Manufactured by: Dalian and Fengtian (Shenyang), Mori Yoko Workshop
Provenance: Quan Jian Zhai 2024
This item is a silver oval-shaped “Manchuria Construction Labour Service Commemorative Badge,” commissioned in AD 1941 (Kangde 8) and manufactured by Mori Yoko workshop, with headquarters in Dalian and Fengtian (now Shenyang). The obverse of the medal features a background of black enamel with granular protrusions, and the two wings are decorated with sorghum, an important agricultural product in the pseudo-Manchukuo region. In the centre, there is gold inscription reading “滿洲建設勞動奉仕” (Manchukuo Development Labour Service). The term “奉仕” is borrowed from Japanese, meaning service or devotion. The inscriptions of the eight-year version and the seven-year version are identical, with only a slight difference in the thickness of the fonts.
The reverse side features a vertical pin and the stamp“康德八年 滿洲帝國 ” (Kangde 8 th year Manchukuo Empire). This elliptical commemorative medal design was issued in Kangde 6th, 7th, and 8th years, with the 6th-year version being the most exquisite in design.
As described in the famous anti-Japanese war song “The Ballad of the Great Wall,” which mentions “The sorghum was rich and the soybeans fragrant, Gold was all over the land, with no disasters.,” Manchuria are situated in the fertile black soil region, making it an important agricultural region in China and even Asia. In AD 1931, Japan, coveting the Manchuria for a long time, used the “Mukden incident” as a pretext to quickly control the Manchuria with the stationed Kwantung Army. In AD 1934, the former Qing Dynasty’s abdicated emperor, Puyi, was installed with the reign title “Kangde,” establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo under strong Japanese control.
The establishment of Manchukuo prompted Japan to see it as a crucial solution to domestic rural issues. In the early 20th century, there were already scattered Japanese farmers encouraged by the government to settle in Manchuria. After the Mukden incident, the Japanese government considered the migration to Manchuria as a national policy. From AD 1939 onward, Japan officially promoted related policies.
In April 1940, the two organizations, “興亞學生勤勞報國隊”(The Revitalization of Asia Student Labor Volunteer Corps.) and “興亞青年勤勞報國隊,” (The Revitalization of Asia Youth Labor Volunteer Corps) coordinated through the Ministries of Home Affairs, Colonial Affairs, and Agriculture and Forestry, merged to form the“Manchukuo Development Labour Service Corps.” The plan was to annually send ten thousand people to settle in Manchukuo.
At the end of World War II, including the “Manchurian Construction Labor Service Corps,” there were approximately 1.66 million Japanese immigrants in Manchuria, with around 320,000 of them engaged in agriculture. In August 1945, when the Soviet Red Army launched the “August Storm” offensive in Manchuria, many dispersed agricultural immigrants were abandoned by the Kwantung Army, resulting in a significant number of casualties. Subsequently, some individuals became involved in the Chinese Civil War and remained in the People’s Republic of China under Communist rule, leading to the later issue of “remaining Japanese” in Sino-Japanese interactions.