History of the Korean Ethnic Minority in China (Chaoxian)

The Korean Ethnic Minority is the 13Th Largest Ethnic Minority Group in China (P.R.C.).

Most members of the Korean Ethnic Minority are dispersed in the North-Western Provinces of Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and the Inner-Mongolia Autonomous Region, together part of former Manchuria.

The Main population of Koreans is found at Yanbian Korean Prefecture located in the extreme North-East corner of Jilin Province, directly bordering on Russia and the North-Korean Border. A very small minority of Koreans have migrated further into China's Central plains where they can be found in medium sized and large cities. Beijing, for instance, knows its own small Korean enclave within ChaoYang District about which more in spring of 2009 AD. In Xi'an there is another Chaoxian Enclave.

Read the Full Story of the Korean Ethnic Minority in the Chapter Korean Ethnic Minority of China (P.R.C.).

History of the Korean Minority in China :

The ancestors of the Korean minority in China immigrated directly across the border from the Korean Peninsula. The first wave of Korean immigration began in the latter part of the 17th century, then only consisting of small numbers. The first settlers only trickled in from across the border, settling in less populated area's where they continued Korean styles of agriculture, especially concentrating on rice farming.

Large Scale immigrations of Koreans into North-Western China did not occur until the 19th century. They first wave of Koreans migrated in order to avoid the oppressive feudal landlords in their Korea looking for better opportunities across the border with China. A second later wave was mainly caused by the great famine of 1869 AD and the third wave of Korean Migrants arrived during the prolonged period of Wars between Russia and Japan and during the lenghty Japanese Occupation of Korea and Chinese Manchuria in the first half of the 20th century.

Not much is known about the Life in Korea during the Japanese Occupation, but life was hard, the Japanese installed Government oppressive and in general the Korean Culture was threatened. For instance: eventually the Korean Language and its literature were banned entirely from schools in the Korean Occupied Area's under Japanese Rule and all Koreans were forced to adopt a Japanese Surname. As a result, many Korean Nationalist, dissidents and educated peoples fled the Nation. One way out was across the Chinese Border into Manchuria.

Not all Koreans who came across the border were poverty stricken farmers, or political refugees. Following the "Mukden Incident" in September of 1931 a full Japanese Occupation of Manchuria brought many Koreans into Manchurian as personel and staff of Japanese Operations where they helped to develop the basic industries needed by Japan to sustain its warlike expansion into nominally Chinese lands.

At roughly the same time, as the Japanese solidified their hold on Manchuria, in 1931, later North Korean Leader Kim Il-Song joined the Communist Party of China and in succession joined various anti-Japanese guerrilla groups which emerged within the Manchurian Regions. By 1935, while in Manchuria, Kim Il-Song became and active and tenacious member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, a guerrilla group organized and led by the Communist Party of China.

The following episode would lay the foundations Kim's later political career in Korea, but also would become the source of later close-ties and friendship between the Peoples Republic of China and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea).

Due to his proven career as a Communist activist, Kim was appointed to serve as political commissar for the 3rd detachment of the second division, which consisted of some 160 soldiers. While serving in this Chinese led guerilla type army, Kim developed close ties with Chinese Cadres which he would built on for a considerable time after the effective end of the Japanese Occupation of Korea in August 1945. The close involvement of Korean Guerilla's such as Kim with the Army established by the Communist Party of China would be a catalyst of a number major historical events at a later time.

Thus, through several outside influences and major international events, the history of the Manchurian Regions of China and of Korea were in many ways closely interlinked. And through the struggle of Communist Movements against a common enemy, the Japanese, the local populations had grown accustomed to the plights of not only Chinese Communism but also to the widely recognized Korean cause. Japanese brutalities and suffering brought on by wars had brought all ethnic groups of north-east China closer together creating a strong base for the Communist Movement and Party in the regions.

Meanwhile, with silent Soviet and Chinese aproval in June of 1950 AD hostilities had started between the new (and supposedly temporary) Nations of North- and South-Korea drawing the Special Attention of the Central Chinese Government and even the Chairman, Mao Zedong himself, to the Korean Peninsula and the Chinese Border Regions.

In these years the Chinese Government would strongly emphasize its good relationship with its small brother Nation of Korea and many times over the Great Friendship of the Chinese and Korean Peoples was Emphasized. The Central Government was counting on the Korean Minorities to fully support their policies and military aid to North Korea which had begun long before the North Korean invasion of the South in the summer of 1950 and escalated into a full and direct war with the United States of America after North Korean failure to win victory had led to complete reversal of fortunes and forced direct Chinese military intervention in the Korean War.

To illustrate the cooperation between China and North Korea in this period, some historians report that of the North Korean Army driving into South Korea in June of 1950 AD more than 38,000 were former ethnic Korean soldiers who were previously part of Chinese communist IV Field Army which had been active against the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and to a far lesser extend along the Korean Border. They further claim that another equal number of former ethnic Korean soldiers of Chinese communist IV Field Army did not participate in the invasion but served in the ranks of the North Korean army in other regions of North Korea.

With China now actively involved in warfare on the Korean Peninsula the Government acted swiftly to further affirm the longstanding friendship with the Korean Peoples in Chinese Regions. Through several stages of

recognition by the establishing Central Government in Beijing, by 1952 AD Yanbian had become the recognized home of the Korean Ethnic Minority of China.

In 1950 the Korean War had its most turbulent period starting in with a War Front rolling back and forth over the Korean Peninsula twice in a row. But as United Nations troops under American Command crossed north of the 38th parallel dividing line penetrating fast and deeply into North Korea while ignoring Chinese warnings not to do so, Chinese intervention was decisive. Up to 400.000 troops had been mobilized within Chinese Manchuria and they were subsequently infiltrated into the battle arena south of the Yalu border river.

During the conflict Yanbian and wider Jilin became the focus of massive railway transports in supply of the friendly North Korean Nation. In response American Aircraft unofficially bombed railway yards and bridges within Yanbian Prefecture and Jilin Province of China in support of UN Mandated operations.

In 1951 AD and the following year 1952 AD, Chinese Volunteer troops reached across the Yalu to drive out American and United Nations troops that had marched to within sight of the Yalu and Tumen Rivers threatening the fall of the Communist led North Korean Government and even more importantly the security of the recently established Peoples' Republic of China itself. The ensuing Warfare was known in China as the War to Resist America and Aid Korea (抗美援朝), and Mao Zedong's oldest Son Mao Anqing , enlisted in the Chinese Volunteer Army fighting in North Korea, died in the conflict being hit by an american aircraft bomb. In the end, after initially driving back U.S. and United Nations forces back across the 38th parallel, the war ground to a bloody stalemate. The massive Chinese offensives which pitted mass waves of troops against superior artillery and air forces were unable to win the war for the North Koreans and could not ensure the unification of the two Korea's under one flag. With the Soviet Union unwilling to provide additional military supplies, and eventual cease-fire and a peace treaty seemed in inevitable. This would however not come before another two years of bloody conflict drained away further resources and human lives.

Although it was a conflict with massive casualties, most Chinese supplies to North Korea went through transport routes in Liaoning Province in the South and Yanbian was left in relative albeit uneasy peace throughout the period of the Chinese participation in the Korean War. Nonetheless, many ethnic Koreans, from villages in North-East China and especially Yanbian, lost their lives in the conflict. Ten thousands of Korean Ethnic Sons enlisted in the Volunteer Army fighting for the Korean cause only returned to Yanbian Prefecture and the Chinese-North Korean Border with the armistice of July 27Th, 1953 AD which is still in effect. The Volunteer Army would stay on station in North Korea until 1958 AD, when it was fully withdrawn and disbanded.

In the late 1960's the Cultural Revolution in China caused some political backlash for the Korean Ethnic Minority. In fact, most if not all Ethnic Minorities were challenged in this difficult and paranoid period of Chinese Political History.

As for the Koreans, there was some repression of their culture and a thorough check of their political loyalty to the Chinese Revolution and the homeland of China. During this period ideological-struggle sessions every day were the norm, Korean Nationalism, Language, Festivals and Culture was not encouraged and overall the Koreans had to lay low for a while.

After Mao's Death (1976) and with the opening up Policy of successor Deng Xiaoping much changed for the all Ethnic Minorities, including the North-Eastern Korean Minority and Yanbian Prefecture. The wrongs of the Cultural Revolution where quickly undone and normal preferent policies were restored. Korean Culture could openly flourish again. Since then, many Korean community cultural institutions have received generous subsidies from the central government. The Chinese state sponsors a large network of the Korean-language schools and until recently nearly all Korean children received secondary education in their ancestors’ native tongue. Today's Yanbian has bilingual road signs under Law and Korean Nationality is celebrated in all openess without restrictions.

The 1990's and Beyond - A New Challenge :

Although the North-Eastern Provinces of China and especially landlocked Jilin Province have lagged behind with the Nationwide Economic Boom that started in the 1990's, the growing pains and woes that have swept the Nation have reached Yanbian Prefecture and surrounding area's as well. The latest challenge to the Korean Identity derives not from inter-actions with the Chinese Han Majority or loss of traditional culture per se', but from the migration of young members to the larger Cities.

Increasingly, Members of the Korean Minority migrate away from Yanbian and its agriculturally based community to large Cities such as Changchun (a center of the autombile industry) and beyond in search of better economic opportunities.

At and around Yanbian Prefecture elders see their children move away to the City, leaving the Farm and Parents to fend for themselves. In this way Yanbian Korean Ethnic Majority is thinned out leaving some questions as to the Future of the Autonomous Prefecture.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the ethnic Korean population of Yanbian began to shrink. Where in 1953 AD, the first year of the Prefecture, Koreans comprised 60.2% of the population, the share of ethnic Koreans had dropped to 36.3% of the total population in 2000 AD. The number is today still falling due to a number of factors. First and foremost is the high education and combined low fertility rate of ethnic Korean women. Second is the high rate of intermarriage with Han Chinese, and thirdly there is the economic pull of high level jobs in far away cities, high level jobs that are not available in the Yanbian Prefecture and wider Region.

Thus, Korean Chinese are more likely than Han Chinese to migrate interprovincially and intraprovincially. It has been predicted that if current trends continue, the percentage of ethnic Koreans among the population will drop to merely 25% by 2020 AD. Local and even National Government have taken important measures to try and stem this Tide by launching a major campaign to revitalize the North-East with new industries and initiatives. South Korean investors with Nationalist intentions have shared the burden. Railway lines in Eastern Jilin and Heilongjiang have been expanded, communications upgraded and Yanbian Prefecture received its very own airport. The Capital of Yanji saw a dramatic overhaul with new apartments, office buildings and stores reshaping the City within years. All in all the living standards in the area have improved dramatically. However, the outflow of Koreans continues.

As the displacement of young Koreans brings changes to Yanbian Prefecture, Korean Culture is spread more widely among the Chinese in the larger Cities' where the Korean culture is celebrated as a relatively new flavor among many.

An accurate Geographic Map of the East Asian Coastal Regions of China (Republic), the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Islands and associated Regions in the Year 1945 AD. At that Time large parts of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia remained under Japanese Occupation as part of the created State of Manchukou, while Korea was actually annexed and to be fully included as a Province of Japan.

Included in this Map are the main cities across the Chinese Coastal Regions, the Korean Peninsula and Islands with their names of 1945 and present day. Marked in Colors for clarity are the various colonial and imperialist Nations.

Included in the Map are Main Cities, Towns and Villages, sections of the Great Wall of China as well as main road connections, railroads, current day sites of tourist interest as well as some of the North Korean ethnic minority villages on the Sino-Korean Border.

By 1945 an estimated 1.7 million Koreans lived in China (P.R.C.).

An overwhelming majority of settlers, some 80%, came from areas that after 1945 became part of North Korea. All arriving groups of Korean migrants settled in Northeast China forming communities of ethnic Koreans who retained important parts of their Korean Culture. Over time the Korean Ethnic Minority adopted Chinese Cultural features and language skills, developing into the Korean Ethnic Minority of China, concentrated near the 1,416-kilometers long Chinese-North-Korean Border.

New migration came in the aftermath of World War 2. In the last stages of the War the Japanese Forces had pillaged the Peninsula, carrying away all livestock and rice stocks for the use of the Japanese themselves, as well confiscating all types of metals for the use in the war industry, two policies that devastated the Korean Nation and left the post-war Economy in shambles.

Under-developed industrially and in terms of infrastructure Korea was a doomed wasteland, and famine was widespread as a result of Japanese confiscation of food-stocks. Further worsening Korea's situation: few qualified Korean administrative personnel remained. Fleeing both the instable economic situation in their home nation as well as the Famines, new settlers arrived from North Korea into Jilin where farmland was available in relative abundance. The Special Status of Korean Minorities in North-East China ensured a favorable treatment by local governments.

During the Chinese Civil War, which reignited immediately after the Japanese Surrender in August of 1945 AD, most Koreans in Manchuria and Jilin chose to support the side of The Chinese Communist Party rather than the KuoMinTang led by Chiang Kai-Shek. During the Warlord Era the KuoMinTang had cleaned out the North (1928), however afterwards it had done nothing to stop the Japanese claims to Chinese Territory and the full-scale invasion of Korea and Manchuria, which had led to extensive suffering for all Manchurians. It was in Manchuria that Japanese Forces practiced Biological Warfare, and it was in Manchuria where whole villages were bombed and burned down by Japanese and loyal troops of the Puppet-Regime of "Manchukuo" (Led (nominally) by "Last Emperor" Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi formerly of the Ching Dynasty 1644 AD - 1911 AD).

Not only that, the Communist Army and Party were a peasant based movement rather than a sweet talking bunch of literati from afar. The program of the Communist Party included re-distribution of land, grass-roots democracy, education, special rights for the Korean Minority, and last but not least: they were famed for their resistance against the "brutal aggressor" in their native area's, the Japanese. The people had welcomed the chance to strike back at their opressors and thus, the Koreans in Manchuria warm-heartedly supported the Communist Party of China and the North-Eastern Provinces became an important base for their National Movement and Military Operations. By the end of 1948 AD 81% of all Communist Party Cadres in the region were of Ethnic Korean descent, with among them still Kim Il-Sung, a longstanding Communist Party Member and the

pupil of the chairman of the Political Committee of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army under a patronage of Kang Sheng, a close friend of Mao Zedong at Yan'An (Communist Revolutionary Base in North Shaanxi Province).

When in 1949 AD the Peoples Republic of China was established, the support of the Korean and other Minorities in the Fight for powers over the Nation was not easily forgotten. Following a long standing program of friendship and cooperation with the many ethnic groups from around the Nation, the Communist Party of China went ahead with the creation of multiple ethnic area's with (semi-)autonomous rule for the inhabitants, under Leadership of the Central Government.

As a result, in the North, where the overwhelming support from the Koreans helped swiftly recapture the former borders of the Chinese Nation during the last throws of the Civil War, a Special Autonomous Region was created in Favor of the Koreans.