If the historical ties between Japan and the Ryukyus are earlier and deeper, then in the last 500 years, China's relationship with the Ryukyus has continued to deepen, and it has been able to compete with Japan, and it has had a greater cultural impact on the Ryukyus by virtue of its own cultural potential. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Shurijo, the capital of Ryukyu, is basically a Chinese-style castle, with walls and imperial palaces, and the government agencies of Ryukyu are imitating the Chinese style, and the format of government correspondence and even the writing of official documents are all Chinese characters, and even in folk costumes, Ryukyu has been sinicized.

Culturally, Japan's influence on the Ryukyus cannot be compared with China at all, and Japan cannot be blamed for this, because even Japan itself has been Tangization, and they are all sinicizing, so how can they assimilate the Ryukyus, this is the natural advantage of the center of civilization, which can create culture and radiate around.

In the process of cultural export to the Ryukyus, of course, a group of immigrants represented by the 36 surnames of the Min people played a crucial role.

Because of the knowledge they possessed, the Ryukyuan people settled them well and let them live in a concentrated area, which used to be called Karaei, and later gradually localized and called Kume Village. According to the custom of later generations, this Kume Village should be regarded as the earliest Chinatown.

The descendants of the 36 surnames of the Min people live here, not only their descendants, but also people have moved here one after another throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, mainly some merchants, because of the lack of land for the Chinese to reclaim in the Ryukyus, so the scale of the residential area in the Ryukyus is not large, but they have always adhered to their own culture.

The sign is that in Kume Village, there are two large temples, one is the Temple of Confucius, and the other is the Temple of Tianhou and Guandi. The descendants of these Chinese still uphold the Chinese culture of rituals, music, poetry, and calligraphy, and use this to influence the Ryukyu Kingdom.

When the Japanese sent the police of the Satsuma Domain to the Ryukyu Kingdom, the Ming Legation in the Ryukyus immediately notified these registered expatriates that they would return to China for refuge immediately.

At first, few people left, but as the Japanese took control of the government of the Ryukyu Kingdom, many Chinese who considered themselves subjects of the Ryukyu Kingdom began to return to China, and finally when the Satsuma police tried to station in Kume Village, most of the Chinese chose to return to China.

In just one year, 10,000 Chinese returned to Fujian from the Ryukyus, including Liang, Zheng, Jin, Cai, Mao, Chen, Lin, Zeng, Gao, Wu, Li, Ruan, Shen, Wei, Tian, Wang, Ma, Qian, Weng, Mu, Han, Zong, Kun, Yin, Cha, Wu, Xiang, Wu, Ji, Ying, Tao and other surnames. Among them, the five surnames of Jin, Liang, Zheng, Lin, and Cai have all become prominent families in the Ryukyus, with a population of more than 1,000 people.

In the Ryukyus, they are a wang clan, a big clan, with a good standard of living and a high social status, after returning to the Ming Dynasty, they suddenly became refugees, they were asked by the Ming government to come back, and the living problems had to be solved by the Ming government.

At first, the local government only placed them in the suburbs of port cities such as Fuzhou and Quanzhou, but the change in lifestyle made them have no ability to survive at all.

But when it comes to Fujian, they can't enter these fields at all, first, they have no connections, and second, their craftsmanship is somewhat inferior or not in line with the local people's habits compared to the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not a problem to raise these people for nothing, which made the local government a headache, but the foreign affairs department quickly took over the problem of these people. They mobilize local clans to help these expatriates, that is, to make these people recognize their ancestors and integrate them into local social relations.

Not to mention, although more than 500 years have passed, most people can really find their clans in Fujian, because some clans have cut off contacts with each other, but in the last 100 years, after the Qianlong period closed the country and Fujian lost its treaty port, the people lost contacts, but some clans have never even lost contact with the local clans, these are the upper echelons of the Ryukyus, and they can keep in touch with the Ryukyu Hall in Fuzhou through official channels.

So the Ryukyu surnames of this family soon found their home in Fujian, compared the family tree, compiled the generations, and re-entered the ancestral ancestral hall, which was the real return to the ancestral hall.

Even many people have climbed to the local wang clan, such as the Liang clan, they are a first-class Chinese clan in Ryukyu, with a population of more than 1,000 people, their own clan is the Wang clan of Jiangtian Village, Changle County, Fuzhou Prefecture, the ancestors moved to Ryukyu in the Ming Dynasty, it has been 500 years ago, but their genealogy has never been broken, so it is easy to find the ancestral homeland.

The Liang family is also a prominent family in the local area, and the ancestral hall Yiyan Hall has never broken the incense since the Southern Song Dynasty, and the plaque of the three characters of Yiyan Hall is still the inscription written by Zhu Xi, a Confucian and Taoist saint in the Song Dynasty.

Most people are like the Liang clan to recognize their ancestors and return to their ancestors, the Westernization Department mobilized these local clans to help the clansmen in the Ryukyus, telling them that these clansmen were forced to return to the country because of the loss of the country, but they belonged to a family, hoping that they would support each other, these clans were very enthusiastic to accept these homeless clansmen, and even some of the poorer clans were also happy to help them, the reason was very simple, the Westernization Department gave a subsidy, and took in a Ryukyu person to give ten taels of silver, and it was given every year.

The Department of Foreign Affairs obviously has a political purpose in doing so.

Soon after, after Shang Dehong of Beiqi apparently rejected Li Hongzhang's suggestion, the Ryukyu Hall in Fuzhou City opened its doors again, and a group of Ryukyu politicians in exile hung up the sign of the Ryukyu royal palace here, and sent a report to Beiqi, inviting Shang Dehong, a member of the Ryukyu royal family, to go south and take up the post of superintendent.

The Ryukyu royal palace was reopened in Fujian, and they did not submit notes to other countries, nor did they get recognition from the Ming Dynasty, but they received a considerable amount of aid, and as for where this aid came from, the Ryukyuan people said that it was collected by the exiled Ryukyu people, and everyone knew that it was the Ming Dynasty who was behind it.

Shang Dehong kowtowed enough in Beiya, and he didn't find anyone who could help him until the end of the year, he finally gave up, at this time he didn't have any choice, he could only go south to Fuzhou, and wanted to try his luck here, not that he planned to return to the Ming Dynasty, he was a dead-eyed pro-Qing faction, and his mind was filled with the thoughts of Zhongjun, otherwise the King of Ryukyu would not have ordered him to be this secret envoy.

Some exiled Ryukyu officials here told him in a letter that they would re-raise the banner of the Ryukyu Kingdom in the Ming Dynasty, and as long as there was a Ryukyu people, the Ryukyu Kingdom would not die, and they hoped that Shang Dehong could come to Fujian as a close relative of the royal family and the emperor.

After Shang Dehong came to Fuzhou, he immediately entered the Ryukyu Pavilion and saw that the building with the Ryukyu King Xing in the signboard only placed some objects related to the Ryukyu King, some of which were ornaments given to these officials by the Ryukyu King back then, such as jade pendants, waist cards and other objects, and the main seat was enshrined with a portrait of the Ryukyu King Shangtai.

When he saw the portrait, Shang Dehong couldn't help but burst into tears.

Then the officials in the Ryukyus persuaded Shang Dehong to announce that he would take up the post of Ryukyu superintendent and carry out rescue activities in the Ming Dynasty, and everyone was willing to support him. All kinds of big truths were laid out, and what kind of snake can't be without a head finally persuaded Shang Dehong.

After the Chinese New Year, after paying homage to the kings of the Ryukyus at the Ryukyu Hall, he immediately began his diplomatic activities.

Presented credentials to the consuls of various countries, telling them that the Ryukyu government-in-exile had been established, and that Shotokuhiro had appointed himself as a temporary superintendent, in order to promote the restoration of the Ryukyus and rescue the Ryukyu king's father and son who were imprisoned in Tokyo, not to usurp the throne.

The other countries did not reply, the Manchus were the first to reply, they announced that they recognized the Ryukyu government-in-exile, not that they were active, but that Shang Dehong insisted on being the first to submit his credentials to the Qing court, in his words, to the suzerain, and he insisted that the next step could only be carried out with the support of the suzerain.

After the Qing court recognized Shang Dehong's position as a prisoner, they submitted their credentials to the Ming Dynasty, Korea, Vietnam and other East Asian countries, and the Ming Dynasty was the first to recognize Shang Dehong's position as a prisoner, declaring that it would not recognize Japan's illegal destruction of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and that the Ryukyu Provisional Government in Fuzhou was the legal representative body of all Ryukyuan people.

Vietnam lived in the shadow of the Ming and French during this time, and there was already an admonition in the country that the king of Vietnam would change the Ming as the suzerain, although it had not yet been done, but they obviously would not have a hard time with the Ming on this issue, and the Ming made it clear that they were supporting the Ryukyu Kingdom, and they naturally wanted to help the fun, and Vietnam was the second to admit it.

During this period of time, Korea was bullied enough by Japan, because of the issue of the emperor's letter, their relationship with Japan was very stiff, and Japan set off a vigorous campaign to conquer Korea, until 1875, after dealing with the tail of the Taiwan issue, Japan had the energy to solve the Korean problem, Japanese warships forcibly broke into the waters of Ganghwa Island, the defenders of Ganghwa Island fired back, the Japanese landed, and destroyed the fort, this is the Ganghwa Island Incident, the next year Japan signed the Ganghwa Island Treaty with Korea on the grounds of the Ganghwa Island Incident, It completely opened the doors of Korea and accomplished what the French, Americans, and Germans did not do.

Because he was beaten by Japan, coupled with the power of the hardliner Dayuanjun against Japan, he was squeezed out by the forces of his daughter-in-law Concubine Min, because Dayuanjun was a pro-Qing faction, Concubine Min advocated pro-Japanese, and he had just been bombed open by a Japanese warship, so he didn't want to provoke Japan at all, and they ignored the Ryukyu credentials, pretended not to see it, and did not make any reply.

Neither of the Western countries replied to the Ryukyuan people's letters, but they did not explicitly refuse, and remained silent on the matter for the time being, which means that in East Asia, Japan has been isolated on the Ryukyu issue.

Of course, countries like Vietnam are completely unable to play a substantive role in the issue of Japan, and even the Qing government cannot play a substantive role, but their attitude can have some political and diplomatic roles, and the Ming Dynasty can use this attitude to create a scene in the Western world that all East Asian countries are opposed to Japan, so that everyone believes that Japan invaded the Ryukyus for no reason.

As long as Japan's illegal image is formed in the West, it will be difficult for Western countries to support Japan anymore, and as for attacking Japan, it is enough for Ming to be a country!