Ｗｅｓｔ Ｌａｋｅ：Ａ Ｃｒａｄｌｅ ｏｆ Ｋｏｒｅａｎ Ｉｎｄｅｐｅｎｄｅｎｃｅ Ｍｏｖｅｍｅｎｔ

Few tourists will notice 23 Lakeside Village when they wander around the picturesque West Lake of Hangzhou. The November 30， 2007 witnessed a red carpet ceremony held at the historic site. In the warm winter sunshine， provincial and municipal leaders arrived， Chinese and Korean scholars and guests gathered， and curious passersby stopped to take a look. It turned out that the two-storey compound housed the headquarters of Korean independence movement 70 years ago.

Korean Government in Exile

On April 11， 1919， Korean patriots set up Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai and started a national movement to liberate Korea from the rule of Japan. From 1919 to 1945， KPG moved from Shanghai， Jiaxing， Hangzhou， Changsha， Guangzhou， Liuzhou and Chongqing. The government was supported by the Chinese government and people. In Hangzhou， the KPG experienced internal breakup and the leaders tried hard to escape the manhunt of Japanese agents. The Korean patriots went through the down moments. The house played an important part in the history of Korean independence movement.

On April 29， 1932， masterminded by Kim Koo (1876-1949)， a Korean patriot named Yun Bong-gil threw a bomb into the Japanese army’s headquarters in Shanghai and killed the Japanese chief commander and some of his retinue. Japanese agents offered 600，000 silver dollars as reward on the Korean leaders. The KPG retreated from Shanghai. Aided by a Chinese Zhu Fucheng and his family， the KPG moved secretly to Jiaxing， Haiyan and Hangzhou. They stayed at 79 Meiwan Street， Jiaxing; they stayed in Zaiqing Villa， Haiyan; and for a long while， they lived on boats that moved constantly. In the same year， the Koreans came to Hangzhou. The lakeside village was one of the three places the refugee government stayed. In Hangzhou， the Korean patriots held meetings for independence activities and published its organ newspaper. From 1932 to 1937， the Korean government leaders survived various manhunts by the Japanese agents in Zhejiang. The victory of the War against Japanese Invasion ushered in a new era for Korean independence and the leaders of the KPG moved back to Korea.

Remembrance of the Fight and Chinese Support

General Kim Shin (1922-)， the son of Kim Koo， the founding father of Korean Independence Movement， has devoted half of his adult life to the promotion of friendship between China and Korea. The general calls himself a half Chinese. In 1989 he came to China in an effort to visit the places where the KPG once stayed across China and express his gratitude to the helpful Chinese friends and their descendents.

In August， 1996， the Korean president issued a decree which affirmed the contribution made by Zhu Fucheng， a resident of Jiaxing， Zhejiang Province， to the Korean independence. A Medal of Honor for Founding the Nation was issued to Zhu for his contribution to the founding of the Republic of Korea.

The general has taken effective steps to promote exchange activities in education and culture between the two nations. He has played an active part in the reconstruction of historic memorials and former residences of the KPG in Shanghai， Chongqing， Jiaxing and Hangzhou. He has introduced various Korean people to visit China and helped Korean businesses invest in Jiaxing and Hangzhou.

For the past 20 years， Kim Shin has visited China for over 50 times. He even visited Tibet at the age of 80. He grew up in China， went to primary school， high school， and college in China， and joined the Chinese air force during the World War Two. His grandmother， mother， and elder brother were buried in China. He calls himself a half Chinese.

The 85-year-old general attended the opening ceremony on November 30， 2007. He was in good health and spoke fluent Chinese. For him， every step at the memorial building opened a gate of memory. He talked about the Korean Provisional Government in Hangzhou， talked about the independence movement， about the years his family spent in China， and the friendship between Chinese and Korean peoples. He was excited. “I want to express my gratitude to Chinese people in general and the people in Hangzhou in particular. But for China， there would have been no Korean Provisional Government and the independence movement and no Korea of today. I hope the young will remember history and maintain and develop the friendship between China and Korea.”

Kim Yang， the grandson of Kim Koo and son of Kim Shin， is now ROK consul-general in Shanghai. The year 2007 marked the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Korea. The opening of the Hangzhou Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government was the most important event in the Year of China-Korea Friendship. The consul-general， who attended the opening ceremony in Hangzhou， said， “Today， the historical evidence has reappeared in front of us thanks to the joint efforts of the descendents of the revolutionaries. We are sure that this important landmark will witness the continuous development of Korean-Chinese relations. With the opening of the memorial in Hangzhou， we can trace the old route the Korean Provisional Government followed from Shanghai to Hangzhou. This site will be a sacred place to promote Korean-Chinese relations and keep in mind the historical lessons.”