Employment policies toward Chinese workers and regional development in Sakhalin during the 1920s

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to clarify employment policies and to provide some background regarding Chinese workers developing a colony in Sakhalin during the 1920s, paying attention to the whole labor policy including those directed toward Japanese and Korean workers. The data used in this analysis were the confidential documents produced by the Karafuto government and the local newspaper, 'Karafuto nichinichi shinbun', which were obtained from the diplomatic record office of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hakodate city library and the National Diet Library. The results of the paper can be summarized as follows. The employment of Chinese workers was caused by the need to develop the colony and the severe shortage of labor in Sakhalin. Namely, after world war I, in Sakhalin, a paper manufacturing industry developed, but labor to construct plants and infrastructure was in short supply. Therefore, the Karafuto government considered the use of Chinese workers.