“History has failed us, but no matter”
“Arirang”
Arirang, arirang, arariyo...
You are going over Arirang hill.
My love, if you abandon me
Your feet will be sore before you go ten
Just as there are many stars in the clear sky,
There are also many dreams in our heart.
There, over there, that mountain is Baekdu Mountain,
Where, even in the middle of winter days, flowers bloom.
“Arirang”, as depicted above, is a Korean folk song that originated during the Korean War. The word “Arirang” is the Korean word of “My beloved one”. During the period of unrest, families were separated, some forced to leave their homes in Korea in search of safe protection, some were put into harsh labor, some never got to see their family even until their death. The lyrics represents the meaning of “Being closed together”, not only interpreting the citizens in North Korea and South Korea, but also ethnic Koreans who migrated faraway in countries such as China and Japan.
Precolonial era (1861-1910)
During the 1870s, about two thousand Koreans fled Korea in search of cultivable land across the border despite the strict order of the Qing Dynasty in China. The dynasty of China at that time designated the regions they conquered as sacred land, border crossers, if found, could be executed immediately.
However, when the Qing Dynasty started to collapse in political and economic power, they eased their border control and allowed peasants from Northeast Korea to cross the border. Most peasants gathered around the Yalu River to settle. By around mid-1890s, the Korean population dramatically increased, to about fifty-seven thousand (C. Piao 1990).
However, the unstable socioeconomic status of the migrant farmers left them vulnerable to discrimination, fraud, unfair treatment, and even exploitation.
Colonial era (1910-1945)
Koreans started to migrate more to Manchuria (a region in Northeastern China) after Japanese settlement in Korea in 1910. The Japanese annexation left Koreans impoverished and left most homeless, thus they sought better opportunities in Northeast part of China. While thousands of Koreans migrated for themselves, most Korean peasants were again forced into Manchuria to support Japanese war efforts and provide supplies such as rice for the Japanese military.
According to G-J Jeong, although Korean-Chinese constituted to only 3 percent of the total population in Northeastern China, they produced more than 90 percent of the region’s rice supplies.
During this period of time, Japanese also tried to intervene judicial authority over Korean residents in China, attempting to make them imperial subjects.
Postcolonial era (1945-1990)
This time of history was also known as the Cold-War era, where Koreans were generally spread in Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning province.
In 1952, the establishment of Yanbian Korean Autonomous prefecture granted Korean Chinese with rights equal (or nearly equal) to those of the dominant Han Chinese. This also permitted a degree of self government in the region and the right to main Korean language for the minority group.
The 1988 Olympics that was held in Seoul during this period of time opened opportunities of the “family visitation” program, a program that allowed a limited number of Korean Chinese to visit their families back in South Korea, and the relationship between South Korea and China was normalized soon after.
Post-cold war era (1990-present)
This was the time when the “Korean Wind”, or Hanguk Baram, happened. After the 1988 summer Olympics in Seoul, Korean Chinese came to learn more about the prosperity of their “"Motherland”. The Korean Chinese who were permitted back to their homeland at that time sought opportunities and used their money for buying new houses and opening small businesses, expanding their business and inspiring more Chosonjok to follow a similar or same path. The term “homeland” also became a popular genre among Korean Chinese since the establishment of People’s Republic of China. During this period of time, Korean Chinese population started shifting toward eastern coastal regions such as Shandong, Beijing, and Shanghai. Most migrants at that time also served in intermediary positions between Chinese laborers and South Korean managers, also known as the “Social intermediaries“.
Nowadays, many Korean Chinese have chosen to stay in China, while many chose to immigrate to other countries such as Japan and the United States. Currently the Korean Chinese minority population was also considered the “model minority”, where Korean Chinese were reported with a higher level of education, demographic, cultural and socioeconomic accomplishments among all of China’s minority nationalities (shaoshu minzu).