Shanghai memories: Tracing China and South Korea's historic bond

Located in Shanghai's Huangpu District, the Former Site of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea has become a must-visit landmark for South Korean tourists. Amid China's expanding visa-free entry policies and the convenience of a short two-hour flight, more visitors from South Korea are retracing the footsteps of their country's independence movement in China.

The story dates to August 22, 1910, when Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula through the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, turning Korea into a colony. Many Korean patriots fled to China to continue their struggle for national independence. Following the March 1st Independence Movement of 1919, Korean independence activists established the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea on April 11, 1919, in Shanghai's former French Concession. They adopted a provisional constitution and vowed to fight for their national liberation and the restoration of freedom. During a 2003 visit to the site, then–President Roh Moo-hyun remarked that it was the root of the South Korean government and the origin of its legal legitimacy. 

At the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, numerous exhibits document the activities of Korean independence fighters in China. Former museum director Han Si-jun noted that during the era of Japanese aggression, the Chinese and Korean peoples supported each other in their struggles for freedom. Han said that the joint resistance of the two countries against aggression forged a deep friendship, and that this shared history remained a valuable legacy of solidarity and courage.

For 13 years after 1919, the provisional government operated from Shanghai. Following Korean patriot Yun Bong-gil's 1932 attack on Japanese General Yoshinori Shirakawa, the organization came under pressure and relocated successively to Hangzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Changsha, Guangzhou, Liuzhou, and Qijiang, before settling in Chongqing. In 1945, after Japan's defeat, the government returned to the Korean Peninsula. 

Since the establishment of China–South Korea diplomatic relations in 1992, a succession of former South Korean presidents — including Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in — have visited the former sites of the provisional government to honor this shared chapter of history. The two countries have jointly restored historical landmarks such as the former sites of the provisional government in Shanghai, Chongqing, and Hangzhou, as well as the An Jung-geun Memorial Hall in Harbin. These museums now serve as important venues for historical education and cultural remembrance, drawing multitudinous South Korean visitors each year.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, as well as the 80th Anniversary of Liberation of Korea. The solidarity formed in those turbulent years laid a solid foundation for the friendship between the two countries — a reminder that their intertwined histories continue to inspire mutual respect, political trust, and cooperation for the future.