Number of Koreans Residing in China Nearing One Million

August 24 marks the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and China. Koreans started to emigrate to China in 1992. They numbered 100,000 in 1997 and 200,000 in 2000, and from 2004 the number increased by 100,000 a year, reaching 700,000 this year.

The Korean Community in China is predicting that by the end of next year, the number of Koreans living in Korea will increase dramatically due to the Beijing Olympics, and break the 1 million mark. Kim Hui-cheol, president of the Korean community said, “Next year, out of the entire seven million ethnic Koreans overseas, one million will be residing in China.”

Most of the population growth is taking place in big cities in China. Wangjingxincheng, located northeast of Beijing, has the biggest Korean community and is home to 70,000 Koreans. Looking at signboards such as “Jeonjugwan” makes it difficult to tell whether you are in Korea or China.

“Lee Yeon-i Hair Mode, Ijo Galbi, Gwangmyeong Susan, Odaegam, Hanchon Seongleongtang, Dongwon Tuna” are some of the signs on both sides of the street. If there were no signs in Chinese, people would not know where they were.

Koreans started coming to Wangjingxincheng right after Korea received emergency loans from the International Monetary Fund during the financial crisis in 1998. They started to live in apartments built by the Beijing city government in 1992 located outside the city center, where expensive foreign residences were concentrated.

Korean communities are found in other areas, too, including Wodaokou near Beijing University, Chinyang in the city of Tsingtao in Shandong province, Meijang in Tianjin, Gubei and Rongbi in Shanghai, and Wianjing in Guangzhou. “Shilla Bahng” or the residential area of Shilla people in China during the Tang dynasty, which existed 1,000 years ago, may be making a comeback.

orionha@donga.com