[KS] Korea & ethnic purity

[Kirk Larsen]

A few quick thoughts on this topic

1) Most of the Chinese in "Chinatowns" in Korea are of fairly recent origin
(100 years or so) and do usually self-identify as "Chinese."

2) Most in the ROK had Republic of China (Taiwan) passports until the ROK
normalized relations with the PRC in 1992. After this, the ROC was kicked
out of the embassy in Myôngdong and there has been an increase in Chinese
from the PRC (mostly from Shandong) in Korea.

3) In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the sense of discrimination felt by the Chinese
in Korea was widespread and palpable. I often heard Chinese lamenting that
Korea was the only place on earth where the *huaqiao* magic didn't seem to
work. In the early 90s I was given a pamphlet entitled "*Uri-nûn Wei
Chajangmyôn changsapakke halsuopnûnga?*"  ("Why is it that we can only make
chajangmyôn?) which lamented the various ways in which ROK state and society
made life difficult for the Chinese in Korea.

I haven't seen this but I wouldn't be surprised to someday receive a
pamphlet from a North Korean defector titled " *Uri-nun Wei Naengmyon
changsapakke halsuopnunga?*  *Plus ca change...

*Cheers,

Kirk Larsen

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 8:18 AM, don kirk <kirkdon at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Actually, very very briefly, the ethnic Chinese whom I have met, on a few
> short blocks around Myongdong, that is, near and behind the central Seoul PO
> (where China is building a huge new embassy),and in a small neighborhood in
> Incheon and elsewhere, identify themselves as Chinese and are identified as
> such by Koreans. The story of the Chinese community in Korea is quite
> interesting and complicated. Of course, many did come for economic
> opportunity. One assumes some became "Koreanized" but by no means all. They
> say they suffered from "discrimination" historically, some now but not so
> much. Others will know a lot more about this topic. My conversations are
> random. If you want real answers, you need to come out here and interview
> people systematically.
> Don Kirk
>
> --- On *Mon, 10/3/11, Hilary K Josephs <hkjoseph at law.syr.edu>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Hilary K Josephs <hkjoseph at law.syr.edu>
>
> Subject: Re: [KS] Korea & ethnic purity
> To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Date: Monday, October 3, 2011, 3:07 PM
>
>
>  Dear colleagues:
>
>
>
> I am afraid that my comments were not very well phrased. And I was assuming
> that those who responded to this most recent query had also followed the
> earlier “discussion” which I started at the beginning of July. My mindset
> was shaped by study of Asian history in the 1960s and I have not kept up
> with all the research done since then, with the exception of reading about
> the Manchu/Chinese relations under the Qing. I used the terms “ethnocentric”
> and “ethnic purity” because I could not think of any other more appropriate
> terms. No offense to anyone was intended.
>
>
>
> Naively I had presupposed that because of the Chinese tribute system, in
> which Korea participated, that there was easy passage across the
> Chinese-Korean border and that some Chinese gravitated to Korea and
> permanently settled there because of economic opportunities, chain migration
> by family members, intermarriage, etc. Those who responded to my July query
> disabused me of that notion: there were ethnic Chinese who lived in
> traditional Korea but not in any great numbers. It is still unclear to me
> whether over time those people became thoroughly Koreanized (through
> intermarriage, for example) and ceased to identify with their place of
> origin (became monolingual, did not make visits back to China, etc.)
> Becoming Koreanized would not have necessitated a rupture with the Confucian
> heritage because the Koreans were, if anything, more Confucian than the
> Chinese and used study of the Confucian classics as the basis for the Korean
> civil service examinations. So  a Korean could become expertly schooled in
> classical Chinese, regardless of whether he had any Chinese ancestry.
>
>
>
> I once read a characterization of cultures that distinguished “clubs” from
> “missions.” The British were an example of a club; the French were an
> example of a mission. In the case of the latter, so the theory went, if you
> got a French-style education and could speak French fluently, you would be
> accepted. Having just finished reading Proust’s A la recherche du temps
> perdu, with its description of rampant anti-Semitism (directed even against
> people whose grandparents had converted to Catholicism), I think that
> characterization is a gross oversimplification, but as counter-proof I
> suppose one could point to Sarkozy, who is half-Jewish.  Applying the theory
> to Asian countries, maybe China is an example of a mission (even the Jews
> disappeared into the general population) and Japan is a club. How about
> Korea? Perhaps because of its geographic position, it had to accommodate
> more in-migration than Japan but it still clung to an identity which was
> separate from either China or Japan.
>
>
>
> I was careless to bring in the subject of citizenship, which is a fairly
> modern concept. There is no necessary, but-for connection between attitudes
> towards dual nationality and ethnic diversity.  I might point out that India
> does not give full citizenship rights to overseas Indians.
>
>
>
> Regards,Hilary
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws [mailto:
> koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws] *On Behalf Of *abbie.miyabi Yamamoto
> *Sent:* Sunday, October 02, 2011 10:47 PM
> *To:* Korean Studies Discussion List
> *Subject:* Re: [KS] Korea & ethnic purity
>
>
>
> Dear Professor Josephs,
>
> Korea's law regarding dual citizenship has recently changed. Now under
> limited circumstances, dual (or multiple) citizenship is allowed. Japan
> officially still does not recognize dual citizenship for adults over 22 or
> those past two years of obtaining foreign nationality although the law is
> not strictly enforced.
>
> Yours,
> Miyabi Yamamoto
>
> 2011/10/2 Hilary K Josephs <hkjoseph at law.syr.edu<http://mc/compose?to=hkjoseph@law.syr.edu>
> >
>
> Dear colleagues:
>
>
>
> Based on previous discussion of the presence of "foreigners" (including
> ethnic Chinese) in Korea, would it be safe to infer that Koreans are just as
> ethnocentric as the Japanese? May one also infer that most of the ethnic
> Korean population in Japan came to the country involuntarily? By
> involuntarily I mean forcible removal, not in search of better economic
> opportunities. As I recall, Korea, like Japan, is a country which does not
> recognize dual nationality for its citizens, in other words, if you obtain
> nationality elsewhere, your Korean nationality is automatically revoked.
>
>
>
> Best regards,Hilary K. Josephs
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Kirk W. Larsen
Department of History
2151 JFSB
BYU
Provo, UT 84602-6707
(801) 422-3445
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