Table Of ContentInternational Ethnic Networks and
Intra-Ethnic Conflict
International Ethnic Networks
and Intra-Ethnic Conflict
Koreans in China
Hyejin Kim
INTERNATIONAL ETHNIC NETWORKS AND INTRA-ETHNIC CONFLICT
Copyright © Hyejin Kim, 2010.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-10252-1
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the
world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above c ompanies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-28687-4 ISBN 978-0-230-10772-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230107724
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kim, Hyejin.
International ethnic networks and intra-ethnic conflict :
Koreans in China / Hyejin Kim.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Koreans—China. 2. Korea (South)—Emigration and immigration.
3. China—Emigration and immigration. 4. Korea (South)—Relations—
China. 5. China—Relations—Korea (South) I. Title.
DS731.K6K5245 2009
305.895(cid:2)7051—dc22 2009041081
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: June 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Preface xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Korean Migrations to and within China 19
3 Ethnicity or Nationality? Korean Identities in China 41
4 South Korean and Korean Chinese Business
Relations in China 61
5 Korean Business, Intra-Ethnic Conflict, and
Adaptive Strategies 87
6 Relations between Korean Chinese and South Koreans in
the Service Sector 113
7 Community Networks and Activities 131
8 Conclusion 167
Notes 173
Bibliography 187
Index 195
Figures
1.1 South Korean direct investment in China 2
2.1 The population distribution of Korean Chinese in 2000 32
2.2 Job distribution by sex among Korean Chinese in 2000 35
2.3 The population of Korean Chinese and Han-Chinese in
the Yanbian Autonomous Region 37
4.1 Volume of the export and import of Korea with China and
the United States 63
4.2 Foreign investment by SMEs as proportions of total
South Korean foreign investment 65
4.3 Hourly wages of manufacturing laborers 65
4.4 Purposes of Korean investment in China 67
4.5 Amount of investment in China by Korean and all foreign
companies by region 72
4.6 Composition of company 75
5.1 Insiders and outsiders in the Chinese workplace 96
5.2 Employment relations in Korean firms 104
6.1 Age distribution of Korean Chinese in Beijing, 2000 117
6.2 The number of Korean travelers in Japan and China 118
7.1 Distribution of Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry 142
Tables
4.1 Selling structure in China (1993–2001) 68
5.1 South Korean investment in China by Province 98
Preface
K
oreans describe themselves as a danil minjok, a “unitary people.”
They are said to share a common culture, language, history,
and blood. Cohesion and mutual understanding are taken for
granted.
Koreans have spread across the globe, forming a diaspora stretching from
Japan to North America and Kazakhstan, and beyond. The largest concen-
tration of overseas Koreans is in China, mostly in the northeast. To South
Koreans, these Korean Chinese are part of the diaspora. To the People’s
Republic of China, they make up one of the country’s fifty-six minority
ethnicities (shaoshu minzu).
I encountered these Koreans while working and traveling in China.
I had originally gone to China to learn about Chinese society, not to study
other Koreans. Yet I was drawn to the stories of Koreans who are not South
Koreans. During my stay in northeast China in 2000–2001, I met South
Koreans, Korean Chinese, and North Koreans, and discovered unexpected
similarities and differences among them.
These Korean communities I observed in China were also linked in a
variety of ways. South Koreans went into business with Korean Chinese.
North Koreans living illegally in China looked to sympathetic South
Koreans for help. I compiled stories I heard from and about North Koreans,
and I ended up writing a novel based on them. Fiction seemed to be the
appropriate medium for writing about North Koreans in China, both
because of the drama in their stories and also because of the challenges
posed to verifying many statements. The relationships between Korean
Chinese and South Koreans were, I felt, more deserving of academic treat-
ment. I returned to China in 2003–2004 for dissertation fieldwork on the
subject. I stayed in communities that were home to South Koreans and
Korean Chinese, and interviewed members of those groups from a wide
range of backgrounds.
xii ● Preface
Korean Chinese warmly welcomed South Koreans to China as members
of the same danil minjok. South Koreans, especially soon after normalization
of relations with China in 1992, were equally excited to reunite with their
brethren in China. There was a perception that Korean Chinese, living in
remote villages in the mountains of Manchuria, had better preserved Korean
traditional culture than had South Korea with its urbanized population. The
myth of danil minjok—and the convenience of working with people who
speak the same language and eat the same food—drove many South Koreans
living in China to find partners and helpers in Korean Chinese. Seeking out
Korean Chinese partners, middlemen, or employees seemed to be the first
step for any South Korean wishing to do business in China.
At the same time, there were signs of great tension between the two
groups of Koreans. Danil minjok turned into a major obstacle to maintain-
ing cooperative relations on the basis of mutual benefit. Simple conflicts
which occur between employers and employees or between business part-
ners turned ugly because problems were seen as betrayals of danil minjok.
Members of each group would stress, in private conversation, differences
in language and habits between the two groups. Mutual prejudice came to
replace ethnic trust.
This book aims to understand the source of tensions between South
Koreans and Korean Chinese. The myth of danil minjok really has mattered,
encouraging co-ethnics to seek each other out. Yet these reunions have sel-
dom proved to be as happy as most had expected. Korean Chinese and South
Koreans found different ways of being Korean during their decades of separa-
tion, though they did not recognize these at first. Blind embrace of the myth
of danil minjok has made interactions between members of these communi-
ties lead to mutual suspicion and distancing rather than identification.
In preparing this book, I have benefited greatly from the support of
many individuals. My interest in China’s ethnic minorities was sparked by
Professor Stevan Harrell at the University of Washington, where I also wrote
a master’s thesis on Koreans in China. Professor Yu Byoungho (Liu Binghu)
provided an office for me and my husband at Dalian University in China.
Many South Koreans and Korean Chinese were willing to share their expe-
riences with me. Owing to their cooperation, I was able to access valuable
materials and information. My dissertation committee members constantly
supported me and provided fruitful comments on my work. Their advice
from a range of fields has helped me to embrace broader perspectives. I thank
my dissertation advisor, Professor John Cantwell, and committee members,
Professors Brian Fergurson, Michael Santoro, and Richard Langhorne.
I owe thanks to my husband, Erik Mobrand. He joined my fieldwork
in China in 2003–2004, while doing his own dissertation work, and we
Preface ● xiii
encouraged each other in the course of our research. He has probably read
my manuscript more times than I have and his encouragement has led me
to develop my dissertation into a book. My parents’ absolute trust in their
daughter, who has always brought them worries due to her frequent sojourns
in other countries, cannot be described in words.
