Ideals and Reality -City Formation and Joseon Society in Qing Dynasty Hunchun-

Hunchun became a city in the 53rd year of Kangxi (1714) with the establishment of the Eight Banners Garrison. Through the Hunchun Garrison, the Qing dynasty hoped to stem the flow of illegal Han Chinese and Joseon migrants through the Hunchun region, and to prevent them from engaging in activities such as illegal Collecting ginseng, hunting, and logging. However, like other Eight Banners Garrison, Hunchun Garrison, which lacked self-sufficiency, broke down barriers in its own operations. Paradoxically, the establishment of Hunchun Garrison facilitated the influx of outsiders, including the official acceptance of Han Chinese laborers. As a result, Hunchun Garrison gradually transformed into a space where Xin Manchu, Han Chinese, and Joseon coexisted, contrary to its original purpose. This situation persisted even while the Qing dynasty was implementing its Prohibition policy, showing that the ideals that the Qing dynasty sought to realize by establishing Hunchun Garrison were different from the reality, and that Manchuria remained ethnically pluralistic and stratified even during the embargo. Even before the establishment of Hunchun Garrison, the region was home to both Joseon and Chinese people, who interacted, clashed, and coexisted. Unlike the Han Chinese, who were motivated to migrate for wealth, Joseon people were primarily motivated to make a living in their homeland, but the reality they faced in Hunchun was not a utopia, but a harsh heterotopia not unlike life in Joseon.