Abstract:
This article examines the construction of the notion of ‘homeland’ among ethnic Koreans in China. Before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, for them ‘homeland’ meant Korea for them. During the Cultural Revolution, however, they accepted the PRC as their ‘fatherland’. After the Cultural Revolution, they could re-emphasize their ‘Korean’ identity. Until the mid-1980s, they were culturally and politically closer to North Korea. They were reconnected to South Korea in the 1980s, and many began to migrate there mainly for employment opportunities. When South Korean government restricted their entry visas, Korean Chinese claimed their right to ‘return to the homeland’. They rationalized this claim with their ancestors’ anti-Japanese struggles in China. In their newly connected ethnic homeland, however, Korean Chinese experienced discrimination and alienation as low-paid migrant workers. As a result, they developed nostalgia towards China, their natal homeland. At the same time, Korean Chinese migrants culturally distinguish themselves from their co-ethnic South Koreans. This is exemplified in ‘Homeland Dog Meat Restaurant’ (故鄕狗肉館) with which they claimed their dish is different from (and superior to) the same dish in South Korea. The Korean Chinese case illustrates the notions of ‘homeland’ among ethnic return migrants can be even more complex in the context of identity politics.