Politics of Race in East Asia: The Case of Korea and the Chinese community in South Korea

The immigration of Chinese to the Korean peninsula has a long history. According to legend it began at the very dawn of Korean history with the migration of Gija from Shang China to Gojoseon (old Korea). With the rise of modern nationalism in the 20 th century the Chinese contribution to Korean nationhood, gene pool and history has been downplayed and replaced by what has been termed racialist historiography, the attribution of a pure genetic origin to the Korean ‘race’. This has in turn led to open discrimination towards Chinese residents in South Korea (huaqiao) and the peculiar situation whereby Korea was until recently the only nation in East Asia that did not have a highly visible China town in its major cities 1 . The Chinese immigrants who settled in Korea tended to hide their origins or even assimilate to avoid discrimination. However, with the recent increase of China’s economic might, Korea has been forced to reassess its relations with China itself and also the Chinese residing in Korea. What this implies for the Chinese minority residing in Korea and what these new changing circumstances suggest for future Sino-Korean relations will be discussed in this article.

Joseon (Korea: Chaoxian) named Man, who he claims was a leader of Chinese migrants from the Chinese kingdoms of Yan and Qi to Joseon (Shiji 115.2985), agreed to be an outer vassal of the emperor and was authorized to impose order on the barbarians (Man Yi) of the east.In return for his services the prefect of Liaodong was instructed to provide the king with material aid that enabled him to expand his kingdom over an area stretching thousands of li in all directions (Shiji 115.2986).Thus established in power with Chinese aid, Sima Qian records, the kings of the dynasty of Man (founder of the royal line of Joseon) consistently refused to present themselves at the imperial court to pay homage2 .Throughout his narrative of the conflict between the Han Empire and Joseon, Sima Qian interestingly does not once apply to state of Joseon the epithet Man Yi (barbarian).As Gi notes, Sima Qian clearly regards the kingdom as being part of the sinocentric world order and the ruling dynasty at least, which is supposedly Chinese in origin, to be civilized3 .Eventually a punitive invasion from China was launched to subdue Joseon and Han Wudi established four commanderies in what is now Northern Korea in 108 BC to rule the conquered Koreans.The impact of this early Han Chinese penetration into Korea was immense and led to the sustained sinification of all of Northeast Asia in succeeding centuries.
During the subsequent Three Kingdoms period (ca. 1 st century BC-668 AD) of Korean history Chinese migration to Korea continued.According to the Samguksagi entry for the 38 th year of King Bak Hyeogeose of Silla, it is claimed that refugees from Qin (China) settled in Jinhan, that is south-eastern Korea 4 .In the same Samguksagi the entry for the 11 th year of King Sansang of Goguryeo/Koguryo (in Northern Korea and southern Manchuria) records that a certain Ha Yo from Northern China defected to Goguryeo with 1,000 migrants 5  The Qing merchant community that settled in Incheon from 1882 onwards did not immediately adapt or divest itself of its foreign identity but chose to form a separate Chinese community within Korea.After the Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Chinese merchants residing in Korea were confined to Seoul and three ports only (Incheon, Busan and Wonsan) and forbidden to move inland.In addition their once protected status in Korea, as citizens of Korea's hegemon, received a blow due to the expansion of Japanese influence in Korea and the withdrawal of Qing military presence in Korea after 1894.This also significantly undermined the economic strength of the Chinese residents residing in Korea7 .

The Huaqiao under Japanese Occupation
During the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945) and further Japanese expansion into Northern and eastern China, imperial Japan imported cheap labour from China into Korea as part of its concerted policy of developing what was then regarded as a 'backward' colony.
The number of Chinese in Korea climbed to a respectable 67,794 people by 19308 .Friction, however, arose between Koreans and Chinese migrants leading to the tragic Manbosan incident (만보산사건) 9 .The Manbosan incident actually began as a land dispute between Chinese and Korean migrants in Manchuria that evolved into an armed clash involving firearms.No-one was killed in the incident which occurred in Manchuria.However, exaggerated reports of a massacre of ethnic Koreans in Manchuria by Chinese mobs, which appear to have been false, spread into Korea via newspapers.This precipitated angry 'reprisals' in the form of pillaging and murder against Chinese residing in Korea and even Japan.The anti-Chinese sentiment was also apparently encouraged by the Japanese authorities who were eager to create excuses for further intervention in Northeastern China on the pretext of 'protecting' 'Japanese citizens' on Chinese soil (i.e.Korean migrants).The incident as terrible as it was did not seriously affect inter-community relations in Korea.
Swift apologies were issued on both sides and a diplomatic solution was immediately sought to alleviate the plight of migrant communities (Koreans in Manchuria and Chinese in Korea) 10 .

The Huaqiao in Post-independence Korea
More serious to the status of Chinese in Korea was the upheavals that followed Korean independence in 1945.During the Korean War (1950-3), when Communist China intervened on behalf of North Korea, the Chinese residing in Korea became scapegoats for Chinese aggression against South Korea.The huaqiao, like the rest of Korea suffered crippling losses to property and livelihood during the war.Even worse they were subjected to progressively worse discrimination and neglect after the war which prevented them from advancing the social ladder into more elevated professions and positions of influence.The most serious blow to the huaqiao in korea was probably the measures taken by the Park Jung-hee administration between 1962 and 1976.In 1962 radical currency reform measures were enacted by Park as part of the concerted effort to control the outflow of capital from Korea and to crack down on money laundering.The measures however had damaging effects on the huaqiao who were more actively involved in overseas trade.In 1976 further punitive measures were enforced that deprived the huaqiao of property rights and access to education within Korea11 .As a result of these measures many huaqiao migrated out of Korea due to poverty or in search of better conditions12 .For instance out of the 5,000 residents of Incheon's once sprawling Chinese community only 500 decided to stay 13 .Of those that stayed many were forced to resign themselves to running Chinese restaurants and small business as part of an under-privileged and often despised minority14 .

The Perception of China and the Chinese among Koreans
Such was the history of Chinese migration and settlement in Korea, which eventually led to the formation in the latter half of the 20 th century of a clearly disadvantaged and maligned minority within Korea.Interestingly however, in medieval Korea association with Chinese migrants was something to be proud of.The beginnings of Sino-Korean contacts were pushed back artificially to the very dawn of East Asian history via the legendary story of the migration of Gija (Jizi; 箕) to Korea during the Shang-Zhou dynastic transition.During the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, the Korean government offered state sacrifices to this Gija, a Chinese sage who supposedly brought civilization to Korea 15 .Koreans, especially during the sinophile Joseon dynasty took pride in this association with China and Chinese civilization, which in their eyes and also they hoped in the eyes of the Chinese lifted their country above the status of Dongyi (eastern barbarians) 16 .As a matter of fact after the fall of the 'legitimate' Ming dynasty and its takeover by the 'barbarian' Manchus in the 17 th century, the Yangban elite of the Joseon dynasty considered Korea to be the sole bastion of Chinese civilization or rather Neo-Confucian civilization and eagerly adopted for themselves the mantle of 'Little China' (소중화) 17 .
The legend of Gija which played such an important role in the Joseon articulation of Korea's self-image to the outside world before the 19 th century was without a doubt a fictitious story invented by the Chinese 18 during the late Warring States or Han period in order to explain the 15 The earliest reference to Gija and his fictitious ties with Joseon can be found in the Shangshu dazhuan (尚書 大傳) and Sima Qian's famous Shiji, see J. Shim, "A New Understanding of Kija Chosŏn as a Historical Anachronism", Journal of Asian Studies, 62.2 (2002), pp.271-305, especially 274-5. 16For Sinocentrism and Chinese attitudes towards the 'barbarians' see H.J. Kim, Ethnicity and Foreigners in Ancient Greece and China (London: Duckworth, 2009), pp.34, 60-69.This remarkable love for everything Chinese was abruptly brought to an end by the intrusions of the Western colonial powers and Imperial Japan in the 19 th and early 20 th centuries.China at least from 1950s onwards was no longer regarded as the fountain of all civilization, but increasingly despised as a poor, backward, communist country that had invaded Korea during the Korean War.The rejection of most aspects of Chinese influence 22 and the rise of Korean nationalism (tinged with racialism that attributed a pure genetic origin to all Koreans (단일민족) and tried to reject historically attested injection of foreign blood into the Korean nothing that can be identified as Shang or Zhou in eastern Liaodong and Korea in the archaeological record before the Warring States Period. 19 The economic rise of China from the 1990s onwards and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the PRC and South Korea in 1992 25 brought about a slow but visible improvement in both the treatment and the economic well-being of Chinese residents in Korea that had hit an all time low in 1976.The fact that mainland China is now no longer the 'backwards, poor' country that it used to be and the recognition among Koreans of this new wealth and power among the Chinese have both contributed to the mellowing of Korean attitudes (at least official government attitudes) towards the Chinese.This has had positive consequences for the Chinese community in Korea that had until recently been subjected to 23 For a critique of this racialism in Korean historical scholarship see H.I. Pai, Constructing 'Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories (Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2000).See also G.W. Shin, Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy (Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 2006). 24See S.H. Jang, '이산민의 초국가성과 다층적 정체성 : 중국 위해의 한국화교에 대한 사례연구' (The supra-national multifaceted identity of the Chinese Diaspora in Korea), 현대중국연구 (Modern China Research), 11.2 (2010), pp.263-97, in particular pp.284-9, for the identity crisis among Chinese residing in Korea, having to negotiate their way between multiple identities: Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese.The strong anti-communism of post Korean War South Korea had also affected the attitudes of Chinese residing in Korea towards mainland China.The suspicion and hostility towards communist China was shared by both the native Koreans and the Chinese Diaspora in Korea.This was only slowly dispelled after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea in 1992, which allowed Chinese residing in Korea to participate in trading activities with mainland China.See also Yoon, 한국 화교의 정체성 연구, pp.58-70. 25  Quite obviously this is a cautious response among the huaqiao to escape from the still pervasive prejudice towards Chinese in Korean society.The author himself can attest to the frequency with which Koreans in private discourse voice mild contempt (although more recently largely harmless and hardly malicious) for the Chinese using derogatory terms such as 'Jjangkye' to refer to Chinese in general.Fear of being excluded and othered still haunt the huaqiao for whom for generations Korea has been their primary home.In fact as the Chosunilbo reports 70% of the huaqiao households that have resided in Korea for multiple generations are now mixed families of both Chinese and Korean ancestry due to wide-spread inter-marriage between huaqiao and native Koreans 27 .The fact that even these huaqiao have felt a degree of exclusion from mainstream Korean society, should they openly flaunt their ethnic origin, is an indictment on the pernicious effects of nationalist and ethnocentric education long-favoured by the Korean state and in Koreans schools.That in Korean society being openly huaqiao still brings unwanted attention and a degree of negative publicity was best demonstrated by the recent sensational coverage of the alleged huaqiao origins of one of 26 For specific instances see Y.J. Rhee, "Diversity within Chinese Diaspora:Old and New Huaqiao Residents in South Korea", in J. Fernandez (ed.), Diasporas:Critical and Inter-Disciplinary Perspectives (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2009), pp.111-126, p. 115. 27http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/08/04/2011080400138.htmlKorea's best known actresses Jeon Jihyun (전지현 '화교설') 28 .Jeon had to vehemently deny the rumours, apparently because she believed that if people perceived her to be huaqiao that would erode her popularity and appeal as an actress 29 .

The Changing Nature of the Chinese Community in Korea
According to figures collected in 2005 these old huaqiao in Korea with non-PRC passports (i.e descendents of the original Chinese migrants from before the Korean War, mainly from the Shandong region of Northern China 30 ) numbered some 25,099 people, residing mainly in Seoul (39%), Incheon (13%) and other major urban centers such as Busan (9%) 31 .However, their limited numbers have made their impact on Korean society relatively minimal and their poor visibility in Korean society, as discussed above, for various reasons continues to this day.
Much more visible are the recent wave of legal and illegal, largely economic, migrants to Korea from the PRC.According to the Chosunilbo the number of non-Korean citizens residing in Korea passed the one million mark in 2009 and among them the Chinese from the PRC were the majority, making up 56.5 % of all foreigners residing in Korea.The growth in the number of Chinese in Korea has also led to the revival of Korea's moribund Chinatown in 28 For details see Kyunghyang Sinmum http://sports.khan.co.kr/news/sk_index.html?cat=view&art_id=200905131033574&sec_id=540101&pt=nv and http://www.thetimes.kr/news/article.html?no=3615 29 The only huaqiao who have successfully been accepted as 'talents' (Korean for actor-actress, media entertainer in general) and mainstream by the Korean media and entertainment industry are the actresses Ha Hee-Ra 하희라 and 주현미.Both of them are of a mixed heritage (Chinese father and Korean mother), married to native Koreans and have taken Korean nationality, abandoning their official status as huaqiao.Even so their huaqiao origins initially raised eyebrows among certain segments of Korean society. 30Rhee, "Diversity within Chinese Diaspora", pp.111, 113. 31Yoon, 한국 화교의 정체성 연구, pp.30-1.
Incheon.The new Chinatown boasts some 25 Chinese restaurants (22 of which are run by Chinese), 13 Chinese stores and 40 other Chinese businesses 32 .
One would then naturally expect this huge increase in the number of Chinese citizens in Korea to have a social and political impact on South Korea, possibly even providing China with the tool to exert some kind of influence Korean internal affairs.However, the numbers, impressive as they are, are in fact slightly deceptive.Of 624,994 PRC citizens in Korea some 71 % (443,566) are ethnic Koreans from Yanbian in north-eastern China 33 .These ethnic Koreans from Yanbian due to their PRC education and sense of belonging to the Chinese state that their upbringing in China had fostered, caused somewhat of a stir in South Korea by professing their loyalty to China rather than to their 'motherland'(that is Korea).
The author of this article has personally encountered many instances of Yanbian Koreans declaring themselves to be Chinese (an affront to the nationalist/ethnocentric sentiments of some Koreans) without hesitation before a bewildered South Korean audience.Their sense of Chineseness is only strengthened by prejudice that they encounter from some South Koreans who discriminate against them 34 .Yet despite their love for china and their self-proclaimed Chinese identity the Yanbian ethnic Koreans, once in South Korea, generally tend to blend into Korean society as quasi-second-class Korean citizens and they have not been very vocal in advocating Chinese interests in Korea 35 .
The deep divisions (political and ethnic) within the Chinese community in Korea have also somewhat lessened the likelihood of any unified political assertiveness among them in the near future.The huaqiao remain divided in their allegiance between the PRC and Taiwan36 , while the ethnic Koreans from Yanbian are usually far from vocal and due to ethnic ties are much more receptive to and immersed in South Korean culture than other migrants from China37 .The expectation therefore that the Chinese residing in Korea may somehow influence Sino-Korean relations and Korean policy making decisions with regard to China seem premature.

New Obstacles to Sino-Korean Relations
The rise of China and the growing Chinese confidence in their own strength have also brought to the fore new controversies that threaten the stability of Sino-Korean relations and also the well-being of Chinese residents in Korea.The most troubling of these controversies is surprisingly enough a dispute over ancient history.The revisionist Chinese claims to what the Korean public regards as historical Korean states such as Koguryo and Balhae (동북공정) 38 , has in recent years sparked an emotional response among nationalist Koreans and needlessly heightened anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea.The claims to Koguryo and Balhae are part of China's concerted effort to strengthen its historical-territorial claims 39 on its borders and also to allay its own internal security concerns 40 .However, this assertiveness on the part of China has offended large sections of the Korean population in South Korea, who like their mainland Chinese counterparts were heavily indoctrinated by the East Asian version of state-sponsored, nationalist, pseudo-historical semi-propaganda 41 .
Such disputes and also a host of other minor issues have left virtually no room for the Chinese minority in Korea to project a more positive image both of China and themselves to the Korean public.It has also limited their capacity to actively lobby for China's interests within Korea.Rather surprisingly that role has been taken up by left-wing alignments in Korea, which had historically favoured communist North Korea and communist China.
Along with their allies in the Korean media they have displayed a persistent anti-American and anti-Japanese approach, while usually toning down the rhetoric when affairs that would present China negatively to the Korean public appear 42 .This pro-Chinese stance among the influential left wing South Koreans has the potential to swing Korea in the direction of Beijing away from the current Korea-Japan-America  42 Gyeonghyang Sinmun, Ohmy News, Hangyeoreh Sinmun, MBC News network, Pressian, Media Today, etc., all favour the left of the political spectrum and have shown a marked reluctance to criticize either the North Koreans or their Chinese patrons in Beijing.In contrast their criticisms of the US and Japan have been extremely vigorous.Most of the news agencies cited above for instance denied the North Korean involvement in the recent Chonanham incident and rapidly adopted the Chinese official position towards the incident while rejecting the position espoused by the South Korean government and most of the international community.Their influence among the younger generation of Koreans is also very strong and will in all likelihood contribute to the growing support for Chinese interests among younger Koreans in the future.
. During the Goryeo period (918-1392 AD) the influx of a small number of Chinese into Korea continued.King Gwangjong (reigned 949-975 AD) employed Ssang Gi and other naturalized Chinese migrants to carry out his aggressive reform agenda.Later still during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910 AD) the collapse of the Ming dynasty in China brought an influx of defeated Ming partisans from China into Northern Korea.The Coming of the Huaqiao in the 19 th Century Whereas these early Chinese who settled in Korea before the 19 th century were quickly absorbed into Korean mainstream society, a distinctly different Chinese settlement in Korea occurred during the second half of the 19 th century when Qing China in imitation of Western colonial powers thought to exercise a more intrusive, western style hegemony over Joseon 6 . 17 J.H. Kim Haboush, The Confucian Kingship in Korea: Yongjo and the Politics of Sagacity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), pp.21-28. 18Y.Bugin, Gojoseon Yoksa-Gogohakjuk Geyo (Introduction to the Historical and Archaeological Gojoseon), tr.H.J. Yi and B.D. Yi (Seoul: Sonamu, 1990), p. 116.As S.M. Nelson, "Archaeology of the Two Koreas", in M. T. Stark (ed.),An Archaeology of Asia (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006), pp.37-54, p. 49, argues, there is high level of material culture (which was attributed to the civilizing influence left by Gija) that the Chinese encountered as they expanded east.It is revealing that the earliest stories about Gija mention no such immigration from China to Joseon on his part 19 and the attribution of Chinese ancestry to the ancient rulers of Korea was part of the wider Chinese practice of ascribing a Chinese ancestor to all neighbouring, foreign peoples 20 .However, what is noteworthy is the extent to which this sinification of Korea in the Chinese imagination was fully embraced by the Koreans as part of their identity.The migration of small numbers of Chinese to Korea was almost without exception welcomed by the Korean ruling elite of all dynasties and time periods before the 19 th century.It was seen as an opportunity to absorb China's 'superior' civilization and with the prevailing mood of sinocentrism and sadaejui (serving the great, i.e serving China 21 ) during the Joseon dynasty even the confusion of Korea and China (that is regarding the two countries as part of the same civilized Confucian community) was at times encouraged.
See B. Hinsch, "Myth and the Construction of Foreign Ethnic Identity in Early and Medieval China (Xiongnu, Xianbei and Koreans in China)", Asian Ethnicity, 5.1 (2004), pp.81-103, in particular 101 ff. for further details.20  Kim, Ethnicity and Foreigners, pp.137-39.21For a very balanced analysis of the Joseon-China tributary relations and Sadae before the 19 th century see Larsen, Tradition, Treaties and Trade, pp.29-35.22For instance the abrupt disconnect with the story of Gija founding Joseon and the removal of references to Gija in history books in South Korea, see D. Chen, "Domestic Politics, National Identity, and International Conflict: The case of the Koguryo Controversy", Journal of Contemporary China, 21.74 (march 2012), p. 233.gene-pool 23 ) also led to the instinctive repugnance among Koreans of being mistaken forChinese by outsiders or by the Chinese themselves.In this overwhelmingly nationalist political climate of post-independence Korea the foreignness of the Chinese residing in Korea was increasingly suspect and the loyalty or lack thereof of the huaqiao towards the Korean state became an issue.The Chinese community itself became torn due to conflicting identities that they had to negotiate.Were they nationalist Chinese (or Taiwanese), mainland Chinese or should they become naturalized Korean citizens?24 various levels of discrimination by mainstream Korean society 26 .It is, however, still very common for huaqiao who have resided for generations in Korea and are fluent in Korean to simply blend in and hide their Chinese origins.Although officially the huaqiao are now subjected to no open discrimination or maltreatment, the stigma of being 'foreign' and the fear of rejection or exclusion by one's peers at school and colleagues in work places, if one's identity as a huaqiao should be exposed, prevent many huaqiao from openly declaring their ethnic affiliation.

alliance 43 ,
with immense geopolitical implications.During the Sinophile Roh Moo-hyun presidency the ruling Uri party (the main left-wing coalition) consistently cultivated closer ties with Beijing at the expense of the traditional ties between the US and South Korea.While the left-wing was in power, according to one internal poll, among the new incoming legislators 63 percent were reported to have picked China as the most important nation for South Korea and expressed a dim view of the United States 44 .The change in government under the conservative Lee Myung-Bak presidency from 2008 onwards has definitely slowed the pace of this political drift in South Korea towards Beijing.However, should the left-wing regain power in this year's presidential elections the drift towards Beijing among Korea's political elite may recommence, regardless of the low esteem with which China is held among the Korean public in general.It is doubtful whether the Chinese community in Korea will have any role in advancing the cause of the pro-Chinese elements in Korean politics.However, what is clear is the fact that Sino-Korean relations remain highly volatile and the polarization of Korean politics 45 spells danger for any overt signs of Chinese political assertiveness within Korea.If the Chinese For a good analysis of this rise and what it implies see C. Horner, Rising China and its Postmodern Fate: Memories of Empire in a New Global Context (Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2009), pp.1-21, 145-56, 183-91.For the history of the evolution of South Korea-China diplomatic and economic relations see J.H. Chung, Between Ally and Partner: Korea-China Relations and the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007).