The 1931 Anti-Chinese Riot in Colonial Korea: A Focus on the Process of the Riot

Abstract

This article analyzes the participation mechanisms and collective behavior displayed during the 1931 Anti-Chinese riot in colonial Korea. It focuses specifically on collectivity and its ability to transcend individual values and generate group behavior (e.g., riots), arguing that this collectivity has normative characteristics emerging from ethnic conflict. This approach is unique and can enable a better understanding of such behavior. First, the research takes the riots themselves and their place of occurrence as the central vantage point rather than focusing on the background factors that precipitated them. Second, this approach provides a more substantial explanatory process because it addresses the compulsory nature of crowd participation in addition to its voluntary nature. To contextualize this argument, the paper explores the significance of the Wanbaoshan incident that triggered Koreans at that time. This exploration reveals that Koreans mass participation can be accounted for by the idea of perceived legitimacy shared by rioters. Second, this paper investigates whether this perceived legitimacy coerced others to participate while also probing if specific norms led to selective and self-regulatory forms of violence and involvement. The paper also shows that the Pyŏngyang riot (where the pogrom occurred) represents more than an isolated case; it is, instead, a more evolved form of rioting than that which occurred in other regions. Finally, the paper discusses the response of the security police to further contextualize how the riot progressed.