Re-Conceptualizing the boundaries of empire: The imperial politics of chinese labor migration to Manchuria and colonial Korea

The migration of Chinese laborers to colonial Korea became a major issue that resulted in entry restrictions in 1934. During the early years of colonial rule the Government General of Korea did not actively limit the entry of Chinese laborers and the colonial state was in fact one of their largest employers. However, in the 1930s migration restrictions appeared not only in Korea but also in neighboring Manchuria. Therefore, the efforts at border control in colonial Korea need to be viewed in conjunction with labor policies in Japan and Manchuria. The restrictions on Chinese labor were ultimately linked to efforts to reconfigure Japan's new territorial possessions after the Manchurian Incident in 1931 as the region became a space for resolving the intractable social and economic problems of the Japanese empire.