Life for Koreans In China
Yanbian is fairly evenly populated, with villages set a few miles apart from each other and ranging in size from about a dozen households to several scores. The houses are built of wood with low-eaved tile or thatched roofs. They are heated by flues running under a raised platform in the main rooms, which serves as a bed and also a place to sit on. Shoes are removed before entering the house. The Koreans are very fond of music. They sometimes sing and dance to the accompaniment of drums and flutes in the fields or on construction sites. Traditional festivals are celebrated heartily, especially the Lunar New Year, and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Other occasions for merriment are the 100th day after a baby's birth and a person's 60th birthday.
In the old days, men laboured in the fields while women worked around the house. The eldest son became the head of the family upon the death or incapacitation of the father.
Ethnic Koreans In China
There are a little less than 2 million ethnic Koreans in China. Many live in and around Yanbian, near the North Korean border. They have traditionally had a reputation for eating chilled noodles, wearing plastic, boat-shaped shoes and doing the crane walking, willow twig waving Korean dances. Korean women hold swing and seesaw competitions during the Dragon Boat Festival, held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually in June.
Many Koreans in China are descendants of immigrants who arrived in the 17th century and settled in Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang provinces. The largest Korean communities are in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province. At one time the Chinese believed the Koreans were cannibals and the Koreans thought the same thing about the Chinese. Koreans are considered more friendly than the Chinese and only rarely do Koreans marry Han Chinese. Koreans also have a reputation for being hard-working.
According to the Chinese government Koreans are “the Nationality that Honors the Teacher and Reveres His Teachings." Chinese Koreans live mainly in Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning Provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Yanbian—which borders the northern part of North Korea in Jilin Province—was home to 2.2 million people in 2010, of which about a third were Koreans. This is the largest concentration of Koreans in China. Most Koreans in China are engaged in agricultural production. Some are involved in forestry and trading with North Korea. The Chinese say they are exceptionally adept at growing rice, with region around Yanbian being the main rice producing area in northeast China. Most of the ethnic Koreans in China are Buddhists, but there is also a large proportion following Christianity and saying mass in Korean. According to the Chinese government: “The Korean nationality attaches special importance to culture and education, and is fond of singing, dancing and sports activities. At present, her average level of being educated ranks the highest among all the nationalities of the whole country. Diligence, frugality, plainness, tidiness, hospitality, respecting the aged and cherishing the young, as well as being united and helpful to each other are the good traditions and moral practices of the whole Korean nationality. In the War of Resistance Against Japan, China's War of Liberation and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the people of Korean nationality have performed immortal feats."
Korean population in China: 0.1374 percent of the total population; 1,830,929 in 2010 according to the 2010 Chinese census; 1,929,696 in 2000 according to the 2000 Chinese census; 1,920,597 in 1990 according to the 1990 Chinese census. Koreans in China make up the largest ethnic Korean population living outside the Korean Peninsula. Many think the above figure for 2010 is too small. According to some sources if the smaller groups of South and North Korean expatriates are added in the total number of Koreans in China is roughly 2.5 million people. The percentage of Koreans in Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Yanbian, Jilin Province shrank from around 40 percent in 1990 to 32.5 percent in 2010. Worldwide there are about 83 million Koreans, with 50.4 million in South Korea, 25.3 million in North Korea, 2.1 million in the U.S., 900,000 in Japan, 176,000 in Russia and 176,000 in Uzbekistan.
The ancestors of the Koreans in China today are Koreans who settled in northeast China from the Korean Peninsula, which is south of northeast China to the south of the Yalu and Tumen Rivers. The earliest Korean settlers can be traced back to more than 300 years ago. Many emigrated from
History Of Koreans In China
Korea during the 19th century, and again during the Japanese Occupation in the early 20th century. In the 1860s, a series of natural disasters struck Korea, leading to deadly 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. Koreans in both China and Korea suffered during the Japanese occupation of northeast China and Korea. They were forced to speak the Japanese language and adopt Japanese surnames and some were put to work as forced labor in mines and factories. After the Japanese were forced out of Korea and China in 1945, there was a resurgence of cultural awareness among the Koreans. Newspapers in the Korean language sprang up, including the Jilin Daily (later renamed the Yanbian Daily), Heilongjiang Daily and the Liaoning Daily. In 1947, the Yanbian Korean Publishing House was founded in Yanji, and the Yanbian People's Radio went on the air. Special Korean programs are also aired by the Central People's Broadcasting Station and the Heilongjiang People's Broadcasting Station. Particular attention was paid to education. In 1949, the Yanbian University was founded in Yanji. Other institutions of higher learning established during the early post-liberation period include the Yanbian Medical Institute, the Yanbian Amateur Agricultural University and a teachers college. Universal secondary education was realized as far back as 1958. As a result, there are now large numbers of people of Korean origin at all levels of leadership in many areas of China, and at renowned educational institutions in China's major cities. The Korean ethnic minority has set up an efficient network of health care centers and hospitals, including the Yanbian Hospital, a tuberculosis treatment center, an anti-epidemic hospital and a psychiatric sanatorium. The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture boasts high standards of maternity, childcare and family planning, as well as an enviable record in the fight against endemic diseases.
The Yanbian area is noted also for its culture and art troupes and cultural organizations. At the prefectural level, these include the United Association of Yanbian Culture and Art Workers and the Yanbian Branch of the Chinese Writers Association. The Yanbian song and dance, modern drama and theatrical companies are famous all over the country, and many Korean artists study at advanced institutes in other parts of China.