Volta
PoliticsMay 1932 – September 1940

The Wanderings of the Provisional Government

Also called: Provisional Government on the move

Hunted by Japan after Yun Bong-gil’s attack, the Korean Provisional Government left Shanghai in 1932 and, by way of Hangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changsha, Guangzhou, Liuzhou and Qijiang, settled in Chongqing in 1940 — keeping the government alive through eight years on the move across China.

Former Provisional Government building in Hangzhou, where the government stayed after leaving Shanghai in 1932 — now a memorial
Former Provisional Government building in Hangzhou, where the government stayed after leaving Shanghai in 1932 — now a memorial

Simon Wade · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Right after Yun Bong-gil’s attack in April 1932 the Japanese rounded up independence activists in Shanghai, and in May the Provisional Government moved to Hangzhou. With a large bounty on his head, Kim Gu, who had organised the attack, hid in Jiaxing and Haiyan with the help of the family of the Chinese Chu Fucheng. In 1935 the government moved to Zhenjiang near Nanjing, where Kim Gu, Yi Dong-nyeong and others founded the Korean National Party and rebuilt it.

When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937 and Japanese forces neared Nanjing, the government moved to Changsha that November with some hundred officials and family members. As the Japanese advanced again in 1938 it fled to Guangzhou in July and, just before Guangzhou fell in October, to Liuzhou; in May 1939 it moved to Qijiang in Sichuan, and in September 1940 settled in Chongqing, wartime capital of the Chinese Nationalist government. Carrying luggage and families by boat, train and truck, the government never once closed its doors.

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The map in 1932

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States and rulers at the time
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea — Chairman Yi Dong-nyeong
Places
Provisional Government Building, Shanghai, Provisional Government Building, Hangzhou, Kim Gu’s Hideout, Jiaxing, Zhenjiang, Nanmuting, Changsha, Guangzhou, Provisional Government Site, Liuzhou, Qijiang, Provisional Government Building, Chongqing

People

  • Kim Gu1876 – 1949

    key figure · Known as Baekbeom; founded the Korean Patriotic Organization and led the Liberation Army as Chairman of the Provisional Government

  • Yi Dong-nyeong1869 – 1940

    key figure · Sinminhoe member who helped found the Sinheung school in western Jiandao and served as Speaker of the Provisional Assembly and head of the Provisional Government

1 part of this event

  1. 1938The Nanmuting Incident

    In May 1938, at a meeting in Nanmuting, Changsha, to unite three independence parties, Yi Un-hwan of the Korean Revolutionary Party opened fire, and Kim Gu was shot in the chest. He survived, but carried the bullet for the rest of his life.

Before and after

Earlier
1932 Founding of Manchukuo
Later
1932 Korean Independence Army at Ssangseongbo and Daejeonjaryeong

Themes that include this event

  • The Korean Provisional Government1919 – 1945

    From Shanghai to Chongqing, 1919 to 1945 — founding and crisis, the Patriotic Organization’s attacks, the wanderings across China, the Liberation Army and the return home