ABSTRACT
Linked to Seoul by the H an River and the capital’s gateway to foreign trade, the port of Inchon, together w ith Pusan at the southern tip of the peninsula, played a m ajor economic role in the 1880s and 1890s.1 Inchon was the stage for com petition between Japanese and Chinese merchants in the Korean m arket that has been singled out as an im portant factor leading to the Sino-Japanese W ar (1894-95). The Regulations for M aritime and Overland Trade Between Chinese and Korean Subjects (hereafter SinoKorean Trade Regulations) concluded in 1882 allowed Chinese to settle in Seoul and the open ports. M any traders and migrant laborers came to Inchon from the Shandong Peninsula across the Yellow Sea. Japanese officials gradually became alarm ed and the port was perceived as a flash point in the political and economic struggle over Korea. Is that perception accurate? H ow serious was the confrontation in Inchon?
