華僑, 華僑 네트워크와 駐韓使館 -청일전쟁 이후 한성 지역을 중심으로-

Abstract

Chinese departure from Korea due to the First Sino‐Japanese War was a temporary phenomenon and the number of overseas Chinese merchants in Korea increased twice every year. Most of Chinese coming to Korea left coastal area of Shandong to make a living. Although the ratio of merchants was still high among Chinese living in Hancheong, there were significant changes in the composition of overseas Chinese society with the increase of farmers or laborers. In the origin of the people, northern area was dominant. All of Chinese diplomatic offices in Korea in Hancheong and other ports came back to China with the outbreak of the Sino‐Japanese War and directors of Chinese merchant organizations in each port replaced diplomatic officers until the normalization of the relationship between two countries. Even when diplomatic supports of Chinese government could not be expected, Chinese merchants could sustain their lives thanks to the existing overseas Chinese network. The formal placement of diplomats after the Sino‐Japanese War was regulated by the Treaty of Commerce between Korea and Chinese in 1899 and it was regulated by the Treaty of Commerce between China and Japan in 1896 after the diplomatic cessation between Korea and China due to Korea‐Japan Annexation in 1910. It seems that there were two systems in overseas Chinese organizations in Korea after the Sino‐Japanese War such as Banghui (帮會) and Shanghui (商會 or huashangzonghui, 華商總會) based on Banghui organizations. Banghui is the organization based on the origin area (same hometown) which has existed before the Sino‐Japanese War. Each Bang was an important part in the operation of the organization such as process of merchant related matters, club construction fund raising and management. Banghui involved itself in commercial transactions or guaranteed the interest and status of merchants customarily or through regulations such as ‘zhangcheng’(章程). On the other hand, Shanghui organizations were made based on 4 big Banghui in Hancheong. Members held merchants’ meeting, discussed various issues related to engineering and commerce, practiced the decisions or appealed to the government. For example, it functioned as a counter and a consultative group for the communication and for the systematic management of overseas Chinese merchants in Korea with the trend of increase of trading by Chinese. Their roles included collecting membership fees, managing the club, establishing schools, firefighting (water) organizations, purchasing firefighting vehicles (water vehicles) and dispute settlement. What we should note here is the establishment of Shanghui by overseas Chinese in Korea was closely related to the Xinzheng(新政) measure by Qing government. The establishment and institutionalization of Shanghui gave a clue to overcome the limits of organizations by hometown and by trade, and made direct influence on the change in social organizations of overseas Chinese in Hancheong. The leading group of this organization was elected through elections based on the number of actual members, status of capital, hometown and social activities. Although these organizations pursued the economic profits of members and were involved in various social activities, their activities and organization configuration could be changed according to the intensity of control of the government and the political changes. Regardless of Banghui or Shanghui, they played the role of liaison between diplomatic offices in Korea and general overseas Chinese. Chinese diplomatic offices in Korea was the supreme organization of overseas Chinese in Korea and took the important role of the protection of Chinese and the supervision and the management of Chinese government just as before Sino‐Japanese War.