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beijingwalker

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How Beijing Turned Koreans Into Chinese
Beijing’s success at fostering national unity has most ethnic Koreans in northeast China identifying as Chinese.

By Steven Denney and Christopher Green
June 09, 2016

Of the approximately two million Chinese Koreans living in China, about half reside in Jilin Province, one of the country’s three northeastern provinces. Jilin comprises most of China’s border with North Korea and includes the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture — one of 30 administrative districts within the People’s Republic of China that are ruled, to some degree, independently of the central state. Given such a strong Korean influence on the region, it may seem logical that of Jilin’s ethnic Korean population many (if not most) would identify with one or both of the Koreas. Ethnic Koreans are, after all, described in Korean as tongpo; brethren abroad, compatriots borne of one ethnicity but living beyond the borders of their native land.

However, while this characterization generally holds true for older Chinese Koreans, in particular those who fled across the border to North Korea during the famine years of the Great Leap Forward and the mayhem of the Cultural Revolution, it is by no means applicable to the youngest generation. For them, the contemporary connection with South Korea is little more than functional, while that with North Korea barely exists at all.

Having grown up in the era of China’s rise, at a time when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown very little practical interest in the preservation of ethnic minority cultures and devoted a great deal of attention to forging some kind of “unified” Chinese identity, today’s youth of Yanbian identify as resolutely Chinese. In this brave new world, the pull of the “Korean Wave” and South Korean-based education and employment opportunities lack the power to shake China’s national foundations.

In its early years, the CCP took up a carbon copy of the Soviet Union model for governing the multitude of ethnic minorities that fell under its control, and in 1952, when ethnic autonomous rule formally arrived in this corner of Jilin Province, relative administrative autonomy and an acceptance of dual national-ethnic identities followed. One could identify as an ethnic “other” (i.e., not Han) whilst remaining nationally Chinese; indeed, an inclusive embrace of diversity was desired.

For China’s 55* officially recognized ethnic minorities (in addition to the Han majority) there was nothing unduly appealing about being Chinese in those days. States that fail — as the People’s Republic repeatedly did — to deliver basic public goods or a stable political and economic environment do not tend to readily generate loyalty and enduring feelings of patriotism and national pride. As a consequence, many Chinese Koreans who came of age in the turbulent years of the 1960s and ’70s are said to hold ambivalent or even anti-CCP attitudes.

But the young tell a different story.

Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening” marked the beginning of the end of China’s era of economic uncertainty. Events at Tiananmen Square in June 1989 were a tremendous shock to the system, but things calmed soon enough as Deng — the kingmaker — moved Jiang Zemin from Shanghai to the top job in Beijing and the nation’s economic course was reaffirmed: upwards.

The government was in no mood to let a surfeit of independent spirit get in the way of the country’s trajectory, and this — coupled with the disintegration of the Soviet Union – necessitated a recalibration of national policy toward ethnic minority education. The impact was readily felt. In 1990 there were 1,106 Korean elementary schools in the Yanbian autonomous region, but this was down to just 138 by 1999 and 31 another decade after that. In the same period, 155 middle schools withered to 49 in 1999 and 27 in 2009, and 25 high schools shrank back to 19 in 1999 and then lost a further six in the following ten years (see Table 1 below).

The same pattern has been repeated — and amplified — elsewhere in Jilin. In 1991, 26 Korean middle schools were in Liuhe County, an administrative district of the industrial city of Tonghua in the west of the province, but by 2011 there remained only one. Another of Tonghua’s administrative areas, Ji’an, which borders the North Korean town of Manpo, had 14 schools in 1991, but in 2011 this number was also one. The pattern is repeated across the region.

Where did all the children go? Some certainly now live in South Korea, where immigration authority statistics show that the Chinese Korean diaspora, a mere 7,400 strong in 1995, now numbers more than seven hundred thousand. However, a great many more are enrolled in Chinese schools, where they study in Chinese and receive a Chinese education. Ultimate destination of the students aside, one thing is abundantly clear: the education of developing young Chinese Korean minds in the Korean language is a rapidly declining phenomenon.

The reasons for the dominance of Chinese-language education among Chinese Korean youth, a local university professor informed us during our recent visit to the region, are twofold: First, sustained economic growth and development has altered perceptions of the Chinese state and what it means to be Chinese today. While political challenges to the CCP’s right to rule exist, economic opportunity for those who more fully assimilate, reinforced by a sense of pride in being Chinese, means more people (parents prominent among them) are willing to buy in. And second, in part a response to the challenges facing the Party today, the CCP has changed its nation-building strategy. Whereas in the past it was possible to be Chinese and ethnically Korean, today one is expected to be thoroughly Chinese.

Taken together, this provides a powerful explanation for not only the decline of Korean-language education and Korean ethnic consciousness, but also the success of Chinese nation-building — at least in Yanbian and the Chinese Korean populated cities of Northeast China.

Conversations with Chinese Korean youth suggest as much. Indeed, when asked to reflect on their Korean identity, a common response is borderline incredulity: “Why? We are Chinese.” Of course, young people are not unaware of their ethnic difference vis-à-vis the majority Han; simply, it is not a defining characteristic of their national identity. Reflecting thoughtfully on their own educational experiences, we were told that students receive a minjok (ethnic) history education that situates the (Korean) ethnic community as a factor in the broader struggle of the Chinese state. Education about other ethnicities is one thing, but education about other states, namely the ROK and DPRK, is treated in the same way as a British youngster might learn the history of France or Germany, or a Canadian might approach the study of his or her giant southern neighbor. They are taught as places abroad — foreign lands.

And while South Korea has all but entirely surpassed North Korea in the minds of younger Chinese Koreans, the connection with South Korea is itself a tenuous one driven by little more than a weak cultural affinity and a functional relationship. South Korean cultural production is sexy and attracts adherents all throughout Asia, but a Korean Wave does not make a Korean national identity. The ROK is also a rich country that speaks a language that some — though by no means all — Chinese Koreans are competent in, and this opens up the road to jobs and education that they can utilize. But primarily this furthers life goals back home in China. Degrees and work experience in South Korea are highly valued, but as functional aspirations – means to an end. The goal is not to return to the native homeland, but rather to settle comfortably in Beijing or Shanghai, the center(s) of the aspiring Chinese world order.

Steven Denney is a doctoral student in the department of political science at the University of Toronto. He is the managing editor of the research site Sino-NK.

Christopher Green is a PhD candidate at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He is currently co-editor of Sino-NK and formerly worked as Manager of International Affairs for Daily NK in Seoul.

*A previous version of this article said there were 56 ethnic minority groups in China.

http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/how-beijing-turned-koreans-into-chinese/
 
Korean Autonomous Prefecture

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Put the blame on South Korean. Many Chinese Korea thought they be warmly welcome in SK when they arrived. To their rude shock , South Korean thinking they are higher class despise these Chinese Korean.

Of cos these Chinese Korean wanted to associate themselves as Chinese rather than Korean. :enjoy:
 
Men who can speak Chinese and sincerely identity Chinese culture are exactly Chinese people despite their skin and faces.
Like many Singaporeans who have Chinese face but even cannot speak Chinese, these men aren't Chinese.
 
Korean missionaries will soon turn China Christian. Then we will talk. In the end there will be neither Chinese or Korean as primary identity, instead Christian will be the primary identity.
All East Asian countries are Confucian societies which have been like this for thousands of years and will be like this for thousands of years to come.
 
All East Asian countries are Confucian societies which have been like this for thousands of years and will be like this for thousands of years to come.
Religion is for the more undeveloped societies. Religion has never been big in China throughout its history (the way Islam and Christianity is) and the real reason for that is because the East Asian species were likely to have evolved further than the other species therefore their baseline reasoning did not accept religion. If people disagree with evolution in this sense, why were the australian aboriginals still stuck in the stone age when the Europeans found them in the 18th century?
 
The author of this article Christopher Green who is:

1. what so called "a PhD candidate" Leiden University in the Netherlands
2. currently co-editor of Sino-NK
3. used to work as Manager of International Affairs for Daily NK in Seoul.


Intention of this article:

Try to remind people, (either Koreans in Koreans peninsula or ethic Chinese Koreans who live in China), that the ethic Chinese Koreans who live China are being "sinified" or being to be Chinese", so it's "dangerous" to them.


Conclusion:

Christopher Green is paid by peninsula Korean to work against China interest.
 
Religion is for the more undeveloped societies. Religion has never been big in China throughout its history (the way Islam and Christianity is) and the real reason for that is because the East Asian species were likely to have evolved further than the other species therefore their baseline reasoning did not accept religion. If people disagree with evolution in this sense, why were the australian aboriginals still stuck in the stone age when the Europeans found them in the 18th century?

I don't want to judge religion like this. Religion in a period was very popolar in China, I mean Buddhism in 5th and 6th century. But in Tang dynasty, the most openmind 400 years in Chinese history, our emperor control religion's development, because emperors feel religion threats king's rights, officials feel religion impede their upgoing channel and farmers realize monks don't work but occupy too many farmland. Of course religion as a part of culture associated into Chinese culture. Till nowadays, a lot of our daily language or phrase came from Buddhism principles. By the way, every a worldwide relgion ever reach China, you may don't know, before Buddhism, Hinduism ever came to China, Persian Parseeism, Christian, Islam, Rome religion, all came to China, thanks to our strong culturel and empire ability, we freely refused, selected or modified them.
 
^ go to koreansentry... and you'll see nothing but chinese bashing by koreans.. and also look at the korean news..

korean don't see chinese as same race, they rather see japanese as closer in race wise..
 
^ go to koreansentry... and you'll see nothing but chinese bashing by koreans.. and also look at the korean news..

korean don't see chinese as same race, they rather see japanese as closer in race wise..
Same here in China. Eastern Asians hate each other is anything but a secret. And it's very true that Koreans and Japanese are more closely related race wise. In Chinese people's eyes Japan and Korea are just some offshoots of Chinese culture and no matter how hard they try they can never make it to the center of world's stage. East Asian history is basically Chinese history and East Asian culture is basically Chinese culture.
 
Last edited:
The author of this article Christopher Green who is:

1. what so called "a PhD candidate" Leiden University in the Netherlands
2. currently co-editor of Sino-NK
3. used to work as Manager of International Affairs for Daily NK in Seoul.


Intention of this article:

Try to remind people, (either Koreans in Koreans peninsula or ethic Chinese Koreans who live in China), that the ethic Chinese Koreans who live China are being "sinified" or being to be Chinese", so it's "dangerous" to them.


Conclusion:

Christopher Green is paid by peninsula Korean to work against China interest.

Good observations, and so does the logic.:tup:
 
^ go to koreansentry... and you'll see nothing but chinese bashing by koreans.. and also look at the korean news..

korean don't see chinese as same race, they rather see japanese as closer in race wise..

Then you can stay to your 'koreansentry' and squat there, nothin' bother you LOL
 

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