minutes' discussions about getting rid of Chiang and replacing Chiang with some more "manageable" person etc. Months later, Roosevelt sent a WWI ace to the Burma-India front to see Stilwell with the official assassination order. And it was one righteous American officer, who secretly tipped Chiang at the last minute that Chiang was to board a plane, that Chiang did not die in a crash setup. This is just one example to show how China (ROC) was betrayed by the "democracy" countries in WWII, not to mention the betrayal to the ROC in exlcuding China from the San Francisco Peace Treaty signing. Today's Chinese, who were duped by the communist propaganda, would not understand the history's riddles unless fully acknowledging the facts as to how the wars [starting from at leasat the 1839 Opium War, through the 1904 Russo-Japanese War and to the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident] were provoked and how the communists ascended to power in Russia and China. Please refer to discussions at http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/34803-why-chiang-kai-shek-did-not-want-ryukyu For one, Chiang Kai-shek had his strengths and shortcomings. One of the strengths that Chiang possessed was the Chinese intelligence service's successful deciphering of the Japanese foreign ministry's telegram codes in 1939. This was the work of Chi Buzhou, a Japan-returned student, who was able to crack the codes starting from the most common numbers like 1 and 9. With this weapon, Chiang was able to read the Japanese foreign ministry's communications with Moscow, and Honolulu, etc, till the end of the war. There were two sets of Japanese foreign ministry codes, the special and the common. The one that was deciphered belonged to the special code. (Whereas in the U.S., there was the so-called MAGIC deciphering, which was a break of the common code of the Japanese foreign ministry.) Armed with this weapon, Chiang was able to pre-warn the U.S. about the possible attack at the Pearl Harbor, and was able to foretell the signing of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality treaty, and other related info about Germany. This, however, was one-sided info that the Japanese communicated to their embassies in Moscow, Berlin and D.C. None of the thousands of telegrams deciphered touched on the secrets among Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin - because Roosevelt was sneaky enough to use some special direct under-sea cable to communicate with the counterparts. Hence, Chiang was always having a naivety towards Roosevelt - especially after learning that the U.S. representative to Moscow had adamantly insisted that the ROC should be given the status as one of the four powers. Chiang never knew that he would be stabbed in the back by the U.S., not to mention the knowledge of the existence of hundreds of Soviet spies throughout the White House, the State Department, the Army, the OSS, and etc. Chiang must know that the United Nations was the top dream of Roosevelt, i.e., Roosevelt's dream to be a world leader overseeing the united nations of the Earth. That's probably why Chiang sold the craap about having Okinawa subordinate to the United Nations post-WWII. There was one important episode recorded in Roosevelt's conversations with Chiang, namely, the Burma campaign and the promised aid to China. After Roosevelt left Cairo, both promises were broken. There was no amphibious landing in Burma, nor financial or military aid to the ROC, not to mention the assassination scheme. Some experts analyzed the records of Roosevelt's son, and concluded that it was within about half year before the Cairo Conference that Roosevelt had fully bought the opinions from the Soviet spies that Chiang should be rid of. Roosevelt, as I said in another thread, was someone like a dowager empress, who spent 2-3 weeks in the warm springs, and then half a day dealing with the state affairs. The affairs of the United States government was run by the grand eunuch, i.e., Comintern spy Harry Hopkins. Nobody could see Roosevelt without the approval of Harry Hopkins. And, together with G Marshall, and Eleanor Roosevelt, the three were called by triumvirate. Should Roosevelt ever test Chiang about ceding Okinawa to China, it would be Roosevelt's subconscious attempt to compensate China for his scheme to sell China's Manchuria to Stalin. Chiang, while ignorant of those schemes, still knew that he had to count on the U.S. against Britain and the Soviet Union, two ferocious countries which would do anything to intrude into and infringe on China's interests, both collaborating with the Chinese communists in sabotaging the cause of the ROC throughout WWII. Hence, Chiang thought he had taken the PREEMPTIVE STRIKE by proposing to Roosevelt that he would agree to have Port Arthur and Dairen be treated as the "international ports". This was recorded in the Yalta Conference. Unfortunately, China's fate of being bullied, taken advantage of, by the powers, could not be reversed, even with the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek. That's what I called the spider's web. Otherwise, how could the British Empire be called the no-sunset empire for hundreds of years. China was doomed, and I don't see a way to have the course changed from the hindsight. written by Ah Xiang |
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ECON 101:  US Interest Rate Down =  China Exchange Rate Up !
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Huanghuagang Magazine 
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![At the time [when China fell under the alien rule],](http://imperialchina.org/0442201b51e71777df540167-resized.jpg)
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![Though, Anna Wang [Anneliese Martens], in her memoirs, expressed jealousy over Gong Peng by stating that the Anglo-American reporters had flattered the Chinese communists and the communist movement as a result of being entranced with the goldfish-eye'ed personal assistant of Zhou Enlai](GongPeng.jpg)
