The was a minor dispute between Chinese and Korean farmers which occurred on 1 July 1931, prior to the Mukden Incident

Mukden Incident

The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....

. Although the issue was trivial, it was highly sensationalized in the Japanese and Korean press, and used with considerable propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 effect to increase anti-Chinese sentiment in the Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 prior to the invasion of Manchuria.

Background and History

Wanpaoshan was a small village located some 18 miles north of Changchun

Changchun

Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and...

, in Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

, located in a low marshy area alongside the Itung River. A group of ethnic Koreans

Korean people

The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...

 (who were regarded at the time as subjects of the Empire of Japan) sub-leased a large tract of land from a local Chinese broker and prepared to irrigate

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 by digging a ditch several kilometers long, extending from the Itung River across a tract of land not included in their lease and occupied by local Chinese farmers. After a considerable length of the ditch had been dug, the Chinese farmers protested to the Wanpaoshan local authorities, who dispatched police and ordered the Koreans to cease construction at once and leave the area. The Japanese Consul based at Changchun

Changchun

Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and...

 responded by sending Japanese consular police to protect the Koreans, and both Japanese and Chinese authorities in Changchun agreed to a joint investigation.

The July 1 Incident

However, before the joint investigation could be launched, a party of 400 Chinese farmers whose lands were cut by the irrigation ditch, armed with agricultural implements and pike

Pike (weapon)

A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown. Pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the...

s, drove the Koreans away and filled in much of the ditch. The Japanese consular police thereupon fired rifles to disperse the mob and to protect the Korean farmers but there were no casualties. The Chinese farmers withdrew and the Japanese police remained on the spot until the Koreans completed the ditch and a dam across the Itung River.

Anti-Chinese riots in Korea

Far more serious than the minor affair between farmers in Manchuria was the public reaction once highly sensationalized accounts of the conflict were published in Japanese and Korean newspapers. A series of anti-Chinese riots erupted throughout Korea, starting at Incheon

Incheon

The Incheon Metropolitan City is located in northwestern South Korea. The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.76 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan Metropolitan City...

 on July 3 and spreading rapidly to other cities. The Chinese claimed that 146 people were killed, 546 wounded, and considerable properties were destroyed. The worst of the rioting occurred in Pyongyang

Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...

 on July 5. The Chinese further alleged that the Japanese authorities in Korea did not take adequate steps to protect the lives and property of the Chinese residents, and blamed the authorities for allowing inflammatory accounts to be published. The Japanese countered that the riots were a spontaneous outburst that was suppressed as soon as possible and offered compensation for the families of the dead.

The public backlash from the riots led to a Chinese boycott

Boycott

A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...

 of Japanese-made products from May 1931.

Consequences

Negotiations continued between Japanese and Chinese authories to resolve the situation. The Chinese maintained that the Koreans had no right to reside and lease land outside of Gando District per the terms of the Gando Convention

Gando Convention

The 1909 Gando Convention was a treaty signed between Imperial Japan and Qing China in which Japan recognized China's claims to Jiandao, called Gando in Korean. Japan received railroad concessions in Northeast China...

. The Japanese on the other hand, insisted that Koreans as Japanese subjects had the rights of residing and leasing land throughout South Manchuria, identical to that of other Japanese. They also held that the Koreans had undertaken their project in good faith, and blamed any irregularities on the Chinese broker who arranged the lease. The Japanese eventually withdrew their consular police from Wanpaoshan, but the Koreans remained.

A complete solution of the Wanpaoshan affair had not been reached by September 1931.