Chinese Okinawa

The Ryukyus were a vassal of China long before they bevame part of Japan. How can they end up as part of China or Taiwan to the present day? Is it possible for the islands to end up under ROC administration rather than the US after WWII? What would their government look like?
 
The Ryukyus were a vassal of China long before they bevame part of Japan. How can they end up as part of China or Taiwan to the present day? Is it possible for the islands to end up under ROC administration rather than the US after WWII? What would their government look like?
In addition to what Napoleon said, the Okinawans are a Japanese people.
 
In addition to what Napoleon said, the Okinawans are a Japanese people.

1. Ryukyuans are related to mainland Japanese, but their languages are not quite the same and many don't identify as the Yamato ethnicity.

2. Even if the Okinawans are considered part of the greater Japanese ethnicity, that doesn't mean they must be part of a Japanese state - the People's Republic of China recognizes domestic minorities related to the greater ethnic groups found in most of its neighboring countries, including Koreans, Mongols, Kazakhs, Russians, Thais, Vietnamese, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks, so a Japanese minority under Chinese rule would not be far-fetched at all.
 
1. Ryukyuans are related to mainland Japanese, but their languages are not quite the same and many don't identify as the Yamato ethnicity.

2. Even if the Okinawans are considered part of the greater Japanese ethnicity, that doesn't mean they must be part of a Japanese state - the People's Republic of China recognizes domestic minorities related to the greater ethnic groups found in most of its neighboring countries, including Koreans, Mongols, Kazakhs, Russians, Thais, Vietnamese, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks, so a Japanese minority under Chinese rule would not be far-fetched at all.
1) It's a Japonic language. The Okinawans aren't Japanese like Austrians aren't German. They're still part of the same ethnic group.

2) I never said other wise. All I said was that they're a Japanese ethnic group. It would likely hurt relations with Japan and I doubt the Okinawans would like it.
 
1) It's a Japonic language. The Okinawans aren't Japanese like Austrians aren't German. They're still part of the same ethnic group.

2) I never said other wise. All I said was that they're a Japanese ethnic group. It would likely hurt relations with Japan and I doubt the Okinawans would like it.

1. "Japonic" is a modern academic term that doesn't really mean anything to pre-modern Okinawans.

2. Many Okinawans weren't very happy about the prospect of being ruled from Tokyo, either, in the immediate aftermath of the war.
 
1. "Japonic" is a modern academic term that doesn't really mean anything to pre-modern Okinawans.

2. Many Okinawans weren't very happy about the prospect of being ruled from Tokyo, either, in the immediate aftermath of the war.
1) It does. It means they're part of the same language family and we're talking about modern Okinawa.

2) The majority want to stay a part of Japan.
 
Calm calm lads, no need to let this get out of hand. However, for the record, Japonic and Yamato are /both/ terms that came around later on.

In any case, /after/ 1900? I don't even know if the Chinese would /want/ them, and given that no one had any plans to cut up Japan, that China was an unstable state that came out of the war with Taiwan and all other Japanese territories in her traditional borders, and was a country barely managing to fend off Communist takeover, could hardly function as a single nation, was rife with internal problems /and/ already filled to the brim with irredent claims and angry minority areas, I can't see why they would. If they /do/ get it they will likely, especially if its the KMT, subject the Okinawan to cruel, unjust , intentionally humiliating rule out of hatred for the Japanese and a taste for vengeance.

In any case Okinawa's history as a Chinese tributary state and relatively closer links to China then the rest of Japan a handful of centuries ago isn't going to play into this factor at all (unless anyone feels bold enough to try and cast them as a "returned territory" like with the German east to Poland; but that is incredibly unlikely on so many levels).

Another thing to throw out, both the sentiment of Modern and Medieval Okinawan are equally irrelevant here; it would be like saying the 45 percent yes vote in Scotland would effect how "British" Scots felt in WWII. At the time if I am not mistaken the Okinawan would have been pretty solidly "Japanese", especially after the war and years of militarist, hypernationalistic rule.
 
1) It does. It means they're part of the same language family and we're talking about modern Okinawa.

The relationship between Russian and Ukrainian is closer than the relationship between standard Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages, and works out swimmingly, doesn't it?
 
and given that no one had any plans to cut up Japan/QUOTE]

There were, actually, drafted plans to divide post-war Japan the same way Germany was divided into spheres between the Allies, with the Soviets getting Hokkaido and northern Honshu, the US occupying central Honshu, the UK overseeing southern Honshu and Kyushu, and the KMT actually getting a sphere over Shikoku.

In the end, however, the US got the lion's share of the Japanese heartland and the Ryukyus, with the Soviets getting only the Kurils and southern Sakhalin and China taking Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, in addition to what happened to Korea.

Contrary to the idea that the Chinese would treat occupied Japanese vindicitively, Chiang Kai-Shek was actually opposed to Chinese involvement in the occupation of the Japanese islands because he didn't want China to lose its moral high ground in its relationship with Japan by dealing back similar atrocities to the Japanese as those inflicted on China.

David-T’s link suggests there was some sentiment that the Ryukyus should be Chinese, however. Sure, the historic tributary status of the Ryukyus to Chinese wasn't the same as true Chinese soveignty, but both the KMT and the PRC have used pre-modern history and relationships as precedents for other territorial matters in modern times.
 
Does that matter?
It kind of does. You said Ukrainian is closer to Russian than Okinawan is to Japanese. I don't speak any of these languages so I can't say. I only know a few words. I just want to know where you got you're information from. Did you read it? Was it in a documentary? Do you speak these languages fluently? Where.
 
It kind of does. You said Ukrainian is closer to Russian than Okinawan is to Japanese. I don't speak any of these languages so I can't say. I only know a few words. I just want to know where you got you're information from. Did you read it? Was it in a documentary? Do you speak these languages fluently? Where.

I've studied linguistics extensively. As for concrete examples of languages I've studied first-hand, I live in Xinjiang, where Kyrgyz and Kazakh are considered separate languages and ethnicities despite being largely mutually intelligible while Mandarin and Cantonese are separate but completely unintelligible as spoken languages but still regarded as "Chinese" dialects. The relationship between languages doesn't always lead them to be seen as part of the same whole.
 
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