Location of the Ryukyu Islands
There were once three small independent kingdoms on the Ryukyu Islands, namely Shannan, Zhongshan, and Shanbei, all of which were once vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. Later, the Nakayama Sho clan gradually unified Ryukyu and was renamed the Ryukyu Kingdom from then on. The king of Ryukyu sent envoys to the Celestial Dynasty to pay tribute, asking the Ming emperor to canonize the Shang clan as the king of Ryukyu. So far, Ryukyu has always maintained clan relations with the Ming and Qing dynasties in China, and successive Ryukyu kings ascended the throne, and they must be canonized by the emperor of the Celestial Dynasty to gain legitimacy.
The Ryukyu folk play the king and queen of the Ryukyu people
For more than 500 years, the Ryukyu Kingdom was modeled on the Ming and Qing dynasties, whether it was politics, calendar, culture, criminal law, etc. They wrote poetry in Chinese characters, and also named characters after the surnames of the Han family, the king wore the crown given by the Celestial Empire, and the hundred officials also practiced the nine-rank eighteenth grade, and the local government set up prefectures, prefectures, and counties. At that time, Ryukyu could be said to be a loyal fan of the Han cultural circle, and a loyal younger brother of the Celestial Empire.
The Satsuma clan of Japan invades Ryukyu
However, in the late 19th century, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty. Ryukyu, which had lost the protection of its suzerainty, was invaded by the Satsuma clan of Japan, and Ryukyu was forced to submit to Japan as a subordinate. After the Japanese chieftain Meiji came to power, Japan accelerated the pace of aggression against the Ryukyus. First, the Ryukyu Kingdom was changed from a kingdom to a domain, and in 1879, it was completely illegally annexed and the domain was withdrawn, and the Ryukyu Kingdom ceased to exist. Shang Tai became the last Ryukyu king, and from then on, the world only knew that Okinawa Prefecture did not know about the Ryukyu Kingdom.
The Japanese army carried out a horrific massacre of the Ryukyuan people
After Japan ruled Ryukyu, it began to forcibly Japanize the Ryukyu people, forcibly moved the original inhabitants of the Ryukyu to the Japanese archipelago, and forced the Ryukyu people to perform military service to participate in the war of aggression.
During the Pacific War, the Ryukyu Islands became a naval base of Japanese imperialism, and when the U.S. Army launched the Ryukyu Campaign, the fire destroyed the homes of all Ryukyu people. In the face of irreparable defeat, the Japanese imperialist army carried out a horrific persecution of the original inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands, threw out the slogan of "collective jade shattered", and used such means as shooting, slashing, forced suicide, forced mutual killing, etc., resulting in the death of more than 260,000 Ryukyu people.
The slogan of the Ryukyu people opposing Japanese colonial rule
After the U.S. military captured the Ryukyu Islands, it began to take trusteeship of the Ryukyu Islands, and at the same time built a large number of U.S. military bases in the Ryukyu Islands. The US military bases in the Ryukyu Islands and the US military bases in South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines formed the so-called "first island chain" of encirclement against China. Due to the strategic importance of the Ryukyu Islands, the 1971 U.S.-Japan Okinawa Return Treaty only returned the administrative power of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan, while sovereignty remained firmly in the hands of the Americans.
Schematic diagram of the island chain
After the end of World War II, Ryukyu should have been able to recover like South Korea. However, God did not favor the Ryukyuan people, and the Ryukyuan people's dream of restoring the country was thus stifled by the common interests of the United States and Japan.
A descendant of Ryukyu seeking independence
As a Chinese, I am very sympathetic to the suffering of the Ryukyu people under the rule of the Japanese chieftain. In my eyes, there is no Okinawa, only Ryukyu, and I sincerely hope that the Ryukyu people will be liberated!