Lost territories!How did Sakhalin, once the largest island in China, be lost?

Mondo Tourism Updated on 2024-01-19

There used to be such an island in the north of our country, its name is Sakhalin, and its long history has made him an inseparable part of the Chinese nationSakhalin, with its 640,000 square kilometers, will surpass Taiwan Island to become China's largest island. Its vast land not only surpasses Hainan Island (3220,000 square kilometers) and the island of Taiwan (3580,000 square kilometers), which is now the largest island in Russia.

Sakhalin is an island rich in natural resources, and its resources, such as coal, and oil, are among the top in the world.

Historically, Sakhalin (called Sakhalin in Russia) and China had an extremely abyssal history, but due to the distance, Sakhalin was unable to get in touch with the Central Plains Dynasty for a long time. The earliest book about Sakhalin was written in the book "The Classic of Mountains and Seas"."The country of the Mao people, for the human body to give birth to hair". In the Han Dynasty, Gao Lu interpreted it as "its human body is half hairy". Among them, the Mao people refer to the aborigines here, and the reason why there is such a reference may be that the aboriginal body is relatively cold and the body hair is thicker. In addition, there are also relevant records in books such as "Huainanzi" and "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", which record that the aborigines living on Sakhalin Island have long body hair. These people are collectively known as the Fiyaka or Geremi, and they are the indigenous people of Sakhalin.

After the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo, the Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence reached the northeast region, and this time the Central Plains Dynasty really set foot on Sakhalin Island. As for the name "Sakhalin", it also originates from this period, mainly because the Heishui Tatar in the middle and lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River called the Feiyaka people on Sakhalin Island, and the Tang Dynasty followed this expression, so the island was called Sakhalin.

In addition to the title of Sakhalin, there is also a title is "the country of ghosts", the envoy of the country of ghosts during the period of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty came to the court, and Taizong of the Tang Dynasty gave the envoy the official name of the captain, according to the relevant written records, the country of ghosts is located in: Beihai (Sea of Okhotsk, also known as Shaohai in the Tang Dynasty) There is a country of ghosts in the north, which is 15,000 miles away from Chang'an. There are relevant records about the country of flowing ghosts from the two historical books of "New Tang Book" and "General Dictionary".

In order to better control and manage Sakhalin Island, the Tang Dynasty set up a tribute collection agency at the confluence of the Heilongjiang River and the Songhua River, and the Tang Dynasty collected taxes from the tribal peoples in Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island.

Sakhalin has a Chinese civilization that cannot be erased in any way, so even if this area does not belong to us now, we should remember this land that once belonged to us.

In 1409, after the Ming army successfully conquered Kuwu, Sakhalin Island became part of the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, after the rise of the Jurchens in Jianzhou, the situation on Sakhalin Island broke away from the Ming Dynasty and rushed to the Later Jin, and since then, the influence of the Ming Dynasty in the region has gradually declined. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, Sakhalin was successively under the jurisdiction of the three deputy governors and the Jilin generals.

In 1738, Tsarist Russia opened a delegation to the Bering Strait and learned of the existence of Sakhalin, so they began to slowly investigate the northern part of Sakhalin, but their attempt was rejected by the Qing Dynasty.

Although they were rejected by the Qing **, they were not willing to give up so easily, so they sent troops to the north of Sakhalin and began to expel the indigenous inhabitants and build houses, schools, churches, prisons and other facilities, so as to achieve the essential occupation.

During the Qing Dynasty, Sakhalin Island was still within the territory of the Qing Dynasty, but after that, the Qing Dynasty suffered strong internal and external blows, so that they had to cede a large area of Sakhalin Island to Tsarist Russia.

From this moment on, Sakhalin no longer had any connection with the land of China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, although the unequal treaties were abolished, Sakhalin Island was not recovered.

The main reason why we did not recover Sakhalin Island was that at that time China and the Soviet Union had close relations, and if we recovered this area, it might lead to a surge of contradictions between the two countries, and in addition, during the period of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, Sakhalin still had a clear right of ownership and legal ownership, so it was extremely difficult to recover Sakhalin.

In the late Qing Dynasty, because the inhabitants of Sakhalin Island were haunted by the Qing Dynasty, they insisted on paying tribute to the Qing Dynasty as a sign of their loyalty, and this situation lasted until the twelfth year of the reign of Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, when the strong intervention of Tsarist Russia forced the suspension of this tradition.

Subsequently, Sakhalin became a sphere of contention between Russia and Japan, and in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, Japan won the final victory, and the following year they occupied Sakhalin. However, the Japanese occupation lasted only a few decades, and after the victory in World War II, the Soviet Union regained control of Sakhalin and repatriated the Japanese living on the island to Japan. Early Japan did not recognize this established fact, but over time Japan renounced its sovereignty over Sakhalin in 1951. Although Japan relinquished its sovereignty over Sakhalin, their desire for the four northern islands remained undiminished.

This territory, which originally belonged to China, has become a dispute between Russia and Japan, which makes us feel the impermanence of history.

Sakhalin is now part of Russia's Sakhalin Oblast, part of Russia's Far Eastern Federation, and is home to 500,000 Russians who have little connection with China.

But the history of Sakhalin reminds people that this land once belonged to China, but because of the vicissitudes of history, it became a part of other countries, and it is impossible to take it back.

What are your thoughts on this?

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