Product Code Database
Korean Chinese are Chinese citizens of Koreans descent, who account for the vast majority of ethnic Koreans in China. The official term used in the People's Republic of China is Chaoxianzu (c=朝鲜族; , lit. "Joseon ethnicity"), a term that is used only occasionally outside of China. They are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups by the Government of China and the Chinese Communist Party, and the 15th-largest ethnic minority in China according to the 2020 census. In South Korea, they are referred as "compatriots with Chinese nationality" (; c=中国国籍同胞).
Most Korean Chinese are descendants of migrants from the Korean Peninsula who settled in Manchuria primarily between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, especially during the famine in North Hamgyong in 1869-1870, after the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 and after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Many Koreans in Manchuria, both native descendants of prior immigrants and new fleeing the Japanese-ruled home country, joined the Northeast Counter-Japanese United Army in guerilla warfare against the Japanese Kwantung Army and the puppet state of Manchukuo, among them a young Kim Il Sung, who later became the supreme leader of North Korea. After the Japanese defeat and end of the Second World War, some of the Korean migrants chose to stay and acquired Chinese citizenship, forming their own communities in various settlements in Northeast China, especially in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous County in Jilin province.
Consequently, Korean Chinese have a dual identity: a national identity as Chinese and a cultural identity as Koreans. Many Korean Chinese, educated under China's education system, often view the Korean War as an anti-imperialist struggle to "Resist United States and Aid Korea", reflecting the official Chinese narrative.
As of 2021, the Chinese government officially recognized a population of around 1.7 million Chaoxianzu. It is important to differentiate between Chaoxianzu and South Koreans who might have acquired Chinese nationality, which together may sum up to approximately 2.11 million in 2023, according to the Overseas Koreans Agency of South Korea.
Their total population of Chaoxianzu is 1,702,479 according to the 2021 Chinese government census. High levels of emigration to South Korea for better economic and financial opportunities have contributed to a decrease in their numbers in China. Conversely, it is estimated that 42% (Approximately 708,000) of this Korean Chinese population now resides in Korea, maintaining their Chinese nationality. They are called Jaehan Joseonjok () or Zaihan Chaoxianzu (在韩朝鲜族/在韓朝鮮族) (Chaoxianzu in Korea). Based on the data from the 7th population census conducted in 2020, it was observed that the population of the Chaoxianzu (Korean ethnic group in China with Chinese nationality) in Jilin has fallen below 1 million, indicating a trend of dispersion across China. Out of 1.7 million individuals, around 700,000 are economically active in South Korea. As of December 2019, the number of Chinese descendants residing in Korea amounted to 701,098, accounting for 27.8% of the total foreign population in Korea (2,524,656). This has made Chinese descendants the largest immigrant group in Korea.
Based on the data from the "Chinese Ethnic Culture Resources," the Chaoxianzu population makes up about 0.14% of China's total population of 1.4 billion, ranking them 13th among the country's ethnic groups. The official Chinese government's census in 2010 reported their population as approximately 1.83 million.
|
|
