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Koreans in China, also referred to as Chaoxianzu (朝鲜族), are citizens of China who are ethnically Korean. They form one of the 56 ethnicities officially recognized by the Chinese government. As of the year 2000, there were two million ethnic Koreans in China. Most of them live in Northeast China. The largest ethnic Korean population in China live in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (854,000 in 2000).

History

Throughout history, due to the close interactions between China and Korea, some degree of population movements have always occurred between the two neighboring countries. There were written records of Korean migrations in the early Qing Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and earlier. The majority of early Korean populations in China had assimilated with Chinese society. The current Korean population in China is mainly descended from migrants who came between 1860 and 1945. In the 1860s, a series of natural disasters struck Korea, leading to disastrous famines. Along with the Qing dynasty's loosening of border controls and acceptance of external migration into Northeast China, this pushed many Koreans to migrate. By 1894, an estimated 34,000 Koreans lived in China, with numbers increasing to 109,500 in 1910. After the Japanese annexation of Korea, larger numbers of Koreans moved to China. Some merely fled from Japanese rule, while others intended to use China as a base for their anti-Japanese resistance movements. By 1936, there were 854,411 Koreans in China. As Japanese rule extended to China, the Japanese government forced Korean farmers to migrate north to China to develop the land. During World War II, many Koreans in China joined the Chinese peoples in fighting against the Japanese invaders. Many also joined on the Communist side and fought against the Chinese Nationalist armies during the Chinese Civil War. After 1949, estimated at about 600 thousand individuals, or 40% of the Korean population at the time, chose to return to the Korean peninsula. But most Koreans chose to stay in China and took up Chinese citizenship between 1949 (the end of the Chinese Civil War) and 1952.

Since 1949

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yanbian, where most ethnic Koreans live, was designated as an autonomous county in 1952, and was upgraded to an autonomous prefecture in 1955. Starting in the 1980s, along with the reform and opening up of China and the improvement in South Korea-China relations, many ethnic Koreans in China went to South Korea as migrant labourers to seek better lives; their population there is estimated at 219,000, forming more than half of all Chinese citizens in Korea.. However, the living standard of those who remained behind has continued to improve; one 2004 survey showed that ethnic Koreans had the second highest quality of life in China, after the Manchu, as measured by an overall score which took into account infant mortality, life expectancy, and literacy rates. From around 1990, the ethnic Korean population of Yanbian began shrinking. Koreans schools are being closed for the lack of students, and even where schools exist parents are increasingly unwilling to send their children there. The share of the ethnic Korean population in Yanbian dropped to 36.3 percent in 2000 (from 60.2 percent in 1953). This process is a result of social changes in the ethnic Chinese community. The success of the economic reforms in China brought fast growth. In the past, most ethnic Koreans aspired at becoming a good farmer. Now, success is increasingly associated with a college degree and/or migration to a large city, perhaps even to Seoul. However, college education is in Mandarin, and entrance exams are in Mandarin, too. The Korean parents know that Chinese language schools give their children better chances to go to college. The result is a dramatic decline in enrollment in the Koreans schools. In a middle school in Longjing where in the 1970s there were 400 students, now there are merely 39 students.

Culture

Most ethnic Koreans in China speak Mandarin Chinese and Korean.

Most ethnic Koreans in China are not affiliated with any religion, though minorities believe in Buddhism and Christianity. South Korean churches have been known to send missionary groups to evangelize among the ethnic Koreans in China and refugees from North Korea, especially in the Northeast.

North Korean refugees

China also has an unknown number of North Korean refugees, as well as a small community of Koreans in Hong Kong; neither of these are typically considered to be members of the ethnic Korean community, and the Chinese census does not count them as such. Some North Korean refugees who are unable to obtain transport to South Korea instead marry ethnic Koreans in China and settle there, blending into the community; however, they are still subject to deportation if discovered by the authorities.

South Korean expatriates

After the 1992 normalisation of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, many citizens of South Korea started to settle in China. Large new communities of South Koreans have formed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Qingdao. The South Korean government officially recognises six Korean international schools in China, located in Yanbian, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Yantai, and Dalian, all founded between 1997 and 2003. Typically, they come to China as employees of South Korean corporations on short-term international assignments; when their assignments are completed, many prefer to stay on in China, using the contacts they have made to start their own consulting businesses or import/export firms. Other South Koreans also moved to China on their own after becoming unemployed during the 1997 financial crisis; they used funds they had saved up for retirement to open small restaurants or shops. The low cost of living compared to Seoul, especially the cheap tuition at international schools teaching both English and Chinese, is another pull factor for South Korean migration to China. The number of South Koreans in China is estimated to be 300,000 to 400,000 as of 2006; at the current rate of growth, their population is expected to reach one million by 2008.

Famous ethnic Koreans in China

• Cui Jian (崔健, in Korean 최건/Choi Geon), Chinese rock musician, composer, trumpet player and guitarist
• Jin Haixin (金海心, in Korean 김해심/Kim Hae-sim), pop star
• Gao Xianzhi, General of the Tang dynasty
• Li Chengliang, General of the Ming dynasty
• Li Rusong, General of the Ming dynasty
• Li Rubai, General of the Ming dynasty
• Li Dezhu (李德洙, in Korean 이덕수/Lee Deok-su), Chief Executive of the State Ethnic Affairs of PRC
• Li Yongtai, (李永泰, in Korean 이영태/Lee Yeong-tae), Member of the 9th NPC Standing Committee, Deputy Commander of the PLAAF
• Zhao Nanqi (趙南起, in Korean 조남기/Cho Nam-gi), People's Liberation Army General, former Vice Chairman of The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
• Zheng Lucheng composer of the People's Liberation Army's March

See also

• Korean people
• Ethnic Chinese in Korea
• Korean Chinese cuisine
• Yanbian

Note

1. Kim, Si-joong (2003). "The Economic Status and Role of Ethnic Koreans in China" (PDF). The Korean Diaspora in the World Economy. Institute for International Economics. pp. Ch. 6: 101-131. {{cite conference}}: Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)
2. Kim, Hyung-jin (2006-08-29). "No 'real' Chinatown in S. Korea, the result of xenophobic attitudes". Yonhap News. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
3. Zhang Tianlu (2004-03-26). "中国少数民族人口问题研究 (Research on the topic of Chinese minority ethnic group populations)". National Population and Family Planning Commission of China. Retrieved 2007-01-16. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) See section "民族人口生活质量问题研究".
4. Andrei Lankov (2007-06-14). "Ethnic Koreans in Yanbian". Korea Times. Retrieved 2007-08-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. Haggard, Stephen (December 2006). "The North Korean Refugee Crisis: Human Rights and International Response" (PDF). U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Retrieved 2007-01-16. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
6. ^ "到了中国就不想回国 在华韩国人激增 (After arriving in China, they don't want to go home; number of South Koreans in China increasing sharply)". Wenhua Ribao. 2006-04-01. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
7. "Overseas Korean Educational Institutions". National Institute for International Education Development of the Republic of Korea. 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
8. Kim, Hyejin. "South Koreans find the good life in China". Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-03-18.

Template:Ethnic Koreans

• Overseas Korean groups